How the Bessemer Process Changed the World of Steelmaking
Uncover the impact of the Bessemer process, which revolutionized steel production and shaped modern society.
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Uncover the impact of the Bessemer process, which revolutionized steel production and shaped modern society.
Welcome to the Rise of Steel part II. We previously looked at the early stages of industrialization of iron and steelmaking, between roughly 1200 and 1850. To briefly recap, making steel was an involved, multistep process. Iron would first be smelted from iron ore in a blast furnace, resulting in high-carbon pig iron. This pig iron was then placed in a special furnace (initially a finery furnace, later a puddling furnace) to remove the carbon and other impurities, resulting in wrought iron. Wrought iron bars would then be placed into clay chests next to sources of carbon and heated for a perio...