Stainless steel
Stainless steels have a long history of application in contact with water due to their excellent corrosion resistance. Applications include a range of conditions from plumbing, potable and waste water treatment to desalination. Types 304 and 316 stainless steels are standard materials of construction in contact with water. However, with increasing chloride contents higher alloyed stainless steels such as Type 2205 and super austenitic and super duplex stainless steels are utilized.
Elwood Haynes
He applied for another patent on an alloy he called stainless steel, now known as martensitic stainless steel. The Patent Office rejected his application saying that it was not a new alloy. Haynes conceded their point, but submitted a second application and supplied a sample showing the stainlessness of his alloy when created using his exact proportions of metals, and it was granted. At the urging of his wife, he created the first set of stainless steel silverware for her personal use. The first piece of stainless steel was forged by Homer Dan Farmer in Haynes laboratory. It was a large meat knife and was donated to the Haynes Museum by the family of Dan Heflin, grandson of Homer Dan Farmer. In later years he claimed to have created stainless steel because she did not enjoy polishing their silver tableware. British metallurgist Harry Brearley independently produced an identical alloy around the same time and applied for an American patent and found that one already existed. Brearley had also created other innovations for the metal, but they were of little value without the stainless steel patent. He sought out Haynes and the two decided to pool their findings in a single company to produce the alloy. Haynes sold his stainless steel patent in 1918 to the American Stainless Steel Company, a company Brearley had created with the assistance of investors in Pennsylvania. In exchange he and his estate received royalties on its production until the patent expired in 1930. The stock he received as payment allowed him to gain a seat among the company's board of directors and he installed his son, March, to represent him. The income from the transaction led Haynes to begin the accumulation of a large fortune.