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Cast Iron: A Brief Overview
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Cast iron as the adjective denotes is molten iron that is poured into a mold, cooled,
and removed from the mold as a finished product. While the method is very similar to
the molding of pewter, the much higher melting point of iron and the brittle nature
of iron prior to the introduction of charcoal heating which removed most of the
carbon, made cast iron products later on the scene. It is unsuitable for any use that
requires some flexibility or a reasonably sharp edge (such as a plow or a knife). The
earliest uses for cast iron appear to be for cannonballs and shot for flint rifles and
pistols, which could easily be cast from molds. At the beginning of the 18th century,
the “casting” process was extended to the manufacture of pots and kettles making use
of iron’s ability to withstand and retain heat. Perhaps the most famous of those is the
Coalbrookdale furnaces of England, which became the dominant supplier of pots, soup
kettles, saucepans, and frying pans. The invention of the steam engine in the mid-18th
century led to the design of molds to manufacture the engine cylinders much more
economically than the brass ones in use. By the beginning of the 19th century, cast
iron was used in the construction of bridges and as the frame for buildings both
because of its strength under compression and its inflammability compared with the
wooden frames of buildings. This was of particular importance in the north of England,
around Yorkshire, where woolen and textile mills full of fibers from the process
burned down to the ground very often. In the American smelters, cast iron virtually
took over the kitchens of the late 19th century, just as pottery and, among the
wealthier; china had replaced much of the pewter on the table a generation earlier.
Cast iron kettles hung over the fireplaces where many brass fire backs were replaced
with cast iron, ladles and skimmers were hung along the wall, and where they could be
purchased, decorative oven doors covered stoves. Cast iron also found its way into the
assembly lines of Henry Ford and others pioneering the new “horseless carriage” where,
as it had replaced the cylinders in the steam engine, the cylinders and blocks for the
new gas engines were manufactured. Bridges and factories and homes continued the
English building revolution by having their framing made of cast iron rather than wood,
mostly in the northeast. Around the same time as kitchens were filling with cast iron
cookware and Detroit was ramping up to change the American landscape, the new use for
iron ore, steel, began to take over the construction and home cooking functions filled
by cast iron. Many homes, rather than saving the cast iron pots, pans, irons, kettles
and utensils simply replaced them with the new steel. Thus, cast iron kitchenware
remains a scarcity among American antiques.
Cast Iron and Wrought Iron are available as home décor accents.
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