James Gayley (c1855-1920)
1920 Obituary [1]
JAMES GAYLEY, Past-President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, died on February 25, 1920, at the age of sixty-five.
He was born at Lockhaven in Pennsylvania, and commenced his professional career by becoming chemist to the Crane Iron Co., Catasauqua. He subsequently became superintendent of the Missouri Furnace Company, and later became manager of the E. & G. Brooke Iron Company, Birdsborough, Pennsylvania.
In 1885 he entered the services of Carnegie Brothers and Company, and was appointed manager of the Edgar Thomson blast-furnaces, where he introduced new features in the handling of raw materials at the blast-furnaces, and was the first to use a compound condensing engine for blowing the air blast.
In 1897 he became managing director of the Carnegie Steel Company, and a few years later he introduced at the Isabella furnaces of the Company the process of drying the blast which has since become identified with his name. The results achieved by removing moisture, which in the Gayley process is carried out by refrigeration, resulted in a greatly improved coke economy.
In 1904 Mr. Gayley read a paper at the New York meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute describing his process, and contributed a further paper at the Annual Meeting in London in the year following. In 1901 he became Vice-President of the United States Steel Corporation. He was the recipient of numerous medals, having been awarded the Elliott Cresson medal in 1906 and the Perkin medal in 1913.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1888.