All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

The Discovery of Cheap Steel 47 in an amazing manner. Here flocked all the iron- makers not only of Britain, but of other parts of the world. Even when the business was firmly estab- lished and its resources were taxed to the utmost to keep pace with the orders which poured in, Bessemer was still busy with his experiments. The great idea had been brought to a stage of perfection, but details in the apparatus employed could always be improved. The stationary converter which Bessemer first con- trived was finally superseded by the tipping vessel. This final converter was considered so simple and efficient that it has virtually never been altered, except in a few minor details, and in accordance with the accumulation of knowledge and experience. After the first two years of trying difficulty and indifferent trade, the firm enjoyed a remarkable spell of prosperity for twelve years. During this period the four partners who constituted the firm and who had financed the enterprise received their original capital back no fewer than fifty-seven times, repre- senting dividends, if such they may be described equal to nearly 500 per cent, per annum. At the end of fourteen years the quadruple partnership was dissolved, the business being converted into a private limited company, the purchase price being equivalent to twenty-four times the original sum of money invested in the undertaking. Bessemer amassed a huge fortune, his income in 1866, eight years after commencing operations, and when the boom in Bessemer steel was at its height, averaging in round figures £500,000 per annum. The life of the patents came to an end in 1870, and concurrently with their expiration Bessemer, at