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{{Short description|India's largest iron and steel factory in 1830s}}

{{Infobox factory
| name = Porto Novo Iron Works <hr>
| image = Porto_Novo_Iron_Works.jpg
| image_size =
| location = [[Parangipettai|Porto Novo]] ([[Parangipettai]]),<br>[[South Arcot]] ([[Cuddalore District]]),<br>[[Madras Presidency]] ([[Tamil Nadu]]), India
| industry = Iron and Steel
| caption = Porto Novo Iron Works c. 1848
| built = {{Start date and age|1830}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.inae.in/pdf/India%27s-Legendary-Wootz-Steel.pdf|title=India's Legendary wootz Steel|author=Sharada Srinivasan, Srinivasa Ranganathan|date=November 2004|publisher=National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore}} Pg. no. 39.</ref>
| operated = {{Start date and age|1830}}
| owner = [[Josiah Marshall Heath]] (Founder)
| defunct = {{End date and age|1874}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Njf7CwAAQBAJ&dq=Porto+Novo+Iron+Works+Railway&pg=PT24|title=Criminal Capital: Violence, Corruption and Class in Industrial India|date=14 April 2016 |publisher=A Routledge India Original|isbn=978-1-315-46659-0 }}Pg. No. 1988</ref>
| products = [[Iron]], [[Pig iron]]

}}
'''Porto Novo Iron Works''' known subsequently as the '''Indian Steel and Iron company, Porto Novo Iron Company''' or '''Porto Novo Steel and Iron Company''' was a historic iron and steel plant in southern India founded in 1830 by [[Josiah Marshall Heath]] and later taken over by the [[East India Company]]. The factory was initially located at Porto Novo, now known as [[Parangipettai]], in South Arcot District of Tamil Nadu but was later moved due to fuel shortage to [[Beypore]] on the west coast of India.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/indianengineerin02calcuoft#page/368/mode/1up|title=The past of Porto-Novo iron works|author=Closets, A. Pierre de|journal=Indian Engineering|date=3 December 1887|publisher=Calcutta |volume= 2|pages=368–369}}</ref> Iron and steel from the plant was used to construct the railway stations at [[Chennai Central railway station|Madras central]] and [[Chennai Egmore railway station|Egmore]] stations and was also exported to [[Sheffield]].<ref name="HISTORICAL NOTES" /> The company was dissolved in 1874.

