a sound mechanical training he would have avoided this class of work; but, on the other hand, he would have lost that splendid audacity of ignorance which led him to magnificent triumphs. Until Sir Henry Bessemer's autobiography is published very little will be generally known concerning his early life. His father was a Frenchman, an artist, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences. We believe we are correct when we state that young Bessemer first made a living by designing patterns for Paisley shawls. His sister was presented one Christmas with an illuminated gift book, in which were so-called gilt letters. She set about illuminating a book for herself, and asked her brother to get her some "gold paint." This used to be sold in "shells," and when the lad went to buy one, he found to his dismay that the shells cost half-a-crown each. Half-crowns. were very scarce, but he bought a shell, and formed the idea that he would himself make gold paint. The story of his endeavor we have had the good fortune to hear from his own lips. He believed that the paint was made of Dutch metal "gold" foil, ground up to a powder with a little honey, and subsequently treated with varnish. He was on the right track, but his gold paint would not shine; it lacked lustre. At last he discovered that it was not an amorphous powder that would do. The foil must not be ground up, but torn up, until each little flake resembled the feather on a butterfly's wing. He made his machinery, and to this day the secret of its structure has, we believe, been maintained. The machine described in his patent will not work. The whole story is far too long to tell here. It must suffice to say that bronze paint was the foundation of Bessemer's fortune. Early in his career, long before the advent of the steam gun, he turned his attention to ordnance, and tried to make shot, with spiral feathers and other devises, to do away with rifled grooves in the gun. But he could not get cast iron strong enough to satisfy his needs, and nothing would serve him but he must try to make a tougher metal. His first experiments were made in 1855. He melted pig iron in a reverberatory furnace, and into the molten metal he put broken-up bars of blister steel. He got the very high heat necessary to secure fusion by making a wide grate and giving the hearth a narrow throat. This he patented on January 10, 1855. He found the clue to this process in Fairbairn's attempt to toughen cast iron by adding some malleable scrap to the cupola, which, however, only resulted in producing white cast iron. Bessemer made a model gun of his new metal and took it over to France. He presented it to Napoleon III., who was much pleased with the weapon, and wished to reward the inventor with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, which, however, the English Ambassador would not permit him to wear. He proceeded, however, to erect gun-casting works at Ruelle, for the French Government; but these were stopped by a dis covery which he made in London. We must here quote Bessemer's own words from a paper which he read before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. "On my return from the Ruelle gun foundry I resumed my experiments with the open-hearth furnace, when the remarkable incident I have twice referred to occurred in this way. Some pieces of pig iron in one side of the bath attracted my attention by rema ning unmelted despite the great heat of the furnace, and I turned on a little more air through the fire-bridge with the intention of increasing the combustion; on again opening the furnace door after an interval of half an hour these two pieces of pig still remained unfused. I then took an iron bar with the intention of pushing them into the bath, when I discovered that they were merely thin shells of decarbonized iron, thus showing that atmospheric air alone was capable of wholly decarbonizing gray pig iron, and converting it into malleable iron without puddling or other manipulation. It was this which gave a new turn to my thoughts, and after due consideration I became convinced that if air could be brought into contact with a sufficiently extensive surface of molten crude iron the latter could rapidly be converted into malleable iron.” The history of the Bessemer process, even in its earliest stages, would fill a volume. The invention as it is known now was not arrived at for years. Up to a certain point Bessemer had things all his own way, and then came a crash. It was found, indeed, that steel could be made, but only with utter uncertainty as to the quality of the product. It was necessary to leave a little carbon in the metal, but the percentage depended on the duration of the blow, and no satisfactory commercial result was possible. But besides this, far from getting rid of sulphur and phosphorus, the process seemed to aggravate the evil of their presence. In a word, the whole process was a failure. He worked away for more than two years, and at last succeeded in producing a saleable article from a pure ore, but by this time the steel makers had lost all faith in the affair. Bessemer, however, about 1858 started a small steel works in Sheffield, with a partner, Robert Longsdon, Messrs. Galloway, of Manchester, supplying the plant, and steel was made and sold in small quantities. Next, Robert Mushet appeared on the scene, and it appears to us to be beyond all doubt that to him the ultimate success on a great scale of the Bessemer process was due. To settle the carbon question he blew all the carbon out of the charge, and then added a definite quantity of speigeleisen, the manganese of which formed an invaluable ingredient. Of the disputes as to priority of invention, and the validity of Mushet's claims, we do not care to write. They are matters of history. Mr. Bessemer and his partners were eminently successful, and realized huge profits. We have heard Sir Henry Bessemer say that he had realized himself personally one million sterling. He went on inventing various improvements in the apparatus used for conversion; and he took out scores of patents for various other inventions, such as sugar-cane crushing machinery and telescopes. In 1875 the Bessemer Channel steamer was launched. She was designed by Mr.