Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-04-28
HOW PAINT ADDS
T0L|FE OF VESSEL
II. A. Flynn Describes Efforts
to Evolve Product to Meet
Conditions.
LEAD AND ZINC EFFECTIVE

is building up a great mobilization Of YES
sells for the use of the government, there
is particular interest in the problems that
confront the painter in Striving to proIong
the life of these vessels and protect them
against the assaults of the elements
r. A. Flynn, a veteran member of the
W. II. Butler Company. which has been
painting craft on the Potomac river since
lS4o. tells of the difficulties encountered
in painting ships and how a lead and zinc
paint has been evolved to meet these Pc
culiar conditions. as follows:
Few people, If any. really know the
important part played by paint in Keeping
steamers in running condition. In the last
Few years ! have supplied the paint used
on the majority of boats whose mort is
this city. Many interesting and perplex-
ing problems have arisen regarding the
painting of these boats Especially was
this true regarding the steamers that ply
along the majestic Potomac and through
historic Chesapeake bay between Wash
ington and Norfolk
Protection, Durability and Beauty.
In selling the paint for these gray
hounds of commerce we look primarily
to three things. namely-protection
durability and beauty These steamers,
owing to the peculiar climatic condi-
tons of Washington. are naturally SUBJ
jected to conditions of extreme heat
In summer and intense cold in winter
Another condition that we had TO take
into consideration was that paint which
would have answered very well had
these boats been used only on the Po-
tomac would have been short-lived had
they entered the salty water of Chesa-
peake bay.
We had previously learned from the
test boards at Atlantic City that lead
OF itself was very poor and that the
itself give the sufficient strength to
Withstand the eating atmosphere of
the salt air. We had also learned that
zinc OF itself while much less porous
than purer white lead would dry too
hard. so that when the linseed oil be-
gan to saponify the zinc would soon
crack and peel. In order to insure
opaqueness and preservation we learn
ed that we must necessarily look for
combination OF white lead which itself
is too porous and white zinc, which II
used by itself. would have been too
hard. After considerable experiment.
ing We found that 20 per cent OF white
lead and 80 per cent Of zinc produced
the ideal combination to Withstand the
salt air.
When we had finally found what
combination was best suited to these
conditions we had to take into con-
sideration also what binder would be
the best to use with these pigments.
Peels Like Skin.
Every one knows how easily, when
riding on the water. the skin becomes
tanned and burned. Every one knows
how readily it peels under these con-
ditions. So it is with paint. The refiec-
ton of sun on the water caused intense
heat. This intense heat would have
burned our combination OF zinc and lead
had we used with it binder that con-
tanned TOO much turpentine and dryer
We necessarily had to look for binder
that was more elastic and one that would
contract and expand readily. At the
same time it had to have sufficient
opaqueness TO cover. together with our
pigments. the steel frames of these boats
After considerable experimenting we
found that pure linseed oil with just
little turpentine and pure Japan dryer
gave the desired elasticity.
Another element that had TO be taken
into consideration was the acid from the
smoke of vessels. This was easily over
come. largely because our combination of
lead and zinc was able to withstand the
attack of the carbon from the smoke.
After we had found the combination
which was best suited for these boats
running in salt water during the summer
We had to take into consideration the
fact that the climate of Washington is
severe in winter. This problem gave us
very peculiar condition under which to
work. We had two clements working in
direct opposition to each other. namely,
the severe heat from the boiler room
within and the intense cold of the freezing
weather without.
We again found that lead alone would
not and could not withstand this most
severe of all tests We also found that
with zinc alone we would have the same
trouble as we experienced before. namely
il would dry too hard. Here again we
found that the combination of lead and
zinc being, to n great degree, non-por-
Gus. and together with linseed oil, more
or less elastic, would contract and expand
to great degree with the steel and tim
bers. therefore avoiding cracking and
peehng.
Service Primary Consideration.