Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-29
ALuMIN1uM ALLOYS.

A great discovery is reported from Biz
mingham-one which, if it realizes half
what is claimed for it, will have an i'm
mense effect on the metal trade throughout
the world. Everybody is more or less &C.
quainted with the metal called aluminium,
and has probably possessed ct some time
or other percil.case or other article made
from it. As is well known, the metal is
the base Of clay, alum, ETC., aud is there
fore present in immense quantities in al
most every part of the world /; it should
therefore be exceedingly cheap. But IN.
fortunately it is always found associated
with various impurities. especially iron and
silica, and the process of separating it from
these has hitherto proved so difficult and
costly that the metal has practically been
available only for such small ornamental
articles as we have mentioned. In itself,
however. and independent of cost, il is of
very great value and this from two cir
cumstances. In the first place, whether
pure or in alloy, it completely defss
the attack of moisture, and in the
second las recently pointed out by Sir F.
Bramwell), it is much stronger, in relation
to it's specific gravity, than any other sub
stance known. Hence nothing but q toler-
ably cheap process of manufacture in needed
to give the metal an enormous sale. This
cheap process the Crown Aluminium Com.
pany, of Hollywood, near Birmingham, it
is claimed, have worked out and so COM
pletely as to reduce the cost of manufact-
ure by 80 per cent. In the new process
alum forms the raw metal. It is ground
small. mixed with certain proportion of
pitch, also ground, ard then ealcined. to
drive off the moisture. There remain
sulphur. potash and aiumina, with oxide of
iron these are placed in vertical retorts,
| and the sulphur and oxide Of iron are ex-
PEELED by forcing steam and air through the
mass. The potash and alumina are placsd
in vat of water, heated by steam, which
| expels the potash and precipitates tbs
alumina. The deposit SO obtained, when
dried, contains roughly, 81 per cant. of
alumina, ?! per cent. of sulphate of zinc
from the lining of the vat) y per cent.
of silica, u per cent. of water and Is per
cent of alkaline salts. The alumina is ex-
tracted from the deposit as chloride of
slumina, and the chloride is afterward re-
moved by sodium in the usual way, leav-
ing the pure metal, which can be readily
alleged with zinc, tin, copper or lead, prov.
ing ductlle and non-corr0siye metals OF
great value. AT the same time the I've
products potash, sulphur, and illuminate
of iron-are all recovered, and can be made
into blue dye of great value. Cooking
utensils, spoons and forks, bells, propellers
and other ship-fttings, bearings Tor shafts,
ETC., guns, pans, rings-such are some of
the purposes for which the new alloys are
said to surpsss any material now known.
It'll reported that a French syndicate he's
offered over 1000. 600 for the French
patent alone, and that even larger sums
are proposed for the right of manufacture
in the United States. We give all these
particulars flor which the Birmingham Ga
zette is responsibility, simply for what they
are worth, but if there is even substratum
OF truth in them, it will follow that much
more is likely to be heard of the process.
-TAmericsn Engineer