In the whole history of business affairs it would indeed be hard to find a more perfect illustration of "the tail waggling the dog" than this. It is only justice to the late Z. S. Durfee to say that he opposed this compromise and its unjust disposition of the rights of himself and associates with all the energy of which he was capable; and the fact that all the royalties the combination ever earned were received under the operation of an extension of the patent of William Kelly is quite sufficient to justify his business sagacity and foresight.
The experimental works erected by Messrs. Winslow, Griswold & Holley at Troy were used for nearly two years for the purpose for which they were designed, and their proprietors "extended every facility to blast-furnace owners in all parts of the country to have their irons tried for steel; . . . many were tried and most were found wanting."[1] It does not appear that any effort was made to compare the chemical composition of the irons that made good steel with that of the irons that would only make bad steel; and what was "good metal" seems to have been decided by actual treatment in the converter. Notwithstanding the numerous failures in the Troy works to make good steel out of poor iron (all tending to discredit the process), there were a sufficient number of successes and enough "good metal" discovered to encourage the firm in the erection of new works (called the fiveton plant) on a manufacturing scale. January 1, 1867, the late A. L. Holley left the Troy works to take charge of works at Harrisburg, for which he had furnished the plans.[2] For a short time after the departure of Mr. Holley the Troy works[3] were under the charge of Mr. John C. Thompson. He was succeeded by Z. S. Durfee, who "built the forge and made some alterations both in plant and details of manufacture. Among other things, he adopted for the small or experimental plant the practice of melting the recarburizing metal in crucibles, and obtained most excellent results. . . . Mr. Durfee resigned his connection with the works in 1868, and Mr. Holley once more became the manager."
Up to January, 1871, the ingots produced in these works were
- ↑ Paper by R. W. Hunt, Trans. American Institute of Mining Engineers, vol. v, pp. 201-216.
- ↑ The phenomenal development of the "Bessemer process" in America during the fifteen years preceding the death of Mr. Holley in 1882 was largely due to his efforts. For a full account of the life and labors of the late Alexander L. Holley, C. E., LL. D., the reader is referred to a memorial volume published in 1884 by the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and to an able address delivered by James Dredge, Esq., Honorary Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, in Chickering Hall, October 2, 1890, on the occasion of the unveiling of the Holley Memorial Statue, in Washington Park, New York.
- ↑ These works are still running, the company owning them now being known as the Troy Steel and Iron Company.
