Dod Dodley ( born Dudd (Dud) Dudley ; also Dop Dudley , Dop (Dad) Dudley ; 1600 - October 25, 1684, Worcester ) - an English metallurgist and industrialist , the first to use coal as a fuel for a blast furnace . The author of the book “ Metallum Martis ” (1665), in which he described his experience of using coal in blast furnace smelting , but did not disclose the secrets of his technology in it.
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For decades, coal was used in blast-furnace smelting only on its blast furnaces; other breeders considered the use of coal impossible [2] . Some English historians attribute to him the invention of coke and its use in blast-furnace smelting. But this is only an assumption, most likely the use of coke was begun only in the XVIII century.
Content
- 1 Biography
- 2 Comments
- 3 notes
- 4 Literature
- 5 Links
Biography
Dodd Dudley was born in England in 1599 [3] (according to other sources - probably in the spring of 1600 [4] ). He was the illegitimate son of and his mistress Elizabeth Tomlinson. Dod's father was a rather wealthy nobleman, the landowner, the center of his possessions was the town of Dudley , where his residence was located - the large castle. Baron Edward Dudley owned three plants in the Pensnet Forest in Worcestershire - a blast furnace and two blacksmiths. Dod's mother, Elizabeth Tomlinson, was the daughter of a coal miner [5] ( charcoal worker) named William Tomlinson. Dod was the fourth son of Lord Dudley's eleven illegitimate children and his long-term lover Elizabeth. The Lord was pretty good about his "second family." Dod Dudley’s childhood passed in one of his father’s estates, near the village of , not far from the town of Dudley and Dudley Castle. When Dod reached adolescence, his father sent him to study at Beylliol College ( Oxford University ), and in 1619 [3] took Dog out of college in order for Dop to manage three plants in the Pensnet Forest.
In the XVII century, the ferrous metallurgy of England, like the rest of the world, worked on charcoal, which burned a large amount of wood. The increase in iron production led to the rapid destruction of forests and rising prices for charcoal, and also created concerns about deforestation and the lack of future fuel (charcoal) for metallurgy (which in the end did happen in England in the 18th century). Lord Dudley decided to try using coal in his steel mills in the Pensnet Forest. Near his factory were significant deposits of coal. Attempts to use coal for smelting iron ores were made before Dudley, but attempts by other metallurgists were unsuccessful [4] [3] . Lord Dudley began his experiments in May 1618 and they were successful. Dudley took permission to use the patent from a certain John Rowenson, the holder of the patent, who however could not organize the production of coal. It was at this time that Lord Dudley recalled his son Dod from college to work at the factory.
Dodley Dudley, according to his own stories, received a good quality cast iron with a furnace productivity of 3 tons per week on a blast furnace in the Pensnet Forest in Worcestershire. According to Dodley Dudley himself, he not only switched to the use of coal in the blast furnace process, but also made certain design changes in his blast furnace (which, of course, are not known). Dod wrote to his father in London, where he was then so that he would receive a patent for a new method for the production of cast iron. On February 22, 1621 (or 1622), Lord Dudley received a new patent in his name from King James I for the production of pig iron using coal for a period of 14 years [3] [K 1] . He took coal from deposits located near his factory.
In 1623, during the May flood, his blast furnace was destroyed, as well as metallurgical manufactories of other local owners. Things were going pretty well on this blast furnace, which displeased his competitors. They spread rumors about the poor quality of Dudley's metal and even complained about it to the king. The king ordered metal samples to be sent to London for inspection, which, however, showed good metal quality. Dudley continued to produce annually a large amount of cast iron, selling it at 12 pounds per tonne [3] . However, due to the pursuit of competitors, Dudley had to move his production to another place.
He built a new blast furnace near the village of Himley in Staffordshire . Without a forge here, Dop was forced to sell his metal to other breeders who spread rumors about the poor quality of his metal. In the end, he had to rent his stove to another breeder who used charcoal, and himself to move to another place.
On October 12, 1826, Dod Dudley married Eleanor Heaton. Relatives of his wife were also breeders.
In 1626, Dod Dudley built a blast furnace in Askew Bridge ( Eng. Hasco Bridge , now “Askew Bridge”) near Sedgley’s parish in Staffordshire (now in West Midlands ). On this furnace, Dudley installed large bellows , more than usual, than he could increase the amount of blast fed into the furnace. Here he produced 7 tons of pig iron per week, which was a record [3] . All this again caused the discontent of his competitors, who destroyed the furnace, and the bellows broke to pieces. Due to the shutdown of the plant, Dudley was unable to timely fulfill his financial obligations to creditors and was imprisoned in London for a debt of several thousand pounds.
