Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1889 — Rust Prevention. [ARTICLE]

Rust Prevention.

Iron and steel are protected from oxidation by giving them a coating of magnetic oxide of iron. After much experimenting, M. de Meritens, the French electrician, has succeeded in effecting this more satisfactorily than by the methods now in use, which requires eight or ten days for steel, and gives only imperfect results for iron. He places the article in a bath of pure water at a temperature of about 175 degrees, and passes through it an electric current a little more than sufficient to decompose water. In a few hours all sorts of iron or steel receive a brilliant black and very hard coating of magnetic oxide, which takes a fine polish.