COLOSSAL COST OF RUST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

COLOSSAL COST OF RUST.

One of the greatest experts on steel and its preservation estimates that the world lodes annually no lees a sum tliau 500 million pounds as a result of • the corrosion of this metal. J To prevent corrosion it is, of course, necessary to paint all exposed steel-work and to keep it painted. Thus, in the case of a steel structure such as the Forth Bridge the task of painting and repainting it is a never-ending one. Paint manufacturers explain that it i 6 not enough to paint steel work periodically, such as "bnce in every three or five years. If the steel is to be preserved it must be thoroughly inspected at frequent intervals, and a further coating of paint applied whenever necessary. It takes three years to paint the Forth Bridge once, and 50 ton 6 of paint are required for one coating of this mile and a half of steel. But it should not be forgotten that 30 men are kept in continuous employment on this task; and, thanks to their unceasing war against rust, it is still, after 40 years, the only steel bridge in the world over which express trains can travel at a speed of 60 miles an hour.