Malleable Iron - History

History

Malleable iron was used as early as the 4th century BCE, and malleable iron artifacts have been discovered by archaeologists between 4th century BCE and 9th century CE in China. By the Tang Dynasty, the use of malleable iron in China waned, although there are malleable iron artifacts dating to the 9th century. Malleable iron is mentioned in England in a patent dating to the 1670s. Réaumur conducted extensive research on malleable iron in 1720. He discovered that iron castings which were too hard to be worked could be softened by packing them into iron ore or hammer slag and exposing them to high temperature for a number of days. Creating malleable iron began in the United States in 1826 when Seth Boyden started a foundry for the production of harness hardware and other small castings.