science · 22 June 1792 · 232 years ago
birth
Born 22 Jun 1792; died 18 Jan 1865 at age 72.
Scottish inventor who introduced the use of a hot-air blast instead of a cold-air blast for the smelting of iron. His process reduced the amount of coal needed and increased efficiency to satisfy the demands of the rail and shipbuilding industries. While manager of the Glasgow Gas-works, he had experimented with the effect of heated air on the illuminating power of gas, by bringing up a stream of it in a tube so as to surround the gas burner. He found the combustion of the gas was more intense and brighter. Then, experimenting on a common smith's fire, by blowing the fire with heated air, the effect was the same; the fire was much more brilliant, and accompanied by an unusually intense degree of heat. In 1828, he patented his hot blast method for smelting.
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