|
Antique
French Chest of Drawers Louis Style
French Vitrines, Cabinets and French Curios
French Marquetry
Commodes Marble in Bombe Style
French Occasional Tables with Marble Tops
French Wooden Pedestals and French Marble Stands
French Antique Center Table
French
Secretary Desks Office Furniture and Ladies Writing Desks
French Antique Buffets, Vaisseliers, Louis XV Buffets
Antique French Night Stand
French Side Corner Cabinets
French Dressers with Drawers
French
Antique Cupboards and Credenzas
Antique
French Jewelry Table
French
Louis XV End Tables
French Louis XV Side Tables
French
Chess Tables, Poker Tables and Game Tables
French
Bar Cabinet and French Semanier
French
Louis XV Period, Bureau Plat Louis XVI Desks
French
Antique Desk Chair
French
Marble column, Pedestals
French
Marble Fireplaces, Mantels
French
Occasional Marble Table
French
Louis Wall Bronze Scones
French
Mantle Clock
with Candelabra Candle Holder
Historic French Furniture
History
of Furniture
Historic
Events Wrought Iron
Historic Events Antique Marble
USA Furniture Stores
Famous
Interior Design
Shipping Policy
Price List
Guarantee
Contact Us
Finishing
Price List
New Models
Home
|
Historic
Events
Wrought Iron
Wrought
iron has been used in building from the earliest days of civilization,
wrought iron door furniture being commonplace in Roman times.
The structural use or iron dates from the Middle Ages, when
bars of wrought iron would be used occasionally to tie masonry
arches and domes.
This use of wrought iron in tension guaranteed its use
throughout the ascendancy of cast iron in the canal and
railway ages, as cast iron is strong only in compression. The
ill fated first Tay Bridge was of cast iron beams tied with
wrought iron. The demand for higher dynamic loads in bridges
and warehouse buildings, and the ever greater spans of train
sheds towards the end of the nineteenth century, led the
designers of buildings to acquire the technology developed to
build ships of iron, and create beams of riveted wrought iron
rolled sections. By the turn of the century this had led to
buildings completely framed in wrought iron, and later steel,
girder sections, and cast iron was once again relegated to an
ornamental role.
Early wrought iron was made in the fire from ore and charcoal.
The heat was sufficient for the charcoal to reduce the iron
oxide to iron, but not to melt it. As a result the silicate
slags were included, not refined away as we might do now, but
entrained in the fibrous structure of the material. For this
reason, the old irons have lasted for hundreds of years. Iron
may corrode, but not its coating of silicate slags.
English Ironwork took its course through the 18th century,
from Baroque to Rococo, and into a more austere era of
mechanisation.
Cast Iron and the Victorian Age Cast iron has been known to
the Chinese since before Christ, and was in general use in
Britain in the 16th century, mainly for items like ordnance,
firebacks and cooking pots. It was not until the 18th century
that any large scale use in architecture became apparent. The
Adam brothers experimented with cast iron. At first it was
used as an ornament to wrought ironwork.
It was not however until after the foundation of the Carron
Ironworks in 1759 that the headlong rush into all things of
cast iron began, so familiar to us from the 19th century.
Industrialisation enforced new requirements for design,
strength and accuracy. The carefree blacksmith became a
technician. Ornamental work too became accurate, made to
drawings, and characterised by squareness and symmetry.
|
