ABSTRACT
The salient feature of the physical development of the British iron industry since the Industrial Revolution is undoubtedly the phenomenal expansion of its output of pig iron. We have already examined the rate of growth of the industry during the Napoleonic wars. In 1788 its 85 blast furnaces produced during the year some 68,000 tons; by 1815 the production of about 200 furnaces 1 was between 344,000 and 373,000 tons. In 1850 the industry’s output was roughly 2,500,000 tons from some 450 of a total of over 600 furnaces. This, indeed, was a rapid rate of progress, but the second half of the century eclipsed this in a way which is readily discernible from the statistics of output. In 1865 the output of the British industry was not far off double the 1850 figure—-4,825,254 tons—whilst the number of furnaces available and in blast had increased by some 300 and 200 respectively. This is striking evidence of the increased capacity of the blast furnaces resulting from technical innovations and the greater skill and knowledge of the ironmasters.
