Page 46 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Although the main use for metals was for military purposes, other people had pressing needs for metal as well. There were some things that people wanted to do that simply could not be done with other materials. Most important of them was the development of machinery. People used iron on the tips of wooden ploughshares, although they rarely used expensive metal for an entire tool.
The Industrial Revolution
Over the centuries people gradually improved their ways of extracting metals from rocks and turning them into useful things. Iron was by far the most important. However, it was still made using charcoal from trees; and in some parts of the world, England in particular, so much charcoal was needed that the supply of trees was running out! This led people to seek another way of making iron.
(Above, left, and below) The Bessemer converter from iron to steel. It was one of the cornerstone developments of the Industrial Revolution.
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