William Metcalf (3 September 1838 – 5 December 1909) was an American steel manufacturer. Metcalf was born at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania, and graduated from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, in 1858. In 1860–65, he had charge of the manufacture of the heavy Rodman and Dahlgren guns at the

Fort Pitt Foundry The Fort Pitt Foundry was a nineteenth-century iron foundry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally established at Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street in 1804 by Joseph McClurg, grandfather of Joseph W. McClurg, and his son Alex McClurg, ...

in Pittsburgh, where most of the heavy artillery used by the Federal government during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

was made. After 1868 he was engaged continuously in steel manufacturing, and in 1897 he organized the

Braeburn Steel Company The Braeburn is a cultivar of apple that is firm to the touch with a red/orange vertical streaky appearance on a yellow/green background. Its color intensity varies with different growing conditions. It was discovered as a chance seedling in ...

, of which he was the head until his death. He is credited with having made the first

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 flux (metallurgy), fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using char ...

in America. In 1881 he served as president of the

American Institute of Mining Engineers The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Uni ...

and in 1893 he held the presidency of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. He published ''Steel – A manual for Steel-Users'' (1896). He died in Pittsburgh on December 5, 1909.

Publications

Legacy

* William Metcalf Award of the Engineer's Society of Western Pennsylvania.

References

* American Civil War industrialists People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War American steel industry businesspeople American non-fiction writers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni American civil engineers 1838 births 1909 deaths Burials at Allegheny Cemetery {{US-business-bio-1830s-stub