MANGANESE IN STEEL MAKING

Patents relating to the Use of Manganese in Steel-making -- Heaths Patent, and use of Manganese -- Martien and Mushet's Inventions -- Manganese and Pitch -- Spiegeleisen in Steel-making -- Fluid-compressed Steel -- The disadvantages of Spiegeleisen -- Franklinite -- The Manufacture of Ferro-Manganese -- Swedish Bessemer Steel -- The Bessemer Process in Austria -- The Neuberg works in Austria -- Honours and Recognitions -- The effect of Manganese on Steel -- Visit to Cornwall -- The Production of Bessemer Pig-iron -- Early experiments at Ebbw Vale -- Interview with Miss Mushet -- The death of Mr. Mushet

In giving a brief account of the more salient points of my life's history, I have deemed it desirable in some cases not to keep strictly to the chronological order of events, which would so entangle different subjects with each other as to render each incident difficult to be understood. I have therefore preferred sometimes to follow up the details of a series of connected events, and thus trace each subject to its natural conclusion, afterwards retracing my steps to recall other incidents which have thus been unavoidably displaced and left to some extent in the background. In accordance with this plan, I now go back to August, 1856, the month in which I read my -- to me -- memorable, paper at the British Association. I have mentioned on another page*[1] that one of the immediate results of that paper was the application for a large number of patents by various people, either bonâ-fide though unpractical inventors, or others who deliberately planned to take advantage of the premature publication of my invention, by obtaining patents which should hedge me round and force me to divide with them the fruits of my labours. I think I have already made it clear that none of these efforts, bonâ-fide or otherwise, ultimately interfered with the triumphant development of my own patents. I am treading on very delicate ground, and although the events I have to refer to occurred many years ago, and are entirely done with so far as I am concerned, I feel that even now I may not be able to write without prejudice, much as I should desire to do so. I shall therefore confine myself entirely to a narrative of facts, and keep my own individuality and personal feelings as far as possible in the background.

As all I have to say in this Chapter bears intimately upon the employment of manganese in the manufacture of cast steel, it will be in the natural order of things if I commence with a short review of the use of manganese in this industry.

In all the old published accounts of steel making, we find that steel works were located in places where manganesian iron was found. The ancient steel manufacturers of Styria produced the famous German "Natural Steel," which was so much used in this country before Sheffield had achieved its present high reputation. The manganesian iron ore, known here as spathose, or white carbonate, was in Germany known as stahlstein, a term indicative of its well-known special aptitude for the production of steel from the pig-iron known in Styria as spiegeleisen, then and now so much used in steel making. Towards the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, efforts were made in this country to combine the metal manganese with our British iron, and thus obtain pig-iron so alloyed with manganese as to give it those qualities which enabled the Germans to produce with their manganesian iron ores the finest steel in the market in those early days.

The first in the long list of inventors and patentees is one William Reynolds, who, in December, 1799, obtained a patent in this country "for a new method of preparing iron for the conversion thereof into steel," by employing oxide of manganese, or manganese (that is, metallic manganese), which was to be mixed either with the material for making the pig or cast-iron, or with the cast iron, to be converted into malleable iron in the finery, bloomery, puddling furnace or otherwise.

In either case, ordinary British pig-iron would be converted into manganesian pig-iron, or spiegeleisen, by the employment of Reynolds's patent process of preparing cast-iron "for its conversion into steel;" a process that has, at the time I am writing, now been public property for a period more than eighty years. Thus I had acquired, in common with all other persons in this country, the right to put oxide of manganese into the blast furnace with the iron-making materials, and so produce manganiferous pig-iron of any desired quality for conversion into malleable iron or steel. By the falling into public use of this long-expired patent I had, in common with all other persons, also acquired the right to add manganese (that is, the metal manganese) to cast-iron in order to render it more suitable for conversion into steel. I had the full right to use such alloyed cast-iron for making steel by my process; and by my patent, bearing date October 17th, 1855, I had the right, after the blowing process, to recarburise, or alter the state of carburation of, the converted metal by the addition thereto of molten pig-iron: a right of which no subsequent patent could deprive me.

This patent of Mr. Reynolds' started a host of imitators, who all laid claim to improve iron for steel making, or to improve steel when made, by alloying it with manganese. In case any of my readers should desire to see how these very "numerous inventors " tried to claim this valuable material for their own special use and advantage, I give below a list of most of them for easy reference to their respective specifications.

Abraham Pope, A.D. 1856. "Manufacture of Steel." Manganese is used in the cementation process.

From the foregoing long list of claimants to the use of manganese in various ways in steel making, it must be evident that a knowledge of its beneficial effect was widely known and highly appreciated nearly a century ago; but the most prominent, and the most practically successful, of all these patentees was a Mr. Josiah Marshall Heath, a civil servant under the Indian Government, who, noticing in the native Wootz steel-making of India the marvellous effect of manganese, conceived the idea of producing steel of superior quality from inferior brands of British iron by its use in the cast-steel process then extensively carried on in Sheffield. Heath came over to this country, and obtained a patent, bearing date the l5th of April, 1839, for the employment of carburet of manganese (that is, manganese in the metallic state) in the manufacture of cast steel: an invention of very great utility, as by its use cast steel of excellent quality could be produced from British iron that had been smelted with mineral fuel. Such steel possessed the property of welding either to itself or to malleable iron. The Sheffield cutlers were thus enabled to weld iron tangs on to the cast-steel blades of table-knives, and also to weld many other similar articles: a process which was not successfully carried on previous to the use of metallic, or carburet of, manganese under Heath's patent.

Mr. Heath, in his specification, does not confine his claim to the use of carburet of manganese in crucible steel melting, but distinctly claims "the use of carburet of manganese in any process whereby iron is converted into cast steel." All that Heath claimed lapsed and became public property when his patent expired, and the right to use carburet of manganese "in any process whereby iron is converted into cast steel" became common property by this publication, even if the patent were invalid. Heath was fully justified in making this general claim, because the results obtained depended on an inevitable chemical law, viz.: whenever metallic manganese, with its powerful affinity for oxygen, is put into molten iron containing disseminated or occluded oxygen, a union of the oxygen and the manganese follows as an inevitable consequence of their strong affinity for each other, wholly irrespective of the process employed in the manufacture of the iron or steel so treated.

In consequence of this successful invention of Heath's, no British iron that has been smelted with mineral fuel is ever made into cast steel in Sheffield without the employment of carburet of manganese. In the early days of Heath's invention, he supplied the carburet in small packages to his licensees; he made this by the deoxydation of black oxide of manganese mixed with coal-tar, or other carbonaceous matter, in crucibles heated in an ordinary air furnace. This was a costly process, and as the demand increased he suggested to his licensees that it would be cheaper to put a given quantity of oxide of manganese and charcoal powder into their crucibles, along with the cold pieces of bar iron or steel to be melted. These materials would, when sufficiently heated, chemically react on each other, and produce the requisite quantity of carburet of manganese in readiness to unite with the steel as soon as the latter passed into the fluid state. But Heath's licensees said, "This is not precisely your patent, Mr. Heath," and they claimed the right to carry out this suggestion without paying him any royalty. This was the cause of some eight or nine years of litigation, by which poor Heath was ultimately ruined, although his patent was established by a final decision of the House of Lords -- alas! only too late; for Heath died a broken-hearted, ruined man, wholly unrewarded for his valuable invention.

Thus we see that both in the use of a carburet, and also by the use a mixed powder, consisting of oxide of manganese and carbon, Heath's process has been successfully and commercially carried on from the date of his patent, in 1839, up to the present hour.

Now, as my converting process was specially intended to deal with iron that had been smelted with mineral fuel, it will be readily understood how disastrous it would have been to me, if, by the action of another patentee, I had been prevented from using manganese; for if manganese, in some form or other, were absolutely necessary for the production of steel of good quality from iron smelted with mineral fuel, it would follow that if the use of manganese, in all its known forms and combinations when applied to the Bessemer process, could be patented, thus becoming the exclusive property of some other persons, then I should have been rendered utterly powerless, and my invention could not have been worked without the permission of the holders of these patents, and I should consequently have been wholly at their mercy.

