New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-06-11
WONDER Full THINGS.
e is Believed the World is Just Entering
the Aluminium Age

It is Believed the World is Just Entering
the Aluminium Age.
a Metal Strong as Steel and but 0ae-quarter
as Heavy-It Exists Everywhere Under
Our Very Feet-It is Bright and Will Not
Corrode.
Have we really entered upon the age
of aluminium? asks the Philadelphia
Press. AS is well known. aluminium
is the most abundant of all the metals
On the earth's crust. and ever since it's
discovery almost every leading metal
lurgist and chemist has been working
to find cheap process for reducing it.
In large measure they have. sue
ceeded. Only few years ago this
metal cost more than gold. To-day,
thanks to the enterprise of Americans,
it has been reduced to the price, block
for block, of nickel. At So per pound
aluminium is a cheaper metal to use
than nickel. 1t is nearly four times
lighter than nickel, and will go there
fore nearly four times as far.
Aluminium has only been on the
market in a commercial way for about
a year. In that time the applications
to which this metal can be econom-
ically put have been found to be so
numerous that the Press predicts its
inf WI II onl] ,+o
the advance of human progress.
Aluminium at 25 cents per pound and
it will surely reach that price-will
take the place Of iron and steel in
many important lines of manufacture.
Its adaptibility to ship-building be-
comes at once apparent The use of
aluminium for this purpose would
change the mighty black racers of the
Atlantic into bright silver vessels,
which would inspire the marine poets
to flights of hitherto unheard- OF fancy
in describing how eighty the silver
ship rode the blue pillows" Serious
ly, there is possibility that ocean
racers in the course OF time will be
constructed of aluminium.
Its chief advantage is its lightness.
At present one Of the great difficulties
in ocean navigation is the weight of
vessels. 1t is impossible to get engine
power sufficient to obtain more than
twenty miles an hour It has been
estimated that if an Atlantic liner
were built of aluminium, or that the
weight of the material out of which
ships are constructed be reduced by
one-half, and their sides coated with a
highly polished non-corrosive sub
stance, it would have less than one
third the draught, and be propelled
with the same engine power at double
the speed which characterizes the
iron-built steamships of the present
day.
Commenting on this matter, the
London Spectator in recent issue
said editorially: cit is calculated that
a ship which, if entirely constructed of
iron, would draw twenty-six feet of
water would when made Of aluminium
not draw more than four or five.
Practically, then, the light metal
would treble or quadruple the number
of miles of navigable rivers in the
world, and we should think nothing of
vessels crossing the Atlanticin seventy
two hours.n
What boon to humanity this
change would be. Houses can be built
OF aluminium, and, as this metal never
rusts and is as fre-proof as iron,
house constructed of it would not only
survive a great conf1agration, but al
ways exhibit silvery, glistening sur
face. Passenger-cars made of alumni
ium would be incombustible, and
would not be readily crumbled by
collisions. The ductility of aluminium
will render it the best of all possible
materials for bridges.
Pure aluminium melts and becomes
fluid at about 1920 degrees Farenheit,
and is most malleable at temperture
between 200 and 800 degrees Faren-
heit, although it can be rolled cold by
frequent annealing. In malleability
it ranks next TO gold and silver, and
may be easily drawn, its tensile
strength varying from twelve to four
teen tons to the inch. It can be ham,
mered into foil as thin as any beaten
gold-leaf and rolled into sheets of five
thousandths of an inch in thickness.
Whether the bright and beautiful
aluminium will sooner or later replace
the black and ugly iron in most of the
Iatter's uses remains to be seen.
There is aluminium in every clay bank,
in evey plain, in every mountain side,
and when it reaches cost of say 25
cents a pound it is safe to predict we
have entered upon an age of alumni
ium. q
LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS,