Coke smelting
Abraham Darby smelts iron with coal instead of charcoal, and iron stops being scarce.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 70 years
- Known to
- ± 2 years
- Era
- Early Modern, Holocene
Britain's forests could not supply enough charcoal to expand iron production. In 1709 Abraham Darby succeeds in smelting with coke — coal baked to drive off sulphur — at Coalbrookdale, decoupling iron from timber. Uptake is slow for decades because the iron is initially poor quality, but by mid-century it transforms output. The Iron Bridge, cast nearby in 1779, is the demonstration piece.