This part of my narrative turns upon a patent obtained by Mr. Joseph Gilbert Martien, on September 15th, 1855, about a month before I took out my first steel patents. Mr. Martien's invention referred to improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel. He was at that time engaged at the Ebbw Vale Works, either on the staff of that company or as an independent experimenter. There would have been no need for me to refer to Mr. Martien's patent of 1855, but for subsequent events with which it was associated. It was really a valueless patent, and one which found no practical application; nevertheless, I must describe it briefly here, and I cannot do better than reprint some passages from Mr. Martien's specification.

Specification.

A.D. 1855. -- No. 2082.

Martien's Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel.

This Invention has for its object the purifying iron when in the liquid state from a blast furnace, or from a refinery furnace, by means of atmospheric air, or of steam, or vapour of water applied below, and so that it may rise up amongst and completely penetrate and search every part of the metal prior to the congelation, or before such liquid metal is allowed to set, or prior to its being run into a reverberatory furnace in order to its being subjected to puddling, by which means the manufacture of wrought iron by puddling such purified cast iron, and also the manufacture of steel therefrom in the ordinary manner, are improved.

In carrying out my invention, In place of allowing the melted iron from a blast furnace simply to flow in the ordinary gutter or channel to the bed or moulds, or to refinery or puddling furnaces, in the ordinary manner, I employ channels or gutters, so arranged that numerous streams of air, or of steam, or vapour of water may be passed through and amongst the melted metal as it flows from a blast furnace.

Thus we are distinctly told that the crude metal, after treatment in the gutter, is made into malleable iron or steel, by puddling in the ordinary manner, and not by the action of the steam, air, or vapour of water blown through it. In evidence of this I give another quotation from Mr. Martien's printed specification.

In treating the liquid or melted metal as stated, either as it directly comes from a blast furnace or from a finery fire, it is left in the form of pigs, plates, or in a granulated state, as may be desired; or it may be conducted after such treatment directly and without material loss of heat to a reverbatory or other furnace or furnaces, and them subjected to intense heat and manipulation, and speedily converted into balls of malleable metal of iron and steel.

Martien was under the impression that he could, in part, supersede the ordinary finery fire, and render the crude iron more suitable for puddling, there being no new method or process of making malleable iron or steel described, or even in the most remote manner suggested, in this patent. In fact, in the last quotation, he tells us "the metal is left in the form of pigs, plates (that is, I presume, finer's plate metal), or in a granulated state, and if it be desired to make it into malleable iron or steel, the old process of puddling must be resorted to.

Possibly -- I think probably -- we should never have heard any more of Mr. Martien's invention had it not been for my Cheltenham paper of August, 1856. This paper, as we have seen, was fertile in suggestions to many would-be inventors. Amongst them in the records of the Patent Office we find, on September 16th, 1856, the applications for two patents connected with the manufacture of steel; one of them was taken out in the name of Robert Mushet and the other by Joseph Gilbert Martien. Six days later -- that is, on September 22nd -- two other patents were applied for by Robert Mushet, all four of the patents named being for the use of manganese in the manufacture of steel; and therefore they were, intentionally or otherwise, obstructive patents from my point of view. It must be remembered that these patents were applied for in the fourth and fifth weeks immediately following the reading of my paper at Cheltenham, at which period the whole iron trade of this country was in a state of extreme agitation and excitement in reference to my invention, which, at that moment, it was believed would effect a complete revolution in the iron industry.

Now, at this period, hundreds of men in Sheffield knew perfectly well that cast steel made from iron that had been smelted with mineral fuel was so much improved in quality by being alloyed with manganese, that such iron was never made into cast steel in Sheffield without the addition thereto of oxide of manganese and carbonaceous matter in the form of powder, which was put into the crucible or vessel in which cast steel was made. I have, however, already dwelt at length on Heath's invention, and have shown that his patents, which had expired long years before, had given to the world the free use of manganese in steel-making, and that its general application was a matter of universal knowledge.

Mr. Mushet's specification commences, "Now know ye that I, the said Robert Mushet, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement. When cast iron, including grey and white pig iron and refined metal, has been decarburised or purified by forcing air through or amongst its particles, either in the manner described in the specification of Letters Patent, dated the l5th day of September, 1855, granted to Joseph Gilbert Martien, or in any other convenient manner, with a view to convert it into malleable iron, etc." Now, it is clear that Martien did not blow air through molten iron, in order to convert it into malleable iron, but simply in order to prepare such cast iron for the after-process of puddling, by which process, and not by the air blown through it, it was to be converted into malleable iron. Further, any addition of pitch and oxide of manganese could not possibly convert into steel iron treated in the manner described in this patent of Martien so specifically referred to. There was at that time no commercially-known process of converting pig iron direct into malleable iron or steel, while still retaining its fluidity, except that patented by me, to which alone Mr. Mushet's patent could possibly be applied.

Any attempt to carry into practice Mr. Mushet's process, in the manner described in his patent of September 16th, 1856, would have been attended with great danger, and failure must have inevitably followed. In the manipulation of cast steel a small quantity of oxide of manganese and charcoal in the form of powder is put into the bottom of covered crucibles, nearly filled with cold broken-up steel bars. In such crucibles only a very small amount of atmospheric air is present, consequently the charcoal at the bottom of the covered crucible is not consumed. But as soon as a very high temperature is attained the carbon present gradually deoxydises the manganese, producing a fluid carburet of that metal, which unites with the steel as soon as the latter is fused. Now, Mr. Mushet proposed a somewhat different method of procedure. In this first patent for improvements in the manufacture of steel he stated that he preferred to use pitch as the carbon element, and having melted it, to put into the fluid pitch an equal weight of oxide of manganese in the form of powder, and to stir them well together. This mixture was to be allowed to cool, after which the brittle mass was to be reduced to a state of powder, and a quantity equal to one-fifth, or to one-tenth, the weight of the converted metal was to be used before, during, or after the conversion. Now, I have found on testing the specific gravity of this fine powder that a cubic foot of it weighs, as near as may be, 62 1/2 lb. (the same as water); hence the minimum charge of one-tenth of the weight of the contents of an ordinary 5-ton converter, or 10 cwt., would have a bulk of 13.9, or nearly 14, bushels -- we may call it 13 bushels -- while the maximum charge would be 26 bushels. Let us see how such an addition would behave if put into a Bessemer converter: a vessel with an interior lining brilliantly red-hot, and containing about 90 to 100 cubic feet of atmospheric air, at a temperature of about 1000 deg. Fahr. Certainly the first shovelful of such a highly-combustible powder thrown into this red-hot chamber filled with heated air would result in a dangerous gas explosion, and the instant rejection of the unreduced manganese powder present in the mixture. How, then, were the 13 bushels, or the 26 bushels, of this explosive powder to be got into the red-hot vessel? For even if it were possible to put in only the smaller quantity of 13 bushels, of this powder, it would form for a few minutes a huge bath of molten pitch, and it would require a very bold man to pour into it 5 tons of molten iron. The whole proposition is so absolutely unpractical that it requires no further comment.

