THE AGE OF STEEL 



narily allowed to cool completely before being sent 

 to the rolling mills, being drawn off into molds placed 

 along the surface of small, flat cars. These molds 

 are rectangular, ordinarily four or five feet high by 

 less than two feet in diameter. The metal is poured 

 into openings in the top of each mold, and allowed to 

 cool, solidify, and to contract enough to permit 

 the outer casings of the molds to be pulled off by 

 machinery, leaving the glowing "ingots" of steel 

 ready for molding by machinery in the mills. 



The process just described is the one by which 

 "Bessemer steel" is made. There is another impor- 

 tant process in use, the "open hearth" method, which 

 differs considerably from this; but before considering 

 this process something more should be said of the man 

 whose discoveries made possible the modern steel 

 industry. 



SIR HENRY BESSEMER 



In the history of the progress of science and invention 

 some one great name is usually pre-eminently asso- 

 ciated with epoch-marking advances, although there 

 may be a cluster of important but minor associates. 

 This is true in the history of the modern steel industry, 

 and the central name here is that of Sir Henry Bessemer. 



Bessemer was born at Charlton, England, on Jan. 

 19, 1813. Always of an inventive turn of mind, his 

 attention was first directed to improving the methods 

 then in use for the manufacture of steel, while experi- 

 menting with the manufacture of guns. After several 



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