Steel

The production of a non-corroding steel is not new. It has been going on successfully for some time. But the expense of manufacture has been so high that -except for specialized uses, such as for tableware -it has been impractical. To mention only a few general advantages which would accrue to industry from a cheap non-corroding steel it would:

1) Make the use of steel possible in many places where other less desirable materials are now used, because not subject to rust.

2) Make a tremendous saving in replacements where metal is exposed to the weather, as in the case of farm machinery, wire fences.

3) Make, perhaps, an even greater saving in the amount of paint used and the cost of painting and repainting.

4) Make possible the use of steel and iron for many ornamental and artistic purposes.

Now, according to reports from Pittsburgh, a cheap process of making stainless iron and steel is being tried out in a number of large mills there. The inventor is Ronald Wild, of England. He, his brother A. H. Wild, founder of a large steel concern in Sheffield, and George Pugiley, another Sheffield man, expert in the open-hearth and electric steel processes, are demonstrating the manner of production.

The process consists in a special method of treating chromite, a natural iron ore with a chromium content, in such a way as to preserve the desired percentage of chromium. Ronald Wild asserts that the process is cheap enough so that "rustless tubes, automobiles and even ships" are possible.