The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-04-12
BENsEAc1oR OF The RACE.
Desssmsr's Precious Gift TO Civil
txation.

txati0u.
II vote were taken uTon she relative
merits OF the great inventions OF the
nineteenth century. and Only experts were
permitted to participate In the decision,
II is probable that an. emphatic though
perhaps rot. unaniuuDasLysrQiot would be
given In favor OF Besssmsrs proosss or
making steel 1t would be dif1cuIt TO
find one which benefits directly, rot to
say Indirectly, such large proportion OF
the population Of civilized lands. Prac-
tically every nnzl.A woman and child 10 .
user Of steel Fortg yesrs ego 0rsat
Britain produced atout fifty thousand
tons OF this metal year. and 1t sold for
$3.50 10 $500 ton. Today the output In
England IL ten million tons or more,
and In the United States thai amount 10
fully equnlled. In the mean time the
price has teen reduced to go and $25 .
ton. The construction OF railroads.
steamships, steel skeleton buildings and
OF bridges TINT are almost as cheap as II
made Of wood and a host Of other indus
tries have teen wonderfully stimulated by
ths late Sir Henry remarkable invention.
1t was . happy M isfortune which made
England the birthplace OF this great in
ventor ana engineer. His father. An
thony Eessemcr. began life In Holland
and at the age OF 90 mad built doating
steam engine for pumping purposes
1hen he went to Paris and became oc-
cupied with various scientific pursuits.
He improved the microscope. and became
q member of tho French Academy when
scarcely 25 years old. Shortly afterwsrd
he Was . Tyre founder Of . progressive
kind, who exIerimented with and invsfti-
gated the nature of numerous metallic
alloy. When the French revolution broke
out. In 1892, Anthony Bessemer was sin-
ployed &C the mint. Finally kobespierre
put him In charge Of the national bakery,
and, upon an unjust suspicion OF giving
light weights. . popular uprising drove
him from France. he fed to England,
and married there. Henry was born on
January ~, 1873
The Tad Inherited his fathers tastes.
One of his earliest nmuxments was the
use Of a turning lathe with whion he was
presented. Hs also developed skill In
sculpture. Indeed. at first he inclined to
the career Of q moieiier and designer.
Some Of mis- statuary was exhibited at the
Royal Academy. However, before he had
more than completed his 10Th year he
tesan to show inventive talent At tits
time he devised perforutipg .stairp for
cancellins checks and bills. This instru-
ment, ono feature Of whioh was suggested
by the young woman who afterward be-
came his wife, was given to the British
government Forty-six years later he was
made "sir Henry" In recognition Of this
public service. Knightho0d Was not con-
ferred on account Of the steelmaking pro.
cesa Among Bssssmsr's other In nvsntions
were . method Of casting type 80 thai 10
would be free from biowholes. the manu-.
fucture Of bronze powder for painting and
decorating, and improvements on tie
centrifugal pump" For 10 years after
attaining his majority he was studying a
great variety Of mechanical aud chemical
subjects, like those relatiag to the con.
struction Of cars ana cannon. the refining
OF sugar, and the production OF oils.
varnishes and vinegar. He was probably
the first man to DO eiectroplating with
copper.
Owing to the outbreak OF the Crimsan
and Franco-Italian wars, Hessemer's 9
attention became strongly directed to the
making of big suns ana proisotiies, and
thus he was led to study tie problem of
purifying oast-iron. His Immediate
object was to find tettsr material fer
ordnance purposes. And te believed,
In 1856, that Le had so completely solved
tie problem thas he read q paper in
rubllc that year dssoiibing his process Of
burning out the,carbon from molten iron
by injecting jets Of air from bsIow, and
thus converiing it into steel.
But Bessemer had llnz. Ierplexing
and costly nsht 10 wage dWling the mkt
four years. His prooasa was far from per-
feet IL tesaus reeessaiy for him to
carly his investig igations much further.
Ons nesos 10 rem,inber, In order TO ap
pc. ciats the situation In which. he found
III Gsslf, that when iron orc is smelted
tae rssuitant zig lion contains about 8
per cent Of carton, derived from the fuel.
Now, only frav.ion Of per oeLt Is
wanted far steel, he siEs Ct that fraction
deIen log upon the particular use to
which tie metal Is to be applies. And
when the txysen of the air jets COM
Liles with This carbon it turns with
dazzling corrso.ticns, whose effect Is
Leigh,ensd by ire tremendous blast issu-
ing from the itouth of the converter.
But the trouble with Sir Assry's process
Was that 1t consumed the chrbcn COM
plstel y, ana lett, not steel. but soft, pure,
IL malleable iron.
Thirty days after he read lis paper be-
fore the british Association Tor tie Ad-
vantement OF Sci, nee, In 1854 he re-
ceivei siS5. coo from iron masters In Eng
land for iios snses ~ use his process. But
wien these manufacturers maze p.ac-
ticai application Of 10 thcy dii not get
even as good rssult as Bssselner had
oore, and certainly diu not obtain steel.
-nan came an era II resctio n, diseppoint-
ment and even denurcintiop. Bessemer's