Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivii. (19 13), No. 11. 19 



complete decarburization, and a sufificient quantity of 

 Spiegel added to give the metal the required composition. 

 This practice also ensured the absence of red-shortness, 

 even in the softest steels, by providing sufficient manga- 

 nese to remove all oxygen from the bath and to counter- 

 act the effect of the sulphur. This addition of manganese, 

 patented by Mushet, became a " world " practice, whereas 

 the Swedish practice was, of necessity, a limited one. 



ROBERT FORESTER MUSHET. 

 Robert F. Mushet was the son of David Mushet,^^ who, 

 in his time, was the most important investigator into the 

 science of iron- and steel-making in Great Britain. His 

 no less renowned son was born at Coleford, in the Forest 

 of Dean, in 181 r. Now, whereas Bessemer, as beforesaid, 

 makes no reference in his own accounts of his process to 

 the value of Goransson's work in establishing the same, he 

 devotes an important chapter in his autobiography to a 

 detailed consideration of Mushet's claims. But, before 

 dealing with this, I will give an account of Mushet's 

 claims as written by himself in 1883, ^"^^ ^for a copy of 

 which I am indebted to my friend Mr. Samuel Osborn, of 

 the Clyde Steel Works in Sheffield. He begins by ex- 

 plaining that having noticed that by alloying " burnt iron " 

 with Spiegel he could obtain a sound ingot, owing to the 

 fact that the manganese combined with the oxygen of the 

 iron, and thus restored it, he, thereupon, applied the same 



^* David Mushet was bom at Dalkeith in 1772, and at the age of 19 

 entered the service of the Clyde Ironworks Company. He was a brilliant 

 and hardworking investigator, but the value of his experiments was not 

 understood hy his employers. He later, in partnership with others, built 

 the Calder Ironworks, but the enterprise ended in failure, and Mushet lost 

 his money. Of great importance was his discovery of the blackband iron- 

 stone in 1800, which laid the foundation of the great Scotch blast-furnace 

 industry as developed some thirty years later. Furthermore, his experi- 

 ments for making crucible steel led directly to Heath's process. 



