David Thomas (November 3, 1794 – June 20, 1882) was a native of Wales who was influential in the birth of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Development of the hot blast
David Thomas was born in Cadoxton, near Neath.
As an adult, he was widely regarded as one of the foremost ironmasters in the United Kingdom. It was while employed at the Yniscedwyn Works, in Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley, that he devised the process which would advance the Industrial Revolution. On February 5, 1837, Thomas used a hot blast to smelt iron ore and anthracite coal.
Thomas's iron works was extremely successful, even though the iron industry in the rest of the Lehigh Valley had begun to decline. The company was incorporated in 1839 as the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, and in 1872 the name was changed to the Crane Iron Company. By that time the community was no longer known as Craneville, but as Catasauqua;
Sources
- Images of America: Catasauqua and North Catasauqua by Martha Capwell Fox (Arcadia Publishing 2002)
- WelshDragon.net: Historical Wales Timeline
- Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
- Welsh Biography Online