Henry Bessemer and the Mass Production of Steel
Englishmen, Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) invented the first process for
mass-producing steel inexpensively, essential to the development of
skyscrapers. Modern steel is made using technology based on Bessemer's
process. Bessemer was knighted in 1879 for his contribution to science.
The "Bessemer Process" for mass-producing steel, was named after
Bessemer.
Bessemer's famous one-step process
for producing cheap, high-quality
steel made it possible for engineers
to envision transcontinental railroads,
sky-scraping office towers, bayspanning bridges, unsinkable ships,
and mass-produced horseless
carriages. The key principle is
removal of impurities from the iron by
oxidation with air being blown
through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the
iron mass and keeps it molten. In the U.S., where natural resources and
risk-taking investors were abundant, giant Bessemer steel mills sprung up
to drive the expanding nation's rise as a dominant world economic and
industrial leader.
Why Steel?
Steel is the most widely used of all metals, with uses ranging from concrete
reinforcement in highways and in high-rise buildings to automobiles,
aircraft, and vehicles in space. Steel is more ductile (able to deform without
breakage) and durable than cast iron and is generally forged, rolled, or
drawn into various shapes.
The Bessemer process revolutionized steel manufacture by decreasing its
cost. The process also decreased the labor requirements for steel-making.
Prior to its introduction, steel was far too expensive to make bridges or the
framework for buildings and thus wrought iron had been used throughout
the Industrial Revolution. After the introduction of the Bessemer process,
steel and wrought iron became similarly priced, and some users, primarily
railroads, turned to steel. Steel greatly improved the productivity of
railroads. Steel rails lasted ten times longer than iron rails. Steel rails,
which became heavier as prices fell, could carry heavier locomotives,
which could pull longer trains. Steel rail cars were longer and were able to
increase the freight to car weight from 1:1 to 2:1.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, steel was difficult and expensive to
produce. The development of the Bessemer process brought on the “Age
of Steel.” Steel is the most important metal used over the past 150 years.
Bessemer converter, England 2010