Working with Steel

Inventors realized that they needed strong metals to build complicated machinery. Steel was the best choice, but it took some time to get it right.

At the beginning of the 18th Century - about 1700, Abraham Darby discovered that coal could be partially burned to create coke, which would create the steady, hot flame required to work with iron and steel.

In the 1740s, Henry Cort discovered "puddling" as a way of making stronger pig iron. He also was able to produce sheets of iron.