The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-04-20

aluminium was more abundant than any other |
metal in fact, that the stability of the crust of
the earth on which we tread is largely depen-
dent upon the strong cementing bond of alum
mum that holds the rocks and clay in such a
firm grasp that even the elements and the tooth
of time cannot destroy it. So strongly has
aluminium held all other elements in her en-
brace that it has greatly baffled the skill of the
alchemst ever since its first discovery to sepa-
rate it; e., to obtain it in state of purity from
its environments.
Sir Humphrey Davy in 1907 tried to isolate
the metal aluminium by decomposing its oxide
alumina with the electric current and while he
failed in the attempt the brilliancy Of his
thought is fully proven in the fact that now
after lapse of eighty years aluminium is being
produced commercially by the electric current.
Oerstedt in 1924 W6hler in 1897, and Deville
in 1854 each distinguished himself by his con-
tributions in isolating aluminium, and the lat
ter especially in determining many of the Won
derful properties of this peculiar metal, which
has been puzzle to all metallurgists through
all these years
Various means have been sought to extract
aluminium cheaply from the clays and rocks in
which it is found in such abundance, but, on
account of its refractory nature, without marked
success until within few months. The diff
iculty and expense of producing aluminium, to-
gether with the greater difficulty of employing
it in the arts, as it could not be cast welded, or
soldered, discouraged the employment of cap
ital in its production, and hence it was only
produced by chemists in small way a thing
of curiosity or novelty, and not of general use
in the arts
1t therefore has remained for solution of
tha difficulty of 1yorl-ipu a1umnnm paSi1y and
cheaply, to create demand for this wonderful
metal, which scientists and artisans recognized
as possessing peculiar properties that would
place it in the front rank of all metals, if sue
cessful method of working it could be devised.
PROPERTIES OF ALUMINIUM.
Among the properties that mark aluminium
are to be named its extreme lightness, being
only one-tenth the weight of platinum, one
eighth the weight of gold, and one-fourth the
weight of silver, copper, iron. Like plati-
mum and gold, it possesses the royal properties
of not oxidizing or furnishing by exposure to
the air, or being acted upon by nitric and sui
phuric acid. Unlike silver, copper, and iron,
it is not acted upon by sulphur, and hence does
not turn black like silver and copper, or red
| like iron, when exposed to sulphurated vapors.
| Aluminium is very malleable, and may be
| forged or rolled as perfectly as gold or silver.
lU is DeaUGn luGO ledScS DIS VI uucso
metals, as no other useful metal can, and is
| now largely used instead of gold and silver for
| decorating, as it is much more durable than sill
| yer, and less expensive by far than either gold
| or silver. 1t is very ductile and can be drawn
into very fine wire that by annealing becomes
| very flexible and tenacious
The tensile strength of aluminium in proper
ton to its weight is equal to steel, and by alloy
| ing steel with only small per cent. of aluminium
gives to steel double the usual tensile strength.
| AS a conductor of heat aluminium has no
| equal, taking it rapidly and parting with it
| slowly, and hence well adapted for the manu-
| facture of surveying, mathematical, and astro-
| nomica] instruments, as we'll as for watches,
| from the case to the harspring.
| 1t is susceptible to great variety of temper, by
annealing can be made soft and flexible, or by
| tempering can be made hard and rigid
Aluminium is very sonorous, having musical
metallic ring resembling silver. 1t can be used
to much better advantage than silver for plat
ing the baser metals, and may itself be beauti-
fully electroplated with gold.
APPLICATION IN THE ARTS.
In view of all these properties aluminium has
long been looked to as the coming metal that
| would take prominent place in the arts when
| ever it could be successfully worked and cheaply
produced, and hence there have been many in
ventors and thinkers engaged during the last
| quarter of century to solve these two difficult
ties in the way of its universal Introduction.
Civilization moves in cycles, epochs or ages.
In its early period there was the stone age, then
came the iron age, and now we are entering the
aluminium age, which is evolving very rapidly,
and, like evolutions generally, with acceler-
ated speed. These advances in the evolution of
man have not been accidents, but have come
along in an orderly way, and have been the
| frlitage of an aspiration of benevolent thinking
minds, seeking to alleviate the ills and enlarge
the goods to their fellow-men.
From single profession born with this CEN
tury and within the United States has come
some of the greatest blessings of the century to
the civilized world To Dr. Morton, dentist
of Boston, we are indebted for the discovery and
application of anesthetics for the alienation of
suffering in surgical operations. To Dr. Gray,
first making public the telephone, while to DR..
Carroll, dentist of Meadville, Pa belongs the
good fortune of solving the long sought prob
lem of casting, welding, and soldering aluminium
successfully, and thus rendering its use practi-
cal in the arts. This success was attained
through years of experiments with aluminium,
to supply his patients, who had been so uGfortu-
nate as to lose their teeth, with more perfect
substitute than had hitherto been devised by
his profession. The Oldest artificial denture eX-
tant was made by Philadelphia dentist for
George Washington, ndconsisted of two narrow
gold bands, bent to somewhat correspond with
the shape of the two jaws, and held against the
gums by two springs attached at the back part
of the jaw. To these bands in crude way was