Henry Bessemer

“ Nervous persons who ride in sleeping-cars are much indebted to Henry Bessemer, to whose inventive genius they owe the beautiful steel rails over which the cars glide so steadily. It was he who so simplified and cheapened the process of making steel that it can be used for rails.
Nine people in ten, I suppose, do not know the chemical difference between iron and steel. Iron is iron; but steel is iron mixed with carbon. But, then, what is carbon? There is no substance in nature of which you can pick up a piece and say, This is carbon. ”

“ It is estimated that Sir Henry Bessemer's one discovery of making steel has saved the world, in the last twenty-one years, above five thousand million dollars.
When his patent expired in 1870, he had received in royalties over five million dollars. In his steel works at Sheffield, after buying in all the licenses sold in 1856, when the new process seemed a failure, the profits every two months equalled the original capital, or in fourteen years the company increased the original capital eighty-one times by the profits. ”

“ Comparison of Steel-making Processes.—When Bessemer discovered that by simply blowing air through molten cast iron rapidly he could make low-carbon steel, which is essentially wrought iron greatly improved by being freed from its essential defect, its necessarily weakening and embrittling slag, the very expensive and exhausting puddling process seemed doomed, unable to survive the time when men should have familiarized themselves with the use of Bessemer steel, and should have developed the evident possibilities of cheapness of the Bessemer process. ”

“ Steel making consists mainly in so treating cast iron as to get rid of a part of the carbon and other impurities. Of all methods of steel making, and in fact of all the steps of progress in the art of metal working, none has been so important and so far reaching in effect as the Bessemer process: It was invented by Henry Bessemer, of England, in 1855. About fifty British patents were taken by Mr. Bessemer relating to various improvements in the iron industry, but those representing the pioneer steps of the so-called Bessemer process are No. ”

“ Without this invention I believe that we should have abandoned the mode of running direct from the blast furnace. Above all things, the manufacturer has to regard the uniformity of product, the equality of rails; and this uniformity cannot be obtained without Jones's invention, as far as I know.'
It is true that what is termed the direct process was used in connection with the Bessemer invention in some foreign countries, notably Sweden and France, with more or less success, due to the peculiar character of the ores used in those countries ”

“ No wonder that Bessemer has been called the "great captain of modern civilization." He has revolutionized one of the most important of the world's industries; he has fought obstacles at every step,—poverty, the ridicule of the press, the indifference of his countrymen, and the cupidity of men who would steal his inventions or appropriate the results. He has earned leisure, but he rarely takes it. His has been a life of labor, prosecuted with indomitable will and energy. ”

“ Enthusiasm gave place to discredit, condemnation, and abuse, and for a while Bessemer's reputation and the Bessemer process were in danger of extinction. The great inventor, however, was not easily discouraged ; he carried out new experiments at Baxter House, spent thousands of pounds in the construction of fresh plant, and in 1858 he was able to show his numerous licensees why they had failed, and how they could make higher-class steel with certainty. Thus he justified the claims made in his Cheltenham paper of 1856, and proved that he had passed the experimental stage of manufacture. ”

“ Bessemer arrives send him to me at once!" Then the door closed and the woman was alone with her defeat, and the placid enameled features melted into an angry snarl like an animal at bay. In a moment more Herbert stormed in.
"It's all your fault, mother!" he began, with an oath. "If you hadn't dragged Bessemer into this thing I'd have had her fixed. I had her just about where I wanted her, and another day would have broken her in. She's scared to death of insane asylums, and I told her long ago that it would be dead easy to put a woman in one for life. ”

“ He challenged the trade, not only to attack his theories but to produce evidence from their own plants that they could provide an alternative means of satisfying an emergent demand. Whether or not Bessemer is entitled to claim priority of invention, one can but agree with the ironmaster who said:6 "Mr. Bessemer has raised such a spirit of enquiry throughout ... the land as must lead to an improved system of manufacture." ”

“ So he offered Bessemer a definite sum for his process of perforation, or an office for life at eight hundred pounds a year. Bessemer chose the office, and hastened to tell the good news to a young woman with whom he had agreed to share his fortune. In explaining his invention, he told how it would prevent any one from taking a valuable stamp from a document a hundred years old and using it a second time.
THOMAS ALVA EDISON "The Wizard of Menlo Park."
"What the world wants is men who have the nerve and the grit to work and wait, whether the world applaud or hiss." ”

“ So Bessemer's financial prospects were not very encouraging; but, realizing that the best capital a young man can have is a capital wife, he at once entered into a partnership which placed at his command the combined ideas of two very level heads. The result, after years of thought and experiment, was the Bessemer process of making steel cheaply, which has revolutionized the iron industry throughout the world. His method consists simply in forcing hot air from below into several tons of melted pig-iron, so as to produce intense combustion ”

“ Nearly all the many minor incidents of an incessantly busy life may be said to have led up to, or to have grown out of, these three great inventions. The first saved the revenue 100,000l. a year; the second, conducted during forty years as a secret process, brought Bessemer a sufficient income to prosecute his experiments in the manufacture of steel ; and the third has revolutionised the commercial history of the world. 'The invention [of Bessemer steel] takes its rank with the great events which have changed the face of society since the time of the middle ages. ”

“ Two men claimed that they had anticipated Bessemer in the invention of a method of treating molten metal with air-blasts for the purpose of "purifying" or decarbonizing iron. Both were Americans. Joseph Gilbert Martien, of Newark, New Jersey, who at the time of Bessemer's address was working at the plant of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works, in South Wales, secured a provisional patent a few days before Bessemer obtained one of his series of patents for making cast steel, a circumstance which provided ammunition for those who wished to dispute Bessemer's somewhat spectacular claims. ”

