Nightjar wrote:
On 04/07/2012 23:51, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Nightjar wrote:
On 04/07/2012 20:56, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Nightjar wrote:
On 04/07/2012 13:16, Tim wrote:
Nightjar wrote:
On 03/07/2012 22:07, James wrote:
...
I'd assumed everything except the plastic bit was cast iron, but
I've
just been up and tried to stick a fridge magnet to it, and it
doesn't
stick. It doesn't stick to the soil stack outside either.

Abestos? Or maybe I need a stronger magnet...

You can tell how much heat treatment cast iron has had by changes in
its
magnetic properties, so don't expect it to react like mild steel.
Thick
layers of paint also reduce the grip of most magnets. I suggest a
*much* stronger magnet.

Colin Bignell

I think TNPs right though. Looks like a clay pipe to me. Scraping a
bit of
paint off would be a good start.

Clay would be an odd choice for connecting to an external soil stack.

Not at all. That's what my parents house built in 1953 had: cast stack
and a clay branch ...

Iron is /was expensive and plastic didn't exist,..

For 10 years after the war, there was strict rationing of building
materials, which lead to some odd practices.

As for plastic, Germany still has some PVC water and waste pipes that
were installed between 1936 and 1941. They became available in Britain
and America around 1950, when the manufacturing processes had been
refined.


I tend to remember PVC as a sixties thing..plastic pakamaks.

It was actually invented in 1872, but it was not until 1912 that anyone
started to look at making it useful and 1926 before they were successful.


50's? airfix toys and thats it.

Styrene

Invented in 1839. Commercially produced by BASF in 1930.

Polyethylene (1935) was a vital part of the allied war effort, providing
insulation for radar equipment. It was probably the first plastic, other
than Bakelite, that most people saw, being used in things like washing
up bowls and plastic brooms in the immediate post-war era.

Colin Bignell

Not sure about that..nylon was very early too and MUCH used as an insulator.

As well as making stockings.

--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.