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ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES •
APRIL 2014
32
P
ittsburgh was home to a number of plants
with multiple converters and the required
blast furnaces and rolling mills to serve the
growing demand for steel rails and beams. A major
factor in the city’s prominence was the availability
of coal for coke. Connellsville, south of Pittsburgh,
had coal fields that produced the finest metallurgi-
cal coke in the world. Andrew Carnegie pulled all
these factors together to build his steel empire.
Carnegie made his first major investment in
ironmaking simply to supply material for his bridge
company. In 1872, he joined the ranks of the select
few U.S. steelmakers by building a Bessemer steel
plant. Carnegie named his new steel mill after J.
Edgar Thomson—arguably the most in-
fluential railroad executive in America
at the time—because he needed the rail-
roads as customers for his new plant.
The Edgar Thomson Steel Works was
constructed in 1873-75 and Alexander
Holley was the engineer in charge. An-
drew Carnegie was twice blessed in hir-
ing Holley because he got two great steel
men in the bargain. Holley had been a
consultant on the new Bessemer shop at
Cambria Iron Company in Johnstown,
Pa., where he worked with Captain
William (Billy) Jones, who resigned when
he was not promoted to superintendent.
Jones contacted Holley, who immedi-
ately hired him as his assistant on the
Thomson Works. After construction,
Carnegie hired Jones as general superin-
tendent. Jones became another star in the long line
of top-quality men that Carnegie enlisted in forging
his great steel empire.
Captain Billy Jones
Jones was a truly unique manager who came
from the same mold as John Fritz. He worked vari-
ous jobs and eventually joined the Cambria Iron
Company. He also joined the Union Army shortly
after the Civil War got underway. His experience
and maturity won him a commission and he was
mustered out as a captain at the end of the war, re-
turning to Cambria where he became an assistant to
the general superintendent. Jones was known as a
mechanical genius and true friend of his workers
and his patents were a
major factor in the
great advances of the
steel
output
of
Carnegie’s empire and
of the industry in gen-
eral during the 1880s.
One
invention
alone—the “hot car
transfer ladle” that
moved molten metal
from blast furnaces to
Bessemer convert-
ers—eliminated the
need to remelt pig
iron to make steel.
Royalties from his
many patents earned
Jones $15,000 annually during the late 1880s when
his salary was $35,000. He became world renowned
and was the first American invited to visit the great
Krupp Works in Germany. His greatest legacy,
however, was as a leader of men. Captain Billy
Jones was killed in 1889 at the age of 50 when a fur-
nace exploded. His death was not only a loss and
shock to his fellow workers, but to the entire steel
industry and especially the city of Pittsburgh. Steel-
making is said to have ceased while the city
mourned at his wake and funeral. Captain Billy
lived for his work and his men. Now that both are
long gone, his name has been forgotten by many.
He deserves better.
Carnegie’s empire expands
As Carnegie’s steel empire grew, he became a
major client of the coke industry. The chief player
in this game was a young Pennsylvanian named
Henry Clay Frick. Like so many successful entrepre-
neurs, Frick was very lucky. Just as he was expanding
the manufacture of coke, Carnegie became one of
his most important customers. Frick reorganized in
1881 to raise capital and Carnegie bought a small in-
terest in the company. However, Andrew was never
one to remain a small shareholder if the business was
successful. Within several years, he bought out some
of the other shareholders, and the next time Frick
needed capital for more expansion he sold even
more stock to Carnegie. With that, the controlling
Metallurgy Lane,
authored by
ASM life member
Charles R. Simcoe
,
is a yearlong series
dedicated to the early
history of the U.S. metals
and materials industries
along with key
milestones and
developments.
The Age of Steel: Part II
By 1875, the Bessemer steel industry had spread across the country
from eastern Pennsylvania to St. Louis, with the epicenter in Pittsburgh.
Andrew Carnegie,
American business-
man and philan-
thropist, circa 1913.
Courtesy of Library
of Congress/U.S.
public domain.
Captain William (Billy)
Jones, inventor of the
hot car transfer ladle.
Courtesy of www.
thehopkinthomasproject.
com.