Some technological features of the Industrial Revolution

• Expansion of coal and metalliferous mining; deep shafts from late 17th century

• Developments in ferrous metallurgy

o Use of coke instead of charcoal for smelting (Abraham Darby 1709); blast furnaces from ca. 1760; steel production (Bessemer converter 1850, open-hearth furnace 1860s, the basic process from late 1870s)

o Iron and steel as constructional materials – Iron Bridge 1779; use in shipbuilding from 1820s

• Introduction of Portland cement by John Smeaton; use for construction of Eddystone lighthouse 1759

• Mechanisation of textile industry; harnessing of water-power from 1730s and, later steam power (19th century)

• Development of steam engines initially for pumping water from mines but later for driving air blowers for blast furnaces and mine ventilation, and for general mechanisation, steam locomotion, etc. – some stages:

o Thomas Savery’s ‘Miner’s Friend’ 1699; Newcomen engine 1708; engines with

separate condenser and with rotary motion (James Watt and Matthew Boulton

1776-1800); use of high-pressure steam (Richard Trevithick ca. 1803)

• Locomotives from soon after 1800; marine engines from 1820s

• Canal construction 1760-1830; railway construction from 1825

• Coal-gas lighting from 1807; electric power from ca. 1880s. 

Early Chemical Technology

Already by the middle of the 17th century a number of chemicals were known and a few empirical chemical technologies (some dating from antiquity) were well established on a small scale:

• Smelting of ores of copper, iron, lead and tin; lime-burning

• Production of alcohol by fermentation

• Extraction of alkalis from plant material – soda ash (Na2CO3) from maritime plants, potash (K2CO3) from terrestrial plants

• Preparation of caustic alkalis (NaOH and KOH) by treatment of soda ash and potash with lime (CaO or Ca(OH)2)

• Soap-boiling

• Glass-making

• Alum-making

• Production of nitre or saltpetre (KNO3) for gunpowder

Manufacture by oxidation of limed nitrogenous organic matter, and reacting the resultant Ca(NO3)2 with potash

(Chile saltpetre (NaNO3) only became available from 1825)

• Preparation of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) by distillation of ‘green vitriol’ (FeSO4.7H2O) obtained by air-oxidation of moist pyrite (FeS2) 

Coal Carbonisation: Coke, Gas and Byproducts

At this stage, it is appropriate to comment on coal carbonisation. Coke was produced for metallurgical use from early in the 18th century, and from early in the 19th century the potential of coal gas for lighting was appreciated; distribution was facilitated by the availability of cast-iron pipes. By the 1820s many English towns were lit by gas and the coal gas industry expanded greatly over the next few decades; coke ovens primarily for chemical and metallurgical coke also increased in number.

Gas from coal carbonisation contains hydrogen sulphide. Initially, it was not purified but soon the messy process of washing with lime water was adopted. Later on bog iron ore, hydrated iron oxides periodically revived by aeration was used in purifier boxes where the following reactions took place:

  2Fe(OH)3 + 3H2S J Fe2S3 + 6H2O

  2Fe2S3 + 3O2 + 6H2O J 4Fe(OH)3 + 6S

After prolonged use and the rise of the sulphur content to about 50%, the ‘spent oxide’ was discharged for use in lead chamber sulphuric acid plants. 

Other products of coal carbonisation were ammonia and coal tar. Coke ovens and gas works became the main source of ammonia until the advent of synthetic ammonia (1913 in Germany, 1923/24 in England). The rise of the gas industry (1825-1860) coincided with the main phase of railway construction, and the coal tar found a ready use as a wood preservative for sleepers.