Ask A Scientist Chemistry Archive

  
status       student
age          18

Question -   Why pig iron is called pig iron? 
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Here is what I found online:

Pig Iron

Because blast furnaces produced increased quantities of iron from the ore,
the molten iron was cast into bars, called pig iron, for later
remanufacturing.

The furnaces were built and operated for the purpose of extracting iron from
the native iron ores. The objective was to form bars of cold cast iron for
transfer to a foundry for later remanufacture. These were made in molds
pressed in the very dry sandy floor. A main trench directed the molten iron
to a distribution trench from which many side branches were formed. The
molten iron was cast into bars called "pigs"; hence, the common name of "pig
iron."

The name pig iron is meaningless to non-farm people, as it is a figment of
the imagination of the blast furnace workers--all of whom were very familiar
with the keeping of pigs. Workers before World War I were, in almost all
cases, required to have a kitchen garden, and keep cows, chickens and pigs.
This was a matter of survival and considered part of the compensation in a
company town or village. The workers were very familiar with the appearance
of a mother pig, called a sow, and her dozen or more nursing piglets. As
they looked at the molten iron flowing from the hearth in the base of the
furnace stack, the trench of red iron with the many short side branches made
them think of a sow (the large feeder trench) and pigs (the end result).

As Robert Frost would say, "One has to be schooled in country things."


The site where I found the above material is
http://www.oldeforester.com/ironintr.htm.

Regards,

Todd Clark, Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy
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