Building America and Making Steel – The Bessemer Process
The Bessemer process of steel making was the first low cost industrial process for the mass-production of general steel from molten pig iron. Its inventor, Henry Bessemer, took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was also independently figured out in 1851 by William Kelly. The process had also been used in other countries for hundreds of years, but not in industrial use. The primary principle involved is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation through the use of air being forced through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and maintains it’s molten state.
The Basic Bessemer process: A certain amount of lime is charged with the iron, and the process is conducted in practically the same way as the acid until the flame drops. Here, instead of turning the vessel down, the blowing is continued (sometimes a little … Read more