Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1915 — Ravages of Rust. [ARTICLE]

Ravages of Rust.

Few people comprehend the extent of purely normal wear and tear. TitBits says that one large railway sya tern suffers a loss of more than eighteen tons of metal daily, due solely to> the effect pf rust. Thus far, the only known preventive Is to keep the metal surface always covered with a suitable paint. Some idea of the costliness of this remedy, however, may be gained from the fact hat it requires about £I,OOO annually to palut one large railway bridge alone. A typical case of this kind is the Forth bridge, on which a corps of painters are constantly employed since the weather makes repainting of one end of this large structure necessary before the workers have reached the other. Although experiments have demonstrated that pure iron surrounded by oxygen does not rust, and that some acid, especially carbonic acid, is necessary for the production of rust, the secret of manufacturing rustless steel and iron remains to be discovered.