| Our science books are full of successful | | | | of money after he continued his work on the |
| inventions of Thomas Edison like electricity, | | | | phonograph and motion pictures etc. |
| phonograph and many others, but there is | | | | |
| hardly any mention about his failures. One of | | | | It was a challenging task for both Edison and |
| his most peculiar failures was his lack of | | | | the American economy to find an economic way |
| ability to find an effective way to excavate | | | | to produce steel at cheaper rates. After 1840 |
| iron ore. | | | | the American iron industry was going thru a |
| | | | resurgence as American was not one of the |
| If he had been successful in excavating iron | | | | major steel producer in the world. |
| ore, he would have been a billionaire at that | | | | |
| time and the possibilities that would have | | | | In 1844, government surveyors traced huge |
| been generated after excavation like creation | | | | deposits of iron ore of anthracite in the |
| of millions of jobs, and many other | | | | Great Lakes area. After this Pennsylvania |
| inventions. | | | | became known as America's largest supplier of |
| | | | iron and steel. |
| Iron is the most economical of all the metals | | | | |
| available for mining, and yet at the same | | | | A British engineer named Henry Bessemer |
| time is of no use in its pure form. Pure Iron | | | | invented a process for steel extraction |
| is very delicate and cannot be used to | | | | process. He accomplished the incomplete task |
| manufacture any products. It is silver in | | | | of Thomas Edison. He devised an iron smelting |
| color in its pure form. Its gets its gray | | | | process thur which it was feasible to produce |
| color after it is combined with oxygen. Iron | | | | large quantities of steel. This process is |
| can not be put any practical application in | | | | still used by some manufacturers even today. |
| its pure form. | | | | |
| | | | His invention was quite inexpensive and |
| Hence it was important that an effective | | | | provided an efficient process to produce |
| extraction process was discovered. For ten | | | | steel from iron ore. But still a refined |
| years, from 1880 to 1890, Edison carried out | | | | process was invented by Abram S. Hewitt who |
| many experiments, hired the services of | | | | even improved on Bessemer process of Andrew |
| scientists, to find a novel way to extract | | | | Carnegie. He soon became a steel tycoon that |
| iron ore. He was doing this to extract iron | | | | by his improved process of developing the |
| ore for the Pennsylvania steel mills. | | | | open-hearth converter and his process was |
| | | | preferred over that of Bessemer by American |
| He shifted from his comfortable office to | | | | steel manufacturers. |
| work in the old iron mines to look for an | | | | |
| economical way to meet with the growing | | | | The American steel industry was |
| demand of steel . His experiments of testing | | | | revolutionised with the invention of low cost |
| and processing were getting very expensive | | | | steel production. American Industry was now |
| and he had to sell all his stock in General | | | | the leader in the world in steel production. |
| Electric to fund his invention. His heirs | | | | In 1873 alone, America produced nearly |
| must be regretting his decision even today. | | | | 115,000 tons of steel. It was now possible |
| | | | to use steel in many industries because of |
| Edison could not succeed to extract the iron | | | | fall in its prices. |
| from unusable, low grade ores. He had to | | | | |
| finally abandon this project. He could never | | | | Automotive industry in America is the major |
| recover his money that he had put in this | | | | (nearly 70%) user of finished steel in |
| project. Later on however, he a earned lot | | | | America. |