Omaha daily bee., 1919-10-12
Story of Bessemer
Steel

Council Bluffs, Oct. 9.-To the
Editor of The Bee: l saw in a re-
cent number of The Bee something
about the iron and steel industry,
in which credit is given to Henry
Bessemer for invention of the
process by which iron is converted
into steel by forcing blast of cold
air through the molten metal,
You will find, l think. that it was
not Mr.. Bessemer, but w. j. Kelley
of St. Louis was patentee of this
process. w. j. Kelley Of st. Louis
made the world-renowned Char
coal sugar kettle" sold up and down
the river in the SOS. He had his
converters set up near St. Louis. In
the course Of business he borrowed
$4,000 from his fatherinlaw and
used it to pay for burning charcoal
to make iron. The hard times came
along about 1856, and. to make a
short story of it. Kelley was losing
all he had. and when he thought of
his debts he nearly lost his mind.
He was out Of charcoal wood and
had no money to go on. One day
he was standing near the converters,
bareheaded and whiting a stick.
He forgot himself and walked some
distance away. He heard roar
ing noise. and, looking around, he
saw one of the converters blowing
the carbon out of the molten metal
sparks into the air many feet high
He ran back and bumped the con-
verter to save bridging"
Then he took his tongs and ex-
amined what he thought was the
iron, and to his surprise found that
it was steel, and he said: rs it
possible that / can make steel with
out pudding or charcoal?" He
tried. and made steel by air blown
through the iron. He went to his
father-in-law and told him he had
found a new way to make steel, and
the reply was:
Kelley. you're crazy Don't tell
anyone about that. Go back and
make steel the old way, or you pay
me what you owe me-"
Kelley went broke, and then went
to Johnstown, where he stood
around for weeks, trying to get to
see Ward and others to tell them
he had a new way of making steel
They called him the "crazy Irish
man." and the puddlers jeered him,
but he stayed until one day the iron
men told him:
"For Gods sake, go over in the
corner and set up q converter and
make all the pneumatic steel you
| want to-"
They had gotten rid of the "crazy
1rishman," but 1t was not long until
Kelley had taken off a heat, and
then the iron men of Johnstown
found that Kelley was not crazy, and
they fastened to the patent office to
file on the new way of making steel
Now, for Mr.. Bessemer. Some
time after this a stranger came to
the plant offering to sell new pro-
cess he had for making steel The
iron men told him that Mr.. Kelley
was the man who had patented the
and at that time had a patent for
the same. Bessemer would not
| stand for this. but the courts gave
to Kelley credit for the pneumatic
process. Kelley told Bessemer to GO
back to England and make all the
pneumatic steel he wanted to, and
he would make it in the United
States. Bessemer said he would dc
! so on one condition, that it be
called "Bessemer steel" Hence the
name of Bessemer steel Two men
in Kelly's camp had gone over to
/ England and told Bessemer of Kel-
1ey's find and he had come to the
| United States in order to file first
at the patent office, and it took al
of the steel men to save the paten,
for the inventor. The very con
verter Kelley used is at this time ir
the Smithsonian Institute at Wash
ington, D. c.
Mr.. Kelley was the man who made
the RED Head" axe at St Louis
His sons, l think, are still making
the axe and some other goods hi
began putting out.
FRIEND OF THE BEE.