SOUTHERN MALLEABLE IRON
COMPANY - 1934
The Southern Malleable Iron Company, located at 21st and Bond installed
a 55 pound-per-hour Lectromelt Arc Melting Furnace, in 1931. The furnace was used
exclusively for the production of a new heat-resistant alloy known to the trade as
"Durbin Metal" named after Mr. V. S. Durbin, Vice-president of the company,
through whose experiments the metal was produced.
The metal has great rust-resisting properties and will take a polish equal to that of
chromium plate but not quite as white. Its tensile strength and elongation properties are
somewhat greater than steel. Some of the lines in which it can be satisfactorily and
economically used are automobiles, stoves, water pumps, ornamental castings, washing
machines, dairy machinery. surgical instruments and in other lines where steel, bronze or
gray iron castings can be used.
