Hans Ludwig Knau
The Importance of Steel and Osmund-Iron in the “Südergebirge”.
Introduction
In our contribution we will illustrate the subject “steel in the enlightenment” for a certain German region mostly located in Westfalia, east of the river Rhine. Here, iron- and steel production has a long tradition. Some townships are well known as Altena, Lüdenscheid and Iserlohn for wire-drawing, the Siegerland for mining and steel production, the southern Sauerland for Osmond production.
The geographical term ‘Südergebirge’ [Southern Mountains] is employed for summarising the Sauerland, the Siegerland, the Wittgensteiner Land located north east of the Siegerland, and the Bergische Land which is located south-west of the Sauerland and belongs to the Kölnische Rheinland [Rhineland around Cologne] in a strictly territorial sense. Naturally and geologically, it forms one unit compared to the lower neighbour areas, i.e., the Rhine valley, Lower Hesse, and the region along the Hellweg, that is the old merchant route which connects Cologne and the Netherlands to the North Eastern part of Germany. Only in the south of Westphalia, the border is situated in a mountainous region.
Our description of the steel works is mainly based on the Prussian "Commissioner for Affairs of War, Taxation, Mining and Factories", Friedrich August Alexander Eversmann, and his book ‘Overview of the iron and steel production on water works between Lahn and Lippe’ [Übersicht der Eisen- und Stahlerzeugung auf Wasserwerken zwischen Lahn und Lippe][1] and Ernst Alexander Jägerschmid a well known businessman, who founded several scythe factories in Germany, Switzerland and France and who finally settled down in Toulouse. Both, Eversmann and Jägerschmid had acquired comprehensive metallurgical knowledge in England. Eversmann is considered as one of the best authorities of mining and iron works of his time in Prussia. By order of the Prussian State, he spent a longer time in England especially to spy the steam engine[2] where he met Samuel Homfrey in Glamorganshire. Later on, he made him come to Silesia. The first steam engine in Tarnowitz (Silesia) wasconstructed by Homfrey and built in England[3]. Eversmann himself writes, that by him and Homfrey "some ideas were made active in Silesia, old ones improved, some in parts implemented, in as much as the different locality of the German industry compared to that of England allows for." [manche Ideen in Schlesien regegemacht,alte verbessert, einige zum Teil, so weit es die ganz verschiedene Lokalität der teutschen Industrie gegen die von England zulässt, zur Ausführung gebracht.][4]. Eversmann tells in his memoires that his trip to England "has paid off sufficiently" for the Prussian State. The "improved chafing of sewing needles" [das verbesserte Scheuern der Nähnadeln] goes indirectly back to him and the transfer of the English technique to polish needles.[5]. It took place in the sewing-needle production taken from Aachen to Altena, where it was introduced by a certain Wienhaus from Altena, who had been sent to England by the "factory lord" [Fabrikenherr] Johann Caspar. Rumpe. Furthermore, Eversmann constructed the "English rail-roads" in a mine close to Hattingen which formed the model for all others. He also was the first "to start the de-sulphuring of hard coal and its application to iron smelting" [das Abschwefeln der Steinkohlen in Gang und ihre Anwendung auf Eisenschmelzen][6]. Therefore it is of particular interest for our knowledge of the steel production in the Südergebirge in the Age of Enlightenment to base on the description of a man who was well accustomed with the development in England in the 80ies of the 18th century.
Around 1785, Ernst Alexander Jägerschmid, son of a well known family of physicians, operated a blister-bar works according to English examples in Offenbach near Frankfurt/M. which unfortunately went bankrupt. Afterwards, he was recruited by the Altena merchantman Johan Caspar Rumpe, and built "a new furnace which allowed obtaining 20,000 pounds of steel from iron in one sole process " [einen neuen Ofen, der erlaubte, 20.000 Pfund Stahl in einem einzigen Gang aus Eisen zu gewinnen][7]in Altena. Although the production of blister bar according to the English example worked well, and the steel was of good quality, it was not accepted on the market in comparison with the local "rod steel".. This seems to have been a general opinion. The term "natural steel" [natürlicher Stahl] which was used for the characterization of the local steel, in contrast to the English blister bar or "artificial" steel, points already to a certain prejudice. Speaking of a "steel-bakery" the Altena iron-masters made fun of it. Like in Offenbach, the production of blister bar in Altena had to be finished.
