Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/764

744 as that which is known world-wide as the "Bessemer process" of manufacturing steel. In general terms the "Bessemer process" may be described as the art of decarburizing molten cast iron by blowing streams of atmospheric air into and through it.

For over three quarters of a century the germ of this wonderful process lay dormant in the "refinery fire," awaiting the time when the needs of man should call it forth. It will be remembered that the decarburization of the molten iron in the hearth of the "refinery fire" was accomplished slowly and imperfectly by blowing air upon its surface beneath a large mass of fuel whose presence was believed to be absolutely necessary in order to maintain the heat of the metal under treatment. Had those early refiners blown the air into the metal, they would have been astonished to find that its temperature increased rather than diminished; that the refining operation was very much shortened; and that, if the blowing was continued for a short time longer than was necessary to make refined cast iron, the metal would become malleable—in short, they would have discovered what is now called the "Bessemer process."

Success is always perilously near to failure. All great inventions and discoveries have usually more than one claimant, and this revolutionary process is no exception to the rule—a rule which is so universal that it almost justifies the belief that when in the fullness of time the world is prepared for a decisive advance in the sciences or the arts, an overruling power indicates simultaneously to minds separated oftentimes by continents and oceans some way to satisfy the growing needs of the world, and all to whom such revelations are given, who contribute to their promulgation and success, are entitled to an honorable recognition and reward commensurate with the value of their services to mankind. The first mention of an attempt to improve the refining of molten cast iron by the action of air introduced below its surface is in an English patent granted September 15, 1855, to Joseph G. Martien, of Newark. N. J., then residing in London. The general nature of Martien's process is thus stated in the specifications of his patent. "In carrying out my invention, in place of allowing the melted iron from a blast-furnace simply to flow in the ordinary gutter or channel to the bed or molds, or to refinery or puddling furnaces in the ordinary manner, I employ channels or gutters so arranged that numerous streams of air, or of steam, or vapor of water may be passed through and among the melted metal as it flows from a blast-furnace."