Pioneering in Steel Casting: A Melter's Reminiscences, ca 1856- 70s

Abstract

We have little direct, first-hand information from the shop-floor conceming the pioneering days of steel manufacture. To be sure, a number of foreign 'travellers' or industrial 'spies' have fumished us with detailed accounts of contemporary technology, but few of these were written by practising steelmakers. Not surprisingly, the latter, as relatively unlettered men, left virtually no detailed accounts of how steel was melted in the 19th century. The following document ( extant in the Hadfield papers in Sheffield City Library Archives) is therefore especially interesting. lt was written on 6 May 1895 by John Mallaband ( 1831-97), in response to a request from Sir Robert A Hadfield (1858-1940), the Sheffield steelmaker, for an account of the early days of his company. Mallaband, as he states at the beginning of the letter, began his career as a crucible melter at the Sheffield firm of Vickers, before joining Hadfield's father - also named Robert - in establishing Hadfield's Steel Foundry at the Hecla Works, Attercliffe, in 1872.