Bernard Lauth (August 23, 1820 in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

– June 25, 1894) founded the American Iron Works in 1850 and formed a partnership with B.F. Jones in 1851. In 1854, Lauth retired from the steel firm, selling his partnership to James H. Laughlin, who led the company to be renamed

Jones and Laughlin Steel Company The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, also known as J&L Steel or simply as J&L, was an American steel and iron manufacturer that operated from 1852 until 1968. The enterprise began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard La ...

. He invented and patented the process for cold rolling of iron in 1859.Patent
/ref> In 1871, he purchased the iron furnace at

Howard, Pennsylvania Howard is a borough in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 687 at the 2020 census. Geography Howard is located at (41.013857, -77.654809). ...

, where he built a rolling mill in 1882.

References

1820 births 1894 deaths People from Bas-Rhin French emigrants to the United States American steel industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Pennsylvania People from Centre County, Pennsylvania Engineers from Pennsylvania 19th-century French inventors 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-inventor-stub