Cañon City record., 1908-07-23
4 ROMANCE Of STEEL
The Rise Of a Great Industry and
Enormous Fortunes.
KELLY AND THE AIR BLAST.

vse Flash ss Genius Which Provided
slss World With New hastal-Reb-
~ haashst's Dsvies-captain Dill
1snse and Andrew Carnegie.
A. late A. the middle Of the last GEN.
tuFy cheap steel was unknown. 1t
was then sold at 25 cents pound
The railroads wers using iron rails
which wore out in Iese than two years
and the total output Of iron and steel
il year was less than b now made in
four days.
Then came to William Kelly..a Pitts
burg Irish-American. that fash Of gen.
ius which provided the world with a
Dew metal. something n strong as
steel and as cheap ~ iron
Kelly was an iron maker and needed
charcoal. In time all the wood near
his furnaces was burned. and the near
ct available source of supply was
seven miles distant. To cart his char
cpal seven miles meant bankruptcy un-
les he could invent a way to save fuel.
One day he was sitting in front of the
.anery fire. when he suddenly sprang
to his feet. with a shout. and rushed to
the furnace. At one edge he saw 4
white hot spot In the yellow mass Of
molten metal. The iron at this spot
was incandescent. 1t was almost gas
eous. Yet there was NO charcoal
nothing but the steady blast Of air.
Like fash the idea leaped into his
excited brain-tbere was no need Of
charcoal: air alone for fuel
But people said he was crazy when
Kelly asserted that pig iron could be
changed into malleable iron by the air
blast. for every iron maker believed
In those days that cold air would chill
hot iron. ''Scme crank will be trying
to burn ice next" said one manufactur-
q. and Kelly. through lack Of means.
could not turn his idea into the sue
cess he deserved.
Then. seven years later. came Besse-
mer, who made the new process q COM
mercial success by the invention Of his
celebrated converter" and received
10000. COO worldwide fame and 4
knighthood a. his reward Kelly re-
eeived $500. GOO and comparative obliv-
Ion. although his idea was the nu-
cleus of the Bessemer process BY
which iron is purified from carbon by
he direct introduction Of oxygen. for
when Bessemer applied for and oh
taiped q United States patent for his
pneumatic process" Kelly claimed pri-
Gritty for his invention. and his claim
was allowed by the patent once.
ARotAer pieqser of the steel trade.
RS6ert r. Mushet. Scotsman. who hit
upon device for removing q dihiculty
thai baf1ed Kelly and Bessemer. Jared
patent by failing TO pay the Necessary
fees and in his later year, was de-
pendent upon q pension Of 1880 which
he received annually from Bessemer.
The dificufty which Munset removed
was this:
'sThe air blast clears the molten
metal Il carbon and Of all impurities.
including sulphur and phosphorus. But
q certain quantity OF carbon is necee-
sary to harden the metal into the re-
Quired quality Of steel Instead OF
endeasorinH to stop the process at
exactly the right moment. Mushet
asked. why not nrst burn out all the
carbon and then pour back the exact
quantity that you needy This was D
simple device. bnt no one had thought
Of Il before"
The man who took the Invention Of
Kelly and Ressener into his hands. de-
velotpetl II into one Of the wonders Of
the world and made the Carnegie mil
lions was Captain William r. Jones'
Bill Jones. as he was kuown-who
seemed to live with the sole desire Of
toppIinG over the idea that England
owned the steel trade. He could have
been q millionaire many times over
but he cared little for money. When
he was offered a partnership he re
piled: -
'''No. Mr. Carnegie, don't know any
thing about business. and ! don't want
to be bothered with It. I've got trouble
enough here in these works Pil tell
you what you can do"-these were his
exact words-'you can give me
laundering big salary"
After this, captain." replied Car
ne4.e. '.you shall have the salary Of the
president Of the United States-S25.-
COO" &
The famous scrap heap policy was
oriGinated by Jones. He did not be-
lieve In waiting until his machinery
was worn out. The moment that an
Improvement was Invented old INA
chinery was dragged to the scrap heap
and the latest devices put In It's place.
He made the shareholders gasp on sew
sfal occasions by asking permission to
smash mp 100000 worth oe machinery
that VAS as good ~ new. but outgfowp.
Jonss died. ~ he had fvsd. IN the
midst II an Industrial battle at the
bad cf ~ men. He was killed In an
accident In the company's WoFks. Gar
ns91e. hooking upon poor Jones - hs