The American steel industry first started in the 1860's, when ironworkers discovered that adding a certain amount of carbon to iron made a stronger material. Wrought iron contains .2-.8% carbon, making it malleable yet soft; while cast iron contains 3-4.5% carbon, making it very hard but brittle. Steel lies in between these two, with .2-1.5% carbon. Originally, steelworkers would pack bars of wrought iron together with powdered charcoal in stone boxes and hope the iron would absorb enough carbon to create steel. However, this process was difficult, as there was no way to definitively measure how much carbon was in the iron until the process was complete. This made it nearly impossible to produce steel in mass with reasonably similar characteristics. In the mid 1860's, Henry Bessemer invented a device that would revolutionize the process of steel making. He reasoned that molten "pig iron", an iron ore too rich in carbon to make steel; could be readily united with oxygen, and therefore blasting air through the molten metal would remove enough of the carbon to create steel without the problems of the previous method. It worked, except for a slight problem; the air didn't remove the phosphorus which made the steel very brittle. This meant that the only way to create high-grade steel was to use pig iron from phosphorus-free deposits; which only showed up in a few locations across the globe. Then, in 1876, scientist Sidney Thomas discovered that adding a chemically basic material such as limestone removed the phosphorus and the result could be skimmed off with the slag. This opened up nearly every pig iron mine in the Americas for steel production.
The largest use of metal was in the growing network of railroads across America. However, wrought iron rails wore out quickly; in some places they had to be replaced every six weeks. Steel, however, was a much better material, but prohibitively expensive because of the difficulties in making it. After the Bessemer Basic Process was discovered, though, it became easy to produce steel. By 1890, steel production had skyrocketed, and iron was nearly obsolete. In the 1870's, 460,000 tons of wrought iron rails were made and sold for $80 per ton; while 2550 tons of steel rails sold for $170 a ton. Comparatively in 1884, iron rails had nearly ceased to be produced while 1.5 million tons of steel rails were sold for $32 a ton. Andrew Carnegie would later drive the cost down to $14 a ton before 1905. This drop in price was matched by a jump in quality; with the average life and weight-bearing load of a rail increased from two years to ten and eight tons to seventy. However, entrepreneurs were doing their best to find a way around over a hundred patents filed by Henry Bessemer in order to profit off of the new production method. One such method was the open-hearth process developed by German engineer Karl Siemens. Iron was pumped into a tray and left to cool, allowing it to be repeatedly tested by chemists and made into steel with the exact specifications requested by the customer. This eventually overtook the Bessemer process, but was in turn replaced by processed such as the basic oxygen and electric arc processes by the early 1960's. Since then, the process of making steel has remained relatively the same until the mid 2000's; when engineers started developing a new type of lightweight steel as strong as titanium.
The steel industry had many impacts on America. For one, it created tens of thousands of jobs during the boom, and a steady economy until the Great Depression. Workers had a steady job as long as they could handle the heat of the refinery. It also provided immense amounts of high-quality steel for the infrastructure. This meant that buildings lasted longer and were generally stronger. In the 1910's, Thomas Edison designed a new type of building; the concrete and steel rebar that has become so common in modern architecture. It's inexpensive and simple construction made the design a large part of mass housing for workers; particularly at the city of Gary, Indiana with its massive steelworks. Steel was the perfect structural material of the century because of its durability and weight-bearing capacity; and only recently has it been replaced by other materials such as titanium. Andrew Carnegie, for all his faults, created a wonderful economy and made a fortune off of it. However, the Great Depression caused many problems for the steel industry. The economy stagnated; with nobody buying the mines and factories closed. The infrastructure of America basically stopped developing during the Depression, meaning there was very little demand for steel. This caused thousands of people to lose jobs. In addition, the majority of people laid off were unskilled workers. Since mostly only whites could get an extensive education, they had high-ranking jobs and companies were unwilling to let them go. However, African Americans and other immigrants made up the bulk of the workforce and were fired en mass. This deepened the already wide schism between whites and other races.
The steel industry was and still is a vital part of American culture. In the beginning, it provided thousands of jobs and a revolutionary new building material. It helped create the infrastructure of city buildings and railroads. Stainless steel paved the way for thousands of new tools, from utensils to garden tools to your new coffee machine. Even when the Great Depression hit, steel was still one of the most used materials, nothing could keep the industry down. Now, steel is a widely used resource, and experimentation is still happening now, with scientists developing stronger varieties as we speak. Steel has played a vital role in the development of American culture, even if it wasn't always a good one. One example is during the Depression; problems with layoffs contributed to the racial schism between whites and minorities. However, the steel industry overall has contributed greatly to America.
