Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1911 — See Menace in Steel Rust [ARTICLE]

See Menace in Steel Rust

In Half Century Loss of Property and Life Will Be Great, Asserts Washington Scientist. Philadelphia.—"lf steel tuberculosis becomes epidemic in our buildings and great structures, the destruction of millions of dollars* worth of property will be inevitable, and within half a century the loss In money and life may be appalling." This statement was made before a gathering of scientists In Franklin institute by Dr. Allerton S. Cushman, chemical Investigator of the department of agriculture, at Washington. Steel tuberculosis. Dr. Cushman explained, Is a corrosive disease, attacking Iron and steel structures, occasioned by natural processes of decay and by electrolysis—a decay precipitated by stray electrical currents that escape from wires everywhere and penetrate the girders of steel structures and the reinforcing of concrete buildings. "No effective rust resistants have as yet been discovered,” said Dr. Cushman, “to cover the surface of Iron and steel and make it proof against this decay; and this problem confronting engineers at present is what can be done to insure a permanent quality to these two metals which are such vital factors In our modern constructive and commercial life. "So far zinc Is the only metal which has been found to preserve Iron, and Its use In covering wire and other building material Is helping to overcome corrosion. Paint technologists have not made any great strides to-

ward a solution of the problem, and no pigment has been discovered that has the desired result of arresting rust.” Dr. Cushman declared that unless the country takes measures to Insure iron from rust and to protect structures which have already been erected so that the waste of the metal is arrested, the supply of the metal will become exhausted within a century and scarcity will create a new problem for engineer* and scientist*.