Taylor White Process

At a time when engineering analysis was an imperfect science, Taylor performed exhaustive tests on engine lathes and diligently recorded data on stresses and other capacities. In 1900, Taylor and an associate, Maunsel White, discovered the relationship between heat treatment of lathes and the increased cutting ability of the tool. Word of the technical breakthrough spread quickly, and the Taylor-White process was adopted worldwide.

In 1899 and 1900, Frederick Winslow Taylor and Maunsel White, working with a team of assistants at the Bethlehem Steel Company at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, performed a series of experiments with the heat treating of existing high-quality tool steels, such as Mushet steel, heating them to much higher temperatures than were typically considered desirable in the industry.[3] Their experiments were characterized by a scientific empiricism in that many different combinations were made and tested, with no regard for conventional wisdom or alchemic recipes, and with detailed records kept of each batch. The end result was a heat treatment process that transformed existing alloys into a new kind of steel that could retain its hardness at higher temperatures, allowing much higher speeds, feeds, and depths of cut when machining.

The Taylor-White process was patented and created a revolution in the machining industries, in fact necessitating whole new, heavier machine tool designs so the new steel could be used to its full advantage. The patent was hotly contested and eventually nullified, but the vigor of the litigation seems to have been propelled less by the merits of the case and more by the fact that many firms faced commercial extinction if they could not find a way to circumvent the patent.