Evaluation and Repair of Wrought Iron and - Purdue e-Pubs ...

10wrought iron. Adding the slag after the iron has become molten and impurities have beenseparated creates a different microstructure in the modern day wrought iron than historicwrought iron. Modern day wrought iron differs from historic wrought iron because itcontains fewer impurities and the slag deposits are of a different structure. Thesedifferences exist because the manufacturing processes are so dissimilar.2.1.3 History of Wrought Iron ProductionThe history of wrought iron dates back to the primitive years of man, where ironwas melted down in fires and used for tools. In this discussion of wrought iron, howeverwe begin with the invention of the Catalan Furnace. This furnace can be marked as astarting point in the development of mass production of wrought iron.The Catalan furnace was developed in the early 13 th century in Northern Spain. Itwas one of the first furnaces to produce a large amount of iron at one time. This furnaceconsisted of an open hearth of which a trompe, or a large-scale air aspirator, wasattached. The Catalan furnace could produce up to three times more iron than previousfurnaces (Aitchison, 1960). For these reasons, he Catalan furnace was very popular andwas used through out Europe for hundreds of years.After the development of the Catalan furnace, other types of large furnaces suchas the Osmund and the Stuckofen furnaces, which were larger versions of the Catalan,were developed. These furnaces used the basic concept of the Catalan furnace, and leadto the acceptance of the idea that producing large amounts of wrought iron at one timewas possible. Therefore, it is evident that the Catalan Furnace was responsible for ironmass production.From the time of American Colonization to the early twentieth century, the mostcommon furnace used in the United States was the American Bloomery (Aston, 1949).