It was the oldest and first Iron & Steel plant in [[India]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ali |first=Kaikubad|title=Iron and Steel Industry in India: History and Distribution| journal=History|url=https://www.academia.edu/9752513}} pg. 1</ref><ref name="first">{{cite web|url=https://storytrails.wordpress.com/2019/09/05/the-astonishing-story-of-indias-first-railroad/|title=The astonishing story of India's first Railroad|author=Percy Bharucha|date=5 September 2019}}</ref> and one of [[Asia|Asia's]] largest iron manufacturing plants in the 1880s.<ref name="HISTORICAL NOTES" /> The Portonovo steel was supplied to [[England]] and was used to construct the [[Menai Bridge|Menai]] and [[Britannia Bridge|Britannia bridges]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://eprints.nmlindia.org/5558/1/1-7.PDF|chapter=A brief history of the Indian iron and steel industry|title= International symposium on recent developments in iron- and steelmaking with special reference to Indian conditions.|author=K. N. P. Rao|year=1963|publisher=NML|place=Jamshedpur|page=1}}</ref> The first pier of the [[Chennai Port]] was constructed in 1861 with Porto Novo iron.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.sail.co.in/sites/default/files/publication/2020-06/sail_steel_cities.pdf|title=Steel cities of India|publisher=Steel Authority of India Limited|year=2012|page= 121}}</ref> The porto novo supplied the tracks for the India's first railroad "The Red Hill Railroad" laid in 1836.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2018/Apr/16/chennai-the-track-record-1801999.html|title=Track record: India's first rail road|publisher=The New Indian Express|author=Aishwarya Iyer|date=16 Apr 2018}}</ref><ref name="first"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irfca.org/docs/history/india-first-railways.html#:~:text=The%20railway%20in%20question%20was,road%20building%20work%20in%20Madras.|title=India's First Railways|author=Simon Darvill|date= December 2011|publisher=The India's Railways Fan Club}}</ref> In the 1850s, 500 tons of wrought iron was supplied by the Porto Novo iron works at rupees 60 a
ton for the Construction of railway lines to [[Raniganj|Raneegunge]] in West Bengal.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://swr.indianrailways.gov.in/uploads/files/1585829556172-Construction%20of%20lines%20to%20Raneegunge%20Final.pdf|title=Construction of experimental line to Raneegunge|publisher=[[South Western Railway zone|South Western Railways]], [[Indian Railways]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://er.indianrailways.gov.in/cris//uploads/files/1549352864547-Heritage%20Brochure%20Final%2026.11.18.pdf|title=Railways in Asansole: Early days|publisher=[[Eastern Railway zone|Eastern Railways]], [[Indian Railways]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=grcOAAAAQAAJ&dq=porto+novo&pg=PR6|title=Allens Indian Mail and Register of Intelligence|chapter=British and Foreign India, China & all parts of East|volume=XII|year=1854|location=London|publisher=William H. Allen|pages=39, 68, 379}}</ref> 2,000 worth 400 ploughs were sold to the [[Bombay Presidency]] in 1837<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.tamildigitallibrary.in/book-detail?id=jZY9lup2kZl6TuXGlZQdjZldkZp6&tag=Index%20to%20the%20proceedings%20of%20the%20Madras%20Government%20of%20Fort%20Saint%20George,%20in%20the%20Public%20department,%20for%20the%20year%201837#book1/43|title=Index to the proceedings of the Madras Government of Fort Saint George, in the Public department, for the year 1837|publisher=Madras : The Government Press , 1887|page=41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25207571|title=Letter from J. M. Heath, Esq., on the Introduction of the American Plough into India|chapter=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|volume=7|year=1843|jstor=25207571 |last1=Heath |first1=J. M. |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=1 |pages=92–97 }}</ref> and one hundred tons of iron requested by Secretary in 1846.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.tamildigitallibrary.in/book-detail?id=jZY9lup2kZl6TuXGlZQdjZldkZhe&tag=Index%20to%20the%20proceedings%20of%20the%20Madras%20Government%20of%20Fort%20Saint%20George,%20in%20the%20Public%20department,%20for%20the%20year%201846#book1/13|title=Index to the proceedings of the Madras Government of Fort Saint George, in the Public department, for the year 1846|publisher=Madras : The Superintendent, Government Press , 1888|pages= 9, 43}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Porto novo iron works 1.jpg|thumb|left|The remains of the Porto Novo Iron Works]]
Heath had worked in [[Salem, Tamil Nadu|Salem]] as part of the [[East India Company]] as a commercial resident. His first encounter with Indian methods of iron and steel making was prompted when a friend in northern India sought a shot for hunting guns.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kochhar |first=Rajesh |date=2017 |title=Zinc, steel and rocketry: Western mainstreaming of empirical Indian technologies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26493326 |journal=Current Science |volume=113 |issue=9 |pages=1792–1796 |jstor=26493326 |issn=0011-3891}}</ref> He also lived in the [[Nilgiris]] during summers and he had noted that the native steel-making process (including that of [[Wootz steel|Wootz]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heath |first=J. M |date=1838 |title=Art. XXVIII.—On Indian Iron and Steel; in a Letter addressed to the Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0035869X00015379/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |language=en |volume=5 |issue=10 |pages=390–397 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00015379 |issn=1356-1863}}</ref>) was defective and yet produced fine cutlery. In 1818 J. M. Heath of the East India Company was stationed at Porto Novo and he proposed that if European processes were used, good quality steel could be produced from the ores obtained from Salem and that this production could be of importance to Imperial power.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maylor |first=W |date=1896 |title=The manufacture of iron and steel in southern India. |url=https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/10.1680/imotp.1896.19497 |journal=Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers |language=en |volume=126 |issue=1896 |pages=383–386 |doi=10.1680/imotp.1896.19497 |issn=1753-7843|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Heath was supported by [[Sir Thomas Munro, 1st Baronet|Thomas Munro]] and [[Alexander and Co.]] of [[Calcutta]] and in 1825 he resigned from the Madras civil service and decided to establish an iron plant. He went back to England to study steel making<ref name="garstin" /> and returned to India to set up some the early works at Porto Novo in 1830<ref name="HISTORICAL NOTES">{{cite web|url=https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/113/05/0984.pdf|title=Large-scale iron and steel production in the Coromandel: the earliest and longest survived Porto Novo Iron Works (1830–1859) |publisher=[[John Henry Garstin]]}}</ref> and it was called the Porto Novo Iron Works but this plant was only able to produce [[pig iron]] as he only had access to charcoal and limited infrastructure.