The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1888-12-20

The news comes from Germany, that
the hitherto rare and costly metal
Aluminium, can now, by the discovery
Of new methods and process, DO pro
duoed at a cost OF not exceeding TWEEN.
ty'hye cents a pound,
10 many perhaps this announce
ment may not al first aeem OF much
Importance, but nevertheless II ia really.
considered IN all In possible affects on
tho commercial, domestic and artistic
interests Of the world, the most remark
able economic demonstration OF the
present century, Little did WOhler
think, when about sixty years ago he
first succeeded In extracting the first
few ailyery grains from a lump of com,
mon clay that he was originating q
revolution, the magnitude Of which Ia
just beginning TO appear,
Aluminium In, In respect OF liz wide
spread distribution throughout the
earth, the monarch Of metals, II Ia an
essential component OF clay which ID
found nearly everywhere, ~ also Of
granite and other rocks, From ton Ia
twenty per cent Of this metal In con,
tanned In such good compact clay as II
TO be found on almost every farm.
Since its discovery efforts have been
making increasingly In tho direction Of
C%heapening It's extraction, but hereto.
fore liz cost has confined itause almost
exclusively 10 jewelry, In our own
State, experimontors In Cleveland made
quite On advance by making use of the
electric are In a carbon lined furnace Ia
fuse cOrundum, the current being gen,
Grated by immensely powerful dyna,
mos, The writer has seen alloys with
copper, thus produced, Of q tensile
strength far exceeding steel, Hut the
seeming climax seems TO have been
reached, at Essen, near Cologne, where
II 10 now melted out OF clay into hun,
dred pound ingotg, being at the price
above given nearly ~ cheap, bulk for
bulk, M the best steel,
Aluminium Is q shining white metal,
lighter than glass, when soft, 90 tenac,
iOus, ~ malleable aud M ductlle az
iron; hut becoming 90 hard as steel
when rolled or hammered, II does not
cOrrode or 0xldlge under conditions
whore iron and steel dissolve In rust,
and It's lightneSs must cause II to
supersede these metals whenever their
weight 10 Objectionable.
IL will now be seen that II Is almost
bewlldering 20 contemplate the posi-
bilities involved Ia this discovery.
Our great ocean steamers, when
formed Of Aluminium plates, resisting
corrosive action and Of One.third the
present displacement, will thus have
their carrying capacity prOportlonately
increased, or with the same cargo ~
now, traverse waters comparatively
shallow, with greatly increased speed.
Aluminium, the stronger, handsomer
and safer metal, would dlsplace the
iron work Of all our passenger and
freight cans, making two thirds reduc.
ton In weight, 10 the great saving OF
wear on road.bed and rails, Possibly
II would enter largely into Locomotive
construction, should the promise Of
deyises for Increasing traction by
means Of steam be FULFILLED. Were our
lne new Gre engine lately bought by
the city Of Canton-to made, " would
be easy for one horse TO drag II through
our streets, even In the condition they
have been In this fall and II Is even
possible that we may have anew Alum.
mum engine before we have new
streets.
AS in the natural order Of events, the
stone age Of pre- historic man gave way
to the more advanced age Of bronze; rs
the bronze age Of sem. civilized man
gave way 10 tine present enlightened
age Of iron; 30 this iron age, the high.
est civilization has yet known, is likely
to give way in turn, and the reader,
besides his CORD fortune IN being n
member Of The NGws.DENooRAT
brotherhood, Is TO be congratulated
that he has lived to see los d~ecadcnce,
and 70 have taken IN entering step
into one greater, grander more glorious
than any the world has ever seen the
age Of Aluminium,
In q future article, we shall treat Of
the various uses in the arts, industrial
and ornamental, In which Aluminium
may be utilized, with its effect upon the
iron and steel industry Of this country.