Sydney Gilchrist Thomas

views updated

Sydney Gilchrist Thomas

1850-1885

English inventor and metallurgist who, with his cousin Percy Gilchrist, developed an improved iron-smelting process that removed phosphorus. The Gilchrist-Thomas process made superior iron by removing phosphorus impurities that resulted in brittle, poor-quality iron. This development made it possible to use many of the large European iron deposits that contained phosphorus, effectively doubling the potential world's ability to produce steel.

More From encyclopedia.com