National Park Ranger Curtis White stands to the right of the waterwheel shaft as it drives the bellows of the blast furnace.
SAUGUS IRON WORKS 9/23/12The ASM Boston chapter toured the Saugus Ironworks National Historic Site in Saugus, MA on September 23. In 1948, archeologists surveyed and excavated this site along the Saugus River and concluded that some 300 years past, it served as the location of the first integrated iron plant in the American colonies from 1646 until 1668. The excavation led to a careful, though partly conjectural, reconstruction of the works, including a shaft furnace, bloomery, and a rod slitting mill, along with water wheels and sluice system. Park ranger Curtis White demonstrated how water wheels drive the bellows of the blast furnace and the 500 lb. hammer of the bloomery.
SAUGUS IRON WORKS 9/23/12The ASM Boston chapter toured the Saugus Ironworks National Historic Site in Saugus, MA on September 23. In 1948, archeologists surveyed and excavated this site along the Saugus River and concluded that some 300 years past, it served as the location of the first integrated iron plant in the American colonies from 1646 until 1668. The excavation led to a careful, though partly conjectural, reconstruction of the works, including a shaft furnace, bloomery, and a rod slitting mill, along with water wheels and sluice system. Park ranger Curtis White demonstrated how water wheels drive the bellows of the blast furnace and the 500 lb. hammer of the bloomery.