Jaques was aware that the U.S. Navy would soon solicit bids for the production of heavy guns and other products such as armor that would be needed to further expand the fleet. Jaques contacted the Bethlehem Iron Company with a proposal to serve as an intermediary between it and the Whitworth Company, so that Bethlehem could erect a heavy-forging plant to produce ordnance. In 1885, John F. Fritz ("Father of the U.S. Steel Industry"), accompanied by Bethlehem Iron Company directors Robert H. Sayre, Elisha Packer Wilbur (President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad), William Thurston, and Joseph Wharton (who had founded the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1881) met with Jaques in Philadelphia. In early 1886, a contract between Bethlehem Iron and the Whitworth Company had been executed.