Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-12-17
4 ROMANCE OF STEEL
The Rise of a Great Industry and
Enormous Fortunes.
KELLY AND THE AIR BLAST.

The Flash of Genius Which Provided
the World With New MetaI-Rob-
ert Mashet's Device-captain Sill
Jones and Andrew Carnegie.
As late as the middle Of the last cen
tnry cheap steel was unknown. 1t
was then sold at % cents a pound
Fhe railroads were using iron rails
which wore out in less than two years.
ana the total output Of iron and steel
in d year was less than is now made in
four days.
Then came to William Kelly. Pitts
burg Irish-American. that flash Of gen
ius which provided the world With a
new metal something as strong as
steel and as cheap as iron
Kelly was an iron maker and needed
charcoal In time all the wood neaa
his furnaces was burned. and the near
est available source of supply was
seven miles distant To cart his char
coal seven miles meant bankruptcy I'M
less he could invent way to save fuel
One day he was sitting in front of the
''finery fire. when he suddenly sprang
to his feet with shout aud rushed to
the furnace At one edge he saw q
white hot spot in the yellow mass Of
molten metal The iron at this spot
was incandescent. II WAS almost gas
eous Yet there was 10 ehalcoal-
nothing but the steady blast Of air.
Like fash the idea leaped into his
excited brain there was no need Of
charcoal; air alone for fuel
But people said be wa~ crazy when
Kelly asserted that pig iron could be
changed into maileabie iron by the air
blast for every iron maker believed
in those days that cold air would chill
hot iron. S'Solne crank will be trying
to burn ice next. said one manufactur-
er. 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 a com
Inercial success by the invention of his
celebrated converter and received
s1o0o0.o0o. worldwide fame and a
knighfhood as his reward Kelly re-
eeived $4,000 and comparative obliy
on, although his idea was the nu-
eleus of the Bessemer process By
which iron is purified from carbon by
the direct Introduction of oxygen. for
when Bessemer applied for and OBJ
eained d United States patent for his
pneumatic process Kelly claimed pri-
ority for his invention. and his claim
was allowed by the patent office
Another pioneer ef the steel trade.
Robert +. Mushet. a Scotsman. who hit
upon 4 device for removing a difficulty
that baffied Kelly and Bessemer Jared
even worse than Kelly, for he lost his
patent by failing to pay the necessary
fees and in his later years was de-
pendent upon a pension of $500 which
he received annually from Bessemer.
The difficulty which Munset removed
was this:
THE air blast clears the molten
metal of carbon and of all impurities,
including sulphur and phosphorus. But
a certain quantity of carbon Is neces-
sary TO harden the metal into the re-
CURED quality of steel. Instead of
endeavoring to stop the process at
exactly the right moment. Mushet
asked Why not first burn out all the
carbon and then pour back the exact
quantity that you needT This was q
simple device, but no one had thought
Of it before
The man who took the invention of
Kelly and Bessemer into his hands de-
veIoped 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 known who
seemed to live with the sole desire Of
owned the steel trade He could have
been millionaire many times over.
but he cared little for money. When
he was offered 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 mere III these WORKS II tea
You what You can do, these We're his
exact words-"vou can give me q
laundering big salary
After this. captain" replied Car
negie. you shall have the salary of the
president of the United States So
000''
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 mn
chinery was dragged to the scrap heap
aud the latest devices put in its place.
He made the shareholders gasp on sew
eral occasions by asking permission to
smash up 100000 worth of machinery
that was as good as new but outgrown.
Jones died. as he had lived, IN the
midst OF an Industrial battle at the