The Forge

The Forge (HM1MAC)

Location: Saugus, MA 01906 Essex County
Buy Massachusetts State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 42° 28.157', W 71° 0.462'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 489 views
Inscription
At the forge, porous and brittle cast iron was changed into tough, strong, flexible wrought iron. To the sounds of four water wheels turning, the bellows flapping, and the ground-shaking thump of the power hammer, men toiled to make wrought-iron bars.
In the heat and noise of the smoke-filled interior, the ironworkers dragged the heavy glowing shapes. Under the blows of the 500 lb. hammer, the liquid slag burst from the glowing iron shape called a "bloom."
The glowing shape was dragged back and forth from fineries to power hammer, and was transformed from a large rectangular bar into a dumbbell shape. The reheating continued in the chafery hearth, and with repeated hammering the iron became a "merchant bar," the major product of Hammersmith.
A wrought-iron bar has a fibrous structure that makes it strong and bendable. These bars can be forged into reliable tools and hardware that will resist fracture while bending. Cast iron on the other hand has a more granular structure and therefore is quite brittle. Note the structural differences in the illustrations below.
The building sheltered three distinct work stations for finers, hammer men and helpers. In two finery hearths, cast-iron "sows" slowly remelted and decarbonized into semi-hardened iron masses. Kneading, reheating and stir-cooking condensed each mass into a pliable shape called a "loop." The sledge hammer blows of the finer splattered out molten slag and charcoal in a process called "shingling."
Captions:
"merchant bar"
"ancony"
"loop"
Wrought iron
Cast iron
"bloom"
Details
HM NumberHM1MAC
Tags
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, July 28th, 2015 at 10:02am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)19T E 334951 N 4703835
Decimal Degrees42.46928333, -71.00770000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 42° 28.157', W 71° 0.462'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds42° 28' 9.42" N, 71° 0' 27.72" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)617, 781, 978, 339
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 228 Central St, Saugus MA 01906, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. Who or what organization placed the marker?
  10. This marker needs at least one picture.
  11. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  12. Is the marker in the median?