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ironworks

 
Dictionary: i·ron·works   (ī'ərn-wûrks') pronunciation
pl.n.
(used with a sing. or pl. verb) A building or establishment where iron is smelted or where heavy iron products are made.


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WordNet: ironworks
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: the workplace where iron is smelted or where iron goods are made


Wikipedia: Ironworks
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Coat of arms of Eisenhüttenstadt ("city of ironworks"), Germany.

An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the plural of ironworks is ironworks.

An integrated ironworks in the 19th century usually included one or more blast furnaces and a number of puddling furnaces and/or a foundry with or without other kinds of ironworks.

The processes carried at ironworks are usually described as ferrous metallurgy, but the term siderurgy is also occasionally used. This is derived from the Greek words sideros - iron and ergon or ergos - work. This is an unusual term in English, and it is best regarded as an anglicisation of a term used in French, Spanish, and other Romance languages.

Contents

Varieties of ironworks

Primary ironmaking

Blast furnaces of Třinec Iron and Steel Works
Worker in a Foundry

Ironworks is used as an omnibus term covering works undertaking one or more iron-producing processes. Such processes or species of ironworks where they were undertaken include the following (the detailed articles on each process should be consulted) or alternatively the History of Ferrous Metallurgy:

Modern steelmaking

From the 1850s, pig iron might be partly decarburised to produce mild steel using one of the following:

For this period see History of the modern steel industry and Steelmaking.

Further processing

After bar iron had been produced in a finery forge or in the forge train of a rolling mill, it might undergo further processes in one of the following:

  • A slitting mill - which cut a flat bar into rod iron suitable for making into nails.
  • A tinplate works - where rolling mills made sheets of iron (later of steel), which were coated with tin.
  • A plating forge with a tilt hammer, a lighter hammer with a rapid stroke rate, enabling the production of thinner iron, suitable for the manufacture of knives, other cutlery, and so on.
  • A cementation furnace might be used to convert the bar iron (if it was pure enough) into blister steel by the cementation process, either as an end in itself or as the raw material for crucible steel.

Manufacture

Most of these processes did not produce finished goods. Further processes were often manual, including

In the context of the iron industry, the term manufacture is best reserved for this final stage.

Notable ironworks

Great Britain

United States of America

Czech Republic

Germany

Spain

Historical

  • Kindiba, in Burkina Faso. Ancient iron extraction site consisting of mines and three clay built furnaces.
  • Darkhill, in the Forest of Dean, England. Experimental ironworks established in 1819 and designated an 'Industrial Archaeological Site of International Importance'

Translations: Ironworks
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Dansk (Danish)
n. pl., -
n. - jernværk

Nederlands (Dutch)
ijzersmelterij, hoogovenbedrijf

Français (French)
n. pl. - fonderie, usine sidérurgique

Deutsch (German)
n. pl. - Eisenhütte

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. pl. - σιδηρουργία, σιδηρουργείο

Italiano (Italian)
ferriera

Português (Portuguese)
n. pl. - siderurgia (f)

Русский (Russian)
предприятие черной металлургии

Español (Spanish)
n. pl. - fundición de hierro, fábrica siderúrgica

Svenska (Swedish)
n. pl. - järnverk, järnbruk

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
铁工厂

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鐵工廠
n. pl. - 鐵工廠

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 제철소, 철공소
n. pl. - 제철소, 철공소

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 鉄工所

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الجمع) مصنع الحديد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. pl. - ‮בית יציקה לברזל‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ironworks" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more