Steel Manufacturing Processes:

Bessemer Converter:

This method of making steel was named after its inventor Sir Henry Bessemer. It was invented in England in 1856. Steel made this way is called Bessemer Steel. It was first used in United States in 1864 at Wyandotte, Michigan. It is a cheap way to make steel.

Bessemer developed a pear shaped steel vessel, lined with firebrick and mounted on trunnions to convert the pig iron into steel. These crucibles are of various sizes but many contain from 5-30 tons of charge per blow.

Scrap steel alloy with the new pigs are placed into the Bessemer converter and hot air is blown through the melted metal. Again, the carbon is burned out and the desired amount of carbon and alloying elements are added. About 12-15 minute is required to refine 25 tons of steel. The converter can then be tipped on its trunnions and the metal poured into a large fire bricked -lined ladle, which in turns pours the steel into ingot molds which are formed for making the steel into blocks.  These blocks of metal are about 20 inches square, from 4-6 feet long, weight about a ton and are called ingots. The ingots still red hot but cold enough to stand alone, are rolled into shapes ready for use.

It is a cheap low grade steel used for nails, screws, wires, shafts, rails and building materials such as beams, where low price is more necessary than quality.