{{about, the industrial steel manufacturing process, the text mining technique, w-shingling Shingling was a stage in the production of

bar iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grai ...

or steel, in the finery and

puddling A puddle is a small accumulation of liquid on a surface. Puddle or Puddles may also refer to: * Puddle, Cornwall, hamlet in England * ''Puddle'' (video game) * Puddle (M. C. Escher), a woodcut by M. C. Escher * Weld puddle, a crucial part of the ...

processes. As with many ironmaking terms, this is derived from the French - ''cinglage''. The product of the finery was a

bloom Bloom or blooming may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant * Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system * Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...

or loop (from old Frankish ''luppa'' or '' lopp'', meaning a shapeless mass); that of the puddling furnace was a puddled ball. In each case, this needed to be consolidated by hammering it into a more regular shape. This was done manually with heavy hammers; later by a

waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buc ...

or steam powered hammers, leading to modern

power hammer Power hammers are mechanical forging hammers that use an electrical power source or steam to raise the hammer preparatory to striking, and accelerate it onto the work being hammered. They are also called open die power forging hammers. They ha ...

s. The result was an oblong-shaped iron product similar in appearance to shingles used on roofs. In the finery, this was part of the work of the finer; during puddling, it was done by a special workman called the shingler. The iron (or steel) then had to be further shaped (drawn out) under the hammer or rolled in a

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is sim ...

to produce a bar. In more recent times, the process was carried out using mechanical jaws to squeeze the puddled ball into shape.

References

* H. R. Schubert, ''History of the British iron and steel industry'' (1957), 285-6 * W. K. V. Gale, ''The iron and steel industry: a dictionary of terms'' (Newton Abbot, 1971), 184. Metallurgical processes