Sir Henry Bessemer PDF

Preface

This volume commemorates the centenary of the death of Sir Henry Bessemer, one of the outstanding inventors of the nineteenth century.

Sir Henry Bessemer was born in 1813 and died in 1898. He is mainly known as the inventor of the Bessemer converter, but this is only one of his many achievements. He was an outstanding inventor with 117 patents in his name, forty per cent of which were totally unrelated to the iron and steel industries.

His other inventions range from developing a die metal that could reproduce fine detail on cardboard and leather, a machine for extracting the juice from sugar cane to a machine for grinding and polishing lenses for telescopes.

The first chapter of this book deals in detail with Sir Henry Bessemer's life and career expanding upon the points mentioned above, and relating more interesting facts. The following five chapters are detailed descriptions of the use of the Bessemer process in various geographical areas of England and Wales. Each chapter explains the history of the Bessemer process in these areas. Included is the story of how the British Government dismissed his ideas for improved gunnery, resulting in Napoleon III of France financing his research. There is a chapter on the impact of the Bessemer process in the United States, including comments by Andrew Carnegie, the American entrepreneur, referring to Bessemer as the 'Great King of Steel'. The chapter on the development of the Bessemer process in Europe also talks about the Thomas process and the use of slag as fertiliser. The final chapter of the book 'A Bessemer Miscellany' is a collection of interesting information about Sir Henry Bessemer, as well as a look at how the Bessemer process has developed and what form it takes today. This includes memories of people who met Bessemer and were present at some of his experiments. The book is illustrated throughout with line drawings and photographs of steel works and other pictures of interest. Finally a comprehensive index is provided.

Edited by: C. Bodsworth