William H. Peirce
| William H. Peirce | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1944 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Metallurgist |
| Known for | Peirce-Smith converter[] |
William H. Peirce (died 1944) was an American civil engineer and metallurgist, who pioneered copper production in the early 20th century. Among his achievements was the Peirce-Smith converter[], invented with Elias Anton Cappelen Smith.
He joined the Baltimore Copper Smelting & Rolling Company in 1890, becaming vice president in 1895, and later, president of the company. Under his management, the company became one of the major copper producer of the United States. In 1928, the company merged with five other copper companies, to create the Revere Copper Company. Described as "one of the foremost metallurgists of his time", Peirce became the vice president, director and a member of the Executive Committee of Revere from its incorporation in 1928 until his resignation in 1933.
The Peirce–Smith converter[], developed in 1908 with Elias Anton Cappelen Smith, significantly improved the converting of copper matte.
Before this invention, the converter was a cylindrical barrel, lined with an acid refractory lining, made of sand and clay. It was developed by two French engineers, Pierre Manhès and Paul David[] from 1880 to 1884. Their copper-converting process, named the Manhès–David process[], was directly derived from the Bessemer process. In this horizontal chemical reactor, where air was injected into copper matte, a molten sulfide material containing iron, sulphur and copper, to become molten blister, an alloy containing 99% copper. But the basic slag produced during the blowing combined with the acid silica refractory lining, thereby causing a very short lifetime of the lining.
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