Henry Bessemer
| Henry Bessemer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Henry Bessemer 19 January 1813 Charlton, Hertfordshire, England |
| Died | 15 March 1898 (aged 85) London, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | engineer and inventor |
| Known for | Development of the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel. |
| Awards | Albert Medal (1872) |
| Signature | |
 |
|
Sir Henry Bessemer (19 January 1813 – 15 March 1898) was an English inventor, whose steelmaking process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century. He also played a significant role in establishing the town of Sheffield as a major industrial centre.
Bessemer had been trying to reduce the cost of steelmaking for military ordnance, and developed his system for blowing air through molten pig iron to remove the impurities. This made steel easier, quicker and cheaper to manufacture, and revolutionised structural engineering. Bessemer also made over 100 other inventions in the fields of iron, steel and glass. Unlike most inventors, he managed to bring his own projects to fruition and profited financially from their success.
Bessemer's father, Anthony, was born in London, but moved to Paris when he was 21 years old. He was an inventor who, while engaged by the Paris Mint, made a machine for making medallions that could produce steel dies from a larger model. He became a member of the French Academy of Science, for his improvements to the optical microscope when he was 26. He was forced to leave Paris by the French Revolution, and returned to Britain. There he invented a process for making gold chains, which was successful, and enabled him to buy a small estate in the village of Charlton, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire, where Henry was born.
The invention from which Bessemer made his first fortune was a series of six steam-powered machines for making bronze powder, used in the manufacture of gold paint. As he relates in his autobiography, he examined the bronze powder made in Nuremberg which was the only place where it was made at the time. He then copied and improved the product and made it capable of being made on a simple production line. It was an early example of reverse engineering where a product is analysed, and then reconstituted. The process was kept secret, with only members of his immediate family having access to the factory. It was a widely used alternative to a patent, and such trade secrets are still used today. The Nuremberg powder, which was made by hand, retailed in London for £5 12s per pound and he eventually reduced the price to half a crown, or about 1/40th. The profits from sale of the paint allowed him to pursue his other inventions.
...
Wikipedia