Chapter 12: Age of Industry "Steel and the Skyscraper"

Introduction
Students have read that in the mid-1800s William Kelly, an American ironworker, and Henry Bessemer, a British engineer, developed methods to produce steel inexpensively. Steel answered industry's need for a sturdy, workable metal. Its availability was vital to the development of industry and to urbanization.

Lesson Description
Students will go to The Industrial Revolution Web site. They will read about the use of steel in the construction of skyscrapers and will then answer four questions about what they have read. Students are then asked to create a time line.

Instructional Objectives
1. Students will learn how Henry Bessemer's name became associated with a steel-making process.
2. Students will learn of the contributions of George A. Fuller to the use of steel in construction.

Student Web Activity Answers
1. William Kelly originally conceived of a system of air-blowing the carbon out of pig iron. Bessemer purchased Kelly's patent because he had been experimenting with a similar process for making steel.
2. He was interested in the problem of load-bearing capacities and how much weight each part of a building would carry.
3. He used steel cages. The building weight rested on steel beams, which were riveted together in the form of cages, thus tying the whole building together.
4. Students' answers will vary. Some will feel that while it is important to recognize the thinking of the original inventor, it is the person who applies the idea who deserves the most recognition. Others may feel that the original inventor deserves credit for the idea even if circumstances prevented him or her from carrying forth the idea.

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