Hill, Malcolm R. (Author)
Icon: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology
Volume: 20
Issue: 2
Pages: 125-150
This article is a study of Russian iron production during the first six decades of the nineteenth century, immediately following three previous decades when Russia had been the world's largest producer of bar iron and just prior to the repeal of serfdom in 1861. The article shows that Russian production of bar iron doubled between 1800 and 1860 through a combination of improvements in previously proven processes and adaptation of other technologies from abroad to suit resource availabilities. Although Russian fineries had manufactured high quality products throughout the previous century, it became important for ironmasters to reduce fuel costs in order to remain competitive, particularly in conditions of reduced access to previous export markets after 1800. The Urals region continued as the country's major iron producer, but Uralian coal was unsuitable for use in both smelting and fining. Thus, it became necessary for Russian ironmasters to reduce charcoal consumption or remove the need for coaling. The article surveys the prime examples of innovations to achieve those aims: the more charcoal-efficient Franche-Comtois (kontuazskii or malokrichnyi) fining process and the 'puddling' method adapted to use firewood. In order to meet the growing demand for pig iron in both fineries and puddling furnaces from 1800 to 1860, the capacity of blast furnaces increased significantly in spite of the friability of charcoal compared to coke, although improvements in fuel utilisation during smelting were fairly modest. Uralian ironmasters also preferred the continued use of abundant water resources for power rather than widespread adoption of steam engines.
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