Steel works in the Siegerland
The Siegerland was (and is) particularly known for its most important product, which is steel. Steel was produced in six Steel works [Stahlhütten], located in the surroundings of the "Steel Mountain" [Stahlberg] of Müsen[8]. The "Stahlberg" mine was first mentioned in 1313, then as "Stenberg zu Muzen“. It was one of the oldest known mines exploited by the "Work Union mines in the Siegerland[9], since 1648, Stahlberg" [Gewerkschaft Stahlberg][10].
The "Steel Stone" [Stahlstein] of Müsen is siderite. Already in the 16th century, this mineralwas called "a steel-rich iron" [ein stahlreich Eisen]. In the 18th century, it was called steel stone. We cite here the works of Johann Georg Krünitz: "Among the white iron stones belongs first of all that kind, which one is used to call the white iron spar or the white steel stone. It is an iron stone from considerable content, in as much a hundredweight of the very one yields 40, 50 up to 60 pounds of a good iron ... In German, it is also called white steel ore, because the iron molten from it can be changed into a good steel with little labour ..."[Unter die weißen Eisensteine gehört zuvörderst diejenige Art, welche man den weißen Eisenspath oder den weißen Stahlstein zu nennen pflegt. Es ist ein Eisenstein von beträchtlichem Gehalt, indem der Centner desselben 40, 50 bis 60 Pund eines guten Eisens gibt....Im Deutschen wird er auch weißes Stahlerz genannt, weil das daraus geschmolzene Eisen mit leichter Mühe in einen guten Stahl verwandelt werden kann...].[11]
Explicitly, it is pointed to the princedom Nassau-Siegen and to the Austrian Steyermark, when the deposits of "steel stone" are discussed.
The quality of the steel stone from Müsen is particularly underlined by the fact that it was allowed to be smelted only in the six steel works mentioned above. These works alone in turnowned all shares in the Steel Mountain of Müsen. "With other steel stone, it must not be mixed, but has to be blown pure or alone" [Er darf auch mit anderm Stahlstein nicht vermengt, sondern muß rein oder allein verblasen werden][12]. In 1787, the Steel Mountain of Müsen yielded 24090 wagons [Wagen] of steel stone [contemporary measure: 1 wagon =approx.1.000 Pfund] which was distributed among the six steel works according to their shares. This steel stone was not to be sold further and in particular not to be exported, a ban that was obviously not always respected[13].
According to Eversmann, the steel of Müsen was characterized "by the property of a drawing hardness [Ziehhärte] because of which it is quite superb, made into cutting tools" [durch die Eigenschaft einer Ziehhärte, weshalb er, zu schneidenden Waaren verarbeitet, ganz vorzüglich ist.][14].
The "high furnaces for steel smelting" [hohen Oefen zum Stahlschmelzen] do not differ in type and construction from the blast furnaces employed in this region[15]. As addition to the stone from Müsen, "1/6 heap is added, consisting of clay slate with quartz, to reduce the enormous liquidity of the stone" [1/6. Halde, die aus Thonschiefer mit Quarz besteht, zugesetzt, um die große Flüssigkeit des Steins zu mindern][16]. At 24 cycles of charges [Gichten, i.e., chargings of the blast furnace] per day, "4 to 5carriages crude-steel iron or so called steel-cakes" [4 bis 5 Karren Rohstahl=Eisen oder sogenannte Stahl=Kuchen] are gained, according to the conditions in the oven. For one part of steel iron, 2 2/3 part of steel stone and 1 2/3 part of good coal are required. 'Good (char)coal' refers here to a mixture from young oaks, beeches, and birches[17]. According to Eversmann, 1730 wagons of steel stone and iron stone were delivered to the six steel works in 1801. This amount required 3,438,582 pounds or 13000 Siegen Tains of coal. " According to Eversmann's calculation, 1,946,000 pounds of crude steel iron, of a value of 38,920 Reichsthaler g.C. [g.C. = common standard of currency =”gemeine Courant”] were blown"[18]
Crude-Steel Production
"In these regions of the Lower Rhineland and Westphalia, Crude steel is called that crude steel in rods which is forged on the crude hammers [Rohhämmer] out of the crude steel iron (steel cake) yielded by the smelting works out of the ore. Crude steel straight away is therefore the refined product of the steel cakes, hence to be distinguished from crude-steel iron in this terminology" [Rohstahl wird in diesen Nieder-Rheinisch-Westfälischen Gegenden der aus rohem Stahleisen (Stahlkuchen), welches die Hütten aus dem Erze liefern, auf Rohhämmern geschmiedete grobe Stangen-Stahl genannt. Rohstahl gerade hin ist also das gefrischte Product der Stahl-Kuchen, mithin in diesem Sprach-Gebrauch vom Rohstahl-Eisen zu unterscheiden][19].