-now Sir-E. J. Reed, and was fully described and illustrated in our pages. She was one of the very few steamships built with four paddle wheels, two of which were forward and two aft of the swinging saloon. She was a failure from the first, slow and unhandy. On the very first trip she made she fouled Calais Pier, and did herself and the pier much harm. Her engine frames were too weak, and the great gyroscope in the saloon could not be made to work properly. The company was wound up, and we believe that the hull of the Bessemer was finally converted into a screw cattle boat, and plied in the North Sea. To say that Sir Henry Bessemer was a genius gives but an inadequate idea of the man. The curious way in which he got at results, almost, as it were, by instinct, was very remarkable. It is nearly certain that he never really mastered the chemistry of his process, and we are strongly disposed to believe that he took far more interest in the machinery he used than he did in the details of the process it carried out. It was quite useless to tell Bessemer that any given device would not answer. He seemed to possess some special power of making things succeed which ought to have failed. Of course he committed a multitude of mistakes, but they were all swallowed up in his successes. We should but write platitudes did we attempt to dilate on the importance of the part which his process has played in the development of the carrying trade of the world. The facts are patent to everyone who pleases to give them a moment's thought. The world began to appreciate Bessemer at a tolerable early period. He got the Telford Medal for a paper on his steel process read before the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1859. In 1871 and 1873 he was President of the Iron and Steel Institute. In 1877 he was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 1879 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In the same year he was knighted, and in 1880 he was presented with the Freedom of the City of London. His reputation was world-wide, and the world delighted to honor him. He married in 1833 Miss Allen, by whom he had several children. Lady Bessemer died last year. Sir Henry Bessemer retained his health and his faculties, notwithstanding his great age, until quite recently. About three weeks ago he was taken ill and had to keep his bed, but he rallied, and wrote and talked, and no immediate danger was apprehended. On Tuesday afternoon, however, he collapsed suddenly, and passed away quietly about twenty minutes past seven. ABSTRACT OF THE MINUTES OF THE SOCIETY. REGULAR MEETING-6th JULY, 1898. A regular meeting of the Society (the 386th), was held in the Society's Half on Wednesday evening, 6th of July. 1896, Vice-President A. V. Powell in the chair. The report of the committee, appointed at a previous meeting to prepare suitable resolutions on the death of Sir Henry Bessemer was read by the secretary, as follows: MR. PRESIDENT The special committee appointed to take action on the death of Sir Henry Bessemer would report as follows: The recent death of Sir Henry Bessemer has removed from the world one of the great men of the age. His greatness is peculiarly in the line of pursuits followed by the members of our engineering societies, and it seems only fitting that some notice should be taken by engineers, in their organizations as such, at this time of his life and achievements. It is too early to go into an extended biography of the man, and we are hardly familiar enough with the facts to write an obituary or eulogy. Among others two articles have recently appeared in the English engineering periodicals on Sir Henry Bessemer, which seem to cover the main features in his life so clearly that your committee feels that they can bring the matter before the Society in no better manner at this time than to suggest that these articles be published in one issue of our journal, and the committee so recommends. A. M. FELDMAN, THOMAS APPLETON, E. GERBER, Committee. A motion was made that the report be accepted and printed in the Journal of the Society. Carried. Mr. Oscar Sanne was then introduced, and read his paper on "Park Bridges." Discussion followed. Mr. E. Gerber moved that a vote of thanks be extended to Mr. Sanne. Carried. The meeting adjourned. At a meeting of the Board of Direction, Saturday, 30th of July, 1898, Mr. John N. Reynolds was declared elected an associate, and Mr. Edward M. Hagar as an active member. Application for active membership was received from Edward S. Cole, and referred to the membership committee. REGULAR MEETING-3d of AUGUST, 1898. A regular meeting (the 387th) of the Society was held in the Society's Hall on Wednesday evening, 3rd of August, 1898. In the absence of the President and Vice-President, Mr. T. W. Snow was called to the chair. A motion was made and carried that the Secretary read the papers before the meeting by title as follows: "Hollow and Solid Steel Forgings," by Mr. George H. BryStorage Reservoir for a Railroad Water Supply," by Mr. Augustus NELSON L. LITTEN, Secretary. ant; Torrey. LIBRARY NOTES. The Library Committee wishes to express thanks for donations. to the library. Back numbers of periodicals are desirable for exchanges and aid in completing valuable volumes for our files. Since the last issue of the Journal we have received the following as gifts from the donors named: U. S. Commission of Education-Vol. I, 1896-7, Alfred Noble-Report State Engineer and Surveyor of N. Y., four Vols.1863, 1894-5-6. Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London-Proceedings, Vols. 3 and 4, July and November, 1897. Chief Engineer, U. S. A.-Annual Report 1897, 6 Vols. H. F. J. Porter-Fatigue of Metal in Wrought Iron Forgings. Chas. E. Billin & Co.-Machinery and Supplies for Mines and Mills, Nos. I to 3. Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Co., Air Compressor Catalogue, Descriptive and Dept. Interior-U. S. Statistical Atlas of the United States-11th Census. New England Cotton Manufacturers Ass'n--Transactions of Annual Meeting, U. S. Civil Service Commission-14th Report, July 1, 1896, to July 1, 1897. The library and reading rooms are open from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M.,. on week days, except Saturday, until noon. |