-
1 Darby, Abraham
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 1678 near Dudley, Worcestershire, Englandd. 5 May 1717 Madely Court, Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England[br]English ironmaster, inventor of the coke smelting of iron ore.[br]Darby's father, John, was a farmer who also worked a small forge to produce nails and other ironware needed on the farm. He was brought up in the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and this community remained important throughout his personal and working life. Darby was apprenticed to Jonathan Freeth, a malt-mill maker in Birmingham, and on completion of his apprenticeship in 1699 he took up the trade himself in Bristol. Probably in 1704, he visited Holland to study the casting of brass pots and returned to Bristol with some Dutch workers, setting up a brassworks at Baptist Mills in partnership with others. He tried substituting cast iron for brass in his castings, without success at first, but in 1707 he was granted a patent, "A new way of casting iron pots and other pot-bellied ware in sand without loam or clay". However, his business associates were unwilling to risk further funds in the experiments, so he withdrew his share of the capital and moved to Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. There, iron ore, coal, water-power and transport lay close at hand. He took a lease on an old furnace and began experimenting. The shortage and expense of charcoal, and his knowledge of the use of coke in malting, may well have led him to try using coke to smelt iron ore. The furnace was brought into blast in 1709 and records show that in the same year it was regularly producing iron, using coke instead of charcoal. The process seems to have been operating successfully by 1711 in the production of cast-iron pots and kettles, with some pig-iron destined for Bristol. Darby prospered at Coalbrookdale, employing coke smelting with consistent success, and he sought to extend his activities in the neighbourhood and in other parts of the country. However, ill health prevented him from pursuing these ventures with his previous energy. Coke smelting spread slowly in England and the continent of Europe, but without Darby's technological breakthrough the ever-increasing demand for iron for structures and machines during the Industrial Revolution simply could not have been met; it was thus an essential component of the technological progress that was to come.Darby's eldest son, Abraham II (1711–63), entered the Coalbrookdale Company partnership in 1734 and largely assumed control of the technical side of managing the furnaces and foundry. He made a number of improvements, notably the installation of a steam engine in 1742 to pump water to an upper level in order to achieve a steady source of water-power to operate the bellows supplying the blast furnaces. When he built the Ketley and Horsehay furnaces in 1755 and 1756, these too were provided with steam engines. Abraham II's son, Abraham III (1750–89), in turn, took over the management of the Coalbrookdale works in 1768 and devoted himself to improving and extending the business. His most notable achievement was the design and construction of the famous Iron Bridge over the river Severn, the world's first iron bridge. The bridge members were cast at Coalbrookdale and the structure was erected during 1779, with a span of 100 ft (30 m) and height above the river of 40 ft (12 m). The bridge still stands, and remains a tribute to the skill and judgement of Darby and his workers.[br]Further ReadingA.Raistrick, 1989, Dynasty of Iron Founders, 2nd edn, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (the best source for the lives of the Darbys and the work of the company).H.R.Schubert, 1957, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry AD 430 to AD 1775, London: Routledge \& Kegan Paul.LRD -
2 Reynolds, Richard
[br]b. 1 November 1735 Bristol, Englandd. 10 September 1816 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England[br]English ironmaster who invented iron rails.[br]Reynolds was born into a Quaker family, his father being an iron merchant and a considerable customer for the products of the Darbys (see Abraham Darby) of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. After education at a Quaker boarding school in Pickwick, Wiltshire, Reynolds was apprenticed to William Fry, a grocer of Bristol, from whom he would have learned business methods. The year before the expiry of his apprenticeship in 1757, Reynolds was being sent on business errands to Coalbrookdale. In that year he met and married Hannah Darby, the daughter of Abraham Darby II. At the same time, he acquired a half-share in the Ketley ironworks, established not long before, in 1755. There he supervised not only the furnaces at Ketley and Horsehay and the foundry, but also the extension of the railway, linking this site to Coalbrookdale itself.On the death of Abraham Darby II in 1763, Reynolds took charge of the whole works during the minority of Abraham Darby III. During this period, the most notable development was the introduction by the Cranage brothers of a new way of converting pig-iron to wrought iron, a process patented in 1766 that used coal in a reverberatory furnace. This, with other processes for the same purpose, remained in use until superseded by the puddling process patented by Henry Cort in 1783 and 1784. Reynolds's most important innovation was the introduction of cast-iron rails in 1767 on the railway around Coalbrookdale. A useful network had been in operation for some time with wooden rails, but these wore out quickly and were expensive to maintain. Reynolds's iron rails were an immediate improvement, and some 20 miles (32 km) were laid within a short time. In 1768 Abraham Darby III was able to assume control of the Coalbrookdale works, but Reynolds had been extending his own interest in other ironworks and various other concerns, earning himself considerable wealth. When Darby was oppressed with loan repayments, Reynolds bought the Manor of Madely, which made him Landlord of the Coalbrookdale Company; by 1780 he was virtually banker to the company.[br]Further ReadingH.M.Rathbone, 1852, Letters of Richard Reynolds with a Memoir of his Life, London.A.Raistrick, 1989, Dynasty of Iron Founders, 2nd edn, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (contains many details of Reynolds's life).LRD
См. также в других словарях:
List of national founders — Founding fathers redirects here. For the founding fathers of the United States, see Founding fathers of the United States. For the founding fathers of the European Union, see Founding fathers of the European Union. The following list of national… … Wikipedia
Ming Dynasty — Great Ming 大明 ← 1368–1644 … Wikipedia
Tang Dynasty — For the band, see Tang Dynasty (band). Tang 唐 ← … Wikipedia
Ming Dynasty military conquests — The Ming Dynasty military conquests were instrumental to its hold on power during the early stages of the Ming Dynasty. Contents 1 Hongwu reign (1368 98) 2 Yongle reign (1403 1424) … Wikipedia
Blast furnace — A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce metals, generally iron. In a blast furnace, fuel and ore are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is… … Wikipedia
Coalbrookdale — shown within Shropshire ( … Wikipedia
metallurgy — metallurgic, metallurgical, adj. metallurgically, adv. metallurgist /met l err jist/ or, esp. Brit., /meuh tal euhr jist/, n. /met l err jee/ or, esp. Brit., /meuh tal euhr jee/, n. 1. the technique or science of working or heating metals so as… … Universalium
Premiers entrepreneurs de la fonte britannique — Les premiers entrepreneurs de la fonte britannique ont permis à la production d acier de prendre son envol lors de la révolution industrielle, d abord en Angleterre puis dans les autres pays, par la révolution du principal problème à cette époque … Wikipédia en Français
Abraham Darby — est le nom de plusieurs membres d une famille britannique quaker qui a tenu un rôle clef dans le développement industriel pendant la révolution industrielle. Sommaire 1 Abraham Darby (1678 1717) 2 Abraham Darby II (1711 1763) 3 Abraham Darby II … Wikipédia en Français
Arthur Raistrick — (1896 1991) was born in a working class home in Saltaire, Yorkshire. He was a scholar in many related, and some unrelated, fields. He published some 330 articles, books, pamphlets and scholarly treatises.Early life and workIn his early life he… … Wikipedia
Abiah Darby — (1716 1793) a marqué l histoire religieuse et industrielle anglaise. Veuve du prêcheur quaker John Sinclair[1], elle est devenue elle même ministre du culte en 1748 après avoir épousé en 1745 Abraham Darby II (1716 1763) le propriétaire de la… … Wikipédia en Français
