The steel industry is quite different to steel making. Historically, the modern steel industry has its beginnings circa eighteen fifty, when steel production began on an industrial scale. Although steel has been made for many centuries prior, the process was expensive and very limited in scale, the steel that was produced was only reserved for specific uses like making of high quality (and expensive) blades and armour, later on surgical tools and similar items. The thing that made steel production on an industrial scale possible was the implementation of a method known as Bessemer Conversion. In eighteen fifty seven, one Henry Bessemer developed a method in which impurities were effectively removed from iron by oxidation, or basically air was being blown through the molten iron as to blow out all impurities. At the same time, the air being blown through the molten iron increases heat and keeps the iron molten and at a very high temperature, yielding higher quality end product. The piece of machinery that was used for this was called a Bessemer converter.
Throughout the eighteen hundreds, the main trend in metallurgy was production of pig iron. Countries which had the capacity to product pig iron, like Britain for instance, saw a dramatic increase of pig iron production. In the eighteen forties, Britain was making one point three million tons of pig iron, in eighteen seventy it was six point seven million tons, and in nineteen ten, the overall amount was ten and a half million tons of pig iron. The same rapid growth trend was observed and recorded in all other iron producing countries around the world.
Before the eighteen sixties, steel was made on a very limited scale due to the high costs associated with its manufacturing process. Until then, all large structures and elements were made of cast or wrought iron, not steel. After the eighteen sixties, technological advancements in Great Britain made industrial steel production possible and cheap, namely this was the Bessemer conversion process, and the use of open hearth furnaces. The first steelworks in the United Kingdom appeared and were centred in Sheffield, they exported and supplied steel to Europe and North America. Thanks to the highly effective Bessemer conversion process (in which pig iron was purified to steel by blowing air through it while still molten) now it was possible to advance all branches of industry by supply of high grade steel. The new high strength steel was first used for pressing of ship plates, then used to advance the railways. Until then, the speed, durability and tonnage of railways were limited by the strength and capacity of wrought iron used for making the tracks. With steel becoming widely available and cheaper to manufacture, railway tracks became stronger and more durable, able to withstand the speed and weight of new train engines and carriages. Eventually, the Bessemer process was sidelined by advancements in open-hearth steel production, especially in continental Europe, the new process became known as Siemens-Martin steel making and allowed better control of the mixture of metals from steel was made.
The steel industry in Britain saw rapid growth in the second half of the nineteenth century. Britain led the world into the Industrial Revolution and was able to produce and meet not only its own steel and iron demand, but to also export large amounts of these to the United States which at the time was hard at work, building up its railway and industrial networks. In doing so however, Britain was putting an expiry date on its own steel and iron making world dominance. As the years rolled, United States was able to build large scale industrial plants and railway networks which produced and fed its own needs of iron and steel, thus there was no longer need for British imports of these materials. At the same time, Germany was also expanding its steel and iron production capacity, which in turn meant that the country too needed little of Britain’s steel and iron exports. The Americans were quick to adopt the open-hearth steel production method, which was much cheaper. In Britain however, this did not happen until later on, which kept British made steel and iron more expensive – clients turned to American steel instead as it was cheaper. Although, British led Industrial Revolution was full of eager and energetic entrepreneurship, innovation and ample capital, these did not seem to flow into the British steel industry, which suffered decline due to lack of innovation and proper long term planning.
As odd as it may seem, the same pattern of insufficient planning and lack of modernisation followed the British steel making industry well into the twentieth century, as late as the nineteen forties, the steel making process used by British companies remained outdated and inefficient. This could only mean one thing – the industry was entering a long term decline, some even said its twilight. It was simply a case of the government not being able to persuade the steel industry to modernise its ways. In result there was a so called patchwork growth pattern which simply could not get the British industry ahead in the world game. From a political perspective, the British steel industry was in a type of limbo since the Marshal Plan days of the late nineteen forties and early fifties. The changing Conservative and Labour Governments in London saw steel industry management in their own way, and subjected it to either nationalisation or reversal of reforms made by previous governments.
Perhaps the most graphic and unfortunate example of the struggles and hardship experienced by the steel making industry in the United Kingdom is the case with British Steel – once the UK’s largest steel maker, and perhaps one of the most powerful companies. British Steel was a major player on the scene, and the company was of huge economic and social importance as it provided employment in deprived and economically stagnant regions of Great Britain. The case with British Steel is complex and people should draw their own conclusions.