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Bessemer Converter
Sir Henry Bessemer
1856
Submitted by: Geoff Howard
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Bessemer Converter

Sir Henry Bessemer became interested in finding ways of making barrels for canon during the Crimean War. The existing cast iron was impure, brittle and at times dangerous to use. In 1856 he described his Bessemer Converter. This is a large container which receives a charge of molten pig-iron and tilts to enable air to be blown through the molten mettle. The process removes all carbon by oxidising it and then a small measured amount of carbon is but back into the melt to produce steel. This was the first time steel could be produced on a large scale although initially there were some difficulties concerned with finding the right type of iron ore to use.