Six days later (September 22nd, 1856), Mr. Mushet applied for another patent, which did not differ from the use of carburet of manganese as patented by Josiah Marshall Heath in 1839, for years used by Sheffield steel manufacturers, and in which patent Mr. Heath claims, fourthly, "the use of carburet of manganese, in any process whereby iron is converted into cast steel," to which I have previously referred. Now, it is obvious that this use of carburet of manganese, even if it could not have been claimed by Heath in his patent of 1839, had -- as I have already stated -- become, by mere publication, common property for a period of no less than sixteen years prior to Mr. Mushet's patent of September, 1856. The only plea that could possibly be advanced to justify Mushet's claim to a long-ago expired patent, which had been extensively used, was that the steel into which this carburet of manganese was to be put had been made by a different process. Now, let us see to what a deadlock all improved manufactures would be reduced if once we admit such a claim. Let us take an example which is strictly analogous. Some fifty or more years ago a great discovery was made by Mr. Pattinson, of Newcastle, who invented a most ingenious mode of extracting metallic silver from ordinary commercial pigs of argentiferous lead. Previous to this, silver had been almost exclusively obtained from silver ore, amalgamated with mercury, and afterwards refined, melted, and cast into ingots. There was no analogy whatever between the old process of extracting silver and that discovered by Mr. Pattinson. It had long previously been found that silver, though a very beautiful metal in appearance, was almost useless, either for the manufacture of utensils or for current coin, on account of its extreme softness; articles made from pure silver being easily bent or misshapen, and coins losing their impression by wear and abrasion. But it was fortunately discovered that an addition of 10 lb. of copper to every 90 lb. of silver, so hardened and strengthened the silver as to render it eminently adapted both for the manufacture of utensils, and also for current coin. This valuable alloy of copper and silver was accepted by all European Governments as a standard alloy to be stamped as "silver," and it has been in universal use for many years, just as steel alloyed with carburet of manganese passes current as steel, the alloy having also been in public use for many years. But the silver obtained from lead pigs by Mr. Pattinson's new process, like that obtained from silver ore, was, of course, too soft to be used in that state. Now, if some speculative patentee had, on the first announcement to the world of Mr. Pattinson's great discovery, rushed to the Patent Office to claim the sole right to put 10 per cent. of copper into silver obtained by Pattinson's process, under the plea that this silver had been produced by a new method, it is self-evident that the claim could not here be substantiated. To admit it would have been simply to destroy all future great inventions; the whole idea is too absurd to require further argument.

On September 22nd, 1856, Mr. Mushet took out yet another patent, claiming the employment of one of nature's compounds: a compound which steel-makers have used for the production of steel as far back as the history of steel-making extends, and which consists of iron found in the mine associated, or combined, with manganese and oxygen. Such ore, when smelted, produces a pig iron which contains iron, carbon, manganese, silicon, and generally phosphorus, sulphur, and other matters in small quantities, in combination with the iron. In his third patent Mr. Mushet did not mention my name, or designate any patent of mine, as the invention which he proposed to improve by the use of spiegeleisen; and again the Crown and the public were told that, for the purposes of his invention, "the iron may be purified by the action of air in the manner invented by Joseph Gilbert Martien," as will be seen by the following quotation, reproduced from a printed copy of Mushet's specification, published by the Commissioners of Patents:-

The iron may be purified by the action of air, in the manner invented by Joseph Gilbert Martien, or in any other convenient manner. The triple compound or material which I prefer to use is pig or cast iron made from spathose ore, such ore and the pig or cast iron made from it containing a proportion of manganese, as well as the iron and carbon of which cast iron is usually composed.

If Mr. Mushet had taken the trouble to examine my early patents for the manufacture of steel, he would have found that the re-carburation of converted metal by the addition thereto of molten pig iron, was perfectly well understood, and had been patented by me more than a year prior to the date of either of his three manganese patents. Mr. Mushet also appears to have entirely overlooked my description of the several modes of making alloys in my process, as set forth in my patent, dated May 13th, 1856, sixteen weeks prior to the date of either of his three patents. This description was not given for the purpose of claiming any such alloys, but, on the contrary, its object was to disclaim the right to make alloys in my converter of any metals previously used in the trade to form an alloy with steel, and by such disclaimer and publication to prevent anyone from obstructing me in the free use of all such well-known alloys. In order to show what I really did say in my patent, I give a copy of the paragraph from my specification.

When employing fluid metal for alloying with malleable iron or steel, I pour it through an opening in the converting vessel, so that it may fall direct into the fluid mass below; but when employing metal in a solid form, I put it into the upper chamber through the door g, and allow it to acquire a high temperature, after which it may be pushed with a rod, through the opening d, into fluid iron or steel; and when using salts or oxides of metals for the purpose of producing an alloy or mixture with the iron or steel, I prefer to introduce such salts or oxides in the form of powder at the tuyéres, or to put them into the vessel previous to running in the fluid metal. I would observe, that I am aware that zinc, copper, silver, and other metals have before been combined with iron and steel otherwise manufactured, I therefore make no general claim thereto.

This paragraph clearly points out how such alloys are to be made, and I mention as examples, silver alloys, once used and greatly esteemed as "silver steel"; also alloys of zinc, patented as a detergent to carry off phosphorus from steel; I also mention copper as used in stereo metal for the manufacture of guns in Austria, and other metals heretofore used in steel-making. Surely, after I had thus published and disclaimed the use of any alloys previously used, no one could obtain a valid patent for alloying steel in my process with metals used to alloy steel then in common use.

The result of my early experiments in re-carburising confirmed the view I had taken from the first, viz., that it was best to stop the process as soon as steel of the proper quality was arrived at, for the continuation of the blowing process until malleable iron was obtained, had the disadvantage of consuming from 2 to 3 per cent. more iron than when steel was made; and, what was still worse, the metal got very much overcharged with oxygen, causing violent ebullition in the mould. I had an idea that this occluded oxygen could be got rid of without any addition to the metal. I had noticed that when super-oxydised molten malleable iron came in contact with the cold-iron mould, it boiled and threw off large quantities of gas, as its temperature was reduced, the action being similar to that which takes place in the cooling of large masses of molten silver, which sputter and make a sort of little volcanic mound on the top of the ingot, owing to the spontaneous disengagement of occluded oxygen. In the case of steel, this throwing off of carbonic acid, or carbonic oxide, gas was a source of great unsoundness in ingots, and appeared to be a very important subject for investigation. I consequently had a small apparatus constructed, with a view of seeing how far this gaseous matter could be prevented from escaping in the form of bubbles by being surrounded with a dense atmosphere, to suppress ebullition; and also how far it could be removed by considerably lowering the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere, thus favouring ebullition and the removal of the gas from the metal.

I may here mention, incidentally, that these experiments were the starting-point of my patents for casting under gaseous pressure, and also under the pressure of an hydraulic plunger, acting direct on the fluid metal. Under this latter patent, I granted a license to Sir Joseph Whitworth to make his compressed steel. The experimental apparatus for removing gas in vacuo just referred to, was simply a short cylindrical vessel, on to which a conical cover was fitted; the flanges which formed the junction between the two were accurately surfaced, and formed an air-tight joint. At the top of the apparatus a small circular piece of plate glass was inserted, through which the eye could, by means of the light emitted by the incandescent metal, see distinctly whatever was going on inside the chamber.

This apparatus is shown in section in Fig. 76, page 270. Having converted some pig iron into highly-carburised steel by means of a fireclay blow pipe, a crucible about half filled with this steel was put into the chamber. The pipe and stop-cock shown on one side of it were made to communicate with an exhaust pump, or with an exhausted vessel, the effect of which was at first to cause a few bubbles to rise to the surface of the metal; but only a comparatively gentle ebullition was produced, however high a vacuum was attained. If mild steel, however, was so treated a much more violent ebullition took place; and if a 20-lb. crucible containing about 10 lb. only of wholly decarburised pig iron was put into the chamber, and a high vacuum was produced, the ebullition set up by the rapid escape of gas caused the steel to boil over the top of the crucible, and occupy the lower part of the chamber, as shown in the engraving.

Many experiments were made with this simple apparatus, and they convinced me at the time that it was far preferable to blow the metal only to the condition of steel, using the recarburising process to as small an extent as possible. Thus it happened that in my early patent of October l7th, 1855, I described the recarburising process in the words which I reproduce from my printed specification, which dates more than one year prior to Mr. Mushet's patents.

During the decarbonizing process, the state of the metal may be tested by dipping out a sample with a small ladle, as practised in refining copper; if too much carbon is retained, the pipe G may be again introduced for a short time, or a small quantity of scrap iron may be put into it; but if too much carbon has been driven off, an addition may be made of some melted iron from the finery or cupola furnace: a little experience will, however, enable the workman to regulate his process so as to produce the different qualities of steel which he may require.