“ The practical success of the Bessemer process had not long been demonstrated commercially by the inventor and his partners at Sheffield before other firms began the manufacture: so that in 1878 there were in Great Britain alone twenty-seven establishments making Bessemer steel and using 111 converters. It may give an idea of the magnitude the Bessemer steel manufacture had attained even at that time if we quote the cost of erecting a complete plant for two 5–ton converters: it was £44,400, as given in a detailed estimate. ”

“ Cumberland changed colour and looked almost frightened. Unobservant Mr. North saw nothing. Richard did.
"Has Oliver not told you what's afoot?" said the former. "Young men are often shyer in these matters than women."
"It's a very small income for them to begin upon," she observed presently, when Mr. North had said his say--and Richard thought he detected some private objection to the union. "So very small for Bessy--who has been used to Dallory Hall."
"It won't always remain small," said Mr. North. "His practice will increase when Alexander goes; and he'll have other money, may be, later. ”

“ This very frank letter is confirmatory of the fact (until recently undisputed) that "the first actual steel made in this country by the Bessemer process was produced at Wyandotte" more than eight years after Mr. Bessemer read his paper at Cheltenham. In 1856 Mr. Bessemer obtained two patents in the United States for his improved method of making steel; "but," says Swank, "was immediately confronted by a claim of priority preferred by William Kelly, an iron-master of Eddyville, Ky., but a native of Pittsburg, Pa." ”

“ Bessemer continued his career as an inventor and manufacturer, without, however, attracting any great share of public attention. But in 1856 he announced that he had made a discovery of vast importance in the process of steel making. [30] For a hundred years previously the Huntsman [165] process had held the field. It yielded excellent steel but was very expensive. Mr. Bessemer announced that he could produce splendid cast-steel at about the cost of making iron! ”

“ He presented himself before the Bishop and Portreeve and the notables of London. “Make me your king,” he said. “In return I will give you what you most desire, peace and order. I will do more. I will marry Maude, daughter of Malcolm, King of Scots, and of Margaret, sister of Edgar, heiress of the line of Alfred, and will make the crown secure and the country free from civil war.” They agreed. It is generally believed that the citizens made a bargain with Henry for new privileges. What they wanted most was a strong king, who would make peace and keep it; enforce his laws ”

“ Yet these two men, the American Kelly and the Englishman Bessemer, were the creators of modern steel. The records of the American Patent Office clearly show that Kelly made "Bessemer" steel many years before Bessemer. In 1870 the American Government refused to extend Bessemer's patent in this country on the ground that William Kelly had a prior claim; in spite of this, Bessemer was undoubtedly the man who developed the mechanical details and gave the process a universal standing. ”

“ The workmen yielded to their despotic rulers as submissively as others have done, and Richard's words were set at nought. They were like so many tame sheep blindly following their leader. The agitation, beginning about the time of Bessy North's marriage, continued for many months; it then came to an issue; and for several weeks now, the works had been shut up.
For the men had struck. North and Gass had large contracts on hand, and they could not be completed. Unless matters took a speedy turn, masters and men would alike be ruined. ”

“ But madam never inquired into the particulars of Bessy's illness and death; in her opinion the less fevers were talked about the better.
Yes: the North works were reopened. Or, to be quite correct, they were on the point of being reopened. Upon how small a scale he must begin again, Richard, remembering the extent of past operations, felt almost ashamed to contemplate. But, as he good-humouredly remarked, half a loaf was better than no bread. He must earn a living; he had no fortune to fly to ”

“ Bessemer is reaping the due reward of ingenuity and skill in other fields of invention. But even his discoveries in steel making, if they have very properly enriched himself, have, in an infinitely larger degree, added to the wealth of the country, and have given employment to many thousands. ”

“ We are not taught to look at the comic side of things—any humorous element may grow, like Topsy, unaided—nor is the power given to many to explain to others their inventions. Bessemer, the inventor of the steel bearing his name, when he first made his discovery was asked to read a paper explaining his invention to a large meeting of experts. ”

“ North repeated this. Bessy listened in dutiful silence, but shook her head.
"Papa, much as I respect Richard's judgment, clever as I know him to be, I am sure he is wrong here. It is very strange that he should go against me and Oliver."
"It is because of that same good judgment, my dear," replied Mr. North simply. "I'd trust it against the world, on account of his impartiality. When he has to decide between two opposite opinions, he invariably puts himself, or tries to put himself, in either place, weighs each side, and comes to an unbiassed conclusion. ”

“ Bessy North had said to her father that Oliver was busy with a medical work from which he expected good returns when published. It was so. He spared himself no labour; over that, or anything else: often writing far into the small hours. He was a patient, persevering man: once give him a chance of success, a fair start on life's road, and he would be sure to go on to fortune. He said this to himself continually; and he was not mistaken. But the chance had not come yet.
The clock was striking eight, when the doctor heard a ring at his door-bell, and Phillis appeared, showing in Richard North. ”

“ Greatly disappointed at the result of this, his first great invention, Bessemer turned to another direction in order to make a livelihood. He purchased plumbago waste at 2s. 6d. a pound, which, after cleaning and lixiviation, he compressed into blocks under hydraulic pressure, and cut into slips for making pencils; as the plumbago in this shape found a market at 4l. 10s. a pound, the industry was a profitable one. After a time he disposed of the secret of manufacture for 200l. ”