Shingling
Shingling was a stage in the production of bar iron or steel, in the finery and puddling processes.[1] As with many ironmaking terms, this is derived from the French - cinglage, from the verb cingler ("to strike iron in order to forge it"), first attested in the Larousse dictionary of 1866.[2]
The product of the finery was a bloom or loop (from old Frankish luppa or lopp, meaning a shapeless mass); that of the puddling furnace was a puddled ball.[3] In each case, this needed to be consolidated by hammering it into a more regular shape. This was done manually with heavy hammers; later by a waterwheel or steam powered hammers, leading to modern power hammers.[4] A widely used example was the steam hammer developed by James Nasmyth in 1839, originally conceived to forge large wrought-iron components such as paddle shafts.[5] The result was an oblong-shaped iron product similar in appearance to shingles used on roofs. In the finery, this was part of the work of the finer; during puddling, it was done by a special workman called the shingler, who transferred the ball onto the anvil of the shingling hammer to force out slag.[4][6] The iron (or steel) then had to be further shaped (drawn out) under the hammer or rolled in a rolling mill to produce a bar. Grades of iron such as "best" or "best best" were already differentiated at this stage of manufacture.[7][8] In more recent times, the process was carried out using mechanical jaws to squeeze the puddled ball into shape.
References
[edit source]- ↑ H. R. Schubert, History of the British iron and steel industry (1957), 285-6
- ↑ "Cinglage : définition, signification et usage du mot". Encyclopædia Universalis. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ Mott, Reginald Arthur (1983). Singer, Peter (ed.). Henry Cort, the Great Finer: Creator of Puddled Iron. The Metals Society. ISBN 978-0904357554.
- 1 2 W. K. V. Gale, The iron and steel industry: a dictionary of terms (Newton Abbot, 1971), 184.
- ↑ "Nasmyth's Steam Hammer". Science Museum Group Collection. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ "Puddlers, Shinglers & Rollers: the Story of Malleable Iron". CultureNL Museums. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ Flemings, Merton C.; Ragone, David V. (2009). "Puddling: A Metallurgical Perspective". Historical Metallurgy. 43 (2): 103–108.
- ↑ Belford, Paul (2004). "Extra Special Best Best: Black Country Iron Puddling and Wrought Iron Manufacture in the Nineteenth Century". Historical Metallurgy. 38 (1): 47–59.