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The Discovery of Cheap Steel 41 being assisted in this enterprise by Mr. W. D. Allen, whose association with Bessemer was lifelong, Mr. R. Longsden, a former partner in London, and Messrs. Galloway, of Manchester. Under the quadruple part- nership thus formed the works of Henry Bessemer and Co. were established and are still in operation. For a time steel appeared to be a drug upon the market. Commerce was somewhat slow to recognise the virtues of the new metal. Possibly the failure attending the results of the first commercial exploita- tion of the invention contributed to this apathy. Yet there was every inducement to purchase the converted iron. Steel produced by the manual methods in vogue was costing from £60 to £70 per ton, whereas Bessemer was marketing his product at from £40 to £50 per ton. Notwithstanding the pro- nounced difference in price but little trade was done during the first two years of the firm’s existence. Suddenly commerce appeared to realise, in an instant, the advantages of the stronger and tougher metal and its many feasible applications. The com- petitive firms in Sheffield who had previously derided the process became alarmed, inasmuch as they were being undersold, and were in danger of having their steel trade taken away from them. Bessemer was once again brought into conflict with the trade. The firms who had bought the licences originally at Cheltenham, and had subse- quently parted with them again to the inventor, now approached him, money in hand, to regain permission to employ the process in their shops. But to their surprise they met with a curt refusal to entertain such offers. Bessemer explained that he had ascer-