The Cranage brothers and eighteenth-century forge technology
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Abstract
The patent awarded to Thomas and George Cranage in 1766 has long been considered an important precursor of the puddling process. This article re-assesses the evidence for the Cranage process and considers whether it had any influence on subsequent technological development. Questions are raised about the development of technology in the wrought iron industry and the way in which the evidence has been interpreted by historians and archaeologists. It argues that the reputation of the Cranage brothers has been enhanced by their association with the Darby and Reynolds families of Coalbrookdale. It goes on to caution against over-reliance on patents as an index of technological development, and to question whether technology derived from an environment of empirical skills can be said to have had a single inventor.
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