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The Iron Age -

The Iron Age marks the advent of iron and steel production, first recorded in the ancient Near East in about 2000 BCE. Primary steelmaking was well established by 1000 BCE.

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Damascus steel -

The Near East witnessed the manufacture of what came to be called Wootz, or Damascus steel. Evidence of the earliest production of this durable, high carbon material is found in ancient Persia. From here, the process migrated to India, introduced by Arab metalworkers around 400–500 BCE.

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Appearance of blast furnaces -

The development of blast furnaces is credited to the Chinese, in the 6th century BCE. But it was in Europe during the Middle Ages that they were more widely used, which increased the production of pig iron (cast iron).

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Crucible steel -

The medieval era also saw the manufacture of crucible steel—steel made by melting pig iron (cast iron), iron, and sometimes steel—in a crucible (a ceramic or metal container) rather than being forged. In 1740, English inventor Benjamin Huntsman refined the crucible technique, which had an enormous impact on the quantity and quality of steel production.

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Bessemer process -

Another English inventor and engineer, Henry Bessemer (1813–1898), developed the first process for manufacturing steel inexpensively. Known as the Bessemer process, it provided for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron.

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Bessemer converter -

The Bessemer converter allowed the removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. This in turn reduced the carbon content in iron.

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Sheffield, England -

By the mid-19th century, Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, was known as "Steel City," and recognized as a major industrial center.

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Carnegie Steel Company -

In 1875, the Edgar Thompson Steel Works was founded, operated under the auspices of the Carnegie Steel Company, owned by Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919). This facility effectively sparked the growth of the United States as a major world steel producer.

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Homestead Strike -

Incidentally, the Carnegie Steel Company was embroiled in one of the most infamous strikes in American labor history. A dispute between members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the company turned ugly on July 6, 1892, when a battle between strikers and private security agents at the Homestead Steel Works near Pittsburgh resulted in the deaths of 12 people. Dozens more were injured. 

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Growth of the American steel industry -

By 1880, annual steel production across the nation was approximately 1.25 million tons; by 1910, this had risen to 24 million tons.

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American railroad -

Immediate beneficiaries of the burgeoning steel industry included railroad companies. Carnegie Steel was able to reduce the costs of steel railroad rails from US$100 per ton to $50 per ton between 1873 and 1875. This in turn fast-tracked the establishment of the nation's fledgling railroad network.

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Steel use in building construction -

In 1885, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago was inaugurated. It went down in history as the world's first modern skyscraper, built using steel as one of the materials. It was demolished in 1931.

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Advances in steelwork -

At the turn of the 20th century, the Bessemer process had largely been supplanted by open-hearth steelmaking, a process that in fact originated in the 1860s in Germany.

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Open-hearth steelmaking -

Open-hearth steelmaking was pioneered by German engineer Carl Wilhelm Siemens (1823–1883). Huge industrial open-hearth furnaces were used to burn out from pig iron excess carbon and other impurities to produce steel.

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Steel and arms manufacture -

Another leading figure in 19th-century steel production was also German, the industrialist Alfred Krupp (1812–1887). Born in Essen, he became the largest arms supplier of his era, which earned Krupp the nickname "The Cannon King."

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Steel armor -

Krupp became the main arms manufacturer for the Prussian military. In turn, Prussia used the advanced technology of Krupp to defeat both Austria and France in the German Wars of Unification (1866–1871).

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First international arms race -

Later, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Krupp's chromium steel cannons proved far superior to those cast from bronze and used by the French. In fact, the success of German artillery spurred the first international arms race, with warring nations eager to rearm with cannons manufactured by Krupp.

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First steel ship -

The first ship to be principally made from steel was the French Navy ship Redoutable. Launched in 1876, the vessel, pictured in port in Brest in 1882, still consisted in part of wrought iron, but was not considered ironclad.

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First steel-bodied automobile -

In 1914, the first steel-bodied automobile was unveiled, the four-cylinder Dodge Model 30-35. Dodge pioneered the use of steel, a material that later became ubiquitous across the automobile industry.

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First steel bridge -

Advances in steel manufacturing technology led to the completion in 1874 of the Eads Bridge, the world's first bridge constructed from steel. It still stands, spanning the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri.

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Bethlehem Steel -

For most of the 20th century, Bethlehem Steel was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. The corporation's headquarters and primary steel mill manufacturing facilities were based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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Empire State Building -

Bethlehem Steel was responsible for supplying the raw material in the construction of some of the world's most iconic structures, among them the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in New York City.

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Golden Gate Bridge -

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was also built using steel manufactured at Bethlehem. In fact, 83,000 tons of steel was used in its construction.

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Merchandise Mart -

And Bethlehem Steel fabricated much of the 60,000 tons of steel used in the construction of Merchandise Mart, a commercial premises in Chicago. When it was opened in 1930, Merchandise Mart was the largest building in the world.

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Working with steel -

According to the World Steel Association, there are more than 3,500 different grades of steel.

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A malleable material -

Did you know that steel is more elastic than rubber because it's able to revert to its original shape faster?

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Recycled steel -

Most steel products and objects are made of recycled steel—steel has a global recycling rate of roughly 60%. Here, steel billets emerge from a factory casting floor where they were extruded as 12,153 illegal guns and other weapons confiscated from criminals and melted to be converted into steel rebar.

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Steel creates employment -

According to the World Steel Association, over six million individuals work in the steel industry worldwide.

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World's largest producer -

China currently produces and exports more than half of the world's steel, followed by India, Japan, the United States, and Russia.

Sources: (Britannica) (BDO USA) (History) (National Parks Service) (World Steel Association) (Statista)

See also: What we learned from the Industrial Revolution

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