Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1895 — STEEL INSTEAD OF WOOD. [ARTICLE]

STEEL INSTEAD OF WOOD.

Metal Now Extensively U.-el as a Substitute for Lumber. New York Telegram. Since iron and steel are so universally used as a substitute for lumber there has been an enormous increase in the capacity of the iron and. steelworks of the world. The German Iron Trade Association has lately taken the pains to point out, for the benefit of all concerned, the many advantages to-be gained by. then to steel; and it would seem that tiici".■ frbarely aLsmgle useTeft for wood in constructive- detail, and not much in ornamental finish, except genuine carving. The modern edifice is nearest perfection in point of durability and safety, according to the proportion in which metal has excluded wood. It is now proposed that wood shall be dispensed with entirely in the framework of railway rolling stock, and this means something when we remember that there are about 2.500.01)0 railway vehicles,

exclusive of locomotives. In mines metal is doing away with wood, and the use of iron pit propsfln France has shown that they need to be renewed only half as often as those of wood. At the same time metal lias its own special risks, and it is suggested, for example, that unless carefully insulated a large building full of steel and iron might be as susceptible to electrolytic action by stray currents eating it up as though it were rail, forming part of an electric rail way circuit,“or-gas -w water pipes adjacent thereto. If this new danger exists its remedy should be readily discoverable.