More than anyone wants to know here about 1/3 down
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dnRLZgcuHfx7uFOHvHCUGnGFiLiset-DTTEK8OtPYVA/edit William Kelly is credited with developing what is now known as the Bessemer process in 1846 at his Eddyville Iron Works in Kentucky. Air was blown through molten pig iron to oxidize and remove impurities and carbon.
Remington was one of the first in the U.S. to manufacture Bessemer barrels, according to “Fire-Arms Manufacture” 1880, U.S. Dept. of Interior, Census Office:
“The earliest use of
decarbonized steel for gun-barrels is generally credited to the Remingtons, [E. Remington & Sons] who made steel barrels for North & Savage, of Middletown, Connecticut, and for the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts as early as
1846.
About 1848 Thomas Warner, at the Whitneyville works, incurred so much loss in the skelp-welding of [Twist] barrels that he voluntarily substituted steel drilled barrels in his contract, making them of decarbonized steel...The use of soft cast-steel was begun at Harper's Ferry about 1849.
After 1873, all small-arms barrels turned out at the national armory at Springfield were made of
decarbonized...Bessemer steel until 1878, and afterward Siemens-Martin steel.”
Apparently working independently of Kelly, Henry Bessemer had also been investigated an improved method for steel production and in 1855 obtained an English patent for what was essentially Keely’s process, and the following year obtained several U.S. patents. When Kelly heard of Bessemer’s patents, he filed a priority claim and in 1857 received a U.S. patent superseding Bessemer’s patents. Bessemer established his steel works in Sheffield, England.
Robert Mushet adapted the Bessemer Process in 1856 by adding manganese (
speigeleisen) and established the Forest Steel Works in Darkhill, Gloucestershire, possibly producing the first Carbon Steel. He also experimented with tungsten, titanium, and other alloys and established the Titanic Steel Works in 1862 for production of his “Titanic Steel”.
In 1858 Göran Fredrik Göransson, a Swedish ironmaster, redesigned the Bessemer furnace, or converter, and steel could then be produced on a much larger scale, and at a much lower cost.
The Bessemer process was improved after 1876 when Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and his cousin Percy Gilchrist developed a burned limestone lining for the Bessemer converters that removed phosphorus with the slag, which made possible the use of higher phosphorus ores.
In the 1878 E. Remington & Sons catalog, the $45 hammer lifter double was listed with Decarbonized Steel; with Twist for $60, and Laminated Steel for $75.
“The barrels of this kind of gun are made from
decarbonized steel containing only enough carbon to give great strength combined with toughness…This steel is now largely used in gun work, and is much stronger and reliable than the cheaper kinds of twist found in many of the imported guns. Indeed, some gunsmiths prefer it to any twist, and claim that it makes a better shooting barrel, owing to its being perfectly homogeneous. In the manufacture of these barrels, they are rolled from the solid metal, without welds…The steel for the manufacture of the
plain steel barrels is used in the form of round bars…rolled out to the size required…”
Dr. Oscar Gaddy
“Prior to the late 19th century, steel meant only high carbon steel that could be hardened and tempered to make the many useful things such as springs and other items subject to high wear that only could be made with this material. Other ferrous metals were all lumped into the iron category. This included cast iron with a very high carbon content which was extremely brittle and wrought or malleable iron which was cast or pig iron that had essentially all of the carbon burned out of it and was very soft and easily worked. I believe that this was also called gun or gun-barrel iron because it was used to make many gun barrels and other gun parts. This is what we call today low or very low carbon steel.
I believe that decarbonized steel is simply this low carbon content wrought iron and the name was more of a marketing gimmick to give the impression of high strength rather than a realistic description of metallurgical properties.”
SO Bessemer Process Homogeneous Wrought Iron = Decarbonized Steel = Plain SteelIndustrial standards for Basic Bessemer in 1915.
There is no modern AISI designation for Bessemer process steel. Carbon .07-.09%
Manganese .04-.48%
Phosphorus .05-.08%
Sulfur .05-.07%
Tensile strength 55,000 – 63,000 psi
Yield strength 33,000 psi
Decarbonized barrel steel was routinely “cold rolled” for higher strength.
William Wellington Greener,
The Gun, Third Edition, 1881
http://books.google.com/books?id=LAsAAAAAQAAJ "The cold-drawn (“punched”) steel barrels made in 1865 and the few following years were far superior to the plain iron and decarbonised steel barrels generally used."
Both Winchester and Marlin advertised their steel as such.
Bessemer steel may have a carbon content as high as .55%, and a high nitrogen content (>.005% and usually .01 - .025%). High nitrogen or phosphorus make the steel more brittle ie. decreases impact resistance.
Low nitrogen Bessemer steel was produced by side blowing in an
acid lined converter; low phosphorus Bessemer steel by bottom blowing in a
basic lined (Thomas-Gilchrist) converter.
An incomplete list of shotgun barrels steels which can be assumed to be “Decarbonized Steel”, or which were stated to be as such by the maker:
Most U.S. maker’s pre-WWI non-pattern welded single barrel shotguns
Most U.S. maker’s pre-WWI lower price non-pattern welded double barrel shotguns; Stevens, Iver Johnson, Hopkins & Allen, Davenport, etc.
c. 1918 catalog listing for Harrington & Richardson with "American Decarbonized Steel"
"Remington Steel" used on the A Grade Hammerless Model of 1894 starting in 1897, K Grade (Model 1900) Hammerless, and Model of 1894 Hammerless Grade 'F.E.' Trap Gun. (The April 1897 Remington catalog stated “Remington blued steel barrels are manufactured in our own works” and the Sears catalog No. 112 c. 1902 states the K Grade has “fine Decarbonized steel barrels”.)
Marlin “Special Rolled Steel”
Winchester “Standard Ordnance Rolled Steel”
Parker Bros. “Parker Steel”. Grade 1 PH & NH received “Parker Steel” starting in 1917.
Meriden Firearms “Armory Steel”
Crescent Fire Arms “Genuine Armory Steel”
The Crescent “Empire Hammerless” listing in the
1925 Union Hardware & Metal Co. catalog still specified “Decarbonized Blued Steel Barrels”. The H. & D. Folsom Arms Co. Catalogue No. 35 (1930-31) listing for the New “Empire” (Crescent No. 9) states the barrels are “Fine Decarbonized ‘High Pressure’ Steel – Proof Testing with loads considerably heavier than standard loaded shells.”
Actual analysisPost-WWI “Parker Steel” = Non-standard Bessemer resulphurized rephosphorized AISI 1109 Carbon Steel.
c. 1910 Meriden Fire Arms “Armory Steel” = Non-standard Bessemer rephosphorized Low Alloy Low Carbon Steel AISI 1211/1016
c. 1900 Crescent “Wilson’s Welded Steel” = Non-standard Bessemer (high phosphorus) Low Alloy Low Carbon Steel AISI 1017
It is therefore safe to assume there are
lots of U.S. single and double barrel shotguns still in use with Decarbonized Steel barrels;
making this all relevant to a DoubleGun forum.Informed and helpful comments are most welcome."it is pretty unlikely that any of our American gunmakers utilized barrel steel from actual steel mills in England that were operated by Henry Bessemer" would be neither.
