Benjamin Huntsman (4 June 170420 June 1776) was an English inventor and manufacturer of cast or

crucible steel Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron, cast iron, iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. Crucible steel was first developed in the middle of the 1st millennium BCE in Sout ...

Biography

Huntsman was born the fourth child of William and Mary (née Nainby) Huntsman, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

farming couple, in Epworth,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Some sources suggest that his parents were German immigrants, but it seems that they were both born in Lincolnshire. Huntsman started business as a clock, lock and tool maker in

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, Yorkshire. His reputation enabled him to also practice surgery in an experimental fashion and he was also consulted as an oculist. Huntsman experimented in steel manufacture, first at Doncaster. Then, in 1740, he moved to Handsworth, near Sheffield. Eventually, after many experiments, Huntsman was able to make satisfactory

cast steel Steel casting is a specialized form of casting involving various types of steel cast to either final/net or near-net shape. Steel castings are used when iron castings cannot deliver enough strength or shock resistance.Oberg, p. 1332 Examples ...

, in clay pot

crucible A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

s, each holding about of blistered steel. A

flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...

was added, and they were covered and heated by means of coke for about three hours. The molten steel was then poured into moulds and the crucibles reused. The first object to contain Crucible Cast Steel, was a longcase clock, made by Huntsman. It is on display in the Enid Hattersley Gallery at

Kelham Island Museum The Kelham Island Museum is an industrial museum on Alma Street, alongside the River Don, South Yorkshire, River Don, in the centre of Sheffield, England. It was opened in 1982. The site The island on which it is located is man-made, resultin ...

. The local

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware) includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. While most cutlers ...

manufacturers refused to buy Huntsman's cast steel, as it was harder than the German steel they were accustomed to using. For a long time, Huntsman exported his whole output to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The growing competition of imported French

made from Huntsman's cast-steel alarmed the Sheffield cutlers, who, after trying unsuccessfully to get the export of the steel prohibited by the British government, were compelled to use it in the interests of self-preservation. Huntsman had not patented his process, and his secret was discovered by a Sheffield iron-founder called Walker. Walker, according to legend, entered Huntsman's works in the disguise of a starving beggar asking to sleep by a fire for the night. In 1770, Huntsman moved his enterprise to Worksop Road in Attercliffe, where he prospered until his death in 1776 and was laid to rest with a commemorative tomb in the Hilltop Cemetery, Attercliffe Common. The business was taken over by his son, William Huntsman (1733–1809). At

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

Northern General Hospital The Northern General Hospital is a large teaching hospital and Major Trauma Centre in Sheffield, England. Its departments include accident and emergency for adults, with children being treated at the Sheffield Children's Hospital on Western Ba ...

one of the original main buildings is named after him, and in the city centre is a

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a British pub company operating in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim ...

pub called ''The Benjamin Huntsman''.

References

External links

Famous Doncastrians
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntsman, Benjamin 1704 births 1776 deaths 18th-century English inventors History of Sheffield People from Epworth, Lincolnshire English Quakers Foundrymen People of the Industrial Revolution People from Darnall