Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-06-05

rordshire in tie year 1910. mis- earnc
years were devoted to art, and we fint
that he was an exhibitor at the Roya
academy at the age Of 30. At this early
age ne had discovered a means by which
impressions of the designs ON coins
medals and other reliefs could lie 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 CT 100000 per aInium BY
unscrupulous persons, who were i'll the
habit of removing the embossed duty
stamps on legal and other documents
and using the same again. Young Be5
semer invented the useful little contriv
ancc by which the stamp is embossed OF
the paper or parchment of the documen,
itself, and submitted it to the then chief
of the stamp department at Somerset
House.
The potentate iii question saw the adj
vantage of this system at glance, and
soon afterward TIE authorities expressed
their willingness to make use of it. A
pretty little story is connected with this
invention. When his model was COM
pletciI. Bessemer showed it to the young
/ lady TO whom he was then engaged. Her
first comment upon it showed that she
was we'll fitted - become the wife of an
! inventor. She said:
eyes, understand this, bat surely, if
all stamps had u date put upon them,
they could not 1T Il future time be used
again without detection.
This proved a very valIablo sugges-
tioo, fC~ Dcsaore- g1GA lit upon tho idea
of q steel die with IL space for 4 movable
da.c, and i! thatf1 f1rn his invention was
adop:ci Iy tho ::2;,i2r:ties viii it be
credited that he Ecye~ received solitary
farthir2 from. tho 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
department that he was entitled to no
compensation, inasmuch as he had pre-
sented his invention to the government
gratis! This was at q time, too, when
he was by no means well 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
chine! He received many generous prom
iSes from various ministers, of course,
but one government Went ont of power
after another, and to this day he has
never been compensated in any shape or
form.
A man of vast wealthnow, Sir Henry
Bessemcr 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 4 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 Il secret. To some
extent it is 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
$50 q ton, and its price prohibited its
uso il nu:nberiess departments Of indus
try where 1t is now considered essential.
At that time, toS, only 81 ,00O tons of
cast steel were produced in Sheffield i'll
4 year. Ii 1892, SO, $40 tons of steel
We're manufactured i'll the world every
day according to the Bes,emer process,
the selling price per tor averaging eS
perhaps. 1t is chiefly due to Sir Henry
Bessemer that one is almost as safe on a
modern ocean steamship us or Land, and
that the modern structure Il steel is
nearly as ;inperi.shub,e - the Pyramids.
Such discovery, it might be sup
posed, would be hailed with enthusiasm
by those Interested IL tEc iron trade Of
Great Britain. Not bit Of it. Bes-
semer met with every possible discour-
agelnent. The steel manufacturers Of
Sheffield Were dead against hi,n from
the first, aud the government ignored
him. Boston Commercial Bulletin.