Similarly to the production of wrought iron [Schmiedeeisen] from pig iron [Roheisen], the production from crude steel from crude-steel iron required a refining process, which at the time under consideration took place in hammer works[20]. These were generally located in some distance from the steel works, most of them along the river Alsdorf in the authority Freudenberg[21], about 20 km from Müsen.
However, it is noted that the hammer works "from Lohe close to Müsen" [von der Lohe bei Müsen] were best suited for cutting tools[22]. In analogy to what has been presented above, this is because the two hammer works belonging to the sovereign at Lohe ["zum Loo"] were located close to the smelting works also belonging to the sovereign at Lohe and shared the same owner.
If the smiths around Freudenberg were not provided with sufficient amounts of crude-steel iron from the steel works around Siegen, they helped themselves by using "steel from Fischbach and the Hohgreite, which is less expensive and closer"[23] (i.e., not of the same high quality as that from the Steel mountain close to Müsen). Fischbach is situated very close toFreudenberg at the Fischbach stream, aleft tributary to the Alsdorf, Hohgreite (also: "Hohe Grete") was the name of a mine, situated in what is nowadays district [Kreis] Altenkirchen, state of Rhineland-Palatine [Rheinland-Pfalz], also not further away from Freudenberg than Müsen.
The corresponding refining process is thus termed Freudenberg Crude-Steel Forging [Freudenberger Rohstahl-Schmiederei]. The product from the refining hearth is called "Schrey" [intranslatable, also "Schrei"]. According to Becher[24], a "Schrei is ... the remolten mass of pig iron which is afterwards chopped to pieces under the hammer and wrought to rods, or that which the hammer smith calls 'Luppe' (puddle ball) at the start of forging [Schrei... die eingeschmolzene Masse Rohstahleisen, die hernach in Stücken unterm Hammer zerhauen und in Stäben ausgeschmiedet wird; oder dasjenige, was der Hammerschmied beim Einschmieden Luppe nennt]. He continues: "In the middle of the Schrei there sits the middle choice, but from the outside, or from the edges towards the middle, the good one or the special steel. It is the contrary at the rods, there the special steel takes the middle, and the middle choice the ends" [In der Mitte des Schreies sitzt der Mittelkühr, aussen her aber, oder vom Rande nach der Mitte der gute oder Edelstahl, umgekehrt aber an den Stäben, daran nimmt der Edelstahl die Mitte, der Mittelkühr aber die Enden ein][25].
Eversmann describes the refining process as follows:
“Within eight hours, a Schrey is molten down, and during this time, seven times crude-steel iron is added. The smiths therefore say that each Schrey is blown seven times ready[26] and seven times crude, because each time when the molten down one is ready, new crude-steel iron is added and the mixture gets crude again in the fire. After seven hours, the Schrey is [finally] blown ready ... As the [beam of the] blower cuts through in the middle of the Schrey, the Schrey gets over-ready there, before the fragments of the edges get their required readiness. It therefore loses part of its carbon and thus becomes closer to rod-iron. As the Schrey is divided up from the middle, each piece contains a section of that soft steel, and it is always found thatthe rod does not shatter there, contrary to the other section which has to shatter if it is good” [In Acht Stunden schmelzt ein Schrey ein, und in dieser Zeit wird sieben mahl Rohstahleisen nachgetragen. Die Schmiede sagen daher: ein jedes Schrey werde 7mahl gaar und 7mahl roh geblasen, weil allemal, wenn das eingeschmolzene gaar wird, neues Rohstahleisen nachgeworfen, und die Masse im Feuer dadurch wieder roh wird. Nach sieben Stunden wird das Schrey gaar geblasen.... Da sich in der Mitte des Schreys das Gebläse durchschneidet, so wird das Schrey daselbst, bevor die Rand-Scherbel ihre nöthige Gaare erhalten können, übergaar, und verliert einen Theil seines Kohlen-Stoffs, wodurch es sich dem Stabeisen nähert. Da das Schrey aus dem Mittelpunkt getheilt wird, so kömmt an jedes Stück ein Theil des weichen Stahls, und man findet immer, dass der Stab, hier beym Schlagen nicht zerspringt, welches doch der übrige Theil, wenn er gut ist, thun muß][27].
