Henry Cort

Henry Cort (* 1740 in Lancaster, † May 23, 1800 probably in London ) was an English metallurgist and entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution in England. Cort improved the quality of the iron critical. He led the 1783 mechanical rolling process in the production of iron and invented 1784, the puddling process for the production of wrought iron (steel) from pig iron.

The puddling furnace is allowed to emphasize oxygen-containing combustion gases through the molten iron so that the carbon and impurities contained burn such as sulfur in iron. This required workers ( puddlers ) with a scraper iron stir (English: to puddle ). The Puddler finally got the iron out with pliers from the oven. In 1820 there should have been 8200 puddling furnaces.

Cort was married twice: to Elizabeth Brown and 1768 Elizabeth Heysham. Cort ruined later by business activities and died in poverty, although he received a pension from the government. He is buried in Hampstead, London.