This is a piece I wrote about my ancestor. I think it says it all!:
John (Evans) was a puddler in one of the greatest iron works in the world - Dowlais. By 1845 there were over 7,000 people employed in the Dowlais Works alone and 18 furnaces in blast producing a staggering amount of iron rails. They received a good wage of 35 shillings per week, the top wage being that of the rollers, £2 per week, whilst colliers in comparison received 25 shillings a week.
The puddling process or the “Welsh Method” as it was known as known in honour of its Cyfarthfa inventor, was a process whereby wrought iron, as opposed cast iron, could be produced.
“The puddling furnace made of iron plates and lined with firebricks, had two chambers. At one end was a firebox in which barrow-loads of coal were fiercely burning, the flames being carried by a draught into the second chamber [at 1500°C to 1800°C] which contained the charge of metal to be converted into wrought iron. After melting, the bath of molten metal began to 'boil', the carbon and impurities (phos[phorous, silica and carbon) being oxidised by the flame. After some time the pure iron began to form flakes [wrought iron has a higher melting point than pig iron] and the work of the puddler was to keep the bath in motion with his 'rabble' [iron pole], and gradually collect the 'sticky' flakes into three large balls, much as you make a snowball (weighing up to 300 lbs each) . When this was done the furnace door was opened, and the iron withdrawn in the form of white hot soft lumps dripping with molten cinder. These were carried to the shingling hammer and quickly reduced to short oblong blocks called 'blooms'. Needless to say this made the sparks fly [hot slag being force out of the iron by the hammering], and the shinglers were protected by armour-like leggings, a strong leather apron, and a gauze visor over their eyes, though strangely enough they always had bare arms! Nor would the puddlers protect their eyes from the glare with blue glass [blue for coal, oil or gas flames & green for electric arcs] as do furnace men today [1950]. The puddlers worked in trousers and a thick woolen vest open at the neck, but it was a hot, fatiguing job, and you could tell a furnace-man by his more than 'sunburnt' complexion. Yet they were a fine healthy lot of men….”
This was extremely dangerous work and many puddlers were maimed by the molten metal being spat out onto their legs and feet. Many puddlers were dead by the age of 50 because of the nature of the job – working close to the high heat and risking their lives and health daily. The job required great physical strength and also the mental knowledge to know when the iron was ready. Because of their skills they were quite highly paid.
