In 1868 William Sellers organized the Edgemoor Iron Company which furnished the iron work for the principal Centennial buildings and all the structural work of the Brooklyn Bridge. In the development of this business, he led the way in the distinctly American methods and machinery by which the building of bridges has been, to a great extent, put upon a manufacturing basis. This involved the design and introduction of hydraulic machinery, large multiple punches, riveters, cranes, boring machines, etc. The excellence of his machinery soon brought him into contact with government engineers and throughout his life his influence in the War and Navy Departments was great. In 1890 the Navy Department called for bids on an eight-foot lathe, with a total length of over 128 feet, to bore and turn sixteen-inch cannon for the Naval Gun Factory at Washington. Sellers disapproved of the design and refused to bid on it. He proposed an alternative one of his own, argued its merits in person before the Board of Engineers, and secured its adoption and a contract for it. This great lathe, weighing over 500,000 pounds, has attracted the attention of engineers from all parts of the world. In 1873 Mr. Sellers reorganized the William Butcher Steel Works as the Midvale Steel Company and became its president. Under his management the company grew rapidly, and later became a leader in production of heavy ordnance. It was here that Frederick W. Taylor began in 1880 his work on the art of cutting metals, which resulted in modern high-speed tool steels and a general re-design of machine tools. These experiments, covering a period of twenty-six years, cost upwards of $200,000. Mr. Taylor has frequently acknowledged his indebtedness in this work to the patience and courage of Mr. Sellers, who was then an old man and might have been expected to oppose radical change. It was he who made the work possible, however, and he supported Taylor unwaveringly in the face of constant protests.[210] Mr. Sellers was a man of commanding presence, direct but gracious in manner, who won and held the respect and loyalty of all about him. His judgment was almost unerring and he dominated each of the great establishments he built up. [210] F. W. Taylor: Paper on the “Art of Cutting Metals,” Trans. A. S. M. E., Vol. XXVIII, p. 34.