The Elbert County tribune., 1919-10-24
Geographic Society Gives Inter-
esting Chronicle of Indus
try's Origin.
CHANGED MAKING OF STEEL
Two Men Working In Different ceun-
tries, Without knowledge of Each
Other, Arrive at Same concIu-
sion About Same Time.

Washington.-In view of the nation
wide attention directed toward the
strike of steel workers. the National
Geographic society has issued bull
ietin based on a communication from
William Joseph Showalter concerning
the making of Steel which he terms
"industry's greatest asset"
''rhe story of Bessemer steel Is one
Of the fascinating chronicles of the
Industrial world" the bulletin says.
1t 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 We're 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 Ye Olden Cook Pots.
Kelly was a maker of old-fashioned
cooking pots and kettles. 1t is re-
lated that one day he was sitting In
u
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 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 that 1t 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 expedlent of burn
ing out practically all the carbon, then
adding exactly the amount required
for the specific quality of steel de-
sired.
1.-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. Scotch steel
maker. Goranson. 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.
ITO go into great building where
there Is battery of Bessemer convert
ers is to see more heat than Dante
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 II, and then
through some 200 little holes in the bot
tom pumping engines pump in n
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 i'm
purities. and carries them away.
Millions of red and white sparks
fill the air, as If some demon within