abscissae in amperes per centimeter and the polarization obtained is recorded along the ordinates in teslas from fig1 it is apparent that the coercivity starting out from the saturation level is approximately 50 amperes per centimeter while the remanence also starting out from saturation amounts to about 1 5 teslas these values are well suited for addressing and sorting a rod or spring wire consisting of this material several centimeters long and about 0 5 mm thick in the manner represented in fig1 in the embodiment according to fig1 current must flow in one or the other direction through the coil 7 for the reverse magnetization of the address sections 3 and 9 in accordance with the pattern in the embodiment according to fig2 this is avoided by disposing ahead of the addressing pole a permanent north or south magnetic biasing pole 26 which is for example a portion of a biasing magnet 27 and can be part of a horseshoe magnet represented in fig9 and 10 the biasing pole 26 is to reverse magnetize the address sections 3 or 9 so that regardless of which polarization they have before reaching the biasing pole 26 they will leave the latter with a certain always equal premagnetization bias the magnetic field strength developed by the biasing pole 26 is therefore.