Nova (TV Series) The Bridge That Spanned the World (1979) User Reviews

Link between Wales iron industry and the birth of the Industrial Revol in America

[debmellish · 10/10 · 30 March 2016]

The story traces the iron industry in Great Britain @ Swansea Valley in Wales. The last five minutes of the show links George Crane and David Thomas from Yniscedwyn Works, in Ystradgynlais in Wales,to Thomas's construction of the first anthracite furnace using the hot blast technology to be commercially and technically successfully here. Built along the Lehigh Canal, it signified the birth of the industrial revolution in America. Pretty cool - especially if you live in Catasauqua, the site of this furnace. Called the Lehigh Crane Iron Works, it was built by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. David Thomas assisted many iron works in the area with the construction of such furnaces during the 1840s. He became known as the father of the anthracite iron industry in America.