Siemens, William (Karl Wilhelm) (1823–1883)

German-born British engineer and inventor. His inventions were chiefly concerned with the application of heat and the field of metallurgy. In 1861 he took out a patent for the open-hearth process of making steel; preheated air and coal gas were burned over a large trough of pig iron and scrap metal to melt the metal and drive out any impurities. Eventually the process supplanted the Bessemer process, and open-hearth furnaces are still in use today. As manager of the firm of Siemens Brothers, he constructed the Portrush electric tramway in 1883, as well as many overland and submarine telegraphs.

Siemens was born in Lenthe, Hanover, Germany. He settled in England in 1844 and was naturalized in 1859. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1862, and was president of the British Association in 1882.