Rare Bessemer Convertor Finds Home in Sheffield

Posted in The World Of Metal on 21st March 2011

This photograph shows one of only three remaining Bessemer convertors left in the world. It is the Workington No 1 vessel, which, fittingly is on show at and preserved by Sheffield's Kelham Island Industrial Museum, having been gifted to them in 1978 by the British Steel plant in Workington.

The Workington plant can trace its history back to 1872 when it was first started life as The Moss Bay Hematite Iron Company. A Bessemer convertor and rolling mill were installed there early in 1877, and the plant also had four blast furnaces which produced the pig iron to feed the convertor. In August of that year, the plant rolled its first set of Steel rails.

The company went through several name changes over the years, and records show that in 1912 a 16 tonne Bessemer convertor was installed in its own melt shop, with two more added later. By the mid-1930s the company operated two 25 tonne Bessemer convertors which had replaced the three 16 tonne units. Production finally ceased at the Workington Steel Plant in July 1974.

Bessemer Convertor

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