ABSTRACT
Between the years of 1810 and 1870, the machinery in a rolling mill was fairly simple. The Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory, built over the raceway for waterpower, had a waterwheel that powered the bellows for the reheating furnace, the anvil, shears, and rolls (Figure 2). Fuel was necessary to heat the iron before rolling and, until 1834 when the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad was built, Lukens had to purchase coal from miles away carted by wagon. Similarly, pig iron billets were purchased from manufacturers and shipped by wagon. The fmished material was then sent by cart to Philadelphia (38 miles) or Wilmington (26 miles) [1 , p. 6]. The movement of raw material and product was slow, and the communication to and from customers was slow as well.
