Bessemer process


nounMetallurgy.
  1. a process of producing steel, in which impurities are removed by forcing a blast of air through molten iron.

Origin of Bessemer process

1
First recorded in 1855–60; after H. Bessemer

Words Nearby Bessemer process

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Bessemer process in a sentence

  • Nothing but books, and literally tons of them on everything from languages to philosophy, from farming to the Bessemer process.

    Tillie | Roger Phillips Graham
  • The Bessemer process makes enormous masses of steel and makes it very cheaply; but it has one fault—it is too quick.

    Diggers in the Earth | Eva March Tappan
  • But there was nothing to be compared with the solid steel article which the Bessemer process produced.

  • Further purification is commonly carried on by a process very similar to the Bessemer process for steel.

  • The Bessemer process was used much more extensively upon the Continent than in this country in the manufacture of castings.

British Dictionary definitions for Bessemer process

Bessemer process

noun
  1. (formerly) a process for producing steel by blowing air through molten pig iron at about 1250°C in a Bessemer converter: silicon, manganese, and phosphorus impurities are removed and the carbon content is controlled

  2. a similar process for removing sulphur and iron from copper matte

Origin of Bessemer process

1
C19: named after Sir Henry Bessemer (1813–98), English engineer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Bessemer process

Bessemer process

[ bĕsə-mər ]


  1. A method for making steel by forcing compressed air through molten iron to burn out carbon and other impurities.

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