Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-07-08

Invention ASessefners SAFETY stamp
The inventor of the celebrated "Bos-
ssrner procs - is the most modest If
uen. stunning rather than counting OBJ
Kcrvation- A few years since he was
sometimes 70 be seen taking ''consti-
tutional'' in the neighborhood of his I'M
pretentious abode at Denmark Hill. in
england. but the venerable gentleman
with the benevolent face, in the old
fashioned frock coat and voluminous,
many folded cholzor neckcloth, is now
rarely seen even by his immediate neigh
| boris.
The British public. the British gov
eminent and British manufacturers did
their very best at one time TO crush one
| of the most useful men ever born in
Britain, and failed ANONYMOUSLY. Shelf
| field laughed at him, and Woolwich gave
him the official cold shoulder, but Shelf
| field and Woolwich would be crippled
indeed at the present time were il not
for "Bessemer steel Yet, even now,
although foreign potentates have show
cred crosses and stars upon him, the
English government has not conferred
upon him any honor more important
| than an ordinary knighthood, and this
in spite Of the fact that he has created
one of the largest and most important
industries in the world
Some fascinating calculations, made
by Sir Henry himself. prove that one
| years production of Bessemer steel
might be represented by a solid column
l6Ie times the height Of st. Paul's Gu
thedral. and as thick through as an or
binary gasometer-about 100 feet
Henry Bessemer, son Of the late Mr..
Anthony Bossemer, was born in Hert
fordshire in tho year 1918. His earlier
years were devoted TO art, and we find
| that he was an exhibitor at the Royal
| academy at the age of go At this early
| age he had discovered means by which
| impressions of the designs on coins,
medals and other reliefs could be repro
duced in any numbers on cardboard
Some of his work in this line is still ex-
tant, and when specimens come into the
market they bring high prices.
This led him indirectly to a more
important invention. He discovered that
the government Of the time was robbed
/ to the tune Of 100000 per annum by
INSCRIPTIONS persons, who were in the
habit of removing the embossed duty
| stamps ON legal and other documents
and using the same again. Young Bes-
! semer invented the useful little contriv-
ance by which the stamp is embossed ON
the paper or parchment of the document
itself, and submitted it to the then chief
| of the stamp department at Somerset
| House.
The potentate in question saw the ad-
vantage of this system Mt glance, and
soon afterward the authorities expressed
| their willingness to make use of it. A
/ pretty littls story is connected with this
| invention. When his model was COM
| pleted, Bessemer showed it to the young
| lady TO whom he was then engaged Her
] first comment upon it showed that she
! was well fitted TO become the wife of an
| inventor. She said
| eyes, understand this, but surely, if
all stamps had date put upon them,
they could not at future time be used
| again without detection"
| This proved n very valuable sugges-
ton, for Bessemer soon hit upon the idea
| of a steel die with a space for movable
| date, and in that form his invention was
adopted by the authorities. Will it be
| credited that he never received solitary
| farthing from the government for his
| services or the use of his invention?
! Such is nevertheless the fact, and
| when he limited mildly at legal remedies
he was told by the solicitor TO the stamp
I l< 70 no
] compensation, inasmuch as he had pre-
| sented his invention to the government
( gratis This was at time, too, when
/ he was by no means we'll off, when in
| deed he lacked the necessary money TO
| set up housekeeping with the clever
| young lady whose brilliant suggestion
had resulted in perfect stamping ma
chinel He received many generous prom
ises from various ministers, of course,
| but one government went out of power
after another, and to this day he has
never been compensated in any shape or
form.
A man of vast wealth now, Sir Henry
Bessemer can afford to regard the trou-
| bles of that period of his life with COM
| parative Indifference, though he has
| since had more ample reason to cherish
| dislike for all British governments
and politicians But his disappointment
in this instance taught him a very salu-
tary lesson. When he made the great
discovery of his life-that by which it
is possible to convert pig iron into steel
by simple and inexpensive process
he kept his discovery secret. To some
extent it is a secret to this day. The
importance Of the discovery can hardly
be overestimated
Before the Bessemer process came
into use steel could not be bought under
ESQ a ton, and its price prohibited It's
use in numberless departments of indus
try where il is now considered essential.
At that time. too, only $1,000 tons ct
east steel were produced III Sheffield ia
year. In 1892, 80, $40 tons of steel
were manufactured in the world every
day according to the Bessemer process,
the selling price per ton averaging IS
perhaps. Ii is chiefly due TO Sir Henry
Besserner that one is almost as safe on a
modern ocean s. eamship as ON land, and
that tie rlsSlein structure OF steel Is
nearly as inpcrishable as the Pyramids.
such a discovery, it might be sup
posed, would be hailed with enthusiasm
by those interested in the iron trade Of