Joseph Skewis’ rapid rise in the ranks at the Homestead Steel Mill might have come about partially thanks to his relationship with Charles L. Taylor. When Taylor died in February of 1922, Iron Age claimed:
“…that probably no single individual connected with the steel industry between 1880 and 1890 who did more in the practical direction of supplanting wrought iron with soft steel than he did” (Iron Age).
Taylor graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1876 and then worked as a chemist at Cambria Iron Co. in Johnstown, PA. In 1880, he came to Pittsburgh to work at Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel. From 1883-1887, he was superintendent of the Homestead Steel Mill…so during part of the time that Joseph Skewis was an assistant superintendent at the mill, Charles L. Taylor would have been his boss (Iron Age).
Iron Age explained that Taylor’s skill as a chemist and his knowledge of metallurgy enabled him “…while superintendent of the Homestead Steel works to be probably the first one to successfully produce soft steel for manufacture of pipe, nails, ship plate, and structural steel” (Iron Age).
On May 19, 1885, C.L. Taylor and J. Skewis filed a U.S. Patent for a new process of rolling beams. The patent stated that “Charles L. Taylor of Swissvale, and Joseph Skewis of Pittsburg…have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rolling Beams (U.S. Patent 318,220). That same year, Joseph and Marion Skewis welcomed their fifth son…and named him Charles Taylor Skewis.
The main focus of the patent, as far as I can understand it, was to change the way beams were rolled to decrease their chance of cracking. But please read it for yourself!
In 1887, Taylor left Homestead and began a steady climb up the Carnegie corporate ladder, ending with his promotion in 1893 to assistant to the president of Carnegie Steel. He held this job until he retired in 1901(when Carnegie Steel became part of U.S. Steel) (Iron Age).
Joseph Skewis had climbed the ladder at Homestead Steel also, but his career with the company ended abruptly during the Homestead Strike in 1892 (see Joseph Skewis Blacklisted by Henry Clay Frick).
Filing a patent with Charles L. Taylor certainly would have benefited Joseph’s career at the mill in terms of prestige. Whether or not he benefited financially, we don’t know. The patent is another sign of how successful Joseph Skewis was at Homestead until the catastrophe of the strike that ended any chance of him working for a Carnegie company ever again.
P.S. Did you know you can tour part of the Homestead Steel Mill plant? I haven’t done it, but I really want to someday! Go to Rivers of Steel to learn more.
Joseph Skewis – Skewis Family Tree – #4
Sources:
Interior of Steel Mill. Sawing a hot 20-inch beam. Rolling Mill. Rolling Mill. Homestead, Penna; Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside.
Taylor, Charles Lewis – Obituary; The Iron Age; Vol. CVIX, Jan-June, 1922; 09 Feb 1922; Iron Age Publishing, New York, NY; retrieved 03 Jun 2020 from Google Books
Taylor C.L., & J Skewis; U.S. Patent 318,220; Patented May 19, 1885; United States Patent Office