Henry Bessemer

Bessemer (1813-1898) British inventor. One of the inventors of the converter steelmaking method. Worked in a foundry run by his father since childhood, familiar with metal processing and manufacturing; later studied mechanical design in London. Bessemer's original invention was the technology of casting metal crafts, etc., and he improved the gold brass powder used in printing press molds and paints. In the 1850s, he noticed that when iron was melted in a furnace with a blast equipment, the air could remove carbon from the molten iron and make wrought iron or mild steel, so he used air ducts to blow the molten iron in the crucible. Later, it developed into Bessemer converter steelmaking, which was patented in 1856. The birth of Bessemer marked the evolution from the "Iron Age" of the early Industrial Revolution to the "Steel Age". This is of epoch-making significance in the history of metallurgical development. Bessemer was president of the British Iron and Steel Institute and was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1879. On March 15, 1898, Henry Bessemer died.

Bessemer's steel mill in Sherfield, England

Schematic diagram of Bessemer converter structure