Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
THE ACE OF AL UMINIUM.
Speculations Concerning the Future Use
of This Wonderful Metal

Have we really entered upon the age
of aluminium? asks the Philadelphia
Press. As it is we'll known. aluminium
is the most abundant of all the metals
on the earths crust. and ever since its
discovery almost every leading metan-
urgist and chemist has been working
to find a cheap process for reducing it.
In large measure they have succeed
ed. Only a few years ago this metal
cost more than gold. Today, thanks
to the enterprise of Americans, it has
been reduced to the price. block for
block, of nickle. AT 81 per pound
aluminium is cheaper metal to use
than nickel. 1t is nearly four times
lighter than nickle, and will 90 there
fore nearl y four times as far.
Aluminium has only been on the
market in commercial way for about
year. In that time the applications
to which this metal can be economically
put have been found to be so numerous
that the Press predicts its introduction
will mark a great step in the advance
of human progress. Aluminium at %
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 adaptability
to ship-building becomes at once APP
parent. 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 I'M
heard-of fancy in describing how
Tightly the silver ships rode the blue
pillows" Seriously, there is a posi-
bility 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 yes
sells. 1t is impossible to get engine
power sufficient to obtain more than
twenty miles an hour. 1t has been es-
timated 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 highly polished
noncorrosive substance, it would hare
less than one-third the draught and
be propelled with the same engine
power at double the speed which char
acterizes the iron-built steamships of
the present day.
Commenting on this matter, the
London Spectator in recent issue said
editorially: 1T is calculated that
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. Prac-
tically, then, the light metal would
treble or quadruple the number of
miles of navigable rivers in the world,
and we should think. nothing of YES
sells crossing the Atlantic in seventy
two hours"
What boon to humanity this change
would be. Houses can be built of al
umininm, and, as this metal never
rusts and is as fire proof as iron, a
house constructed of it would not only
survive great conhagration, 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.
Pure aluminium melts and becomes
fluid at about 1.200 degrees Fahrenheit,
and is most malieaDle at temperature
between 200 and 800 degrees Fahren-
heit, although it can be rolled cold
with frequent annealing. In MALE
ability 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. 1t 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 al
minimum will sooner or later replace
the black and ugly iron in most of the
latter's uses remains to be seen. There
is aluminium in every clay-bank. in ev-
cry plain, in every mountain side and
When it reaches Il cost of say 20 cents
pound it is safe to predict that we
shall have entered on an age of alumni