Allaire Park Evaluation, Essay Example

The Howell Iron Works does not appear to have been a particularly comfortable place to live. The first thing that strikes me as an extremely harsh living condition is the pollution associated with iron industry. Storing and loading charcoal and seashells is associated with huge amounts of dust rising in the air and covering everything in the vicinity. Moreover, smoke from furnaces must have had a dreadful effect on the quality of air. To make matters worse, trees which would have produced oxygen were cut down for charcoal. Finally, the dwellers of the Howell Iron Works must have experienced really bad times after 1846 when the main part of production was closed. The iron industry was the predominant source of workplaces and income for the dwellers. The whole place was designed as an infrastructure of the industry rather than an independent self-sufficient city. After 1846 people were left in a deforested place with the facilities and skills they could no longer make use of.

One of the most dangerous jobs at the Iron Works was that of a collier, a person responsible for burning wood into charcoal. The collier had to constantly work with very high temperatures and any mistake could end up in a severe injury. Furthermore, the collier inhaled smoke and dust all the time, which is seriously detrimental to health. People who worked in blast furnaces were also all the time exposed to scorching heat and smoke. Ironsmiths who did the casting were also in constant danger of being burnt unless they are skilful enough. Nonetheless dangerous was the work of a miner who retrieved bog ore from swamps. Beside a direct risk of being sucked down in a bog, it meant constant exposure to unhealthy dampness. Finally, all the three described jobs included hard physical labor with constant lifting of weights when loading ore, charcoal, seashells or iron.

Water was essential to the production of iron. First of all, the type of ore found in the Howell Iron Works was generated in watery places. Secondly, water was an important source of energy. For example, pumps powered by water wheels supplied air to furnaces. A dam controlled the flow of water and three water mills powered the production with one of them providing energy for polishing and finishing operations. Water was energizing, cooling and cleaning at the same time.

Bog ore was present in the Manasquan River in the form of mud and stones of various sizes. Iron was also dissolved into water, but no techniques of extracting dissolved iron seem to have been known at that time. Lumps of ore were collected and placed onto flat-bottomed boats by means of which ore was transported closer to furnaces. Wheelbarrows and wagons were an alternative to boats. The lumps were then crushed and dehydrated to be smelted in furnaces together with charcoal and flux. Iron was melted and separated through channels in the floor.

A part of iron was transported in the form of large bars called pigs to New York City where Mr. Allaire, the owner of the whole business, could choose what to do with it. Another part was cast on the spot. A variety of 500 products were manufactured in the Howell Iron Workds. Melted iron was poured in sand molds placed in a box named a flask or in the floor of a furnace to produce different wares which were shipped to New York or sold in the Allaire General Store. A steady demand for iron was created by steamship industry which Mr. Allaire participated in. Iron was used for engine castings.