The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-10-31
The Age of Aluminium


/ the CHEMISTS are at WOfk ny HuHUToUS Ill
the States striving by night and day.
to find some means for producing cheap
aluminium. If they succeed in their
task, and the metal which in 1928 Woh-
/ Ter discovered in common clay becomes
no dearer than iron, it cannot be doubt
ed that the newer substance will be
| everywhere adopted for the thousand
! purposes in which strength, ductility,
tenacity, and rigidity are required just
as the men of the stone age flung aside
their flints to use bronze, and those of
/ the bronze abandoned the instruments
compounded of tin and copper for the
stronger and more tenacious iron, SO we,
! to whom iron is now the staple metal
should most unquestionably give up its
use could aluminium be produced in like
quantities and at the same or lesser
price. Other things being equal and a
free choice offered between the two
metals, aluminium must in almost every
conceivable case be preferred. for there
is hardly purpose now served by iron
for which the former substance would
not prove ten times more efficient The
difficulty of producing it cheaply alone
prevents aluminium from becoming the
universal metal
That this is no fable may be easily
realized if we stop to consider the in
trinsic advantages of aluminium, To
begin with, it is presenteverywhere, and
were the process Of extraction easy not
only no country but no district. and
even no parish, would have to rely upon
its neighbors for its supply of the prime
necessary of industry and commerce.
Iron can only be produced where Nature
has deposited lodes of particular ore,
and the nation not possessed of this nat
! ural gift is forced to purchase it from
without. Aluminium lies everywhere
i close at hand. Inslate, in feldspar, in
many kinds OF rock, and in ordinary clay
it rests concealed; and hence, could only
a simpler process of extraction than that
now in use be devised, it might con-
ceivably be as easy to manufacture the
/ metal as to make bricks and pottery. As
I in many parts of the country the earth
/ that is dug out of the foundations sup
4 plies great portion of the bricks requir-
! ed to build the house, 50 aluminium
might be produced ON the very spot
i where it was required. A railway COM
4 pany uses the clay from the cuttings to
turn it into bricks for the walls and arches
of viaducts and tunnels. Under the cir
/ c1i,n ctancaS wa gro iIna U;ni,,ty il wOTld
manufacture from the same deposits of
earth the lines and the Orders for the
bridges. Great, however, as would be
the advantages derived from the posi-
bility of manufacturing aluminium at
the very place where it was needed, and
out of materials always procurable, there
are others still more important that
would be obtained by its use. 1t would
not merely act as substitute for iron.
1 1t would enable thousand things to be
done which cannot now be accomplished.
What these are may be realized by con
! sidering the essential qualities OF the
! metal. In the first place. aluminium is.
! very malleable and very ductile, and can
| be wrought into wire as fine as a spiders
Web or be beaten out into sheets as thin
as gold-leaf. 1t has also great rigidity
and tenacity, and if properly prepared,
! is as hare as iron. Exposed to dry or to
moist air it is alike unalterable, and is as
4 little liable to become oxidized or tarnish
| ed as the purest gold. Neither hot nor
cold water nor sulphuretted hydrogen
/ the gas which SO quickly blackens silver
not in constant use-has the slightest eff
/ feet on aluminium. Most remarkable OF
all, in spite of its hardness, Stiffness and
| tenacity, it is lighter than glass, and only
quarter as heavy as silver.
Bearing in mind these qualities, and
imagining aluminium to be used where
iron is now employed, it is obvious that
many of the great problems of mechanics
when applied to industry would be
solved Take the case of speed in ocean
navigation. Atpresent, one OF the great
| difficulties is the weight of the vessels.
1t is practically impossible to get engine
power sufficient to obtain more than
| twenty miles an hour. Suppose, how
ever, the weight of the material out OF
which ships are constructed reduced by
one half, and their sides coated with a
highly polished, non-corrosive substance.
Under such circumstances, there can be
little doubt that the advantage in favor
of land transport as regards speed would
be done away with, and we should think
nothing of vessels crossing the Atlantic
in seventy two hours. A swift passenger
! ship, built of material offering as little
resistance to the waves as glass, and
! lighter and more buoyant, might easily
accomplish fifty miles an hour. Then,
two ships drawing only the same amount
/ of water as at present might accommo-
date great deal more cargo, while large
AMI commodious vessels would require
far less depth of water to float them than
at present In inland navigation this
would be of the utmost Importance. 1t
is calculated that a ship which if entire
ly constructed of iron would draw TWEEN
ty-six feet of water, would, when made
of aluminium, not draw more than four
or five. Practically, then, the light metal
would treble OF quadruple the number
of miles of navigable river in the world.
Where now it is only possible to float a
barge, moderate sized steamer would
be able to ply with ease. The railways
would gain no less than the ships. The
engines, tenders, and the wheels and the
fittings of the carriages make up dead
weight for every train which 1t is exceed
A ingly costly to transport, and which of
course, brings. no profit. Ifhalf or more,
of this useless burden could be saved,
and goods and passengers substituted
for it, the companies would gain enor-
mously. Again, great speed could be far
more cheaply and easily obtained than
at present. In the same way, alumni
ium applied to the construction of bicy-
ces and tricycles, would largely increase
their utility. Made of metal incapable
of rusting, and half as light again, even
the present high rate of speed could be
increased. If we consider any of the
other uses of iron, we shall see how in
each case aluminium would do the work
better than its rival Take an iron
bridge. To begin with, the labor of fix