The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-05-22
INTRODUCING a NEW INDUSTRY.
A Scientists Invention for Extracting Alum
inium from Clay.

n
inium from Clay.
Important facts bearing on the ex-
traction of aluminium from kaolin
(clav) on a commercial basis have
been developed in Cleveland, O., with
in the past few weeks. Aluminium
has long been known as The metallic
basis of clay but in its nature is SO
ethereal that heretofore its elimination
has been attended with great difficulty
and much expense. Within the past
few years, however, French and Eng
lish inventors have obtained results
more or less important, so that the
present importing price of aluminium
in this country, duty free, is Sl4.25 a
pound. In England a man named
Webster has established very large
works for the manufacture of articles
from The new metal, but the cost Of
production has as yet limited its use
merely to tableware and small utensils
for household use. The problem now
is to devise a method of extraction
which shall reduce the cost to from
81 to 50 per pound, at which figure it
can be used for q great variety of man
ufactures, such as gun barrels, pro-
peller blades, wire, and possibly bridge
aud railroad works. AS aluminium is
four times lighter than silver and three
times lighter than iron. is non-Oxldiza-
BILE, of great tenacity and strength,
ductile, and of superior electric con
ductiVity, and is, moreover, very wide
ly diffused throughout the country
appearing in all ordinary clay banks,
H,,t ,C,. v,a ~ i,,rl o Wv in tho i'm MANGA
deposits of kaolin in Connecticut, New
York, Virginia, and Georgia, and in a
veritable mountain of sulphate of
alumina in New MexicO-the import
ance of the present search for a cheap
method of production is apparent.
Aluminium will bear several times
more strain than gun metal, and much
more than BesSemer steel. 1t also
possesses sOnOrOuS qualities superior
to those of any other metal, and alloys
beautifully with almost any known
metal. When the secret OF its cheap
production is generally known a revo-
luton in the metal world will be the
certain result.
APhiladelphia chemist named Friess
mutb about a year ago annOunc ed the
discovery of a very cheap method, but
it has remained for Cleveland parties
to bring the much-desired end nearer
practical accomplishment than ever
before. Mr. F. j. Seymour, a we'll
known practical metallurgist, late of
Bridgeport, Conn, has as the result of
years of study, succeeded in produc-
ing aluminium at u low figure at cost,
arI hu tho old nf nnyal I1~noca ircf
designed, asserts that he can extract
the metal on a commercial basis and
in large quantities. Not to go into all
the technical details, which are ex-
tremely interesting to metallurgists,
1t is sufficient to say that Mr.. Seymour
has discovered that the close affinity
existing between zinc and aluminium
can be utilized in vaporizing, ''captur-
ing" and depositing the latter, the
separation being effected by the appli-
cation of heat through a furnace, or
rather a series of furnace, of peculiar
construction. The charge for each
furnace is: Zinc ore, 100 parts; kaolin,
30 parts; carbon, either anthracite coal
or its equivalent in ~hydrocarbon gas,
125 parts; pearl-ash, or its equivalent,
Is parts, chloride of sodium, 10 parts,
all intimately mixed. The retorts are
of steel, and Sc inches long by IL wide,
sides / inches thick. The amount of
heat necessary to produce the desired
result is about $500 degrees Fahren-
heit. Properly handled, N furnace
should make two charges in "a to 80
hours. Four men can operate fifty
retorts. The number of retorts can be
increased several hundred in a single
system. Capitalists have already
manifested an interest in this new
process, and the prospects are that OPP
e%rations on an extensive scale will
soon follow. Independent investiga-
tions in the same line in this city have
resulted in the recent incorporation
Of q company with ample capital for
the extraction of aluminium by means
Of electricity. Thus far the secret of
the process has been strictly guarded,
and nothing can therefore be given as
VI $50 -. - 80 IT-IL IL ~