On May 2, 1638, Dudley, along with three partners, despite strong opposition from the opponents, nevertheless received a 21-year patent from King Charles I for the production of pig iron and the processing of metal into foundry and granular cast iron on coal and peat, as well as for processing all types of metals.
During the uprising in Scotland, Dudley was under the army of Charles I. During the Civil War in England, he was on the side of the monarchy. In 1643, the king appointed him a military engineer and ordered the supply of cast-iron cannons to the royal army. In 1648, he received a new patent, but as a monarchist he was captured by the troops of Oliver Cromwell and sentenced to death. Dudley was lucky: he managed to escape from prison twice - first in Worcester, and after he was caught a second time and sent to London
He fled to Bristol and hid there under an assumed name. In 1651, with two other people from the city of Bristol, he began to build a blast furnace near the city. But for the fact that he belonged to the monarchists, they treated him badly.
Cromwell began introducing plants in the Dean forest, which were supposed to work on coal. He issued a patent to such a Jeremy Baku from Hampton Road. Dudley was invited there for consultations. After the Restoration, he asked Charles II in 1660 to renew his patent, but was refused and stopped searching and researching in the use of coal in blast-furnace smelting.
He devoted the book Metallum Martis, which was published in 1665, to his many years of experience in using coal in blast-furnace smelting.
Some English historians attribute to Dod Dudley finds of coke and its use in blast-furnace smelting. But this is only a hunch. The first to use coke in blast-furnace smelting was most likely Abraham Darby I.
Little is known about the last decades of Dod Dudley's life. According to some reports, he did not have children [3] , according to others - he married a second time in old age and gave birth to a son [7] .
Comments
- ↑ The text of the patent can be read in the collection of patents compiled by T. Webster and published in 1844 [6] .
Notes
- ↑ Swartz A. Open Library - 2007.
- ↑ Blast furnace production. // Encyclopedic Dictionary. T. 10 A (20). - SPb. : Brockhaus-Efron Publishing House, 1893. - S. 947.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dudley, Dud . // Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. - Vol. 16. - N. Y .: Macmillan and Co; L .: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1888. - P. 99-100.
- ↑ 1 2 Error in footnotes ? : Invalid
<ref>; no text forODofNBfootnotes - ↑ Beckert M. Eisen: Tatsachen und Legenden. - Lpz. : VEB-Deutscher Verlag für Grundstoffindustrie, 1980.
- ↑ Thomas Webster . Reports and notes of cases on letters patent for inventions . - L. , 1644. - P. 19.
- ↑ King . Dud Dudley's contribution. - P. 50.
Literature
- Ashton, Thomas Southcliffe (1968), Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution , Manchester University Press, p. xi —xii
- EB staff (1 January 2016), Dud Dudley, English ironmaster , < http://www.britannica.com/biography/Dud-Dudley >
- Dudley, Dudd (1854), Bagnall, John N., ed., Dud Dudley's Metallum Martis: or, Iron made with pit-coale, sea-coale, & c: and with the same fuell to melt and fine imperfect mettals, and refine perfect mettals (reprint ed.), L. , < https://archive.org/details/duddudleysmetta01dudlgoog >
- Higgs, Carl (January 13, 2012), " Dud Dudley and Abraham Darby; Forging New Links ", The Blackcountryman , < http://www.blackcountrysociety.co.uk/articles/duddudley.htm > . Retrieved November 1, 2013. Archived February 19, 2009 on Wayback Machine
- King, PW (January 2008), “Dudley, Dud (1600? –1684),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press , DOI 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 8146
- King, PW (2001-2002), "Sir Clement Clerke and the Adoption of coal in Metallurgy", Transactions of Newcomen Society T. 73 (1): 33-52
- King, PW (2002), "Dud Dudley's contribution to metallurgy", Historical Metallurgy T. 36 (1): 43–53
- Kirby, Richard Shelton (1990), Engineering in History (illustrated, unabridged, reprint ed.), Courier Dover Publications, p. 192 , ISBN 9780486264127
- Smiles, Samual (1901), Industrial Biographies , London: John Murray
- Žmolek, Michael Andrew (2013), Rethinking the Industrial Revolution: Five Centuries of Transition from Agrarian to Industrial Capitalism in England , BRILL, p. 324 , ISBN 9789004251793
- false Book of Metallum Martis, 1851 reprint.
- Mott, RA (December 1, 1934), " Dud Dudley and the Coal-Iron Industry ", Nature T. 134: 842-842, doi : 10.1038 / 134842b0 , < http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/ v134 / n3396 / abs / 134842b0.html > (subscription required)