La fascinante historia de Gleason Works, la máquina que hizo posibles los engranajes modernos
Mechistoria
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The fascinating story of Bethlehem Steel, the American steel company that built all modern bridges
In this video, we explore the story of how Charles Schwab, the son of a man who started out hammering stakes for a dollar a day, bet his entire fortune on a steel girder that hadn't even been tested yet. He told his secretary, "If we're going to go bust, we're going to go bust big." And that single bet helped raise the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, and much of the New York City skyline, even as the man behind it all ended up dying penniless.
Bethlehem Steel grew from a supplier of armor plating to the U.S. Navy to become a colossus after Schwab left U.S. Steel in 1903 to buy it and bet approximately five million dollars on Henry Grey's wide-flange girder.
The gamble made the modern skyscraper possible, turned Schwab into one of the richest men in the United States during World War I, and left behind a company that employed more than 160,000 people at its peak.
Until imports, overconfidence, and a brutal bankruptcy in 2001 brought it down, leaving its retirees without the pensions they had expected.
What you'll discover in this video:
How Schwab went from being a worker hammering stakes for a dollar a day to becoming the first president of U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation.
Why almost every expert claimed that the wide-flange beam couldn't be mass-produced, and how Grey's design proved them wrong in 1908.
How Bethlehem Steel's stock rose from about $45 to more than $700 as it supplied armaments to Great Britain, France, and Russia during World War I. Why Schwab's 90-bedroom mansion, his Monte Carlo bets, and his bad loans left him $300,000 in debt when he died in 1939.
How the Bethlehem shipyards built nearly 1,100 ships during World War II—one every two weeks.
Why Jack Welch said, "I don't think even Christ could have saved her."
What happened during the 2001 bankruptcy to the retirees who had spent 40 years making the steel that built America.
Mentioned in this video: Charles Schwab, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry Grey, Eugene Grace, Jack Welch, Thomas Edison, Bethlehem Steel, Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel, Golden Gate Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Sparrows Point, SteelStacks, wide-flange beam, arsenal of democracy, Sherman tank.
Sources:
Smithsonian/National Museum of American History
Encyclopædia Britannica—Charles M. Schwab
National Park Service—Bethlehem Steel / SteelStacks
Lehigh University—Bethlehem Steel Corporation Records
PBS American Experience—Bethlehem Steel
#BethlehemSteel #CharlesSchwab #IndustrialHistory #SteelIndustry #GoldenGateBridge #ManufacturingHistory #EngineeringHistory #AmericanIndustry #EconomicHistory #RiseAndFall
1 Comments
La fascinante historia de Gleason Works, la máquina que hizo posibles los engranajes modernos
Mechistoria
396 views
The fascinating story of Bethlehem Steel, the American steel company that built all modern bridges
In this video, we explore the story of how Charles Schwab, the son of a man who started out hammering stakes for a dollar a day, bet his entire fortune on a steel girder that hadn't even been tested yet. He told his secretary, "If we're going to go bust, we're going to go bust big." And that single bet helped raise the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, and much of the New York City skyline, even as the man behind it all ended up dying penniless.
Bethlehem Steel grew from a supplier of armor plating to the U.S. Navy to become a colossus after Schwab left U.S. Steel in 1903 to buy it and bet approximately five million dollars on Henry Grey's wide-flange girder.
The gamble made the modern skyscraper possible, turned Schwab into one of the richest men in the United States during World War I, and left behind a company that employed more than 160,000 people at its peak.
Until imports, overconfidence, and a brutal bankruptcy in 2001 brought it down, leaving its retirees without the pensions they had expected.
What you'll discover in this video:
How Schwab went from being a worker hammering stakes for a dollar a day to becoming the first president of U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation.
Why almost every expert claimed that the wide-flange beam couldn't be mass-produced, and how Grey's design proved them wrong in 1908.
How Bethlehem Steel's stock rose from about $45 to more than $700 as it supplied armaments to Great Britain, France, and Russia during World War I. Why Schwab's 90-bedroom mansion, his Monte Carlo bets, and his bad loans left him $300,000 in debt when he died in 1939.
How the Bethlehem shipyards built nearly 1,100 ships during World War II—one every two weeks.
Why Jack Welch said, "I don't think even Christ could have saved her."
What happened during the 2001 bankruptcy to the retirees who had spent 40 years making the steel that built America.
Mentioned in this video: Charles Schwab, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry Grey, Eugene Grace, Jack Welch, Thomas Edison, Bethlehem Steel, Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel, Golden Gate Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Sparrows Point, SteelStacks, wide-flange beam, arsenal of democracy, Sherman tank.
Sources:
Smithsonian/National Museum of American History
Encyclopædia Britannica—Charles M. Schwab
National Park Service—Bethlehem Steel / SteelStacks
Lehigh University—Bethlehem Steel Corporation Records
PBS American Experience—Bethlehem Steel
#BethlehemSteel #CharlesSchwab #IndustrialHistory #SteelIndustry #GoldenGateBridge #ManufacturingHistory #EngineeringHistory #AmericanIndustry #EconomicHistory #RiseAndFall