The search for bulk steelmaking processes, which gave birth to the Bessemer-Mushet and Siemens-Martin processes something over a hundred years ago, also gave rise to several other less successful methods; of these the most important was probably the production of steel by a modification of the puddling process for wrought iron. Here furnaces, forges and mills were available in plenty and the only necessity, albeit a matter of considerable difficulty, was control of the carbon removal so as to give a hardenable steel. This paper attempts to show the historical development of the process and its importance, particularly on the Continent, before its eclipse by the use of basic steelmaking after 1879. Operations in Liverpool, in the Sheffield area, at Low Moor, and in South Wales can be dimly seen from the odd snippets of information still available; however, the main operations appear to have been in France and Germany. -- AATA