![]() ![]() That casting facility, Saugus Iron Works, was opened in 1645 and also enjoyed tax exemption along with a 20-year monopoly on all iron production courtesy of the Massachusetts General Court. America’s First Casting FacilityĪround 200 years later, and after the British Colonies were established in the New World, the first “American” casting facility was started in Saugus, Massachusetts. His work, De Le Pirotechnia, was separated into 10 sections that covered many subjects including minerals, assaying, smelting, alloys, casting, as well as alchemy it is one of the oldest technical documents still around from the Renaissance era. Over 150 years after the first cast cannon, Vannoccio Biringuccio, also known as the father of the foundry industry, recorded the first written account of casting and foundry practices. It was not too long after the advancements of bell casting that, ironically, a monk in Ghent (present-day Belgium) was the first to cast a cannon in 1313 with the same technology. This also marked the boundary of the period between casting for the purpose of art and viewing casting as a technology with unknown potential. Extraordinary evolution came from the construction of cathedrals and churches, melting and mold-making processes advanced rapidly to keep up with the demand of the dominant Catholic church. Evolution of Castingįast forward almost 1000 years, religion played a major role in advancing and innovating foundry technology during that time. Cast iron did not become a military tool or decoration until the Qin Dynasty almost 300 years later. Then around 500 BC, the Zhou Dynasty invented cast iron to the world, but it was used mostly for farmers. ![]() Around 1300 BC, the Shang Dynasty in China were the first to utilize sand casting when melting metals. The process of casting made its way to Egypt by 2800 BC, and effectively performing this process was tremendously influential on their gain of power during the Bronze Age. Bronze then became the metal of choice to cast with because its rigidity compared to gold, and it was melted and cast into various tools and weapons by way of permanent stone molds. However, a copper frog is the oldest existing casting currently known it is estimated that it was made in 3200 BC in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). In those times, gold was the first metal to be cast because of its malleability, and back then, metal from tools and decoration was reused because of the complications of obtaining pure ore. While current methods may be relatively new when compared to the history of human civilization, the first casting of metals can actually be traced all the way back to around 4000 BC. Today, metal casting is a complex and intricate process which requires exact chemistry and flawless execution. ![]()
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