<ref name="garstin" /> He had chosen the location as it was close to Salem where there was iron ore and it was connected by the [[Vellar river]] and the Khan Sahib canal (which had been opened in 1854) to the [[Kollidam]]. He then proposed to the Governor of Madras, Sir [[Frederick Adam]] in 1824 that a better factory could be established with government assistance to obtain ores and fuel. He received rights to ores over the Madras Presidency and was given a monopoly for steel manufacture for 21 years in the districts of [[North Arcot]] and [[South Arcot]], [[Trichinopoly]], [[Salem, Tamil Nadu|Salem]], [[Coimbatore]] and [[Malabar rebellion|Malabar]]. The factory was renamed as the '''Indian Iron and Steel Company''' in 1833 with [[Thomas Parry (Chennai merchant)|Parry]] and Company being the main sponsors.<ref name="HISTORICAL NOTES" /> Some of the products produced for the Indian market included ploughs, 400 of which were sold to the [[Bombay Presidency]] in 1837.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heath |first=J.M. |date=1843 |title=Letter from J. M. Heath, Esq., on the Introduction of the American Plough into India |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0035869X00155716/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |language=en |volume=7 |issue=13 |pages=92–97 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00155716 |issn=1356-1863}}</ref> Furnaces, forges and rolling mills were initially built at Porto Novo but after the 1855 it moved to [[Beypore]] on the west coast where the first [[Bessemer process|Bessemer converters]] were installed.<ref name="garstin">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/manualsoutharco00garsgoog/page/440/mode/2up|title=Manual of the South Arcot District|date=1878 |publisher=[[John Henry Garstin]]}} Pg. No. 441</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Economic conditions in the Madras Presidency 1800-1850| author=Raju, A. Sarada| year=1941| publisher=University of Madras|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86289/page/n185/mode/1up/| pages=156–160}}</ref><ref name="Madrasmusings">{{cite web |title=The Porto Novo Iron Works |url=https://www.madrasmusings.com/vol-28-no-3/a-patent-that-ruined-heath-the-inventor/}} Vol. XXVIII No. 3, May 16–31, 2018, [https://www.madrasmusings.com/ Madras Musings]</ref>
[[File:Portonovo iron serial number.png|thumb]]
Heath had examined ideas by [[René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur|Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur]] and [[Benjamin Huntsman]] and made trials of steel making with manganese. In 1839 he obtained a patent for his process and several foundries in Sheffield began to make use of Heath's patented method.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marshall Heath |first=Josiah |date=1850 |title=Improvements in the manufacture of steel |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/001600325090192X |journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute |language=en |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=338–340 |doi=10.1016/0016-0032(50)90192-X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="HISTORICAL NOTES" /> The result was malleable and weldable iron and he made money selling his manganese carburet in packets. There were litigations when he altered his process and licensors refused to pay him royalty claiming that they process they were using was not what his patent stated.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bessemer |first=Henry |date=1865 |title=On the manufacture of cast steel, its progress, and employment as a substitute for wrought iron |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0016003265902577 |journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute |language=en |volume=80 |issue=6 |pages=387–397 |doi=10.1016/0016-0032(65)90257-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> With support from the Madras government under Munro<ref>{{cite book |author=Fraser, Lovat N. |url=https://archive.org/details/IronAndSteelIndia/page/n9/mode/1up |title=Iron and steel in India. A chapter from the life of Jamshedji N. Tata |publisher=Times Press |year=1919 |place=Bombay |pages=4–8}}</ref> and he was able to prospect for magnetite in Salem and later he obtained leases to explore in [[Krishnagiri district|Baramahal]]. In 1834 he received rights to obtain iron ore in Canara for 21 years. In 1838 he hired Robert Brunton who had trained in [[Tusey]] and [[Tréveray|Treveray]] to assist in the smelting process. Brunton brought in Foster-Avery steam engines to power the rolling machinery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Raman |first=Anantanarayanan |date=2017 |title=Large-scale iron and steel production in the Coromandel: the earliest and longest survived Porto Novo Iron Works (1830–1859) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26293971 |journal=Current Science |volume=113 |issue=5 |pages=984–989 |jstor=26293971 |issn=0011-3891}}</ref> The company however incurred great losses and in 1849 Heath returned to England and he died in 1851 at Sheffield. One of the factors that had been missed was the cost of fuel. Charcoal required a great deal of wood. Heath had cut down vast swathes of forest for the production of charcoal. In 1853 the Madras Government took over the loss-making factory<ref name="Madrasmusings" /> and in 1855 it was called the East India Iron Company.<ref name="HISTORICAL NOTES" /> In 1854, the shift of the factory to Beypore was largely made due to the lack of availability of wood for charcoal.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Brandis, Dietrich |url=https://archive.org/details/ForestryMadrasPresidency/page/n61/mode/1up |title=Forest administration in the Madras Presidency |year=1883 |pages=55–58}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brush |first=John E. |date=1952 |title=The Iron and Steel Industry in India |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/211250 |journal=Geographical Review |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=37–55 |doi=10.2307/211250 |jstor=211250 |bibcode=1952GeoRv..42...37B |issn=0016-7428|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1859 1000 tons of iron was shipped to Sheffield and it was used in the production of steel that went into the [[Britannia Bridge|Britannia tubular]] and [[Menai Suspension Bridge|Menai]] bridges.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |author=Thomas, Dolly |year=2019 |title=Porto Novo Iron Works- Retelling the Story of a Failed Industrial Enterprise of 19th Century Madras and its Impact |url=https://www.gc11.ac.in/uploads/submenu/RPapers3.3.1/2018-2019/DrBenudharPatra.pdf#page=165 |journal=Journal of Indian History and Culture |issue=25 |pages=157–183}}</ref>

A factory at Palampatti was closed down in 1858. The factories at Porto Novo and Beypore closed in 1864 and the company was formally dissolved in 1874.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==

{{reflist}}
{{coord|11|29|14|N|79|45|41|E|display=title}}

==External links==
* [https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Port_Novo_Iron_Works_and_early_Locomotive_Experiments Port Novo Iron Works and early locomotive Experiments]

[[Category:Steel plants of India]]
[[Category:Industrial history of India]]

Porto Novo Iron Works - Revision history

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