Steel
The Bessemer converter removes impurities from pig iron and produces steel.
The Bessemer steel converter is a large container in which molten iron is converted into steel. The Bessemer steel converter was invented by Henry Bessemer in 1856.
Iron when extracted from ore is a mixture of carbon and iron. This is very brittle and shatters easily. The Bessemer converter removed the carbon by flushing molten iron with oxygen, thereby removing the carbon and yielding soft iron. The carbon content could then be adjusted creating steel, which can then be tempered to a required hardness. The Bessemer converter made steel possible and permitted major engineering advances.
A revolutionary 19th century process to convert iron into high quality steel using a cauldron of molten iron and coke through which air was blown at high pressure and volume, oxidizing impurities and allowing the precise control of carbon content.
The Bessemer converter was patented in 1855.
Henry Bessemer
Henry Bessemer developed a way to make steel by melting and burning pig iron. Pig iron is the result of mining and refining iron ore. Before steel, he worked with glass, but his glass making process was not practical.
Henry Bessemer invented the Bessemer Converter
The Bessemer Steel Converter in Operation - 1902 was released on: USA: April 1902
In the year of 1855.
It was an industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron. Impurities are removed from the pig iron by oxidization by a blast of air in a special tilting retort
Henry Bessemer