Becher also describes this refining process:
“The Schrei weighs 1 ½ , 2 to 2 ¼ Stalln[28], and gets, according to the terminology of the steel smiths, seven 'Heisen' or it is seven times molten down, as they say. Things are like this: The first charge weighs appoximately a third Stalln. When this is molten down, the second charge takes place, and in this way one portion of crude-steel iron after the other, until there are six or seven additions with the Schrei. It is left with six, if the readiness of the steel mass shows up too early, however, in this case, the Schrei is also correspondingly lighter. Because each time crude-steel iron is added, the whole is molten down, so, strictly spoken, only the first charge gets the seven Heisen or smeltings, the second six, the third five, and so on. The added crude-steel iron is always put into the middle of the Schrei, where the steel smith keeps a dip into which he puts the new charge. If the Schrei is much put towards readiness, the middle choice understandably is diminished, however, the loss in steel gets bigger. The hotter the fire is operated, the more of middle choice results This, the steel smiths accept as one clause”.[Das Schrei wiegt 1 1/2 , 2 bis 2 ¼ Stalln, und bekommt, dem Sprachgebrauch der Stahlschmieden nach, sieben Heisen, oder wird, wie sie sagen, sieben mahl eingeschmolzen. Die Sache verhält sich so: Der erste Einsatz wiegt ohngefehr Ein drittel Stalln, wenn dieser eingeschmolzen ist, so erfolgt der zweite Zusatz, und so eine Portion Rohstahleisen auf die andere, bis sechs oder sieben Zusätze an dem Schrei sind. Es wird bei sechs belassen, wenn die Gare der Stahlmasse sich zu früh zeigt, in diesem Fall aber fällt das Schrei auch so viel leichter aus. Da so oft, wie Rohstahleisen aufgetragen wird, das ganze niedegeschmolzen wird, so erhält eigentlich nur die erste Portion die sieben Heisen oder Einschmelzungen, die zweite sechs, die dritte fünf usw. Das zugesetzte Rohstahleisen kommt allemahl in die Mitte des Schreis, wo sich der Stahlschmied eine Vertiefung dazu hält, in die er solches trägt. Wenn das Schrei sehr auf die Gare getrieben wird, nimmt der Mittelkühr, wie begreiflich ab, der Verlust an Stahl wird aber größer. Je heißer das Feuer geht, je mehr Mittelkühr fällt. Dies lassen die Stahlschmiede als einen Satz gelten.][29]
After this lenghty procedure to produce a Schrey, this is lifted from the hearth and moved under the hammer, "and after it has been forged a little, it is divided into 5 to 8 pieces" [und nachdem es ein wenig geschmiedet worden, in 5 bis 8 Stücke getheilt][30]. Then, the pieces are forged into rods under a lift hammer (Aufwurfhammer, the hammer is lifted on the side of the hammer head, contrary to the tilt hammer, in German: Schwanzhammer). These rods have a length of 6-7 feet, a width of 2 ½ inches and a thickness of 2 inches. The rods are broken down into pieces again and sorted according to sound and shattering. If they shatter and give a light sound, they are classified special steel. If they do not shatter and sound muffled, they are considered middle choice. "Only very rarely, the whole rod suits as special steel" [Nur sehr selten taugt der ganze Stab zu Edelstahl][31].
Special steel and middle choice (the latter approx. 1/3 of the whole Schrey) differ in price: Middle choice is cheaper by one Reichsthaler
The burn-up on forging is according to Eversmann about 25 %, from 1020 pounds of steel cake about 745 ½ pounds of crude steel are produced, an amount for which one carriage of(char)coal is required[32]. In another calculation, from 1946 steel cakes, 1460 carriages of crude steel are produced, with a value of 94,900 Reichsthaler, each carriage of 65 Reichsthaler[33].