Editing Iron (section)

====Cast iron====
{{Main|Cast iron}}
[[Cast iron]] was first produced in China during 5th century BC,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wagner |first= Donald B.|url=https://hist-met.org/images/Journal_PDFs/37_1_p_25_Wagner.pdf|title=Chinese blast furnaces from the 10th to the 14th century|journal=Historical Metallurgy|volume=37|issue=1|date=2003|pages=25–37|access-date=7 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107175015/https://hist-met.org/images/Journal_PDFs/37_1_p_25_Wagner.pdf|archive-date=7 January 2018|url-status=dead}} originally published in {{Cite journal|first =Donald B.|last =Wagner|title=Chinese blast furnaces from the 10th to the 14th century|journal=West Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine|volume=18 |date=2001|pages=41–74|doi =10.1163/26669323-01801008}}</ref> but was hardly in Europe until the medieval period.<ref>Giannichedda, Enrico (2007): [https://books.google.com/books?id=LAgxAJNXhFwC&pg=PA200 "Metal production in Late Antiquity"], in ''Technology in Transition AD 300–650'' Lavan, L.; Zanini, E. and Sarantis, A.(eds.), Brill, Leiden; {{ISBN|90-04-16549-5}}, p. 200.</ref><ref name="Biddle">{{Cite book| title = Chemistry, Precision and Design|publisher = A Beka Book, Inc.|first1 = Verne|last1 =Biddle|first2= Gregory|last2 =Parker}}</ref><!--Missing page numbers (how would you add them?)--> The earliest cast iron artifacts were discovered by archaeologists in what is now modern [[Luhe County]], [[Jiangsu]] in China. Cast iron was used in [[ancient China]] for warfare, agriculture, and architecture.<ref name="Wagner">{{cite book|last=Wagner |first= Donald B. |title=Iron and Steel in Ancient China|date=1993|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09632-5|pages=335–340}}</ref> During the [[medieval]] period, means were found in Europe of producing wrought iron from cast iron (in this context known as [[pig iron]]) using [[finery forge]]s. For all these processes, [[charcoal]] was required as fuel.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}}
[[File:Philipp Jakob Loutherbourg d. J. 002.jpg|thumb|''[[Coalbrookdale by Night]]'', 1801. Blast furnaces light the iron making town of [[Coalbrookdale]].]]
Medieval [[blast furnaces]] were about {{convert|10|ft|m}} tall and made of fireproof brick; forced air was usually provided by hand-operated bellows.<ref name="Biddle" /> Modern blast furnaces have grown much bigger, with hearths fourteen meters in diameter that allow them to produce thousands of tons of iron each day, but essentially operate in much the same way as they did during medieval times.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}}

In 1709, [[Abraham Darby I]] established a [[Coke (fuel)|coke]]-fired blast furnace to produce cast iron, replacing charcoal, although continuing to use blast furnaces. The ensuing availability of inexpensive iron was one of the factors leading to the [[Industrial Revolution]]. Toward the end of the 18th century, cast iron began to replace wrought iron for certain purposes, because it was cheaper. Carbon content in iron was not implicated as the reason for the differences in properties of wrought iron, cast iron, and steel until the 18th century.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=32}}

Since iron was becoming cheaper and more plentiful, it also became a major structural material following the building of the innovative [[The Iron Bridge|first iron bridge]] in 1778. This bridge still stands today as a monument to the role iron played in the Industrial Revolution. Following this, iron was used in rails, boats, ships, aqueducts, and buildings, as well as in iron cylinders in [[steam engine]]s.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}} Railways have been central to the formation of modernity and ideas of progress<ref>Schivelbusch, G. (1986) The Railway Journey: Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space in the 19th Century. Oxford: Berg.</ref> and various languages refer to railways as ''iron road'' (e.g. French {{Lang|fr|chemin de fer}}, German {{Lang|de|Eisenbahn}}, Turkish {{Lang|tr|demiryolu}}, Russian {{Lang|ru|железная дорога}}, [[CJK|Chinese, Japanese, and Korean]] 鐵道, Vietnamese ''{{Lang|vi|đường sắt}}'').