This quotation shows that, from the earliest date, I fully understood and appreciated the facility which molten carburet of iron gave for regulating the state of carburation of the converted metal; and if I used any kind of manganese pig iron for converting into steel, as I had a perfect right to do, the addition of some of this molten iron "from the cupola furnace" to my converted metal, would of necessity involve the recarburising, by the use of a "triple compound of iron, carbon, and manganese."

Now the particular manganese pig iron, called in Styria spiegeleisen, the use of which Mr. Mushet claimed by his patent, may in round numbers be fairly stated to consist of 4 per cent. carbon, 8 per cent. manganese, 2 per cent. of some half a dozen other elements, and 86 per cent. of iron. These proportions are by no means well adapted for the deoxydation of mild steel, and it is impossible to use such a metal when soft decarburised iron is desired, as steel, and not malleable iron, would be produced.

I have before stated, that in my earliest experiments the quantity of oxygen taken up by the metal was but small, if the process was stopped when the desired quality of steel was arrived at. But if I continued the blowing process until soft iron was produced I had a double disadvantage: I burnt and destroyed -- as I have already stated from 2 to 3 per cent. more of the iron than was lost when making steel, and I immensely increased the quantity of oxygen absorbed. It was this fact that induced me to persevere in decarburising only to the extent necessary to make steel of the precise quality desired; and where this system has been pursued in Sweden and in Austria, it has proved commercially a great success.

It will at once be seen how ill-adapted are the proportions of carbon, manganese, and iron, in spiegeleisen, because enough of the per cent. of manganese present cannot be put into the converter to deoxydise the malleable iron, without introducing at the same time so much of the 4 per cent. of carbon present as would make the whole of the malleable iron treated, into cast steel. For this reason the very soft or mild quality of steel required for ship and boiler-plates should be recarburised with an alloy of something like the following proportions: 60 per cent. of manganese, 4 of carbon, and 36 of iron.

Now, if Mr. Mushet had invented a new triple compound of iron, carbon, and manganese, in somewhat about the proportions indicated, and had shown a cheap and ready way of producing it on a commercial scale, he would have been entitled to a patent for his mode of producing such an alloy, and also for the use of such an artificial compound in any other process to which it might be applicable. But it was not new to improve steel by alloying it with manganese: a method long before known to, and daily practised by, hundreds of workmen in the steel trade.

This patent of Mr. Mushet, claiming the sole use of manganiferous pig iron, had simply the effect of calling the attention of steel-makers to a makeshift alloy, and thus diverted for some years my attention, and doubtless that of many other persons, from the pursuit of a ready means of producing such an alloy of manganese as would be better suited for the purposes for which spiegeleisen had been employed. All the difficulties in making boiler and ships' plates of the degree of mildness necessary to ensure their safety under the severe strains to which they are subjected, arose from the excess of carbon and the deficiency of manganese in the natural alloy spiegeleisen.

I may here state that, very soon after commencing the manufacture of steel at my Sheffield works, this difficulty about mild steel plates was strongly felt when using British coke-made iron. I attained complete success with Swedish charcoal iron, and thus could make tool steel and gun steel as good as, or better than, any in the market. On these steels there was a large profit, and the cost of the material was not important. But when the steel had to be sold in competition with iron plates, it was necessary to use cheaper pig iron, and it was with this iron that the difficulties arose. However, I found that another of Nature's compounds, wholly differing from spathose ore, or white carbonate of iron, from which spiegeleisen is obtained, existed in large quantities in New Jersey, in the United States. The mineral referred to is a ferriferous oxide of zinc, and on its discovery it was given the name "Franklinite," in honour of Dr. Franklin. When the zinc is driven off, in the form of vapour, there results an alloy of iron and manganese, usually containing from 11 per cent. to 11 1/2 per cent. of manganese, which is far better adapted for the deoxydation of mild steel than spiegeleisen, containing only 8 per cent. of that metal. Consequently, "Franklinite" was much used at my works in Sheffield, pending my introduction of ferro-manganese into the trade. This, unfortunately, from a variety of circumstances, was delayed until 1862, when I induced a Glasgow firm to go into the manufacture of ferro-manganese, both for our own use at Sheffield, and for the benefit of my licensees. The subjoined extract will show how valuable this ferro-manganese was, more especially for plate-making, and how much the Bessemer mild steel plates of that early date suffered in reputation by the undue introduction of carbon into the metal from the use of spiegeleisen, so rich in carbon, and so poor in manganese. I quote one of the highest living*[2] authorities, a gentleman who enjoys both an American and a European reputation as an iron and steel manufacturer and metallurgist. I refer to Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, the United States Commissioner to the Universal Exposition at Paris in 1867, who, in his able report to the American Government, commented on the Bessemer process and its application to the manufacture of plates as follows :-

Under the head of Sweden, Mr. Hewitt made the following remarks :--

 Carb. acid   .    .    .    .    .    8.00 
 Silicium     .    .    .    .    .   17.35
 Alumina      .    .    .    .    .    0.95
 Lime.        .    .    .    .    .    6.50
 Magnesia     .    .    .    .    .    4.35
 Protoxide of manganese .    .    .    3.35
 Magnetic oxide.   .    .    .    .   32.15
 Peroxide of iron  .    .    .    .   27.40
                                     -------
                                     100.05
 Phosphoric acid.  .    .    .    .    0.03

 Carbon combined   .    .    .    .    1.012
 Graphite     .    .    .    .    .    3.527
 Silicium     .    .    .    .    .    0.854
 Manganese    .    .    .    .    .    1.919 
 Phosphorus   .    .    .    .    .    0.031
 Sulphur      .    .    .    .    .    0.010

The analysis of mottled pig (la fonte truité), consisting of two-thirds 
gray and one-third white, is--

 Carbon combined   .    .    .    .    2.138
 Graphite     .    .    .    .    .    2.733
 Silicium     .    .    .    .    .    0.641
 Manganese    .    .    .    .    .    2.926
 Phosphorus   .    .    .    .    .    0.026
 Sulphur      .    .    .    .    .    0.015

Again, Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, in his report, gives an interesting account of the manufacture of Bessemer steel as represented by exhibits in the Austrian Department of the Paris Exposition of 1867, and from this account I give the following quotation:-

The perfect success that was obtained from the very first working of my process*[3] both in Sweden and in Austria, excited the greatest interest in those countries. My first licensee in Sweden, Mr. Goransen, of Gefle, came over to England as soon as the printed notice in the press of my Cheltenham paper had reached him. He was a man possessed of great energy as well as practical knowledge; he saw the converting process at my experimental works in London, and he erected a fixed vessel like the one he saw. In this he used the molten iron direct from his blast furnace, and converted it into steel without recarburising; in fact, he kept strictly to the mode of operating described in my Cheltenham paper. In a very short time he had his steel works in operation, and sent over some ingots to show me what splendid steel he was making. One of these ingots was rolled in Sheffield into a circular saw-plate, 3/16 in. thick and 5 ft. in diameter. So great was the interest excited in Sweden by the successful production of high-class steel by the Bessemer process, that Prince Oscar took a journey of over 200 miles to see it in operation at the works of Mr. Goransen, and the impression made on the Prince's mind was so favourable that it resulted in my being made an honorary member of the Iron Board of Sweden, in recognition of the value of my invention: a compliment which I shall ever highly esteem.

The circumstances attending the introduction of my process into Austria were very different, but were equally satisfactory.

