Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1890-03-21

the silver from clay"
Deville built large works to carry out
the process he had devised, and in 1852
aluminium was being sold at twelve dol
lars pound This price was low enough
to permit it's use for many purposes, and
Opera-glasses, sextants, scientific lnstru-
ments, medals, spoons, tableware, sword
handles, helmets aud even toys were made
Of it.
The price, however, was still too high to
permit its common use. and articles made
Of it could scarcely be considered anything
but Injuries. For over twenty years the
metal remained at that price, and as
natural consequence the use of aluminium
remained very limited only about hve
thousand pounds it being made yearly,
and its manufacture being confined almost
exclusively to France.
During the last six years works have
been started which have been able to
make aluminium much more cheaply than
the French company. A New York gen
tleman, named Mr.. Castner, invented a
process by which metallic sodium can be
made very cheaply and by using this I'M
proyement the aluminium Company,
! Limited, OF London, has been able to sell
aluminium at less than FIVE dollars a
pound. Such lowering of the price In
creased greatly the number of uses to
| n,l,iob olu,,in,,,p, oorld Ia mt
Within 3 few months of this writing,
the invention Of another American, Mr.
Hall, Of Plttsburg, has brought the selling
price down to two dollars pound. So,
while aluminium was discovered IN Ger
many and 6rst brought into use in France,
it is now being most rapidly cheapened by
American genius for invention.
The last process mentioned is a utilIza-
tiOn of the wonderful power which electric
ity has Of decomposing compound bodies
under certain conditions, and the extrac-
tion of aluminium from alumina, formerly
done by the medium of chlorine gas and
potassium or sodium, all expensive re-
agents, is now done Mt one stroke by the
force of an electric current, by tine process
known as electrosh.
But. if aluminium could be bought as
cheaply as the common metals, what ad-
vantages has 1t which, they do not possess;
in other woads what valuable qualities has
it2 have already spoken OF its lightness,
so much less than almost than all other
metals, and this is the characteristic for
which it will always be noted,
But, beside this. it resists alteration in
the air wonderfully WELL We all know
how iron rests. copper corrodes, brass tar
nishes and silver blackens; but none OF
these things happens to aluminium. 1t
may be kept in water, exposed to the
weather, hung on the walls, or kept in air
full Of vapors md corrosive gases without
anything but very slight, almost inyisi-
BILE, white tarnsb forming on it. 1t is,
therefore, almost as non-corrodible RS gold,
the king of metals, and so we are not far
wrong in calling aluminium one OF the
noble metals.
Every one has observed how silverware
Llackens when left exposed to the air, the
black coating being silver sulphide formed
by sulphurous gas in our house which
comes originally from sulphur in the coal
we burn. But a service Of aluminium
plate would never blacken from this
cause. You could put pure sulphur into
an aluminium egg cup and set fire to il
without furnishing the aluminium, where.
as a silver cup treated so would be made
as black rs a lump OF coal.
ALUMINIUM, however, possesses Utmost
: all the properties of the common metals
besides many of those of the noble ones
1t can be worked in almost every required
way. The wire makers can draw it INTO a
wire as 6ne as hair, the meta-rolers
can roll 1t intv sheets as thin as tissue pa
J per, and the gold beaters can beat it oui
80 thin that it would take forty thousand
leaves placed on each other TO be an inch
in thickness. 1t can also be worked into
tubes stamped, or pressed into hollow
! forms. or hammered into shape.
Before ending this account of the uses
of aluminium. we must not overlook it;
wonderful effects on some other metals
when mixed with them in small proper.
= tions. Copper is the metal most benefit
/ ed. If thirty or forty parts Of zinc are
added to one huadred parts Of copper we
have ordinary brass. If ten parts Of tin
are added to one hundred parts of copper
we form bronze. Both these alloys are in
common use everywhere, because Of theil
color and strength. But if we add Eve Of
ten parts of aluminium to one hundred
/, parts of copper an alloy is obtained which
is two or three times rs strong as either
brass or bronze, is nf a beautiful golden
color and does not corrode or tarnish ap
preciably on exposure. These benefits are
20 great thas more aluminium is now being
used to make these alloys-aluminuu n
bronzes they are called--than is worked
up into articles solely Of aluminium.
: In conclusion / would state that there
is very little probability of aluminum eyel
being used 10 place of iron for bridges
: railroads, locomotives, steamboats,, houses
ETC., even it it could be bought as cheaply
Such speculations are wild and visionary
and no one who Is well acquainted witt
the properties of iron and steel and alu
! minum ever predict that iron will he so fal
, displaced.
1t is almost ms rash to predict what vii
not happen as TO prophest what will, and
we are continually reminded that the un
) expected often happens, yet | will venture
! to close by saying that the end OF thu