Henry Bessemer .
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The Mesabi Range of Minnesota provided most of the iron ore for America's steel industry.
In past times most often the blacksmith used wrought iron. Wrought iron is made by taking iron ore and charcoal heating until it melts. That process produces pig iron. The next step is to heat the pig iron up until it is soft then hammer it until most of the impurities are driven off. Iron as it is heated past 600 degrees F turns black as the iron oxides with air. That gives the Blacksmith his name black + smith or striker. Mild steel is used for most modern blacksmith works.Mild steel that is steel that has less than .3 percent carbon in it. Cast iron is not used as it is too brittle.
To make steel, iron ore is first mined from the ground. It is then smelted in blast furnaces where the impurities are removed and carbon is added. In fact, a very simple definition of steel is "iron alloyed with carbon, usually less than 1%."
they invented the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventors, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten.
They are not iron but zinc coated steel. In the lowest grade they are worth about three cents. In the highest grade they are worth about $20- $40.