Project Gutenberg's The Beginnings of Cheap Steel, by Philip W. Bishop

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Title: The Beginnings of Cheap Steel

Author: Philip W. Bishop

Release Date: August 8, 2009 [EBook #29633]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY:
PAPER 3

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHEAP STEEL

_Philip W. Bishop_

STEEL BEFORE THE 1850's 29

BESSEMER AND HIS COMPETITORS 30

ROBERT MUSHET 33

EBBW VALE AND THE BESSEMER PROCESS 35

MUSHET AND BESSEMER 37

WILLIAM KELLY'S AIR-BOILING PROCESS 42

CONCLUSIONS 46

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHEAP STEEL

By Philip W. Bishop

_Other inventors claimed a part in the invention of the Bessemer
process of making steel. Here, the contemporary discussion in the
technical press is re-examined to throw light on the relations of these
various claimants to the iron and steel industry of their time, as
having a possible connection with the antagonism shown by the
ironmasters toward Bessemer's ideas._

THE AUTHOR: _Philip W. Bishop is curator of arts and manufactures,
Museum of History and Technology, in the Smithsonian Institution's
United States National Museum._

The development of the world's productive resources during the 19th
century, accelerated in general by major innovations in the field of
power, transportation, and textiles, was retarded by the occurrence of
certain bottlenecks. One of these affected the flow of suitable and
economical raw materials to the machine tool and transportation
industries: in spite of a rapid growth of iron production, the methods
of making steel remained as they were in the previous century; and
outputs remained negligible.

In the decade 1855-1865, this situation was completely changed in Great
Britain and in Europe generally; and when the United States emerged
from the Civil War, that country found