1913
Harry Brearley - 1913
Harry Brearley (1871–1948), English metallurgist who by a chance discovery of stainless revolutionised not only the cutlery industry, but countless other industries too.
Born in Sheffield, the son of a steel worker and one of nine children. The Brearleys were considered poor, living on the bread line, but not starving.
Starting work at 11 years old, moving from job to job. He didn't have to wait long for his lucky break. At 12 years old, he was taken on as a bottle washer at the Laboratory of Thomas Firth & Sons under the supervision of metallurgist, James Taylor. Brearley became Taylor's protégé and by his early 30s, he had married, become a father to his only son, Leo Taylor Brearley, had developed a reputation as a steel problem solver and had started writing technical papers on the analytical chemistry of metals. Yet more papers, books, discoveries, patents and awards would follow.
In the troubled years immediately before WWI, Brearley had been headhunted by Brown-Firth Laboratories, a joint venture run by John Brown Company, which built battleships, and Firth's, which was working on armour plating. Brearley had travelled to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield to study the erosion of gun barrels. Saying: “It might be advisable to start a few erosion trials with varyinglow-carbon high-chromium steels at once …” He spent most of the next year making crucible steels with chromium from 6 percent to 15 percent, but they didn’t stack up.
Then, on August 13, 1913, he tried the electric furnace, probably grudgingly. The first cast was no good. The second cast (number 1008), turned out better. It was 12.8 percent chromium, 0.24 percent carbon, 0.44 percent manganese, and 0.2 percent silicon. He made a 3-inch square ingot and then rolled it into a one-and-a-half-inch-diameter bar. It rolled easily and machined well. From that, he made 12 gun barrels, which he sent to the factory. The factory didn't like his barrels. Not put off, he rushed off for a theatre date with his wife leaving some samples in water overnight. Returning the next morning, he found the samples were unstained. Amazed...over the next 12 days, he polished, etched and checked under the microscope, the metal remained bright and shiny.
Firth's response was not even lukewarm. Brearley wrote a number of reports on the utility of his new steel for cutlery, but early tests reported: "The steel wouldn't forge, grind, harden, or polish and wouldn't stay sharp; In our opinion, this steel is unsuitable for cutlery steel." Brearley became known as "the inventor of knives that won't cut". On October 2, 1913, he pushed the use of the new alloy for engines, pistons, spindles, plungers and valves. This time Firth's listened and agreed. Over the next 2 years, they produced 1,000 tons, but omitted Brearley's name from any marketing. Feeling wronged, Brearley resigned December, 1914.
On the eve of WWI, a Firth director visited the factory of Krupps and Co. in Essen, Germany. On the desk he saw a bar of bright and shiny steel. The man who had seen nothing unique in Brearley’s work suddenly realised they had no patent, nor were they aware of the properties that would give them patent rights. The Germans had beaten them, their patent for stainless steel had been granted in 1912. If only...
That Brearley is credited with discovering stainless steel is due mostly to luck; that he is credited with fathering it is due mostly to his resolve. Jonathon Waldman.
Timeline
1915: The New York Times announced the discovery of: A NON-RUSTING STEEL; SHEFFIELD INVENTION ESPECIALLY GOOD FOR TABLE CUTLERY. Stating: a firm in that city has introduced stainless steel, which is claimed to be non-rusting, unstainable, and untarnishable.
1916: Brearley was granted the Canadian patent.
1919: Firth's purchase a half share in Brearley's patent and established a Firth-Brearley Stainless Steel Syndicate, 'to foster the world-wide production of stainless steel cutlery'.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Believed to be in Public Domain
Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Believed to be in Public Domain
Harry Brearley
Brearley saw the potential in using stainless steel in the mass production of food-related
applications such as cutlery
1919: Brearley was granted the U.S. patent.
All knife blades made of Brearley's stainless steel alloy shall be stamped with the following logo: FIRTH-BREARLEY STAINLESS...success at last!
1920: the Council of the Iron and Steel Institute presented Harry Brearley with the Bessemer Gold Medal, which is awarded for outstanding services to the steel industry. He was the fourth recipient of the medal. In his autobiography, Brearley wrote:
“This is the only distinction I had ever audibly coveted. I valued this presentation all the more because it was made by Dr. Stead, that dear old man whose simple character and manner and life were as admirable as his metallurgical investigations were excellent.”
1938: at 68 years of age, he was awarded the Freedom of Sheffield Scroll and a Freedom of Sheffield Casket, which was a small, ornate metal box that was adorned with six figures engaged in various metals trades.
1941: Brearley wrote another autobiography entitled Knotted String; he published a record of the old Sheffield steel trade called Steelmakers; and established a charitable trust named The Burden Fund, but in 1962, it was renamed The Freshgate Trust Foundation and is still awarding grants in Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
1948: He died on 14 July in Torquay. He was cremated at Efford Crematorium, near Plymouth and his ashes were scattered in the Efford Crematorium Garden of Remembrance. Brearley had continued to work as a director at Brown Bayley's Steel Works until death at 78 years old.
2013: the Sheffield University Varsity Brewing Challenge named their beer, brewed by Thornbridge, Brearleys, to commemorate 100 years since Harry Brearley invented stainless steel.
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