ABSTRACT
The first Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain in the middle of the 18th century and spread slowly to the rest of the world. Iron was the main engineering metal at that time and supplies were limited by the shortage of charcoal. The revolution resulted largely from the marked increase in the production rate when coke was substituted for charcoal in the blast furnace and with the development of Cort’s process for the production of wrought iron. Both of these developments lowered the cost and increased the quantity of metal available. A coincident rapid increase in the population of industrialized countries led to an increased demand for metals and encouraged the developments.
