Kloman and Phipps to oust Miller and make him a silent partner, which they quickly did. The same clause, however, gave Thomas Carnegie the right to purchase the extra one-ninth share Miller had obtained, and Andrew Carnegie immediately financed this purchase. When Miller, one of Andrew's closest friends, protested, Andrew induced Thomas to plead with him to acquiesce lest Andrew's reputation as a fair dealer suffer. Miller did so. Meanwhile, Miller established a rival firm, the Cyclops Iron Company, with Andrew Carnegie as an investor. The Cyclops firm opened in October 1864. Thomas, however, was deeply concerned that the Cyclops company would harm his own interests in Iron City Forge, and successfully prevailed on Andrew to merge the two firms. (It may also be true that Andrew always intended to merge the two firms in order to gain control of both, and used Thomas for this purpose.) Kloman and Phipps at first refused, but Thomas made an offer of all the shares in Cyclops plus an additional payment of $50,000 (a very large sum at the time). On May 1, 1865, the new Union Iron Mills Company was formed. Thomas was to "help out" as needed, and appointed vice president of the firm. While Andrew and Miller spent the better part of the next year touring Europe, Thomas flourished at the Union Iron Mills. The company struggled financially as the end of the Civil War led to sharp drops in the need for iron products, but Thomas proved to be a warm and friendly executive where his brother was cold and austere. Thomas' ability to make friends allowed the firm to receive numerous contracts and even infusions of capital when needed, and it is unlikely the company would have survived without him. Andrew wrote to Thomas extensively from Europe, constantly criticizing his business decisions, providing him with micromanaging instructions, and generally demeaning him. From Europe, Andrew also badgered Thomas to make improvements to their home in America, and decided to call the rapidly expanding mansion "Fairfield." Thomas' judgement proved to be more prescient than Andrew's when, in July 1865, Andrew became fascinated with the "Dodd process," a new English method of welding steel facing to iron railroad rails and, despite Thomas' misgivings, he purchased the American patent for the process. The process proved unworkable, and although he made additional investments in retooling the mill, the rails produced by the new