RUSTLESS IRON.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4763, 13 October 1924, Page 3

RUSTLESS IRON.

A VERY USEFUL MATERIAL. EASY TO MANIPULATE. Most people are now familiar with the excellent qualities of stainless isteel, but less is known about rustless iron. This product is credited by the “Scientific American” with properties which promise to bring it shortly into prominence, possibly as a building material, and certainly as a material for many articles of household use. “Stainless steel,” the American jour.na’ observes, “has been on the market for a number of years, but fa limited in its uses because it is difficult to manipulate and form into various shapes. Its principal use thus far has been for cutlery, for surgical, instruments, and a few such products as that. It has by no means reached a quantity production, because of its limited use. It is very difficult to handle requires careful treatment, but when finished is absolutely stainless and a great boon to the average user.

“The product which is likely to win the victory over rust is a comparatively new one. It is known as ‘rustless’ or ‘stainless’ iron. Because it fa quite similar to stainless steel it has been confused to some extent in the popular mind with this product, but it is essentially different in certain particulars, and can hardly be compared Recent developments in England and in this country (the United States) have proved beyond , a doubt that rustless iron can be made in all kinds of shapes and forms in which ordinary steel, to-day is now made. This applies to structural shapes from which bridges are made, to sheets and plates, to wire, and to many other small products in the hardware class. Rustless iron, as contrasted with stainless steel, when properly made, can easily be rolled into the foregoing products, whereas stainless steel cannot. Briefly, stainless iron is a low -ar bon steel which contains the metal ,:lirbm’um to the extent of about 12 to 14 per cent. Chemically its only difference from stainless steel is the low errbon content.

“Rustless iron is capable of taking a very high polish which, under -'io circumstances, whether atmospheric or liquid, can be rusted or tarnished. An appreciation of this fact is sufficient for one to realise the many wonderful applications that such a matcrial can be put to. If incorporated in bridges in the unpolished condi!i<m these would need no painting to presetve them. If incorporated in wire, wire fences, and similar products, it would last many, many years. If made into sheets, they would easily displace the galvanised or zir c-coated sheets of t-j-day and endure many times longer. It is possible that in the polished condition thin sheets could be made which would ultimately replace tinplate for canning purposes.

Alicady some of these things have been accomplished on a small scale. In England various forms of hardware, such as hooks, electric fans, frames for pictures and other material, framework for grates, and many other similar products have ■been made and are in use. In America plans are being developed to produce rustless iron on a large scale in the form of sheets, from which the roofs and sides of passenger and other cars can be made which will practically last for years. Other applications of this ‘wonderful alloy’ are only waiting for the product to be made on a large scale.”