The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-10-27
Geographic Society Gives Inter-
esting Chronicle Of Indus
try's Origin.
CHANGED MAKING OF Steel
TWO Men Working In Different coun.
tries, Without knowledge of Each
Other, Arrive at Same concIu-
sion About Same Time.

let1n based on q communication from
William Joseph Showalter, concerning
the making Of steel, which he terms
"industry's greatest asset"
"The story of Bessemer steel is one
Of the fascinating chronicles Of the
industrial world" the bulletin says.
ut seems to have been one of those
cases where two men working in diff
ferent countries, each without knowl-
edge of what the other was doing,
reached the same conclusion about the
same time. Both were granted Amer
lean patents; but upon application for
renewal, the patent held Kelly to be
the inventor. The world, however,
gives the credit to Bessemer, and the
process is known as the Bessemer
process.
Made We oIden Cook Pots.
"Kelly was a maker of old-fashioned
cooking pots and kettles. 1t is re-
lated that one day he was sitting In
front of his furnace and observed a
point of ~incandescence where there
was no charcoal-only the metal and
the air. This led him to contend that
air alone would burn out the impuri-
ties from molten iron.
"When he developed his fitting con-
verter his engineer blew such a tre-
mendous blast through the first
charge that iron and all went up as
sparks, to his discontinue and the
crowds amusement. He finally sue
ceeded in getting the amount Of air
regulated, and poured out of his con-
verter the first Bessemer steel. Peo-
pie said Kelly would soon be burning
ice. Since his old converter was first
used, billions of dollars worth of steel
has flowed out of the worlds convert
ers.
Both Kelly and Bessemer were baf-
fled by the problem of regulating the
supply of air so hat it would not burn
out all the carbon, a little OF which is
essential to steel. Furthermore, their
products frequently proved to be brit
tie, owing to the fact that the molten
metal absorbed oxygen from the air
blast. The first difficulty was solved
eventually by the ~expedient of burn
ing out practically all the carbon, then
adding exactly the amount required
for the specific quality Of steel de-
sired.
"The second difficulty was overcome
through the addition Of manganese to
take care of the hurtful oxygen. The
latter suggestion was the contribution
of Robert f. Mushet, a Scotch steel
maker. Goranson, a Swedish ironmas-
ter, had previously achieved the same
results by using a pig iron initially
rich in manganese. Thereafter un-
derdone and overdone steel disap-
peared.
More Fire Than In Dante's Inferno.
"To 60 into a great building where
| there Is a battery of Bessemer convert
ers is to see more heat than Dante
ever pictured. A converter Is a huge
egg swung .amidships' on trunnions
The great egg Of steel lined with fire
brick has the top off. Twenty tons Of
molten pig are poured into 1t, and ther
through some 200 little holes In the bot
tom pumping engines pump in 9
stream of cold air. As the oxygen
laden air sweeps up through the mol
ten iron, 1t touches the molten carbon
and silicon, which constitute the inn
purities, and carries them away.
millions of red and white sparks
fill the air, as If some demon within
the fiery fluid were giving a pyrotech
mic performance. A thousand en-
gines. with safety valves kissing un
der tremendous pressure, have thu
voice of a zephyr in comparison. FRS
the flame that pours forth is violet
then shades into orange, becomes
dazzling white, burning finally to
faint blue, which Is q sign that al
the impurities are gone.
"Then the blast cease the carbon
that is necessary to replace the needle,
| portions burnt out is added, the grea
brick and steel egg swings back t
position, the carbon is mixed with tn
fervent fluid, and then the g tip
over on its side, and out Of the toI
flows the liquid steel into a grea
ladle. The whole operation take
about 20 minutes ton Of steel In
minute. Bessemer steel Is used TO
structural material, railroad rails, wir,
and pipe.
"In 1900 there was twice as mucl
steel produced In the United States b.
the Bessemer as by the open-heartl
process. But with the rapid exhaus
ton Of ores having the proper amount
Of phosphorus for converter practice
the open-hearth furnace, which cal
use with equal G pres which con
tain either a large or a small amour
Of DhOsDhOrug. largely renlacod tn