I had no Austrian patent, and therefore did not take any steps to introduce my process into that country. The principal iron works are at Neuberg, in Styria, and belong to the Government. The intelligent managers of those works early applied to me for information regarding my steel process, and, as I had no patent, they desired to know under what terms I would supply all such plans as would enable them to put it in operation. I offered them detailed drawings of all the apparatus, a written description of the process, and a trial of their pig iron at the Sheffield Works, in the presence of one of their own employes, for which I asked a fee of £1000. This offer was at once accepted, and the agreement thus entered into was carried out to our mutual satisfaction; in due time, the works at Neuberg were got into active operation, and were entirely successful. In fact, with their splendid pig iron, it would have been difficult to have made a failure. Prince Demidoff inspected the works, and gave such a favourable report to the Emperor that His Majesty conferred on me the honour of "Knight Commander of the Order of His Imperial Majesty Francis Joseph," which, with the scarlet collar and gold and enamelled cross of the Order, was presented to me by His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador in London. This decoration I highly prize, and I have worn it on many public occasions.*[4]

In the latter part of 1856 and the commencement of 1857, I steadily pursued my experiments, with a view to improve the quality of the steel I was making, and to get rid of red-shortness. I sought for information on this point in old books and encyclopaedias, where very little information could be gained. I also re-perused such metallurgical works as I possessed, and had already skimmed over too lightly, and in one of them I found some most valuable information, which I at once saw was applicable to my case. It related to an invention that had been introduced into the Sheffield steel trade, about sixteen years previously, by means of which iron of inferior quality was made to produce excellent steel, and to receive the property of welding. The article referred to was written by my old and esteemed friend, Dr. Andrew Ure, and appeared in a supplement to the third edition of his Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, published by Longmans and Co. in l846.

It has many times been remarked that some of the most important events which shape and control our lives or fortunes, arise from fortuitous circumstances which apparently have no possible connection with the events they have in reality brought about. My readers will remember that in the early part of this volume (page 13) I gave an account of my acquaintance with Dr. Ure, and related how I had shown him some medallions which I had coated with a thin deposit of copper from its acid solution. I told of the great interest Dr. Ure had taken in my discovery, and how, in November, 1846, he published a supplement to his work, in which he gave an account of my invention under the article "Electro-Metallurgy." Hence, I naturally purchased a copy of this, to me, most interesting volume. It was an article on the manufacture of steel, contained in this supplement, which first enlightened me on the subject of manganese and Heath's invention; this culminated in the production of ferro-manganese.

I read this account of Heath's invention with deep interest, and at the same time I scored a line under a few of the sentences which very forcibly struck me; in order that my readers may see precisely the kind of information this article furnished, I have had the whole page photographed, and I reproduce it in Fig. 77, Plate XXXIV.

On reading this well-authenticated account of Heath's invention, I at once saw that red-shortness would be cured by its use, for I had found that my red-short steel crumbled away under the hammer if raised to a welding heat. Here, in the book of my old friend, Dr. Ure, was ample proof that inferior brands of iron could be made into weldable cast steel simply by alloying them with 1 per cent. of carburet of manganese. This fortunate discovery of what had already been practised for years came like a revelation to me; and as this patent of Heath's had long expired, and his invention had become public property, I at once investigated the whole subject, commencing with inquiries into the law proceedings referred to by Dr. Ure, where I gained much additional information. In the reports of "Noted Cases on Letters Patent for Inventions," by Thos. Webster, barrister-at-law, published in 1855, I found the complete specification of Heath's patent, and also much evidence given in the Exchequer Court, in the case of "Heath v. Unwin," Hilary Term, 1844, by experts who had studied the subject both theoretically and practically. From these reports I subjoin the following extract :--

Evidence was given on behalf of the plaintiff by manufacturers of steel, and of long experience in the trade, to the effect that cast steel suitable for the manufacture of cutlery, before the introduction of the plaintiff's process, could only be made from high-priced foreign iron, that the use of carburet of manganese in the manufacture of welding cast steel was new at the date of the plaintiff's patent; that the introduction of the plaintiff's invention caused a revolution in the trade; that the plaintiff had, after long investigation and experiments, discovered that when black oxide of manganese was combined in such proportions with carbonaceous matter as to form a carburet, it enabled the manufacturer to produce a welding cast steel suitable for the manufacture of cutlery from low-priced British iron, which had never been done before, and which reduced the price of the steel from about 70L. to about 35L. per ton.

Here was the remedy I was in search of, clearly pointed out; experienced Sheffield steel-makers had testified on oath that the use of carburet of manganese, added to the cast steel, enabled the latter to produce welding cast steel suitable for the manufacture of cutlery from low-priced British iron, which had never before been done. No sooner had I ascertained these facts than I commenced experiments on the production of Heath's carburet of manganese in crucibles, using the air-furnace which I had many years previously successfully employed to produce all the various alloys of metal required in my bronze-powder manufactory at Baxter House.

I well remember how much trouble I had with the first few experiments, in which I used charcoal and black oxide of manganese, the charcoal, ground to a very fine powder, being much in excess of the quantity actually required. This was a great mistake, as the reduced oxide remained in minute metallic particles, intermixed with the overdose of charcoal powder. This mistake was afterwards remedied, coarse granular charcoal in suitable proportion being used. I have never publicly referred to these early experiments, simply because I was unaware that I had, or could show, any evidence of the fact; and, as is my rule in all such cases, I preferred to remain absolutely silent, not only in reference to these early experiments to produce carburet of manganese, but also as to my initiation of the manufacture of alloys of iron rich in manganese, which are now so well known under the name of ferro-manganese. But a purely accidental circumstance has, within the last few years, furnished me with such conclusive evidence of the fact as to make me no longer hesitate to show how far I was instrumental in the production of that valuable alloy, ferro-manganese.

In searching through the contents of an old box I had brought to Denmark Hill from Queen Street Place on my retirement from business, I came upon six old pocket-memorandum books, in which I, from time to time, had recorded many experiments on alloys, mechanical contrivances, suggestions for new patents, etc. In one of these old books, bearing on its flyleaf the date January 8th, 1852, written forty-five years ago by my deceased partner Longsdon, I found several memoranda relating to my first attempt to make Heath's carburet of manganese, which were the direct outcome of the information I had obtained from Dr. Ure's book. These researches were made about a month before any one of Mr. Mushet's patents was published or could possibly be known to the world. It will be seen that these memoranda were roughly made on the spur of the moment, and were simply for my own guidance, or to prevent ideas and experiments from being forgotten.

I give a facsimile of some of them in Fig. 78, page 284.
It will be remembered by many members of the Iron and Steel Institute that it was in one of these old memorandum books that I came upon my notes relative to the manufacture of what were designated "Meteoric Guns," to be made by alloying malleable iron or steel with 3 per cent. of nickel; a photograph of these notes was communicated by me to the Institute, and published in their Journal, Vol. 18. Had it not been for this accidental discovery of memoranda made at the time, and the existence of which had been entirely forgotten, I should never have reverted to this subject, since the mere adoption of Heath's process could in no way add to whatever credit I may be entitled to for the discovery and development of the Bessemer process.

These old records of experiments will serve to show the difficulties that one meets with from the most trivial circumstances. The fact was that my air-furnace, which was designed for making bronze alloys, was deficient in temperature when treating such a refractory ore as oxide of manganese, and produced only a few buttons of reduced metal.

I had found, in making alloys of copper and tungsten for bronze powders that the mineral wolfram was most difficult to bring to the metallic state, but was reduced easily if crushed and mixed with oxide of copper, or with refuse "copper-bronze," that is, a fine powder with pure copper. Thus copper, alloyed with tungsten, was readily obtained. This fact of the union of metals in the act of simultaneous reduction from their oxides, of which I had some practical experience, at once suggested to me that the difficulty in reducing oxide of manganese would be removed, by combining it in the form of powder with oxide of iron, which is so easily fused, and then reducing the two metals simultaneously. I clearly saw, at the same time, that this system of alloying the manganese with iron would prevent the spontaneous decomposition of pure metallic manganese when exposed to ordinary atmospheric influence, as the manganese would be protected by the iron present. This mode of producing an alloy of iron and manganese, in almost any assignable proportions, appeared to me to be such an important step in advance as to render all further experiments in making Heath's pure carburet of manganese quite unnecessary; these ideas were at once jotted down in my pocket-book, and simply embody the first rough views taken of this important manufacture. The memoranda referred to we photographically reproduced in Fig. 79, Plate XXXV.

