As I thought, Edmund Leavenworth French looks to be the key and conduit for the transfer of steel technology from Germany to Sanderson Brothers & Company, Syracuse, when he was hired probably in 1894/1895. Things were really hopping in the early 1890s with the new proof laws and steels were being developed to handle the new progressive powders. If I remember correctly, Krupp developed their nickel steel about this time. So with Edmund Leavenworth French as a student/apprentice in 1892 & 1893 with the German scientists, he was able to obtain the recipe or composition for the new steels, with one component being tungsten or sometimes referred to as Mushet English Steel. Circa 1895 when Edmund Leavenworth French joined the Sanderson Brothers & Co. firm, apparently they were already toying with the additions of chromium, molybdenum, nickel, titanium and vanadium to their steel. About the same time experiements were made with rare earth metals boron, cerium, lanthanum and I'm sure others. So it is highly probably that either Edmund Leavenworth French either knew the Krupp composition or had some close idea of the percentages. I can't remember if it was 1900 or 1903 but samples, some possibly barrels, indicate that Sanderson Brothers & Co. and Park Steel Company had almost the exact percentages of components in their steel; maybe an indication of data or recipe sharing?? Also in 1900 the Bethlehem Iron Company had 4% Nickel in their barrels. In the late 1890s there was a Black Diamond Steel Works which had been run by the Park Steel Company in Pittsburgh.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
