The conditions under which Bessemer metal is produced in Austria are in many respects similar to those existing in Sweden. The iron employed is smelted with charcoal, is nearly free from sulphur and phosphorus, and contains a large percentage of manganese. There are differences in the manner of conducting the process, but these important conditions insure the production of a metal of similar excellence to the Swedish, and, like this, much superior to the ordinary metal produced in England.

The principal works in Austria are at Neuberg, in the province of Styria, and are carried on by the government. The iron is obtained from spathic ores smelted in two furnaces 43 feet high, and yielding from l00 to 150 tons per week. The iron produced is found by analysis to contain 3.46 per cent. of manganese, and, as in Sweden, it is used for recarbonizing in the place of the usual spiegeleisen. Originally a fixed vessel was erected at these works similar to those used in Sweden, but this has been superseded by a pair of three-ton vessels of the ordinary construction. Fixed or Swedish vessels are, however, still in use at other Austrian works. The metal is run directly from the blast furnaces into the converters.

Here we have a full confirmation of the successful working of the original fixed vessels in Austria, the metal being used direct from the blast furnace. In those cases where it was recarburised, this was not done with spiegeleisen, but by using the same metal as that used for conversion, as described in my patent of 1855. If my invention had gone no further than this, and I had never introduced any of the mechanical improvements, which together constitute an entirely new system of steel manufacture, the accomplishments of such results as Mr. Hewitt saw and described would have been by itself a new departure in steel-making, and would have profoundly altered the condition of the crucible steel trade of this and other countries. Also, the facts recorded show how far the Bessemer converter and the Sheffield crucible are in one essential feature in perfect accord, viz., the Sheffield crucible process can make excellent cutlery steel from Swedish charcoal pig iron without the use of manganese in any form.

But the Sheffield crucible process cannot make good steel from British iron smelted with mineral fuel without the employment of manganese in the steel pot. Nor can the Bessemer converter make good steel from British iron smelted with mineral fuel without the employment of manganese in its converter.

Nothing can more clearly show that the application of manganese to Bessemer steel was not a discovery or novel invention, for with what kind of iron it was necessary to use manganese, and with what kind of iron it was not required, was perfectly well known to Sheffield steel-makers many years before Mr. Mushet claimed the use of it.

The perfect success that was obtained from the very first working of my process³ both in Sweden and in Austria, excited the greatest interest in those countries. My first licensee in Sweden, Mr. Goransen, of Gefle, came over to England as soon as the printed notice in the press of my Cheltenham paper had reached him. He was a man possessed of great energy as well as practical knowledge; he saw the converting process at my experimental works in London, and he erected a fixed vessel like the one he saw. In this he used the molten iron direct from his blast furnace, and converted it into steel without recarburising; in fact, he kept strictly to the mode of operating described in my Cheltenham paper. In a very short time he had his steel works in operation, and sent over some ingots to show me what splendid steel he was making. One of these ingots was rolled in Sheffield into a circular saw-plate, 3/16 in. thick and 5 ft. in diameter. So great was the interest excited in Sweden by the successful production of high- class steel by the Bessemer process, that Prince Oscar took a journey of over 200 miles to see it in operation at the works of Mr. Goransen, and the impression made on the Prince's mind was so favourable that it resulted in my being made an honorary member of the Iron Board of Sweden, in recognition of the value of my invention: a compliment which I shall ever highly esteem.

The circumstances attending the introduction of my process into Austria were very different, but were equally satisfactory.

I had no Austrian patent, and therefore did not take any steps to introduce my process into that country. The principal iron works are at Neuberg, in Styria, and belong to the Government. The intelligent managers