With reference to Bethel's patent coke, I may mention that this coke is made by the destructive distillation of coal-tar in closed retorts, which leaves a porous hard coke which is almost pure carbon. This process would have been excellently adapted for the reduction of oxide of manganese on a large scale, and such a system of coke-making in a retort would have been far less expensive than Heath's crucible process. What I wanted to obtain, however, was the substance I had designated "artificial ore of manganese and iron." Such artificial ore could be smelted like other iron ores, and thus offered all the prospective advantages of quantity and cheapness. This particular scheme I never lost sight of until it culminated in the production of ferro-manganese at Glasgow. Since my invention was kept in abeyance, so far as steel-making from British iron was concerned, I was desirous of making a series of experiments on all the rich alloys of iron and manganese. I, therefore, had my furnace enlarged and the draught improved. I then applied to Messrs. Bird and Company, of London, who were agents for the Workington Hematite Iron Company, to obtain for me some of their pure hematite ore for my experiments. There was some delay in getting this ore, and in the meantime both Mr. Martien's and Mr. Mushet's patents were published. Then, for the first time, I realised that an obstacle had been created, which might prevent my using manganese in my process in any and every form in which that metal was known, or had previously been in public use. Nevertheless, I felt not the slightest hesitation in making use of spiegeleisen, or any other manganesian pig-irons, which were covered by my prior patents. I was, however, unfortunately diverted for the time from the pursuit of the richer alloys of manganese which would have prevented all those troubles met with in producing steel of sufficient mildness for plates, so deeply engrossed did I become in the introduction of my process to the trade, and in keeping watch against the many attempts to encroach on my rights. Coupled with these there was constant and laborious work at the drawing-board in making the original drawings for my own further improvements, and in the development of the many mechanical devices necessary to the commercial use of my invention on a large scale. With all these imperative calls on my time, something had to go to the wall, and the rich manganesian alloys were for the time crowded out. In this busy year -- that is, from September 1856 to November 1857 -- I had taken out eleven new patents. I had settled the mechanical details of each one, and had personally made the whole of the drawings for the eleven specifications. Every day had its new labours, and every day the need for these rich alloys of manganese became more evident.

About this time I had a long conversation on this subject with Mr. William Galloway, one of the partners in our Sheffield firm, and we seriously thought of putting up a blast furnace for making rich manganesian pig-iron. Mr. Galloway had some land at Runcorn, on the Mersey, which he suggested should be utilised for this purpose as a private speculation of our own. I made many inquiries about manganese mines at the "Mining Record" Office, and got a good deal of useful information from Mr. Robert Hunt, the indefatigable head of that most valuable institution. My inquiries and numerous visits on the subject awakened a deep interest in Mr. Hunt, and before the summer was over it was arranged that I should accompany him in his usual annual visit to the principal tin and other mines in Cornwall. I much needed this little holiday, and Mr. Hunt drove me nearly all round the county of Cornwall in an open phaeton, a journey full of deep interest to me. My friend -- for so I am proud to call him was a positive living encyclopaedia, and neither the longest journey, nor the lonely parlour of the village inn, was ever dreary with such an agreeable companion. We visited some of the manganese mines, which were not very promising, being situated in localities far removed from shipping ports, to which their output must have been transported by horse and cart over bad roads.

While Mr. Hunt pursued his professional duties, I made a short halt at Penzance, and rambled over the enormous granite rocks leading down to Land's End. At some works in the district I found a pair of dwarf serpentine columns of great beauty, which I purchased as a memento of this most interesting journey. They are at present (1896) in good company, for between them stands a massive pedestal, 4 ft. high, made of Algerian onyx, forming the base of a large Parisian clock, with a life-sized bronze figure holding a revolving pendulum. The serpentine columns support busts of Enid and Prince Geraint from the "Idylls of the King," sculptured in white Carrara marble. This group stands on one side of the entrance-hall of my residence (see Fig. 80, Plate XXXVI).

On my return to London a plain, business-like review of all the circumstances connected with the supply of manganese ore from Cornwall was unsatisfactory. My old friend Galloway was getting on in years, and not over-anxious to embark in new undertakings, while the pursuit of my own business, and the spread of the process throughout Europe, engrossed my whole attention. Thus time rolled on; we made shift with Franklinite, which was 40 per cent. richer in manganese than spiegeleisen, but it was not all we could desire. A little later, it occurred to me that oxide of manganese was a waste product in the manufacture of chlorine and bleaching powder, and I knew that the firm of Tennant and Co., of St. Rollox, Glasgow, were most extensive manufacturers of this article. At that time Mr. Rowan, of Glasgow, was making Bessemer steel under a license from me, and I wrote to him saying that I was coming down to Glasgow, and hoped that he would be able to get me an introduction to Messrs. Tennant. In reply, Mr. Rowan invited me to come to his house and stay a week. I did so, and, in talking over the matter, he said: "I know a Mr. Henderson, who is a good chemist, and is carrying out a scheme of his own at the works of Messrs. Tennant and Co., where he is operating on iron pyrites, and one of his waste products is pure iron in the form of powder. I will, if you wish it, ask him to come and dine with us to-morrow."

The next evening I explained to Mr. Henderson how I proposed to manufacture an artificial metallic ore, consisting of iron and manganese, by combining hematite, or white carbonate of iron, with oxide of manganese, in equal proportions. These materials were to be held together with clay, or with clay and lime, to form a fluid cinder, either with or without the addition of carbonaceous matter. I proposed to mix these materials in a common brickmaker's pug-mill, to dry the mixture in moderate-sized lumps, and to convert this artificial ore into the metallic state in an ordinary blast furnace. I told Mr. Henderson that I wanted some large firm to take up the manufacture, as I had no time to attend to it, and did not wish to make such manufacture a source of profit. All I wanted was to be supplied with a manganesian alloy of iron, of not less than 50 per cent. of manganese, for my own use and that of my licensees, who would most assuredly become large purchasers. Mr. Henderson was very anxious to take the matter in hand, but he feared to encounter the large cost of erecting a complete blast furnace plant. He said that he had no doubt he could produce the alloy in a less expensive furnace, and was willing to risk the cost and trouble of doing so. I, on my part, gave up the idea of pressing it upon Messrs. Tennant, as I originally intended, and left the whole matter in Mr. Henderson's hands. The result of this was that he took out a patent for manufacturing these rich manganese alloys in a reverberatory gas-furnace, and so far succeeded as to produce alloys containing from 20 to 25 per cent. of manganese, with which he supplied our Sheffield firm until his works were, unfortunately, closed, owing to the insolvency of the iron-founder on whose premises his furnace was erected.

Thus was inaugurated the manufacture of ferro-manganese, the production of which I had followed up as closely as my many engagements permitted, from the very first inception of the idea, dating from the reading of a chapter on steel in Dr. Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures; followed by the perusal of Heath 's patents, and the evidence of the Sheffield steel-manufacturers given in one of Heath's law suits, as published in Webster's Law Reports. I never lost sight of the object, so successfully arrived at, which would have been attained long before had not the inferior alloy, spiegeleisen, been an article of commerce at once procurable; this delayed the production of an alloy specially suitable for the purpose. But, valuable as this ferro-manganese really was, neither that, nor spiegeleisen, could make good steel from the ordinary quality of pig iron used for the manufacture of iron bars, nor from the hematite iron as then made, since the hematite pig iron, like all other British pig, was greatly contaminated with phosphorus, owing to the use of puddler's tap cinder to flux the hematite ore in the blast-furnace, and thus obtain a fluid cinder. It was not until I had, with the assistance of my own chemist, prescribed new furnace charges, omitting tap cinder and substituting shale, and thus producing Bessemer pig, that any British coke-made iron could be converted by my process into good steel. The universal presence of phosphorus was the primary barrier which stopped my way; and when this difficulty was removed, by the absence of tap cinder from the hematite furnaces, we could obtain pig iron which was as free from phosphorus as the puddled bar iron used in Sheffield for conversion into steel; and with this Bessemer pig good steel could readily be made by my process, when there was used in conjunction with it the well-known remedy for red-shortness, carburet of manganese.

