STEEL FINGER RINGS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 111, 3 February 1934, Page 14

STEEL FINGER RINGS

Girl’s Whim Starts Trade Boom (Reuter —Special to “The Dominion.”) London, December 28. For several years past foundry owners have spent large sums of money on experimentf~to discover how to make stainless steel pliable so that it could be used for manufacturing saucepans, window frames, ash trays, etc. It was no use. The experiments failed and the secret of treating steel so that it retained its stainless and rustless qualities remained undiscovered. Then a young Sheffield- girl wanted a platinum ring. Her fiance, a stainless steel worker, could not afford to buy one so he tried to fashion a ring out of steel. He found it much too brittle, but not discouraged, tried again and again, each time varying the treatment of the steel. At last he succeeded in making the steel pliable and in turning out a ring which looked just like platinum. Other girls saw it and asked their young men for similar rings, which were easily made when the steel was manipulated in a certain way. The owner of the firm heard about the rings and inquired how they were made. He. found that the young worker had stumbled on the elusive secret. Further experiments were made and the process perfected and now a boom is starting in the stainless steel industry of Sheffield.