The largest use of metal was in the growing network of railroads across America. However, wrought iron rails wore out quickly; in some places they had to be replaced every six weeks. Steel, however, was a much better material, but prohibitively expensive because of the difficulties in making it. After the Bessemer Basic Process was discovered, though, it became easy to produce steel. By 1890, steel production had skyrocketed, and iron was nearly obsolete. In the 1870's, 460,000 tons of wrought iron rails were made and sold for $80 per ton; while 2550 tons of steel rails sold for $170 a ton. Comparatively in 1884, iron rails had nearly ceased to be produced while 1.5 million tons of steel rails were sold for $32 a ton. Andrew Carnegie would later drive the cost down to $14 a ton before 1905. This drop in price was matched by a jump in quality; with the average life and weight-bearing load of a rail increased from two years to ten and eight tons to seventy. However, entrepreneurs were doing their best to find a way around over a hundred patents filed by Henry Bessemer in order to profit off of the new production method. One such method was the open-hearth process developed by German engineer Karl Siemens. Iron was pumped into a tray and left to cool, allowing it to be repeatedly tested by chemists and made into steel with the exact specifications requested by the customer. This eventually overtook the Bessemer process, but was in turn replaced by processed such as the basic oxygen and electric arc processes by the early 1960's. Since then, the process of making steel has remained relatively the same until the mid 2000's; when engineers started developing a new type of lightweight steel as strong as titanium.
The steel industry had many impacts on America. For one, it created tens of thousands of jobs during the boom, and a steady economy until the Great Depression. Workers had a steady job as long as they could handle the heat of the refinery. It also provided immense amounts of high-quality steel for the infrastructure. This meant that buildings lasted longer and were generally stronger. In the 1910's, Thomas Edison designed a new type of building; the concrete and steel rebar that has become so common in modern architecture. It's inexpensive and simple construction made the design a large part of mass housing for workers; particularly at the city of Gary, Indiana with its massive steelworks. Steel was the perfect structural material of the century because of its durability and weight-bearing capacity; and only recently has it been replaced by other materials such as titanium. Andrew Carnegie, for all his faults, created a wonderful economy and made a fortune off of it. However, the Great Depression caused many problems for the steel industry. The economy stagnated; with nobody buying the mines and factories closed. The infrastructure of America basically stopped developing during the Depression, meaning there was very little demand for steel. This caused thousands of people to lose jobs. In addition, the majority of people laid off were unskilled workers. Since mostly only whites could get an extensive education, they had high-ranking jobs and companies were unwilling to let them go. However, African Americans and other immigrants made up the bulk of the workforce and were fired en mass. This deepened the already wide schism between whites and other races.
The steel industry was and still is a vital part of American culture. In the beginning, it provided thousands of jobs and a revolutionary new building material. It helped create the infrastructure of city buildings and railroads. Stainless steel paved the way for thousands of new tools, from utensils to garden tools to your new coffee machine. Even when the Great Depression hit, steel was still one of the most used materials, nothing could keep the industry down. Now, steel is a widely used resource, and experimentation is still happening now, with scientists developing stronger varieties as we speak. Steel has played a vital role in the development of American culture, even if it wasn't always a good one. One example is during the Depression; problems with layoffs contributed to the racial schism between whites and minorities. However, the steel industry overall has contributed greatly to America.
I can't seem to upload the photos from my Google Drive, I hope you will be lenient and help me tomorrow without penalty.
Bibliography:
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~ "A Brief History of Iron and Steel Manufacture." A Brief History of Iron and Steel Manufacture
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~"Settling the Great Plains: Inventions and Adaptations." Settling the Great Plains: Inventions and Adaptations. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
~"Founders Of The Arts & Crafts Movement." Founders Of The Arts & Crafts Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
~"History of the Steel Industry (1850–1970)." - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
~ "Concrete in the Steel City: Constructing Thomas Edison's House for the Working Man | Baas | Indiana Magazine of History." Concrete in the Steel City: Constructing Thomas Edison's House for the Working Man | Baas | Indiana Magazine of History. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
~ "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." The Arts and Crafts Movement in America. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
~ "The History of Stainless Steel." 100 Years of Stainless Steel. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015
~ "1930s." 1930s. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://m.americanmachinist.com/heating/1930s>.
