- Darby, Abraham
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born 1678?, near Dudley, Worcestershire, Eng.died March 8, 1717, Madeley Court, WorcestershireBritish ironmaster.In 1709 Darby's Bristol Iron Co. became the first to successfully smelt iron ore with coke (see smelting). He demonstrated the superiority of coke in cost and efficiency by building much larger furnaces than were possible with charcoal as fuel. The quality of his iron made it possible to manufacture thin castings that rivaled brass for pots and other hollowware. Iron from his establishment was used for the cylinders of Thomas Newcomen's engines, for a cast-iron bridge, and for the first locomotive with a high-pressure boiler. See also Dud Dudley.
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▪ British ironmasterborn 1678?, near Dudley, Worcestershire, Eng.died March 8, 1717, Madeley Court, WorcestershireBritish ironmaster who first successfully smelted iron ore with coke.Darby, who had used coke in smelting copper in Bristol, in 1708 founded the Bristol Iron Company. He acquired premises at Coalbrookdale, on the Severn, close to supplies of low-sulfur coal. In 1709 he produced marketable iron in a coke-fired furnace. He presently demonstrated the superiority of coke in cost and efficiency by building much larger furnaces than were possible with charcoal as a fuel, the latter being too weak to support a heavy charge of iron.The quality of Darby's iron made it possible for him to manufacture thin castings that could compete successfully with brass in such applications as the manufacture of pots and other hollow ware.The advent of the Thomas Newcomen steam engine in 1712 created an important new market for iron; by 1758, when Darby had been succeeded by his eldest son, Abraham Darby (1711–63), more than 100 Newcomen cylinders had been cast at Coalbrookdale. In 1779 Darby's grandson, Abraham Darby III (1750–91), completed one of the world's first cast-iron bridges (at present-day Ironbridge, near Coalbrookdale), and in 1802 the Coalbrookdale Works built the first railway locomotive with a high-pressure boiler, for Richard Trevithick, an English engineer and inventor.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
