Talk:Bessemer process

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Such steel when rolled into bars was sold at £50 to £60 a ton. The earliest Bessemer converters produced steel for £7 a ton, although they priced it initially at around £40 a ton.

Conversion into approximate modern prices might be interesting. What was a pound sterling worth in 1855? --Brion

Contents 1 William Kelly 2 Replacement 3 Date Patented 4 References 5 Hot Air 6 Geneadamic??? 7 Lawsuit?

[edit] William Kelly

I have deleted a line that mentions this man. The editor claimed that Kelly had not patented his process, but other sources on the 'Net say that he had done so, and was later forced by declining fortunes to sell his patent to Henry Bessemer. Still others say that Kelly managed to convince authorities that he had been developing his process in secret, beginning from a time before Bessemer came out with his.

Therefore, I think it really is going a bit far to state flatly that Kelly invented it but didn't get the credit. It is, after all, a bit unclear.

And it's going even further to say that Bessemer stole the idea from Kelly, as one source I found on the 'Net said.

Added back mention of Kelly. Encyclopedias Britannica and Americana, along with many other verifiable sources credit Kelly as having independently discovered the process of blowing air through molten pig iron to burn out the carbon and improve the iron or convert it to steel. There were two ways to protect an invention, which Kelly, a college trained metallurgist, had been working on since 1847. One way was to get a patent, and be subject to patent infringement and the other was to keep the process a trade secret, which Kelly did. When Bessemer suddenly discovered the process and patented it in Britain and the US, Kelly also applied for and received a patent. US courts granted Kelly a renewal and not Bessemer. The patents were licensed by the same steel producers in the US, so there was not a big patent battle bewteen rival steel works. Bessemer got his name on the process, and most of the royalties. Kely later claimed English workers at his Kentucky iron works had relayed details on the process to Bessemer, who in his autobiography said he knew very little of iron metallurgy in 1854.Edison 22:31, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Replacement

There needs to be a paragraph explaining why the Bessemer process is no longer used; the article has a link to Linz-Donawitz process, which is a redirect, but it's not apparent in this text why Bessemer's invention is now of historical interest only. -Ashley Pomeroy 14:42, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Date Patented

I have not edited the date, though I am currently looking at a US History book that says it was patented in 1856. I have found at least one error in this book before so this may be the case, but could someone please find a trusted source? Obviously this US History book had a different source, and I can't determine which is more accurate.

"personally i thought this process was still used?"

[edit] References

The offsite link is dead, and the site is impossible to navigate when Javascript is turned off. Perhaps it should be pulled. -David Landgren 2006-07-18

[edit] Hot Air

What kind of compressor provided the hot air? Did the air come through the axle? Did it bubble? --72.128.33.115 12:45, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

this is completely off this topic but wasn't there also a guy names Andrew Carnegie or something like that who helped introduce the Bessemer process? He made a fortune off of the making of steel. He was one of the richest men of his time. Very generous and giving also. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.169.183.211 (talk) 05:46, 25 April 2007

[edit] Geneadamic???

Google has never heard of this word! Citation needed. Why would anyone try to double the efficiency of the long-obsolete Bessemer process in 2007? Suggest removing the sentence unless it's cited/referenced. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.0.175.61 (talk) 02:53, 8 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Lawsuit?

Our article tacit knowing mentions a lawsuit filed against Bessemer by patent licensees who couldn't get his process to work. Is this for real? Should it be covered here? --FOo 22:53, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

A biography I read of Bessemer last year said that the process worked great with the ore from some locales, but in other regions the ore had different impurities and the quality of the product was lower, until research showed how to handle the impurities (such as a special lining material in the vessels to react with the impurities (whatever they were). Lawsuits sound plausible. But it should be researched and sourced to a reliable source. Edison 06:09, 3 September 2007 (UTC)