In commenting upon this patent the late Dr. Percy very truthfully says:[1] "It is perfectly clear from the specification that the patentee did not propose to effect by his process the conversion of pig iron, whether unrefined or refined, either into steel or malleable iron; and it is equally clear that he simply intended it to be employed as accessory to the ordinary process or processes in common use for effecting the conversion of pig iron into malleable iron. . . . The patentee emits not the slightest hint to show that he was aware of the fact that by blowing atmospheric air through molten pig iron sufficient heat would be developed to keep it in a state of liquidity, even for a very short time. Air and steam are spoken of precisely as though they were similar agents, and would produce similar effects, whereas their effects would be radically dissimilar. . . . However, in October or November, 1855, that is, two or three months prior to the jmblication of Bessemer's first patent, in which he first announced that he could perfectly decarburize molten pig iron by blowing air through it without the further application of external heat, the following remarkable experiment was proposed and conducted by Mr. George Parry, of the Ebbw Vale Iron "Works: . . . 'In the bed of a reverberatory furnace several wrought-iron pipes, about one inch in diameter, were laid parallel to each other and about three inches apart, in the direction of the long axis of the furnace. The pipes were all put in connection with the blast apparatus. Their upper surfaces were perforated with holes about three inches apart, of which there were about eighty or one hundred altogether; and wires having been first stuck in these holes, the pipes were covered solidly over with fire-clay. When the clay bottom, thus formed, had become dry, the wires were pulled out. The furnace was very gradually heated, and then about 112 tons of pig iron from No. 1 blast-furnace at the Victoria Works was run in, the blast having been previously let into the pipe. Vigorous action occurred, when, by some mishap, the molten metal escaped from the furnace into the road. The then managing director of the works was unwilling that the experiment should be repeated, and the furnace was dismantled, happily for Bessemer.'"
On October 17, 1855, Henry Bessemer (now Sir Henry Bessemer) was granted his first English patent for "improvements in the manufacture of cast steel"; other patents for improved methods and apparatus followed in rapid succession; and at the meeting of the British Association at Cheltenham in the early part of August, 1856, Mr. Bessemer read a paper before its Mechanical Section On the Manufacture of Iron and Steel without Fuel.
- ↑ Percy's Metallurgy, Iron and Steel, London, 1864.
