Maramec Iron Works

Allgemeines

NameMaramec Iron Works
OrtssitzMaramec (USA)
Art des UnternehmensEisenhammer
AnmerkungenEigentümer: William James. One charcoal stack, 35 x 9J, built in 1826 and rebuilt in 1851; cold blast; water-power; daily production, 15 net tons. David Carson, Superintendent. 8 forge fires.
Quellenangaben[Ironworks of the United States (1876) 56+135]




Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit Ereignis
1825 Thomas James und Samuel Massey, die ein Eisenwerk in Ohio betreiben, wollen sich in Missouri engagieren. Sie erfahren von einer Eisen-Lagerstätte durch Indianer, als James auf dem Weg nach Washington, D.C., bemerkt, daß deren Friedensbemalung aus Hämatit, das einen hohen Eisengehalt hat, besteht. Die Indianer berichten ihm von einer Grube mit roten Felsen.
1826 Die Arbeit zum Bau des Werks beginnt mit Rodearbeiten und der Erstellung von Arbeiterunterkünften.
1826 Bau des Hochofens
Frühling 1827 Der Bau des Hochofens beginnt mit gemieteten Sklaven. Die Fundamente werden aus Sandstein gebaut.
1841 Samuel Massey, der mit den Maramec Works guten Gewinn macht, überzeugt Thomas James, ein Walzwerk und eine Schlitzeinrichtung für Stäbe (für die Herstellung von Nägeln) aus Platten hinzuzufügen.
Frühjahr 1847 William James überzeugt seinen Vater, Thomas James, Masseys Ein-Drittel-Geschäftsanteil aufzukaufen. William will seinem Vater dafür 5,000 Jahresrente zahlen. Massey verkauft seinen Anteil an Thomas James für 20,000 und zieht auf eine Farm nach Franklin County.
1851 Umbau des Hochofens
1872 William James beginnt ein neues Hochofenwerk in Newburg. Er hofft, es für 97.000 zu bauen, aber es kostet schließlich fast 245.000.
1876 William James geht bankrott
1891 Der Hochofen wird für immer geschlossen.
1912 Tod von William James




Produkte

Produkt ab Bem. bis Bem. Kommentar
geschmiedetes Eisen 1876 [Ironworks of U.S. (1876)] 1876 [Ironworks of U.S. (1876)]  




Allgemeines

ZEIT1876
THEMABeschreibung
TEXTEigentümer: William James. One charcoal stack, 35 x 9J, built in 1826 and rebuilt in 1851; cold blast; water-power; daily production, 15 net tons. David Carson, Superintendent. 8 forge fires; water-power; product, charcoal blooms. Aufgeführt unter der Rubik der Werke, die Schmiedeeisen aus Roheisen oder Schrott hämmern.
QUELLE[Ironworks of the United States (1876)]


ZEIT---
THEMABeschreibung
TEXTThe furnace was operated twenty-four hours a day seven days a week by men on twelve hour shifts. They charged the furnace nearly 100 times per day, with each charging consisting of 640 pounds of iron ore, 18 bushels of charcoal, one bushel of brands (half charred wood) and 100 pounds of limestone flux all dumped in, in' alternating layers. Colliers charred the wood for the fire in the area where it was cut. Colliers had to be very experienced to reduce wood to charcoal for the works. In 1829 these men converted 4,000 cords of wood into a little less than 100,000 bushels of charcoal. As iron production increased so did the need for charcoal. At its height of production in 1867 the works needed 650,000 bushels of charcoal per year, requiring the charring of nearly 16,000 cords of wood. To produce this wood many acres of trees were cut each year. At first only the best charring trees were cut but as the demand rose, nearly all the 10,000 acres of land that the works owned was clear cut. Nearly 100 men were needed to cut this amount of wood and local farmers during the winter months would cut wood to supplement the money they made farming. The owners used slaves to cut wood with a daily quota of one and a half cords each. This was very hard work causing many slaves to run away back to their owners because Samuel Massey worked them too hard. A blast of air coming in the bottom of the furnace through the tuyere increased the heat of the charcoal enough to melt the iron. The air blast came from the furnace blower house where two cast iron cylinders four feet in diameter with a stroke of four and a half feet pumped at sixteen strokes per minute. The cylinders were powered by a sixteen foot water wheel which drove an octagonal axle twenty-five feet long and three feet, three inches across the facings. The air traveled 300 feet through an eighteen inch pipe and arrived at the furnace at four pounds pressure. When the iron melted it dripped into the hearth where it was drawn off four times per day in the casting bed. The action of the limestone caused the major part of the impurities to form a glassy substance called slag which floated on the iron and was drawn off through the cinder notch and discarded wherever a hole in the ground needed to be filled. In later years the slag was just discarded around the bridge house. Today part of the hill around the furnace is slag. The iron that was run into the casting bed was called pig iron because the shape of the casting bed reminded the workers of an old sow with her little ones. From the casting house it was taken over to the refinery forges in the bloomery. In the bloomery the pig iron was reheated and covered with charcoal until it was melted into a pasty mass called a loup. From there it was put in a cart and taken to the trip hammer where it was subjected to blows by a 10,981 pound hammer. This pounded it into a rough ingot about twelve feet long by pounding out more of the impurities. Then the iron was reheated in the anchony forge and pounded down again. After the anchony forge, it was reheated once again and beaten to the finished product, wrought iron bars. Skilled finers and furnace workers were constantly needed from the east. Enduring the long hot hours in the casting and bloomery buildings, they built up the reputation of how good Maramec iron was. In 1841 with the Maramec works making a good profit, Samuel Massey convinced Thomas James to add a rolling and slitting mill. The iron would be reheated to a high temperature and rolled into flat bars or small rods for nail production. Coal needed for this operation was readily available in the area, but Massey did not check the coal's sulphur content which proved to be too high. Eastern coal was too expensive to ship, so this mill proved to be an expensive failure.
QUELLE[Bittersweet, Vol. V, No. 2 (1977)]