VICTORY OVER RUST.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18187, 25 September 1924, Page 4

VICTORY OVER RUST.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING IN CHURCHES.

NEW STAINLESS IRON. Rust has been fought for many years and at last (says tho "Scientific American") a victory, over this merciless destroyer seems about to bo proclaimed. The'day is not far distant when bridges will need no painting to preserve them when steel will need no zinc or tin coating to make it more useful, when wire and wire products will always remain bright and shining with an almost everlasting endurance, and when many household and other useful small articles will need no polishing or burnishing to remove a tarnish. The average reader will suspect at once that stainless steel is referred to, but this is nob true. Stainless steel has been on tho market for a number of years, but is limited w its uses because it is difficult to manipulate and form into various shapes. Its principal use thus far has been for cutlery, or surgical instruments, and a few such products as that. It has by no means reached a quantity production because of its limited use. It itf very difficult to handle, requires careful treatment, but when finished is absolutely stainless and a great boon to the average user. ~-,■,, The product which is likely to win the victorv over rust is a comparatively new one.'"it is known as "rustless or "stainless" iron. Because- it is quite similar to stainless steel it has been confused to some extent in the popular mind with this product, but it is_cssontiallv different in certain particulars and ran hardly bo compared. Hecent developments in England and in this country (tho United States) have proved beyond a doubt that rustless iron can be made in all kinds of shapes and forms in which ordinary steel today is now made. This applies to structural shanes from which bridges are made, to" sheets and plates, to wire, and to tuanv other small products in the hardware class. Rustless iron, as contrasted with stainless steel, when properly made, can easily be rolled . into the foregoing products, whereas 1 stainless steel cannot. Briefly, stainless iron is a low carbon steel which contains tho metal chromium to the extent of about 12 to 14 per cent. Chemically its only difference from i stainless steel is the low carbon coni tent.

Jlustless iron is capable of t. 'ng_ a vcvy high polish which, under no circumstances, whether atmospheric or liquid, can be rusted or tarnished. An appreciation of this fact is sufficient for one to realise tho many wonderful applications that such a material can he put to. If incorporated in ridges in the unpolished condition, these would need no painting to preserve them. If incorporated in wire, wiro fences, and similar products would last many, many years. If made into sheets, they would easily displace- tho galvanised or zinc-coated sheets of to-day and endure many times longer. It is possible that in the polished condition thin sheets coujd bo mado which would ultimately replace tinplato for canning purposes. Already some of theso things have been accomplished on a «mall scale. In England various forms of hardware, such as hooks, electric fans, frames for pictures amd other material, framework for grates, and many other similar products have been made and are in use. In America plans are being developed to produce rustless iron on a large.scale in the form of sheets, from which the roofs and sides of passenger and other cars can bo made which will practically last for years. Other applications of this "wonder alloy" aro only waiting for tho product .to be made on a large scale.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SYSTEMS. An interesting paper was recently read in London at a conference of engineers by Mr F. H. Taylor, M.1.E.5., A.M.T.E.E., on the important subject Of "Electric Lighting in Churches." Mr Taylor said that although the switching of lights in transepts, side chapels, and vestries was generally required to be local, the switching of the nave, aisles, ■ choir, and chancel had to be from the west, entrance. It was here also that the main switch and fuse boards were usually placed. To obtain economy in working and to avoid any large extinction of light it was necessary for the nave to have its lighting fed from several circuits. Alternate lighting units were best switched together, and preferably where each lighting unit consisted of four to five lamps it should be possible to light up each fitting by two or more stages. Tor the general lighting, pendant fittings of the corona pattern suspended from the roof gave best results, and at the same time offered an opportunity for artistic design. Concealed lighting at or above the capitals of the pillars sometimes allowed a fuller appreciation of the of the church, and the source of light was quite out of the line of vision of the congregation. The extra distance away of the lighting units, however, meant an increase in the number or size of lamps required. A system of short lighting brackets attached by bands to the top of pillars had very little to commend"it, save its cheapness, if that were commendation at all. Theatrical Effects. The chancel lighting should be the subject of special treatment, and, instead of the usual standard lamps fixed to the floor, lighting units concealed in the window recesses provided good illumination on the altar. Unless, however,' the adjacent lighting units in the' choir provided a certain amount of distributed light on the chancel walls and floor, a rather theatrical effect was apt to be produced, _ which was naturally undesirable. This could easily be avoided. At the time of installing electric light in a church it was often convenient to arrange also for push-button switches to operate lamps as signals, for instance, from the west door to the organ, or from the choir vestry to tho organ. A similar arrangement could be used to give timo signals from the organ to the choir to aid the organist, who usually had to fulfil the duties of choirmaster. The lamps used were, of course, out of sight of the congregation, and suitable push buttons were now obtainable which would stand hard wear and which were entirely Boiieless in action.