"Some pieces of pig iron on
one side of the bath attracted
my attention by remaining
unmelted in the great heat of
the furnace, and I turned on a
little more air through the fire-
bridge with the intention of
increasing the
combustion...Thus a new
direction was given to my
thoughts, and after due
deliberation I became
convinced that if air could be
brought into contact with a
sufficiently extensive surface
of molten crude iron, it would
rapidly convert it into
malleable iron."
--From the Autobiography of
Henry Bessemer, 1905