KELLY, WfmAxr ( — ) . An American inventor. He was born in Pittsburg, Pa.; was educated at the public schools, and before he was twenty-two years old had decisively proved his mechanical ingenuity by several inventions, chief of which was a revolving steam-engine. In 1845 he went to Lyon County, Ky., and having en gaged in the manufactnrc of iron, bent his ener gies to the problem of inventing improved proc esses of manufacture. His factory on the C'um herland River soon turned out a product that acquired more than a local reputation. In 1847 he began to study the problem of reducing fuel cost in the manufacture of iron• and soon after wards to decarbonize molten iron by the applica tion of an air-blast, a process for which he built a converter. It is claimed in Kelly's behalf that this process. by which molten cast iron is changed into steel, was employed for some time in certain lines of steel manufacture before Sir Henry Bessenner's process was introduced into the United States by Alexander L. Holley in 1867. Kell•'s
knowledge that Bessemer was patenting his proc ess in England compelled him to apply at Wash ington for the protection of his own rights. and he obtained official recognition that he was the first inventor, although the application for a Bes semer patent was pending at the time. In 1S63 a factory was built at Wyandotte, Mich.. for the manufacture of steel by Kelly's process; but dis putes which threatened protracted litigation com pelled the claimants in behalf of the rival proc esses to consolidate their interests three years afterwards. it is said that Kelly was the first to employ Chinese workmen in the United States.