EFFECT OF TIME ON IRON.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2100, 27 September 1875, Page 3

EFFECT OF TIME ON IRON.

Bazors which have lost their keenness and their temper recover, like mankind, when given time and opportunity to recuperate. A spring regains its tension when allowed to rust. Farmers leave their scythes exposed to the weather sometimes from one season to another, and find their quality improved by it. Boilermakers frequently search pld boilers carefully, when opened for repairs after a long period of service, to find any tools that may ha^e been left in them when last repaired, and if any are found, they are almost invariably of unusally good quality. The writer, when a boy in the sjiop, frequently, if denied the use of their tools .by the workmen, looked about the scrap'Tieap, and under the windows, for tools purposely or carelessly dropped by the men ; and whenever one was found badly rusted by long exposure it proved to be of the best of steel. One. of the most striking illustrations of this improvement of the quality of wrought iron with time has recently come to the knowledge of the writer. The first wrought iron T rails ever made were designed by Bobert L. Stevenson about the year 1830, and were soon afterwards laid down on the Camden and - Amboy railroad. These were Welsh rails, and when put down were considered, and actually were, brittle and poor iron. Many years later these were replaced by new rails, but until quite recently some still remained on the sidings. When a lot of unusually good iron was required, some of these rails were taken up and re-rolled into bar iron.* The long period of exposure had so greatly changed the character of iho metal that the effect was unmistakable.