Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/251

 in diameter and 10 in. deep. There were a 25-pounder steel gun, the ninety-second made to that date; a 24-pounder gun belonging to another large order ; square steel bars and double-headed steel rails twisted cold into spirals ; a 14-in. ingot, the fracture of which loolted like forged steel ; an ingot weighing 3,136 pounds, the 6,410th that had been cast from the converter of the Sheffield works. There was also a double-headed steel rail 40 ft. long ; the crankshaft of a 250 horsepower engine, and some weldless tyres. From this it will be seen that Bessemer steel was coming widely into use in very varied directions. The first locomotive steel boilers were used on the London and North-Western Railway in 1863. In that year stationary boilers of the same material were made, and ships' plates were rolled on a large scale. The first Bessemer steel rails were made much earlier than this. In 1861 Crewe station was laid with such rails rolled at Crewe from ingots cast at Sheffield. The next year another rail was laid outside the Camden goods station, and the experience gained from these experiments revolutionised railway practice and rendered possible the heavy loads and high speeds of to-day. The first steel rails — those laid at Crewe — were in good order five years later, though 300 trains a day had run over them. Prices of course ruled high, but even so steel rails proved to be cheaper than iron rails, and were laid as rapidly as they could be made. In 1865 the output of Bessemer steel on the continent was as follows : — France, 30,000 tons ; Prussia, 33,000 tons ; Belgium, 40,000 tons; Austria, 21,000 tons; liussia, 5,000 tons; Sweden, 6,000 tons; the German States, 2,000 tons ; Italy, 350 tons ; and Spain, 500 tons. The manufacture in the United States, which was destined to surpass by far that of other countries, had not then commenced. Prices were — compared with those of to-day- fabulously high ; though, compared with those which had been charged by Krupp in 1860, they appeared extremely low. Then 120l. a ton had been paid for steel tyres. In 1866 Bessemer had forced the price down to 45l. and 40l. a ton.

These figures show that Bessemer's reward had at last come after many years of work and waiting. But so much time had been lost in early struggles that but a few years remained before the expiry of the master patents. From the beginning of 1866 to the end of 1868 the royalties at 2l. per ton of ingots averaged 200,000l., but after 1868 they fell to 2s. 6d. per ton. The total royalties received amounted to about one million sterling. The expiry of patents of course

largely reduced the price of rails, and greatly increased demand. About 1864 Bessemer sold his American patents to a United States syndicate, but it was not until the expiry of these patents that great progress was made in America. In 1866 the first order for steel rails came from the United States, 1,000 tons at 25l. a ton ; the following year this price had fallen to less than half, and in 1867 England sent to the United States 28,000 tons at 12l.

Within the United States the Bessemer steel manufacture was introduced and developed by Alexander L. Holley (1867-70). In 1869 110,000 tons of rails were laid on the United States railways. Of these Messrs. Cammell & Co. of Sheffield sent out 27,000 tons, Messrs. John Brown & Co. 50,000 tons, and the Barrow Company 15,000 tons. But in the same year the Troy (New York) Works were able to produce 20,000 tons, and the importation of Bessemer steel from England into America ceased with the establishment of other works. During the thirty years 1869-1899 the manufacture increased so rapidly that in the latter year the capacity for production had grown to about 10,000,000 tons. The manufacture of Bessemer steel in the United States has for many years exceeded that of any other country, and at the present time it is probably equal to that of the rest of the world collectively. With growing production prices fell, until steel rails could be purchased for less than 5l. a ton.

After Bessemer's more active and financial interests in steel manufacture ceased, he turned his attention to other matters. Among these the invention which most attracted public attention was his swinging saloon for sea-going vessels. His desire was to mitigate, if not to remove, the suffering due to sea-sickness. To this end he constructed, for the Channel service, the steamship Bessemer, a boat 350 ft. long, 54 ft. wide, and with 4,000 horse-power. The great feature of this vessel was a saloon hung amidship on trunnions, the movement of which in a sea-way could be so controlled by hydraulic machinery as to maintain always a steady floor. The saloon was 70 ft. long, 30 ft. wide, and 20 ft. high. This ship made its trial between Dover and Calais on Saturday, 8 May 1875. The result, however, was disappointing, and the venture, carried out at Bessemer's expense, was somewhat prematurely abandoned. The late years of Bessemer were years of busy leisure. He erected a fine observatory at his residence on Denmark Hill, and devoted a great deal of his time to the construction of a telescope and to mechanism for grinding and polishing