{{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 "grain" t ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, in the finery and puddling processes. As with many ironmaking terms, this is derived from the French - ''cinglage''. The product of the finery was a bloom or loop (from

old Frankish Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century. After the Salian Franks settled in Roman Gaul, its speakers in Picardy an ...

''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 buckets ...

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 simil ...

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