Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/921

BESSEMER. ventions, and liis first Fiicpcssfiil scheme was a method of impressing on deeds and other docu- ments the stamps of the internal revenue ofliee, which at that time could be forged readily. Of such marked excellence was this invention that it was straightway appropriated by the revenue office, without compensation to the inventor, in spite of his strenuous efforts to secure jus- tice. I^ater in life, when he had achieved success and honor, he brought this matter to the atten- tion of the Government, and was knighted (1879) as a tardy recognition- of the value of his early invention. Bessemer's next work of importance was that of a new method of pro- ducing bronze powder, or 'gold' paint, which was successful from a commercial point of view, and supplied him with resources to carry on his metallurgical researches. He was greatly inter- ested in the production and manipulation of alloys, doubtless on account of his father's busi- ness as a type-founder, and though without a scientific training, he was a careful, ingenious, and determined investigator. During the Crime- an War, in conuiion with many other inventors, he wa-s engaged in experiments looking to the improvement of cannon, and designed an elon- gated projectile so shaped and perforated as to revolve in its flight through the passage of air and powder-gases. For the discharge of such a projectile he found that the cannon of that period would not resist the strain, and accord- ingly he determined to carry on experiments with a view to producing iron of greater strength. Working in Paris, with the encourage- ment of the Emperor Xapoleon, he produced an improved form of cast iron, and was then led to further I'eflne the iron until steel was produced. Patents were taken out in connection with these ideas in 185.5, and the experiments were con- tinued, so that Bessemer soon ( in his own words) "became convinced that if air could be brought in contact with a sufficiently extensive surface of molten crude iron, the latter would rapidly be converted into malleable iron." As a result of numerous experiments followed the 'converter' (q.v.), which, along with the other apparatus, was installed in 185(5 at his bronze- factory in London, and steel ingots were pro- duced which were successfully rolled into rails without hammering. After the process was developed, the Bessemer Steel Works in Sheffield were erected, and were soon producing a large output, as well as training competent workmen to carry on similar factories in other parts of the world. On August 13, 1856, Bessemer read a paper at the Cheltenham meeting of the Brit- ish Association, on "The Manufacture of Mal- leable Iron and Steel Without Fuel," and in ISGo, at the Birmingham meeting, he read an- other important paper "On the Jlanufacture of Cast Steel, its Progress and Emplovnient as a Substitute for Wrought Iron." The growth of this process (see Iron axd Steel, Metallurgy OF) was not only marked in itself, but it had a wide-spread efl'ect in greatly cheapening the price of steel and making it available for railwa.y and other engineering work. In 1858 the steel made at Sheflield, the principal producing centre of England, was less than 50,000 tons, produced by the cementation process. Since that time the output lias marvelously increased, and in 180U Great Britain produced 1,815,842 tons of Bes- semer-steel ingots and the United States 3,019,- 000, the yearly output of the world lieing con- siderably in excess of 10,000,000 tons. Bes- semer's process has in forty years undergone few, if an}', radical improvements.

In addition to his success in steel-working, which brought him renown and fortune, Bes- semer had other inventions to his credit, among which were a method for compressing into a solid block the graphite used in the manufac- ture of lead-pencils, which is still in use; a method for casting type, using a force-pump to drive the metal into the mould; a .system of rollers for embossing and printing paper; a ma- chine for embossing velvet: and a ship with a stationary cabin. The latter, on which Bessemer spent mueli money, was, howevei-, a complete failure. In 1S59 Bessemer received his first honor, in the fin-m of the Telford Medal of the Institute of Civil Engineers; in 1872 the Albert Medal of the Society of Arts; in 1871-73 he was president of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain; and in 1879 he was made a fel- low of the Royal Society. That a man who did so much for British industrial development did not receive higher honors from the home Government was a source of deep regret to Eng- lish engineers, who alluded to the fact that, in the United States, where the Bessemer |)rocess was largely used, eight cities or towns bore his name. He was an honorary member of many foreign engineering and scientific societies, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, before whom, in December, 1896, he presented a paper on "The Origin of the Bes.seiner Proc- ess," which was printed in the Transactions of that society (Vol. XVII., New York, 1896), and also published in Engineering Nens (Vol. XXXVI., New York) ; Engineering (Vol. LXIl., London), and other scientific journals of that time, to which the reader is referred.

BESSEMER-STEEL PROCESS. See Iron AND Stkel, Metallurgy of.

BESSENYEI, be'shen-ye-I, Gyorgy (c.1742-1811). An Hungarian dramatist. He was born at Berezel, county of Szaboles. After a brief and fragmentary course of study, he led an idle life until 1765, when he was chosen, with other young nobles, to form Maria Theresa's Hungarian body-guard at Vienna. In the brilliant and cultured world into which he was thus suddenly introduced. Bessenyei soon realized his own deficiencies, and applied himself day and night to studies. With the knowledge of other languages and literature came also the realization that his race had been surpassed by other nations, both in culture and refinement. Spurred by this thought, he soon formed within the royal body-guard a literary circle which was rooted in French classicism and bore the seeds of the modern Hungarian renaissance. Bessenyei himself was surprisingly prolific and versatile. His earliest work was a tragedy. Agin, drawn from Spartan history. Other tragedies followed, based upon Magj-ar traditions; then came comedies, modeled upon Moli&re; an epic, King Matthias; and a series of piose works in the field of history and philosophy, including a Life of John Hunyadi, and a Philosophic History of Uungary. Until 1791 Bessenyei lived in Vienna, where he had charge of the Court library. After that year he retired to his small country-seat.