Sheffield Steel and America: A Century of Commercial and Technological Interdependence, 1830–1930 by Geoffrey Tweedale

Abstract

164 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE when it was becoming clear that incandescent lamps could be sold separately from entire lighting systems and could be marketed directly to consumers. Again, there is scant evidence to support this interesting observation, but perhaps Heerding will discuss who purchased the bulbs produced by Philips and its Dutch rivals in the second volume. Despite these unexplored issues, the Philips group is to be con­ gratulated for producing a well-researched opening volume of their history. It would have been simple to focus on the internal affairs of the firm; instead, Heerding has given us a thoughtful history of the early Dutch electrical industry that historians of technology will want to compare with other national histories of electrification. We can only wish that more company histories were like this one, contributing to a major research area in the history of technology. W. Bernard Carlson Dr. Carlson teaches the history of technology in the School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of Virginia. He is currently completing a biography of the American electrical inventor Elihu Thomson (1853—1937). Sheffield Steel and America: A Century of Commercial and Technological Interdependence, 1830—1930. By Geoffrey Tweedale. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pp xvi + 296; tables, notes, ap­ pendix, bibliography, index. $49.50. Historians of the steel industry frequently write about tonnage pro­ duction with the blast furnace, Bessemer converter, and open hearth. Geoffrey Tweedale’s book is about another, largely neglected branch of ferrous metallurgy that was just as important to the attainment of industrial maturity by the United States, the manufacture of highquality , “specialty” steel for critical applications in machinery and tools. In the 19th century, specialty steel was crucible steel; in the 20th, it was increasingly alloy steel made in the electric furnace. Few' products have been so closely associated with a single city for so long a time as has specialty steel been with Sheffield. Attempts to produce these steels in the United States were failures through the first two-thirds of the 19th century, and the dominance of the market by Sheffield was only gradually displaced thereafter. Manganese steel, stainless steel, and the modern form of high-speed steel were all developed there. And it was in Sheffield that Henry Sorby invented the science of metal­ lography. Only well into the 20th century did the United States become self-sufficient in the technology of specialty steels. The history of these developments and of the close relation between Sheffield steelmakers and their customers in the United States is ex­ plored by Tweedale in a book that attains a very high standard of scholarship. He has examined and critically assessed an impressive number of sources from both England and America. His book nicely TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 165 complements Kenneth Barraclough’s Steelmaking before Bessemer (Lon­ don, 1984), and these volumes fill what has been a large gap in the history of metallurgical technology. Sheffield Steel and America is a business history done with a nice ap­ preciation of technology. It begins with the development of the Amer­ ican crucible steel industry (a valuable contribution in itself because there is no other account) and an assessment of the technological dif­ ferences between British and American practice. The reasons for the technological failure of the early American attempts at crucible steel­ making, which left the United States altogether dependent on im­ ported metal, have yet to be fully elucidated, however. (Material evidence will probably be required for this.) The chapter on alloy steel is largely concerned with Hadfield’s manganese steel and passes over the de­ velopment of the more generally useful nickel alloy steels, one of the few metallurgical developments of the period not particularly associ­ ated with Sheffield. There are very useful chapters on the origins of high-speed and stainless steels. In view of the recent growth of interest in the subject, it is worth noting the small role that governmentsupported research and military requirements played in these developments. The remainder of the book concentrates more on business history. Contrasts in the organization of British and American manufacturing are nicely illustrated in accounts of the cutlery, saw, and hie industries...