In the meantime, our Sheffield works had commenced commercial operations, and we made no secret that we used spiegeleisen for recarburising the converted metal. We patiently waited for the injunction in Chancery that was to stop its use. But neither Mr. Mushet nor others took any steps to enforce their patent rights. Another year or two passed quietly by, and our steel works at Sheffield, and those of our licensees, were daily increasing the quantity of Bessemer steel placed upon the market. No attempt was made to prevent us using manganese; but, nevertheless, for some months the air was filled with vague reports of legal proceedings. A "round-robin" had, it was said, been filled up with subscribers to the extent of £l0,000, and even high legal luminaries and eminent engineers and experts in Great George Street were supposed to be definitely retained. These rumours were very vague; nevertheless, they cropped up in various different quarters over a period of many months. I personally took very little heed of them, feeling absolutely secure in my patent claims; no doubt a careful search through a thousand old iron patents might unearth a few vague expressions to which legal ingenuity, under the new light thrown upon the subject by me, might give an outward appearance of similarity with my invention; but I had always remembered that my claim was "to force atmospheric air beneath the surface of crude molten iron until it was thereby rendered malleable, and had acquired other properties common to cast steel, while still retaining the fluid state." This I felt absolutely certain no man but myself had patented, and so I slept soundly in spite of rumour, which, however, I did not doubt had some foundation.

For a period of more than two and a-half years (1857-60) after the date of Mr. Mushet's three manganese patents, I had no intimation of any kind that either I, or my licensees, were infringing any of these patents. But about three or four months prior to the date when a further £100 stamp was required to be impressed on them, to prevent their forfeiture, I received a letter from a Mr. Clare, of Birmingham, calling himself Mr. Mushet's agent for the sale of steel, and requesting an interview with me and my partner at my office in London on the following morning. On his arrival, he explained the object of his visit; it was simply to say that Mr. Mushet was prepared to grant me a license to use his manganese patents for a nominal sum; he merely wanted his rights acknowledged. I then told Mr. Clare that we considered that Mr. Mushet had acquired no rights under either of his three manganese patents, and that we entirely repudiated them. I also told him that we were anxious to meet any claims legally preferred; that we were prepared, on any day to be mutually arranged, to receive Mr. Mushet and his solicitors and witnesses at the Sheffield Works; that we would allow them to see the crude iron converted and re-carburised with spiegeleisen, made into an ingot and forged into a bar, and that I would personally take that bar to one of my customers and sell it to him in their presence; and then the prosecution of our firm for infringement would be a very simple matter. This offer resulted in Mr. Clare's retirement from my office, and after that interview we never heard from him, or from Mr. Mushet, on the subject.

It will be within the memory of my readers that when we had got into full swing with the new process at Sheffield, and had been successful not only in making high-class tool steel from Swedish charcoal pig iron, but also mild steel for constructive purposes from Bessemer pig, I read a paper at the Institution of Civil Engineers, on which occasion many beautiful samples of steel were exhibited, made by my process in France, in Sweden, and at Sheffield. At the reading of this paper Mr. Thomas Brown, of whom I have frequently spoken, was present.

Referring to my process, Mr. Brown said that he had been sanguine of its success, and had spent £7000 in endeavouring to carry it out; but he did not say that he had no license from me to make this secret use of my invention. The annexed extract from the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers furnishes a report of his remarks :--

Mr. T. Brown said he had taken great interest in this process, when it was first brought forward, after the meeting of the British Association, at Cheltenham. He had been sanguine of its success, even in opposition to the opinion of others, who had no faith in it from the commencement; and he had spent £7,000 in endeavouring to carry it out. It appeared to be thought that the quality of the iron ore had an important influence upon the success of the operation. Now, he had succeeded in making samples, equal perhaps to those exhibited, from spathose ores from the mines of the Ebbw Vale Company, in the Brendon Hills, Somersetshire, with a mixture of Pontypool iron. But the difficulty he experienced -- amounting, indeed, to an impracticability -- was in finding a completely refractory material for the furnace. He was astonished at the price which had been stated as that at which the article could be produced. He thought a very simple calculation was sufficient to disprove it; for the iron and the material , without manipulation, made up the amount; in fact, the article in its first state, supposing Indian pig-iron to be used, cost £6 l0s. per ton. He did not wish to say anything which could be looked upon as discouraging, because he had originally been one of the warmest supporters of the invention; but he believed Mr. Bessemer was now falling into the same error as to cost as he had done at Cheltenham. With regard to waste, under the most favourable circumstances, there was a loss in the manufacture of nearly 40 per cent. of metal; and on one occasion his agent informed him that the whole of the metal was consumed, and that nothing but cinder remained.

In 1862 I thought I had reason to fear the advent of a rival process brought forward by Mr. George Parry, of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works, whose name figures in a patent for the manufacture of iron and steel, bearings date November 18th, 1861.

Before making any further reference to this patent, I would remind those of my readers who are not practically acquainted with the details of my steel process, that it consists in decarburising iron which contains too much carbon to constitute steel, and in some cases this process of decarburisation is carried through every grade of steel until the carbon element is wholly removed, and soft malleable iron is the material arrived at. Now, in describing this operation in my patent, I made use of the well-known and ordinary terms by which iron in its various states of combination with carbon is commercially known; thus, I claimed to force air into and beneath the surface of molten crude iron (that is, molten iron as it leaves the blast furnace), or re-melted pig or cast iron (that is, re-melted, broken or useless castings). If, instead of using these trade terms, I had said that I claimed forcing air beneath the surface of carburet of iron, this would, in scientific language, not only have included these three ordinary qualities of iron, but it would have embraced any and every compound of iron and carbon from which I desired to eliminate the latter, and which was, in fact, the real object, meaning, and intention of my invention.

It must be remembered that my royalty of two pounds per ton on all ingots of iron or steel made by my process was holding out a great premium for the production of a carburet of iron for conversion into steel, which, from the nature of its manufacture, might so far differ from ordinary crude or pig iron as to remove it from the actual trade class of iron which I claimed to convert; such iron, even if it cost £1 per ton more than commercial pig iron, would avoid my royalty of £2, and save the patentee £1 per ton. The ostensible object of this patent of Mr. George Parry for the manufacture of iron and steel was to produce a superior quality of steel by the employment of malleable scrap iron in lieu of pig, or crude iron; for this purpose the scrap iron was melted with coke in a small blast furnace, from which it was run into a converter similar to mine, and blown with air forced upward through it by tuyères, the orifices of which were beneath the surface of the metal; all this was a pure and simple copy of my decarburising process. But the malleable iron scrap could not be fused when distributed and mixed up with lumps of coke in the blast furnace, without its absorbing about two per cent. of carbon, and thus producing white iron or forge pig; it would also absorb some sulphur from the coke, and would contain that amount of phosphorus which is always present in ordinary British bar-iron, and which is an inadmissible quantity in cast steel. The metal thus produced would, in fact, be crude iron, although the various impurities present might differ in proportion from those in ordinary blast furnace iron. Such iron would, further, be deficient in that necessary heat-producing element, silicon, which is always present in considerable quantity in all pig-iron suitable for the converting process; and this, combined with the deficiency of carbon, would form an absolute barrier to its conversion into fluid mild steel, as the necessary heat could not be produced from such a quality of carburet of iron. This process, as might have been expected, proved unsuccessful.

