44 MODERN SCIENCE READER 



powder when manufactured sold for twelve shillings a 

 pound, while the raw material cost but eleven pence. The 

 difference he knew must come from the process of manu- 

 facturing, a process which he at once began to study. The 

 article came altogether from Nuremberg in Germany, and 

 no one in England could tell him how it was made. For 

 nearly two years he studied this problem, earning success in 

 the end by his infinite industry. He had not learned to have 

 confidence in the patent laws, and he determined to keep his 

 invention a secret. A friend advanced him 10,000, works 

 were erected, the machinery being made in different parts 

 of England. Five operatives were employed, at large 

 salaries, under pledge of secrecy, and the bronze was 

 turned out at a cost of less than 4 shillings a pound. To 

 this day, although forty years have elapsed, no one has 

 surprised the secret. Sir Henry Bessemer has years since 

 rewarded the faithfulness of his workingmen by giving 

 them the factory and the business, and they too have made 

 fortunes out of the trade. 



Between 1844 and 1850 Bessemer patented machines for 

 the manufacture of paints, oils, and varnishes ; for the sepa- 

 ration of sugar from molasses; for a drainage pump capa- 

 ble of discharging twenty tons of water per minute; a 

 machine for polishing plate-glass, substituting a vacuum 

 for the plaster-bed. Each of these was as meritorious as 

 unique, and as profitable as it was ingenious. 



This much will show the surprising versatility of the 

 man, and enable the reader to grasp the character that 

 revolutionized modern industry. 



The Crimean war turned Bessemer 's attention to ord- 

 nance ; he produced a projectile which rotated without the 

 aid of rifling from the gun, and made many improvements 

 in the guns themselves. The English authorities ridiculed 

 his improvements; the Emperor Napoleon was greatly 

 struck with them, and requested Bessemer to continue his 

 experiments at the expense of France. At one of the 

 subsequent tests Commander Minie said: "The shots rotate 



