In the early 1700s, abraham darby's experiments led him to

In the early 1700s, Abraham Darby’s experiments led him to develop an iron smelting process.  By 1708 he was able to smelt iron in sand and  take out a patent on the process.  As a result of his invention, cookware and other iron products could be produced more cost-effectively than brass ware and were affordable to people of lesser means.