Paid Casting Cleaning at Hopewell Furnace

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article characterises the work of paid casting cleaning at Hopewell Furnace, a charcoal-fired cold-blast iron furnace operating c. 1771–1883, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The uniformity of regional museum artefacts suggests that conclusions apply to the general south-east Pennsylvania region. Cleaning is shown to have consisted of sand removal, removal and limited dressing of protrusions (gate and fin), a significant amount of casting moving, and likely the extraction of castings from moulds. The work was similar to other unskilled work, involving strictly physical labour with a need to sometimes move heavier objects, and with a commensurate to slightly higher pay rate. Most cleaning was a side-line, and not all castings were cleaned ‘professionally’, the fraction being estimated between 36% (documented) and 58% (extrapolated). Most cleaning payments were by weight, almost exclusively at $0.75 per ton, with the remainder paid by the piece, or possibly at a fixed price for the entirety of the work. There is evidence that cleaners were mainly family and friends of the moulders. They were all white and mostly adult men.