Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Bayard, Ephraim 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 8:20 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

EPHRAIM BAYARD, superintendent of the Bessemer department of the Illinois 
steel works, is familiar with every detail of the business, to which his 
attention is closely given. By his efficient management he has proved 
himself "the right man in the right place."  He understands thoroughly the 
manufacture of steel, and his broad experience in every position, from the 
lowest to that of superintendent, has proved of inestimable value to him.  In 
the converting department, of which he has charge, four hundred and ten men 
are employed, of whom two hundred are skilled workmen.  The capacity is over 
one thousand tons in twelve hours.

In the converting department there are twenty-eight boilers and three blowing 
engines, one of five thousand, another of twenty-four hundred and the third of 
eighteen hundred horse power; with eight pressure pumps, which furnish 
pressure throughout the mill of four hundred pounds per square inch.  The pig 
iron is graded to one one-hundredth per cent.  This iron, combined with steel 
scrap, is charged with coke and limestone.  After melting it is tipped into a 
caldron and conveyed by electric crane into the mixer, which has a capacity of 
two hundred and eighty tons.  The furnace metal is also brought in a molten 
state into this mixer by means of cranes, and by means of hydraulic pressure 
the mixer is tipped sufficiently to pour the metal from it into another ladle, 
which conveys the metal, after thorough mixing, into the converters.  It is 
poured in by hydraulic pressure, after which the blast from the blowing 
engines is turned on, and the converter by hydraulic pressure is placed in a 
vertical position until such time as the metal has been converted into steel 
with the adding of different properties to bring it to the required grade of 
steel.   Afterward the converter is turned and the molten steel poured into a 
huge ladle, which is conveyed by the hydraulic crane over the moulds and then 
poured into the large moulds and allowed to remain until chilled sufficiently 
to permit the withdrawing of the moulds, leaving the steel ingots still at 
white heat; this is also done by hydraulic pressure.  The ingots are then 
conveyed on cars to the furnaces, to be charged for reheating, and in due time 
they are drawn and rolled, thus completing the process.

Mr. Bayard was born in Toronto, Canada, July 18, 1868, a son of Robert and 
Ellen (Johnston) Bayard, natives respectively of England and Ireland. His 
grandfather, James Bayard, brought the family to America and settled near 
Toronto when Robert was a child of three years.  The latter spent all of his 
active life in Toronto, where he was engaged as a contractor and builder.  He 
died in that city in February, 1889, when fifty-nine years of age.  His wife, 
who is still living in Toronto, was a daughter of Matthew Johnston, a native 
of County Sligo., Ireland, who settled near Toronto and engaged in farm 
pursuits there.  Our subject was the fifth among eight children, all of whom 
are living.  He was reared in Toronto, attending the grammar and high schools 
there.  In the fall of 1884 he went to Cheboygan, Mich., where he engaged in 
the lumber business.  For two winters he engaged in scaling and measuring, and 
during the summers was fireman on tug boats.  In the third season he secured a 
position as an engineer.  From that time until he came to Joliet he was 
engineer of the large tug "Duncan City," on the straits of Mackinaw.  In 1887 
he settled in Joliet, where he secured employment in the steel works, 
beginning as a laborer in the converting department.  A year later he received 
promotion, and was given charge of the repairing and building of the bottoms 
of the converters.  In 1891 he was given charge of the steel pouring, and in 
the fall of 1892 was made foreman of the converting mill. June 15, 1897, he 
was made superintendent of the converting department, which responsible 
position he has since filled, showing ability and intelligence in the 
discharge of his duties.

Politically Mr. Bayard is a Republican, stanch and loyal to the party, but not 
caring for political positions for himself.  He owns a residence that he built 
at No. 407 Richards street, and here he and his wife, who was Cora Belle 
Newton, a native of New Jersey, have established a pleasant and attractive 
home.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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