Wellman began his career working at the Nashua Iron Company. He was encouraged by his father to build a regenerative gas furnace for the company. Wellman did this, impressing Carl Wilhelm Siemens, who immediately hired him to establish the first crucible-steel furnace in America.[1] Wellman went on to improve upon the open-hearth process of steel rail production, which in turn had improved upon the Bessemer process.[5] In 1869, Wellman built the first commercially successful open-hearth furnace in America at the Bay State Iron Works in South Boston.[6]
Hulett Electric Ore Unloader, Toledo, Ohio, 1919
Furnaces were not Wellman's only contribution to the steel industry. He was also instrumental in the development of the Hulett unloader,[7] which allowed the unloading of taconite from the iron ore boats of the Great Lakes, particularly on Lake Erie. In addition to improvements on the Hulett unloader, other important inventions include an open hearth charging machine and a hydraulic crane. Following an unsuccessful venture with his half-brother, Wellman later founded the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Engineering Company [fr] in Cleveland, Ohio,[8] which continues under a different name to this day.[1]
Wellman, S. T., (1916). Iron and steel making. In F. H. Newell & C. E. Drayer, (Eds.), Engineering as a career: A series of papers by eminent engineers, (pp. 81–88). New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.
Misa, T. J., (1995). A Nation of Steel: The Making of Modern America, 1865-1925. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN0-8018-6052-0
Sicilia, D. B. (1989). Samuel Thomas Wellman. In P. F. Paskoff, (Ed.), Encyclopedia of American business history and biography: Iron and steel in the nineteenth century, (pp. 359–363). New York: FactsOnFile. ISBN0-8160-1890-1
.jpg)