Henry Bessemer
Henry Bessemer
Sir Henry Bessemerwas an English inventor, whose steelmaking process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century. He also established the town of Sheffield as a major industrial centre...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth19 January 1813
account concise english-scientist invention quiet several steel time tried
Nevertheless, several of my friends have from time to time tried to induce me to write a concise account of my steel invention in my own quiet way.
attention english-scientist hard life short steady time work
My life at this time was pretty much one of hard work and steady attention to business, from which I could only snatch short intervals.
acquired amateur commercial english-scientist enthusiasm felt labouring opportunity period slip steady technical
At this period the enthusiasm of the amateur was fast giving way to a more steady commercial instinct, and I let no opportunity slip of improving my position, but I felt that I was still labouring under the disadvantage of not having acquired some technical profession.
bronze chosen english-scientist guardians longer personal powder required
The bronze powder business, however, no longer required my personal attention, and was well managed by those I had chosen as the guardians of a secret, which was long and honourably kept.
business capacity certainly early english-scientist episode fear ought
I fear this little episode does not speak very favourably for my business capacity in those early days, for I certainly ought to have made much more than I did by this really important invention.
advantage belief bias dealing derived english-scientist fixed general ideas immense others problem suffer whatever
I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem inasmuch as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.
bronze caused english-scientist kept mode origin profound quite stir
The new bronze caused quite a stir in the trade. The locality of its origin and its mode of manufacture were kept a profound secret.
beaten bronze english-scientist leaf ordinary powder resembling thin
The ordinary bronze powder is, as before mentioned, made from an exceedingly thin leaf of beaten metal, resembling an ordinary leaf of gold.
london world march
On March 4th, 1830, I arrived in London, where a new world seemed opened to me.
queens cities office
We fixed on No. 4, Queen Street Place, for our City offices, and it was from there that so many of my patented inventions were dated.
years feet height
I had now arrived at my seventeenth year, and had attained my full height, a fraction over six feet. I was well endowed with youthful energy, and was of an extremely sanguine temperament.
curiosity secrecy intimate
In such a case secrecy must be absolute to be effective, and although mere vague curiosity induced many persons of my intimate acquaintance to ask to be allowed to just go in and have a peep, I never admitted anyone.
white enough made
I was quite unable to make any white metal alloy hard enough to be made into powder by my machinery
successful overcoming process
It is true I had been successful on a small scale in overcoming one of the main difficulties in the new process, but there was still much to invent, and much that at that period I necessarily knew nothing about.