Calendar of Discovery and Invention

Abstract

April 10, 1864.—The modern process of manufacturing open hearth steel was started by PierreEmile Martin, who melted together pig-iron, scrap, and iron ore in a Siemen's regenerative furnace. Martin's French patent was taken out on April 10, 1864. Two hundred years ago, R6aumur described the conversion of wrought iron into steel by fusing it with pig-iron, but his experiments never went beyond the laboratory stage. The open hearth process was introduced into America in 1868. In 1880 that country produced 1,074,000 tons of Bessemer steel, and 110,000 tons of open hearth steel. Forty years later these figures had increased to 8,883,000 tons of Bessemer steel, and 32,672,000 tons of open hearth steel, the total production being nearly equal to half a ton of steel per head of population.