Experimental ironmaking in the 1720s: Thomas Tomkyns and his contemporaries
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Abstract
Thomas Tomkyns had an effective (though inefficient) process for making bar iron from pig iron in a reverberatory air furnace, which he patented in the name of Roger Woodhouse in January 1724. Its implementation was delayed by Tomkyns being severely in debt, also by the rivalry of William Wood who had an ineffective process for making iron from its ore, but enjoyed political patronage from Sir Robert Walpole. The process was tried at Nine Elms in Surrey in 1726, then used successively at Oakamoor (Staffs) in 1728, at a copper works near Maidenhead (probably Temple Mills at Bisham, Berks), and finally at Lydney c1733. However, the low price of iron (due to Russian imports) in the mid-1730s rendered the process unprofitable. In this context, William Fallowfield, whose process used peat, stood little chance of commercial success.
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