Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-08-28
THE QUEEREST OF METALS.
Int estfDg Facts About Platinum
and its Peculiarfties

Int resting Facts About Platinum
and its Peculiarities.
After an excellent day of weakfsh-
ing on Barnegat Bay and an unexcep-
tlonable supper of the good old-fash
Toned, country-tavern kind, a social
party of anglers sa: about on Uncle
10 Parker's broad porch at Forked
River smoking and enjoying the cool,
fragrant breath of the cedar swamp.
when somehow the chat drifted TO the
subject of assaying and refining the
precious metals That was Just w here
one of the party, Mr.. d, w Baker
of Newark, was at home, and in the
course of an impromptu lecture he
told the party more about the topic
under discussion, and especially The
platinum branch of it, than they ever
knew before
"Our firm" ne said, practically
does ali the platinum business of this
country. and the de Hand for the
material is SO great that we never can
get more than we want of it. The
principal portion, Or, in fact, nearly
all of it, comes from the famous
mines of the Demidoff family, who
have the monopoly of the production
in Russia. 1t is all refined and mace
into sheets of various thickness, and
into wire of certain commercial sizes
before it comes to us; but we have
frequently to cut, roll. and redraw it
to new forms and sizes to meet the
demands upon us. At one time it was
coined in Russia, but it is no longer
applied to that use. We have obtain
ed some very good crude platinum ore
from South America, and have re-
fined it successfully, bat the supply
from that source is, as yet, very
small. [ am not aware that it has
been found anywhere else than In
Colombia, on that continent, but the
explorations thus far made into the
mineral resources of South America
have been very meagre, and it is by
no means improbable that platinum
may yet be discovered there in
quantities rivalling the supply of
Russia
A popular error respecting plat
mum is that its intrinsic value is the
same as that Of gold. At one time it
did approximate 10 gold in value, but
never quite reached it, and is now
worth only IS to $12 an Dune, accord
ing to the work expended upon it IN
getting it into required forms and the
amount alloy it contains The alloy
used for it is iridium, which hardens
it, and the more iridium it contains
the more difficult it is to work, and,
consequently, the more expensive.
When pure, platinum is as soft as sill
yer. but by tie addition of iridium it
becomes the hardest of metals The
great difficulty in manipulating platl
mum Sits excessive resistance to heat.
A temperature that will make steel
run like water and melt down fire
clay has absolutely no effect upon it.
You may put a piece of platinum wire
no thicker than human hair into a
blast furnace where ingOts of steel are
melting down all around it and the
bit of wire will come out as absolutely
unchanged as if it dad been In an ice
box, all the time. No means have
been discovered for accurately deter
mining the melting temperature of
platinum, but it must be enormous.
And yet, if you put a bit of lead into
the crucible with the platinum. both
metals will melt down together at the
low temperature that fuses the lead,
and if you try to melt lead in plati
mum crucible you will find that as
soon as the lead melts the platinum
with which it comes in contact also
melts and your cruclble is destroyed.
GA distinguishing characteristic of
platinum is its extreme ductlllty. A
wire can be made from it finer than
from any other metal. [ lave a sample
in my pocket the gauge Of whichis only
one two thOusandth Of an inch, and it
is practicable to make it thinner. 1t has
even been affirmed that platinum
wire has been made so fine as to be
invisible to the naked eye, but that |
do not state as of my own knowledge.
This wire my son pade."
Mr.. Baker exhibited the sample
spoken Of It locked like tress of
silky hair, and had 1t not been shown
upon a piece of black paper you could
hardly have seen it. He went on:
THE draw plates, by means of
which these fine wires are made, are
sapphires and rubies. You may
fancy for yourself how extremely
delicate must be the work OF making
holes of such exceeding smallness to
accurate gauge, too, in those very
hard stones. get all my draw plates
from an cid Swiss lady in New York,
who makes them herself, to order.
But, delicate as is the work of boring
the holes there is something still
more delicate in the processes that
produce such fine wire as this That
something is the filing of a lcng point
on the wire to enable the pocking of
the end of it through the draw plate
SO that it can be caught by the nip
pers. Imagine yourself fling a long
tapering point on the end of a wire
only one-eghteen hUndredth of an
inch in diameter in order to get it
through draw plate that will bring
it down to one TWO thousandth. Ny son
does that, without using magnify
ing glass. | cannot say positively
what uses this very thin wire is put,
but sometimes in surgery. / believe.