Inventor steel10/10/2023 ![]() The parent Bessemer, although London born, had spent a good deal of his lifetime on the Continent and had distinguished himself as an inventor. He was the youngest son of one Anthony Bessemer, an individual who in many ways was himself something of a mechanical genius. Henry Bessemer was born in the little Hertfordshire village of Charlton, on January 19th, 1813. Huntsman, a Doncaster clockmaker, in 1740 succeeded in producing small quantities of an impure steel for spring making and other purposes, but apart from such usages there was no demand for steel in the engineering world before the advent of Bessemer. We are told, for instance, that in the eighteenth century, certain types of steel came from India, and that this material sold for as much as five guineas a pound. ![]() It is true that almost a century before Bessemer's epoch-making invention, steel had been made in one form or another. Previous to Bessemer's first introduction of mild steel in 1856, the majority of heavy machinery had been made of iron-wrought iron and cast iron. It has been said that, next to the invention of the steam engine, Sir Henry Bessemer's introduction of mild steel about the middle of the last century contributed more to the progress of engineering and mechanical science than any other single discovery. This article discusses matters of historical significance to the development of Engineering, Industry and Manufacturing. The article contains within it information that is therefore valid as of 1940. This article first appeared in Practical Engineering 1940 Vol1 No21.
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