Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivii. (191 3), No. 11. 15 



Directors, and published in \\\& Jernkontorcts Annaler of 

 1858 and 1859. 



The conditions which favoured the success of Gorans- 

 son were, in the first place, the great purity of the pig-iron. 

 The resultant steel was therefore neither red-short nor 

 cold-short. The pig-iron was also rich in manganese, so 

 that the final steel contained this in sufficient quantity. 

 The drawback of a low silicon was got over by taking the 

 metal direct from the blast furnace and thus ensuring a 

 hot blow. 



The Swedish practice is to stop decarburization at the 

 required point, and not to nearly completely decarburize 

 and then recarburize. No manganese is added at the 

 end of the blow, and Bessemer has made the most of this 

 point in dealing with Mushet's claims that the success of 

 the Bessemer process was dependent upon his patent for 

 the addition of spiegel-iron at the end of the blow. 



Bessemer, whilst ignoring his indebtedness to Gor- 

 ansson, yet — somewhat illogically — uses the circumstances 

 of the success of Goransson's practice in Sweden and 

 Austria as an argument for ignoring his indebtedness to 

 Mushet's invention. I know of no better evidence of this 

 than is contained in a letter written by Sir Henry 

 Bessemer to myself, in the December of 1894, in con- 

 nection with my Crewe lecture previously referred to. 

 He was then in his 82nd year, and, in view of the 

 historical importance of this letter, I have had the same 

 reproduced in facsimile as here shown : — 



Vide text of Sir Henry Bessetners tetter, over page. 



I have looked up the Report of the United States Com- 

 missioners referred to in this letter, which fully confirms 

 Sir Henry's statements. The iron employed was smelted by 

 charcoal, was almost free from sulphur and phosphorus, and 



