The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-10-16
ALUMINIUM.
The New Metal and it's Possibilities-1ts
Adaptation to Important Uses.

The New Metal and its Possibilities-1ts
Adaptation to Important Uses.
aluminium, aside from its lightness
and strength, is malleable, ductile does
not rust. is as beautiful rs silver, and is
much more abundant in its state than
any metal i'll use. Covolite. or Iceland
spar. is the mineral from which it has
been mostly obtained. but it is a con-
stituent of clay and of other eartbs,
and prevails almost everywhere. The
statement has been made that it CON-
poses more than a twentieth part of
the crust of the globe. The difficulty
Is to secure it in pure state at
moderate cost. Much has yet to be
learned also as to the methods of using
it. and there remains some doubt rs to
its adaptation tocertain important uses.
But within the last half-century its
cost has been reduced from over thirty
dollars pound to less than three dol
lars, and is now being put to prac-
teal use as an alloy. Recently a
series of tests to determine the virtues
of aluminium bronze was made by gov
ernment naval officers ut the Water
town Massachusetts, Arsenal. A ten
sile strength of 10000 pounds to the
square inch was shown, which is large
Iy in excess of anything before devel-
oped. The trlnverse strength of the
composite metal was found to be $500
pounds to the square inch-a result
that has been only c1ualled by the
finest quality Of crucible steel.
There are busy brains and hands
Stantly of xrnrl- tn ra1i,f.n bo
pense of manufacturing the pure metal;
and as the incentive to success is very
powerful. their labors are not likely to
be discontinued. Its capabilities, SOON
er or later, are very sure to be eX-
haustively tested. If they prove as
satisfactory as there is reason to hope
they will. and the laboratory processes
give way to mill production at low
cost, Il wonderful revolution in works
o. construction will have been entered
upon. How far in the future the de-
sired end may be there is no telling
Remove two-thirds of its own weight,
without diminution of strength, from
the vast structure that connects New
York and Brooklyn. and its effective
ness for service. provided room were
supplied, would be correspondingly in
creased. Bridges of aluminum-sup-
posing always its qualities are truly
represented--could be thrown across
streams and ravines to span which is
now impossible. The capacity of
steamships would be similarly enlarged.
Not only would cargoes take the
place of the lesser weight of the body
of the vessels, but also of that of their
machinery. Enough coal could be
stored to indefinitely lengthen voyages
without fresh supplies. The cost of
transportation would be lowered in
many ways, foreseen and unforeseen,
and speed and safety increased as well.
The calculations of competent eu-
gineers~ as to the advantages to be =
gained would produce showing diff
cult of belief at first. The Eiffel Tow
er as constructive feat would sink in
to insigniicance. The field for archi-
tcctural advance would be all but un-
limited. Air navigation would leap
forward with bound-if feasible at
all-when its great desideratum. ma
terial combining strength and light
ness III degree never known before,
or even approximated, had been Sc
cured. Street-cars, wagons, carriages,
ETC., would be improved. and save i'm
menscly in draught power and wear
and tear. Machines and instruments
would partake in the benefits of the
change and new ones invented that
are now unthought of. These are but
suggestions which experts in each
particular branch of mechanics can
seize the meaning of and amplify.
Should the reasonable hopes of the
aluminium workers be realized, man
kind would seem to have been emanci-
pated from burden of heavy material
which it had been wrestling with for
ages. and posterity would talk of the
unSpeakable waste of human energy
that had been involved in the use of
iron.
There is an aesthetic side to the pros
pect as well us material one. AlGmi-
mum not only does not rust. either In
air or water. but is easily polished.
Transform in Imagination the elevated
roadways of New York. the ratings
and balconies before the houses or
even the houses themselves, the lamp
posts the roofs, spires. and domes. the
Brooklyn and other bridges, to bur-
nished silver, and glimpse may be
had of the coming effect of aluminium
in our cities indicated by the qualities
now claimed for it. The like has not
been pictured since Saint John spoke
of the golden streets and pearlv gates
Wright, IN Harper's Weekly.