William Kelly (inventor)
William Kelly (August 21, 1811 – February 11, 1888), born in
Early life
Kelly studied
Iron and steel making
In 1846, they purchased an iron manufacturing company in Lyon County on the Cumberland River, called Eddyville iron-work. They then renamed the factory Kelly & Company.
Traditional methods
Before the technique of injecting air into molten iron was re-discovered by Kelly and by
Improvements by Kelly and Bessemer
Kelly started experimenting with his "air-boiling process," a process of blowing air up through molten iron to reduce the carbon content, in the 1850s. His initial goal was to reduce the amount of fuel required for iron and steel making, because of the immense amount of timber required to make the charcoal. He discovered that the injected air did not cool the molten iron, but instead combined with the carbon to cause the iron to boil and burn violently until the carbon was greatly reduced, improving the quality of the iron or converting it to steel.[2][3] His iron workers may have contributed to his discovery. According to Kelly's biography, in 1854 he hired Chinese iron workers through a New York teahouse. Historian of metallurgy Donald Wagner notes that a similar process was already extant in China, and that Kelly's Chinese iron workers were likely familiar with how molten cast iron behaved under an air blast. The engineer William Phillips, after a trip to Eddyville, wrote in 1899 that "the Chinese had refined iron by blowing air into it a great many years ago, and I have thought that Kelly, in asking for Chinese laborers, would naturally require the services of those who had some knowledge of the iron business."[4]
A similar process was later independently invented and patented by Henry Bessemer in 1856.[5] Kelly was college-educated in metallurgy, while Bessemer in his autobiography described no education, other than a practical knowledge of
Gallery
This section needs expansion with: Picture and description from french article. You can help by adding to it. (October 2012) |
Various types of converter are shown. An original Kelly Converter was displayed outside the general offices of Bethlehem Steel Corporation on Walnut St., in Johnstown, Pennsylvania for many years until it was relocated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. A photograph of it is available at this link: http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-9E0
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Bessemer converter
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Kaldo converter
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LD converter
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Thomas converter
Kelly's patent
Kelly applied for a patent after Bessemer patented the process, and was granted patent U.S. patent 17,628 in 1857. The core claim of his patent was "Blowing blasts of air, either hot or cold, up and through a mass of liquid iron, the oxygen in the air combining with the carbon in the iron, causing a greatly increased heat and boiling commotion in the fluid mass and decarbonizing and refining the iron."[8]
Renewal of patent
In 1871, the
Kelly's bankruptcy
The financial
Bessemer Steel
The companies owning the Kelly and Bessemer patents began selling the product under the name "Bessemer Steel" in 1866.[3] The Bessemer process greatly reduced the cost of steel and improved the quality, making possible the industrial growth of the United States from 1865 until the early 1900s. The Bessemer process was replaced by the open-hearth process in the early 20th century.[5]
Kelly's later life
Kelly worked in Louisville, Kentucky for the rest of his life, manufacturing axes as well as working in real estate and banking. He died there February 11, 1888.[3]
External links
References
- ^ "Bessemer, Sir Henry". Britannica. Vol. 2. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. pp. 167–168.
- ^ a b Schleis, Paula, of Knight Ridder Newspapers (May 19, 2002). "Inventors recognized for changing the world". Charleston Gazette (West Virginia). Retrieved 2006-08-06.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d "KELLY, William". Americana. Vol. 16. Scholastic Publishing Company. 2005. pp. 352–353.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-87566-0.
- ^ a b "Steelmaking processes". Americana. Vol. 25. Scholastic Publishing Company. 2005. pp. 650–651.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-10-03. Retrieved 2005-09-29.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY Chapter 10 - ISBN 978-0-7864-2326-2.
- ^ http://www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2003/jun23.htm The Center for the Study of Technology and Society
- ^ The Beginnings of Cheap Steel.
- ^ http://www.explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=805 Explore PA History
- ^ http://history.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1863/technology ENotes