Bessemer Process - Patent Battles

Patent Battles

Patents of such value did not escape criticism, and invalidity was urged against them on various grounds. But Bessemer was able to maintain them intact without litigation, though he found it advisable to buy up the rights of one patentee, and in the case of Mushet was assisted by the patent being allowed to lapse in 1859 through non-payment of fees.

Mushet's procedure was not essential and Bessemer proved this in 1865 by exhibiting a series of steel samples made using his process alone, but the value of the procedure was shown by its near universal adoption in conjunction with the Bessemer process. Whether or not Mushet's patents could have been sustained is not known, but in 1866 Robert Mushet's 16-year-old daughter travelled to London to confront Henry Bessemer at his offices, arguing that Bessemer's success was based on the results of her father’s work. Bessemer decided to pay Mushet an annual pension of £300, a very considerable sum, which he paid for 25 years.

In 1866, Bessemer also provided finance for Zerah Colburn, the American locomotive engineer and journalist, to start a new weekly engineering newspaper called Engineering based in Bedford Street, London. It was not until many years later that the name of Colburn's benefactor was revealed. Prior to the launch of Engineering, Colburn, through the pages of The Engineer, had given support to Bessemer's work on steel and steelmaking.