Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-09-18
THE QUEEREST or ~
interesting Facts Ahor,
and It's PecuIl.s.. PIaln,.

when Mr.. ID. w. Baker Of NV ~ ioFk IS
some interesting facts ahon. I'm
" !, firm, he said, oprac,iipslast asa
all the platinum business @ - 4. d.e
try, and the demand for ths wi Wis Goa.
so great that we never GOV "'a'eiia
than we want of it. The !. ~ rr.
ton, or, In fact, nearly All 81 ft !. y N
from the famous mines Of H. \, y =, eoaa
family, who have the mononoi pea'4ss
production in Russia. II ;s f aY q U
and made into sheets Of yor :. teaas
nesSes, and into wire of cer,o; ,Sqs uilsl
cial sizes before it comes r. ~ 'V.llae
have frequently to cut, roll and ulse
1t to new forms and sizes 10 rn. 'su'ss
demands upon us. At one IL ~ Y
coined in Russia, but it is no i lug" VI
piled TO that use. We. have v Nv y
some very good crude platinum os'l.as
South America, and have re6ne3 ''oe
cessfully. but the supply f,on " -
source is as yet very small ~ 'a
aware that it has been found anu, =. n
else than in Columbia, on that eos,, saes
but the explorations thus far msS ,,'s
the mineral resources of South ia 'sa
have been very meagre, and i / sD laA
means improbable that platinum y ?
yet be discovered there in onsa,i ~!
rivaling the supply of Russia
"a popular error respecting pls,,,.
is that its intrinsic value is the ss~ aa'~
that of gold. At one time 1t did snr..' :
innate to gold in value, but never r.s ~,
reached it, and is now worth opls SS, e
$12 an ounce. according to the wort !. :
pended upon it in getting it into rpon;.s
forms and the amount of ALLOW ! y.
tains. The alloy used for it is iridis.
which hardens it, and the more irdas
! it contains, the more difficult 4 ls
work, and, consequently, the more y
pensive. When pure. platinum is as ga
as silver, but by the addition Of iridiun
it becomes the hardest of metals NJ.
great difficulty of manipulating platinum
| is its excessive resistance to heat
| temperature that will make steel m
| like water and melt down fre.cIay h,
absolutely no effect upon it. You ma,
put piece of platinum no thicker than
human hair into blast furnace whers
ingots of steel are melting down An
around it and the bit of wire will com.
out as absolutely unchanged as If II hm
been in an ice box all the time. No
means have actually been discovered is
accurately determining the melting ten.
perature of platinum, but it must Be
enormous. And yet, if YOU put Bit q
lead into the crucible with the platinum.
both metals will melt down together 4.
j the low temperature that fuses the lead.
and if you try to melt lead in pIatngn
crucible you will find that as soon as he
lead melts the platinum with which i
comes in contact also melts and you
crucible is DESTROYED.
"a distinguishing characteristic d
platinum is its extreme ductility
wire can be made from it finer than irOu
any other metal. have q sample in nj
| pocket. the guage of which is ony on
two thousandth of an inch, and i
practicable to make it thinner Il b
even been affirmed that platinum VII
has been made so fine as to be inyisbet
the naked eye, but that do not state
of my own knowledge. his wire u
! son made"
Mr.. Baker exhibited the sample spoke
of. 1t looked like a tress of silky hai
add had it not been shown upon pe'
of black paper could hardly have bes
seen. lie went on: !.
| 1.-The draw plates, by means OF En.e
these fine wires are made, are sapphi
and rubies. You may fancy Tor you
selves how extremely delicate must
the work of making holes Of such E
ceeding smallness 10 accurate guage,'"
in those very hard stones. get al !
draw plates from an old Swiss laay
New York. who makes them herself
order. But, delicate as is the |ork
boring the holes, there is something Y
more delicate in the processes that p
duce such fine wire as this. That SON
thing is the filing of n long point Cd
wire to enable the poking OF the emu
it through the draw plate SO that ! ~ ]
be caught by the nlpF
Imagine yourself fling a long l'p
ing point on the end of wire Only :.
eighteen -hundredth of an inch IN olal
ter in order to get it through ~
plate that will bring it down TO one .,
thousandth. Ny son does that WIZ.
using magnifying glass. cann0. :,
positively what uses this very thiu \
is put to. but something in surgery
lieve, eitheAfor fastening togelnel y. J
tons of bone or for operations. q -.
invented instrument has been oes'i i !
to me, which, if it does what has !.
affirmed, is one of the greatest snu =
wonderful discoveries of modelp, !. .
ence. A very thin platinum WIZ ~. =,
brought to incandescence by the ~ = -
from battery-which, though Or y Z
power, is so small that 1T hangs i'OI III
lapel of the operators coats uss 80
stead of the knife, for exclsIons aDp :.
tain amputations. 1t sears y NJ
II e BLOOD anu = @"