It was after 1856 that the mass production of steel began, when English inventor Henry Bessemer found a way to convert pig iron to steel, a stronger and more malleable metal.
To make steel, iron ore is first mined from the ground. It is then smelted in blast furnaces where the impurities are removed, and carbon is added. In fact, steel is nothing but iron alloyed with carbon. Today, it is generally accepted that stainless steel was manufactured in Europe sometime in the early 20th century.
The car manufacturer Henry Ford pioneered the use of high tensile sheet metal for car bodies in 1908. He discovered that any steel containing 15 per cent chromium does not rust.
From the 1920s, this steel was used in refrigerators and washing machines.
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