Cast Irons From Les Forges Du Saint Maurice Quebec

The Forges Du Saint-Maurice

Cast Irons from Les Forges Du Saint-Maurice, Quebec

Results of a metallurgical investigation carried out on 12 cast-iron artifacts from Les Forges du Saint-Maurice, Canada's first ironworks. The 18th-19th century iron-working site is situated near Trois-Rivières, Québec, and has been extensively excavated over the past 10 years. The material was recovered from a domestic area north of the blast furnace with a relative chronology covering the 4 different occupational periods. The macrostructure, microstructure, hardness, and chemical analysis of grey, mottled, and white irons are presented, with a short history of the site. The results of the examination are used to characterize the material, its composition, structure, and foundry and mechanical properties. Manufacturing methods of the cast irons and technological development of the ironworks are considered and comparisons are drawn between the cast irons from Les Forges and cast irons from other iron-working centres.

American Iron, 1607-1900

Winner of the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award for General Engineering from the Association of American Publishers Originally published in 1996. By applying their abundant natural resources to ironmaking early in the eighteenth century, Americans soon made themselves felt in world markets. After the Revolution, ironmakers supplied the materials necessary to the building of American industry, pushing the fuel efficiency and productivity of their furnaces far ahead of their European rivals. In American Iron, 1607-1900, Robert B. Gordon draws on recent archaeological findings as well as archival research to present an ambitious, comprehensive survey of iron technology in America from the colonial period to the industry's demise at about the turn of the twentieth century. Closely examining the techniques—the "hows"—of ironmaking in its various forms, Gordon offers new interpretations of labor, innovation, and product quality in ironmaking, along with references to the industry's environmental consequences. He establishes the high level of skills required to ensure efficient and safe operation of furnaces and to improve the quality of iron product. By mastering founding, fining, puddling, or bloom smelting, ironworkers gained a degree of control over their lives not easily attained by others.