Robert Forester Mushet

del.icio.us Tags: railway, train, steel, engineering, metal, hardware, tools, drills, hss, derby

Just reading about Mushet and his work on what eventually became high speed steel (HSS), used in most drill bits these days.

According to the wikipedia article:

"In 1857 Mushet was the first to make durable rails of steel rather than cast iron, providing the basis for the development of rail transportation throughout the world in the late Nineteenth century. The first of Mushet's steel rails was delivered to Derby Midland Station, where it was laid down early in 1857 at a heavily trafficked part of the line where the iron rails had to be renewed every six months, and occasionally every three." Six years later, in 1863, the rail seemed as perfect as ever, although some 700 trains had passed over it daily."

Impressive!