One more incident referring to my relations with Mr. Mushet remains to be chronicled before I close this Chapter. In December, 1866, one of my clerks announced the visit of a young lady, who did not send in her name, but wished to see me personally. She was asked into my private office, and, on my going to her, she gave the name of Mushet. She told me that the gravest misfortune had overtaken her father, and that without immediate pecuniary help their home would be taken from them. She said: "They tell me you use my father's invention, and are indebted to him for your success." I said: "I use what your father had no right to claim; and if he had the legal position you seem to suppose, he could stop my business by an injunction to-morrow, and get many thousands of pounds' compensation for my infringement of his rights. The only result which followed from your father taking out his patents was that they pointed out to me some rights which I already possessed, but of which I was not availing myself. Thus he did me some service, and even for this unintentional service I cannot live in a state of indebtedness; so please let me know what sum will render your home secure, and I will give it you." She then handed me a paper setting forth the legal claim against him; I at once took out my cheque-book and drew for the amount, viz., £377 14s. 10d., and handed it to her. She thanked me in a faltering voice as I bade her good afternoon.

On joining my partner after this interview with Miss Mushet, I explained to him what had occurred; he listened to me with surprise, and with more impatience than I had ever seen him evince. He thought that what I had done was most unfortunate and imprudent, since from Miss Mushet's words it was evident that the idea was abroad that I had in some way taken advantage of her father. He feared lest my cheque should be considered evidence of my indebtedness. I was much distressed to find my friend Longsdon so much annoyed, for a more conscientious and just man I never knew; he was, however, somewhat reassured when I told him that I considered it a purely personal matter, and had, of course, drawn the cheque on my private bankers. He said he was glad it could never appear as an act of the firm, though he thought it would be long before I should hear the last of it.

Events proved that he was right, for not many months elapsed (about 1867) before a friend -- I believe a relation of Mr. Mushet -- wrote asking me to make Mushet a small allowance. I objected to do this at first, but afterwards yielded, though I did not then care to give my reasons for doing so. There was a strong desire on my part to make him my debtor rather than the reverse, and the payment had other advantages: the press at that time was violently attacking my patent, and there was the chance that if any of my licensees were thus induced to resist my claims all the rest might follow the example, and these large monthly payments might cease for such a period as the contest in the law courts might last. The annoyance, if nothing else, would have been very great, and I had neither time nor patience to wage a paper war from year's end to year's end with unscrupulous writers. In the hope that an allowance to Mr. Mushet might have the effect of restraining these attacks on me, I offered to pay him £300 a year, aiming at abating an intolerable nuisance which I had no other means of preventing. While we were paying over £3000 per annum in the form of income tax, the £300 was but a small additional tax on my resources, so I allowed it to drag on until Mr. Mushet's decease, in 1891, having thus paid him over £7000. So, naturally, ends this part of the history of my invention, as far as Mr. Mushet is concerned.

Footnotes
[1] See page 166 ante.

[2] Living, 1896; died, January l8th, 1903, in his 81st year.

[3] Referring to the development of the Bessemer process in Europe, Mr. Abram S. Hewitt said, in his Report on the 1867 Exhibition:- "It will be interesting to those who are watching the advancement of the new process, to know that it is already rapidly extending itself over Europe. The enterprising firm of Daniel Elfstrand and Co., of Edsken, who were the pioneers in Sweden, have now made several hundred tons of excellent steel by the Bessemer process. Another large works has since started in their immediate neighbourhood, and two other Companies we making arrangements, to use the process. The authorities in Sweden have most fully investigated the whole process and have pronounced it perfect. The large steel circular saw-plate exhibited was made by Mr. Göranson, of Gefle, in Sweden; the ingot being cast direct from the fluid metal, within fifteen minutes of its leaving the blast furnace. In France, the process has been for some time carried on, by the old established firm of James Jackson and Son, at their steel works, near Bordeaux. This firm was about to go extensively into the manufacture of puddled steel, and indeed had already got a puddling furnace erected and in active operation, when their attention was directed to the Bessemer process. The apparatus for this was put up at their works last year, and they are now greatly extending their field of operations, by putting up more powerful apparatus at their blast furnaces in the Landes. There are also in course of erection four other blast-furnaces in the South of France, for the express purpose of carrying out the new process. The long and well-earned reputation of the firm of James Jackson and Son is, in itself, a guarantee of the excellent quality of the steel produced by this process. The French samples of bar steel exhibited, were manufactured by this firm. Belgium is not much behind her neighbours in the race, as the process is being put into operation at Liége. While in Sardinia preparations are making to carry it into effect, Russia has sent to London an Engineer and a Professor of chemistry to report on the process, and Professor Muller of Vienna, and M. Dumas and others from Paris, have visited Sweden, to inspect and report on the working of the new system in that country."

[4] The following extract from Men and Women of Our Time (Routledge and Co.), summarises the many distinctions conferred on Sir Henry Bessemer:--

"The first honorary recognition of the importance of the Bessemer process in this country was made by the Institution of Civil Engineers about 1858, when that body awarded Mr. Bessemer the Gold Telford Medal, for a paper read by him before them on the subject. A knowledge of the new process soon spread to Sweden, Germany, Austria, France and America, and the inventor has received from these countries many honours and marks of distinction. In the early days of the invention, Prince Oscar of Sweden travelled many miles to witness the process in operation, and, as a mark of his approval, made the inventor a member of the Iron Board of Sweden. In Austria, the honour of the Knight Commander of the Order of his Imperial Majesty Francis Joseph was presented to him by the Emperor, together with the gold and enamelled cross and ribbon of the Order. The Emperor Napoleon desired to present him with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, but the British Government would not allow him to accept it. The Emperor in person presented him with a superb gold medal instead. He also received the Albert Gold Medal, which was awarded by the Council of the Society of Arts, presented to him by the Prince of Wales at Marlborough House. The King of Wurtemburg also presented to the inventor a handsome gold medal, accompanied by a complimentary testimonial. His Majesty the King of the Belgians, who has always taken a deep interest in the Bessemer process, has on several occasions honoured the inventor by personally visiting him at his residence on Denmark Hill. The Freedom of the City of Hamburg was also presented to him in due form. He was also made a member of the Royal Academy of Trade in Berlin, and a Member of the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry of Paris; and in England he was made a member of the Royal Society of British Architects, and a member of the University College, London, a member of the Society of Mechanical Engineers of England and America. He succeeded the late Duke of Devonshire as President of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and during his presidency he instituted the Bessemer Gold Medal, which has since been awarded annually for the most important improvement in the iron and steel manufacture made during the year. He also instituted the Bessemer Bronze Medal and five-guinea prize of books, annually presented to the most successful student at the Royal School of Mines at South Kensington. The Institution of Civil Engineers awarded him a splendid Gold Cup, being the Howard Quinquennial Prize. He was also presented with the Freedom of the Cutlers' Company of London, and the Freedom of the Turners' Company; and, at a specially-convened meeting at the Guildhall, on May 13th, 1880, Sir Henry Bessemer was presented with the Freedom of the City of London, beautifully illuminated, and contained in a massive gold casket, "in recognition of his valuable discoveries, which have so largely benefited the iron industry of this country, and his scientific attainments, which are so well known and appreciated throughout the world;" the same evening he was entertained at a banquet given in his honour, at the Mansion House, by the then Lord Mayor, Sir Francis Wyatt Truscott. But it may be truly said that in no part of the world has the Bessemer process been developed to the extent and with the energy that has marked its progress in America. In several different parts of the United States, where nature has richly endowed them with those aids to civilisation, coal and iron, manufacturing cities have been established, to which, by common consent, they have given the name of Bessemer. Thus we have the rapidly-increasing and important City of Bessemer, Gogebec County, Michigan; the City of Bessemer, chief town of the County of Bessemer, Alabama, with its Mayor and Corporation, its street tramways and electric lighting, and its large manufacturing works, public schools, and numerous churches. There is also the City of Bessemer, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, the seat of the great Edgar Thompson Steel Works, the largest in America. There is also the City of Bessemer, Botetourt County, Virginia; the City of Bessemer, Natrona County, Wyoming; and the City of Bessemer, Gaston County, North Carolina."

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