Reply To: Jamaica puddling

[Paul Rondelez]

Hi Ray,

Thank you! Not my time period, so not too familiar with the various techniques.

Does this mean that Cort obtained patents for both puddling (wrought from cast) and one for wrought from bundled scrap? If so, the paper would seem somewhat unfair as it documents Cort’s ‘borrowing’ of the Jamaican scrap to wrought process while not mentioning the puddling process for which Cort became most famous? ‘Puddling’ is mentioned once in the paper, as an alternative name for the ‘air furnace’, which is elsewhere used to describe the furnace for converting scrap to wrought. Also the title of the paper ‘Black metallurgists and the making of the Industrial Revolution’ would seem to be somewhat misleading as the scrap to wrought was unlikely that impactful in that Revolution. (again, please excuse my ignorance of the period, just really curious about the paper).

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Paul Rondelez.