William Kelly

June 23, 1857 - William Kelly of Eddyville, Kentucky was granted a patent for the pneumatic process of making steel in which air is blown through molten pig iron to oxidize and remove undesirable impurities.

The Pittsburg native visited western Kentucky while on a buying trip for for McShane & Kelly, a dry good and shipping company in which he was a partner. Becoming interested in the iron industry, William and his brother, John Kelly, purchased the Eddyville Iron Works located on the Cumberland River in Lyon County, Kentucky in 1846 and renamed it Kelly & Company. The brothers also bought 14,000 acres of land covered with timber for charcoal to fuel the company’s furnaces. In 1847, the brothers moved to Eddyville to oversee their company.

Taking note of the ever-decreasing amount of timberland and fewer carbon-free iron deposits, William sought alternative ways to refine pig iron. He became convinced that air blown through molten iron would remove the carbon and also increasing the temperature of the molten mass, making further heating unnecessary. In 1855, Sir Henry Bessemer of Great Britain obtained an English patent and the next year obtained several American patents on the pneumatic process. Infuriated that Bessemer had patented the process, Kelly claimed that one of the English workmen whom he employed in Kentucky must have shared information with Bessemer. Kelly filed a priority claim and was granted Patent Number 17,628 on June 23, 1857.

The same year a financial panic swept through the United States and Kelly faced severe financial difficulties, ultimately declaring bankruptcy. In desperation, he sold his patent to his father for $1,000. Kelly and Bessemer spent years fighting in court, each claiming primacy to the pneumatic process. Ultimately, the companies pooled their resources in 1866. While Kelly conceived the idea, Bessemer perfected the process. The companies owning the patents began selling the product under the name “Bessemer Steel.” Kelly received around 5-percent ($450,000) of the patent royalties that were paid to Bessemer ($10 million).

Kelly settled in Louisville where he established the Kelly Axe Manufacturing Company. He died in Louisville in 1888.