The development of early steelmaking processes : an essay in the history of technology.

The history of steelmaking, prior to the work of Bessemer and
Siemens, is not well documented. This study attempts to
bring together the evidence for the development of the
cementation and crucible processes, including information on
the other means of producing steel which were of some
importance in their time but were eventually rendered
obsolete by the more well-known and successful methods. In
addition to the historical background, a relatively simple
treatment of the technology involved is used, as necessary,
to underline the reasons for the various sequences of
operations which were developed.
The evolution of the cementation process for the production
of blister steel was largely a British matter, although its
origins were Continental. Based essentially on imported
high grade Swedish iron as its raw material, it held an
important place in metallurgy throughout the eighteenth
century and for most of the nineteenth, first as the only
worth while source of British steel and, later, as the
source of raw material for the crucible process.
The crucible process itself, growing from its development
by Huntsman, around 1740, into the major steelmaking method
in Britain, was recognised universally as the source of
quality steel. It passed through various modifications
until, eventually, with the bulk steelmaking processes of
Bessemer and Siemens providing a basis for the rapid
expansion of the industry, the crucible process took on a
new role as the source of special steels, thereby ensuring
the reputation of Sheffield as a centre for these materials.
The essay includes as much of the history of this technology
as has been elucidated by a research which has
extended over a quarter of a century. It closes with a
survey of the use of the cementation and crucible
processes in Europe and America.