Henry Cort
Adam Jellicoe stood as chief clerk in the Pay Office of the Royal Navy when he agreed to lend money to Cort in 1780. Cort needed funds to develop a new method of converting cast iron into bar iron at his rolling mill in Titchfield. Over ten years, these loans accumulated to nearly £58,000, secured only by the value of the business itself. Jellicoe's son Samuel became a partner in the Fontley Works under this arrangement. Standard practice allowed clerks to temporarily use surplus office funds for personal benefit during this era. When Adam Jellicoe died suddenly on the 30th of August 1789, the debt could not be repaid. The Crown seized all property belonging to both Jellicoe and the partnership between Cort and Samuel Jellicoe. Cort was declared bankrupt and held personally responsible for the unpaid loan amount.
Cort developed his ideas at the Fontley Works, which he had renamed from Titchfield Hammer. He obtained a patent in 1783 for a simple reverberatory furnace designed to refine pig iron. This design applied heat from above rather than using forced air from below like previous methods. His work built upon existing concepts from the Cranege brothers regarding their own reverberatory furnace designs. In 1784, he secured another patent for a puddling furnace equipped with grooved rollers. These rollers mechanized what had been a laborious process previously done entirely by hand. The puddling furnace lowered carbon content through oxidation while an operator used an iron rabbling bar to stir the molten metal. A shingling hammer then processed the extracted ball of metal into a shingle before it entered the rolling mill.
The puddling technique removed carbon from cast iron to produce malleable wrought iron through careful stirring. An operator known as a puddler extracted a mass of iron from the furnace using a long iron rod called a rabbling bar. This action separated impurities and allowed the extraction of higher quality wrought iron. Cort's original process proved ineffectual until significant alterations were made later. Richard Crawshay and other Merthyr Tydfil ironmasters modified the system to handle coke smelted pig iron instead of charcoal furnaces. Lord Sheffield recognized the importance of these improvements in 1786 alongside James Watt's steam engine work. He considered them more important than the loss of America during that period. Despite early failures, vast numbers of puddling furnaces eventually used his modified version of the process.
Cort reached an agreement with South Wales ironmaster Richard Crawshay in 1787 regarding royalties on manufactured iron. All iron produced according to Cort's patents would result in a royalty payment of 10 shillings per ton. Production problems plagued the early implementation of this system throughout the late 1780s. The death of Adam Jellicoe in 1789 precipitated legal actions by the Crown to recover lent money. Cort was declared bankrupt despite having rectified his financial status shortly after. He never again engaged in industrial activities following this collapse. Reports indicate that approximately 8,200 puddling furnaces were used by 1820, yet they utilized a modified version of his process. These later versions avoided payment of royalties entirely, leaving Cort without the wealth his inventions deserved.
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Common questions
When was Henry Cort born and where did he live in 1765?
The date of his birth is traditionally listed as 1740, yet no definitive proof exists to confirm this year. Henry Cort lived in an office on Crutched Friars near Aldgate in London during 1765.
Who lent money to Henry Cort in 1780 and what happened when he died?
Adam Jellicoe stood as chief clerk in the Pay Office of the Royal Navy when he agreed to lend money to Cort in 1780. When Adam Jellicoe died suddenly on the 30th of August 1789, the debt could not be repaid and the Crown seized all property belonging to both parties.
What patents did Henry Cort obtain for iron production in 1783 and 1784?
He obtained a patent in 1783 for a simple reverberatory furnace designed to refine pig iron by applying heat from above rather than using forced air from below. In 1784, he secured another patent for a puddling furnace equipped with grooved rollers that mechanized the process previously done entirely by hand.
How did Richard Crawshay modify Henry Cort's puddling technique for ironmasters?
Richard Crawshay and other Merthyr Tydfil ironmasters modified the system to handle coke smelted pig iron instead of charcoal furnaces. These later versions avoided payment of royalties entirely, leaving Cort without the wealth his inventions deserved despite approximately 8,200 puddling furnaces being used by 1820.
Why was Henry Cort declared bankrupt after his financial status improved?
The death of Adam Jellicoe in 1789 precipitated legal actions by the Crown to recover lent money which resulted in Cort being declared bankrupt. He never again engaged in industrial activities following this collapse even though he had rectified his financial status shortly after.