Göran Fredrik Göransson (20 January 1819 – 12 May 1900) was a Swedish

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a larg ...

and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

. He was the founder of the company ''Sandvikens Jernverks AB'' (now called Sandvik AB) and was the first person to implement the

Bessemer process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is steelmaking, removal of impurities and undesired eleme ...

successfully on an industrial scale and pioneered ingot steel in the Swedish iron and steel industry.

Early life

Göran Fredrik Göransson was born on 20 January 1819 in Gävle, Sweden, to Maria Catharina Elfstrand and Anders Petter Göransson. He was the oldest son in the family of three girls and four boys. He went to school in Gävle and also spent 18 months in Germany, France, England and the United States in order to acquire experience in conducting international business.

Career

In 1841, Göransson became a partner in the firm ''Daniel Elfstrand & Co.'', and his family business, and its director in 1856. ''Elfstrand & Co.'' was a shipbuilding and ship-owning concern and an exporter of iron and lumber. In 1856, the company also acquired the iron-works in Högbo along with the Edske

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

. Göransson traveled to England in May 1857 to acquire a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

for the Edske furnace and to secure at least a part of the Swedish rights to Bessemer's patent. He attended the demonstration of the Bessemer process at Baxter House which convinced him that the process was sound despite adverse reports already being published about it. He also managed to convince the initially skeptical English of the excellence of the process and his support was instrumental to the international spread of the method. He purchased one-fifth of the Swedish rights to the patent, which would allow his company to produce 500 tons of steel every year at a royalty of 2 shillings per ton. Göransson also placed an order for two furnaces, a boiler, a steam blowing engine, and everything required for their installation at Edske, with W & J Galloway & Sons before returning to Sweden. Upon his return, the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

gave him a sum of 50,000 Swedish crowns for financing steel production using the

. The Bessemer method involved blasting a strong current of air through molten iron to burn off the

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

and other impurities. However, it proved difficult to keep the temperature high enough throughout the process. Göransson's initial efforts at the new converter plant built at Edske produced steel that was full of slag but he persisted in his experiments. However, ''Elfstrand & Co.'' was forced into bankruptcy in December 1857 but his progress with the Bessemer process was sufficient to convince the administrators to continue financing the experiments. The Swedish Ironmasters' Association, known as the Jernkontoret, sent a committee to observe the experiments after Göransson successfully lobbied them for help, and later sanctioned a loan and assigned a metallurgist to help him perfect the process. Göransson successfully managed to produce steel on an industrial scale using the new process on 18 July 1858. He founded the firm ''Högbo Stål & Jernwerks AB'' on 31 January 1862 in Sandviken, Sweden and presented the now commercially viable Bessemer process at the International Exhibition in London. However, Göransson and the company entered into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

in 1866 due to bad capital resources. In 1868, the company was acquired and reconstructed into '' Sandvikens Jernverks AB'' with his eldest son, Anders Henrik Göransson as managing director and Per Murén as chairman. The firm was able to quickly expand in large foreign industrial markets such as Germany, Great Britain and the United States mainly due to Göransson's extensive connections abroad, cultivated during his time as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

in Elfstrand & Co. Göransson would succeed Murén as the company's chairman in 1883.

Personal life and legacy

Göransson married Catharina Elisabeth Sehlberg on 31 May 1842. They had four sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Anders Henrik, would become

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Sandvikens Jernverks AB and would later succeed his father as chairman after his death. Göransson is known as the father of ingot steel for his refinement and development of the Bessemer process by which steel could be produced at an industrial scale. He is also responsible for the founding of Sandviken in 1862, which grew from a small fishing community on the bay of the Storsjön lake to a thriving town around the

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

that he had established, and where most residents worked or owed their livelihoods to the company. In the 1860s, Göransson founded ''Stiftelsen den Göranssonska Fonden'', a foundation to help his firm's

employees Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

and their families to make ends meet. Along with two other foundations established by his descendants, the Foundation funds students' grants and treatment for the elderly, disabled and the chronically ill in the Sandviken Municipality. The Foundation also financed the construction of Göransson Arena, a multi-purpose

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

used for entertainment, sporting and cultural activities, which is named after him. He died on 12 May 1900 in Sandviken and is buried in the Sandviken cemetery.

Honors and awards

* Grand Cross of the

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry founded on 29 May 1772 by Gustav III, King Gustav III. It is awarded to Swedish citizens for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. His ...

* Knight of the Order of the Polar Star * Jernkontoret's grand gold medal * Member of the

References

Sources

External links

The founder of Sandvik
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goransson, Goran Fredrik People from Gävle 1819 births 1900 deaths Swedish chairpersons of corporations Swedish company founders Knights First Class of the Order of Vasa Knights of the Order of the Polar Star Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swedish industrialists 19th-century Swedish businesspeople