The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-04
cos1LIEsr OF COMMON METALS.
Reasons Why Platinum Is in Good De
mand at $50 an ounce.

Reasons why platlnum lS IN GOOd Oe-
mand at $50 az ounce.
From the Washin 0ton Post
"What do you suppose is the most ex-
pensive part of those incandescent electric
lamps which we see burning in that shop
window % asked an electrician yesterday.
"You would naturally suppose it would
be tne glass bulb, or perhaps the brass 1T
ting for scfewing it into the socket, but
YOU would be wrong. Those TWO little
pieces # platinum wire, so fine that you
can hardly perceive them, which pass
through the glass stem up Ill the base of the
lamp, to which the fine carbon filament is
attached enter more greatly into the cost
t an any other part of these now almost
indispensable electric lamps"
WAY do It they use some other metal
than platinum for this wires"
''Because platinum is the only metal in
which the expansion and contraction are
the same as in glass. and great fortune
awaits the man who can produce cheap
metal or alloy in which this valuable prop
erty of platinum can be preserved. You
probably kno that vacuum must bemain-
tanned in these iucandescent lamp bulbs, or
the carbon fllament would burn out and be-
come destroyed the instant the electric cur
rent IS turned on. Therefore the reason for
using the platinum wire for running
through the glass is because unequal expan-
sion between the glass and wire "ould either
crack the glass or C cate space abo 1t the
wire, and, even though infinitely minute,
the air would fad its way In and destroy
the carbon.
"The cost Of platinum at the present
market price in London is so per ounce, or
alb ut the same as gold. and the amount
used for this purpose alone has grown TO ba
enormous This demand, together with th'
increased cost of production, uas caused the
price to advance about 160 per cent.
| eighteen months. In each sixtee ,-candlC
| power lamp there are from four to eigh
grains of platinum. IL six grains are taken
| as an average, one ounce will be ed II
eighty lamps. Based on the increased use
of incandescent lights within the lat two
years, it is safe to STATE at the demand FOL
| sixteen DO { or lamps. or their equivalent, II
! the year 1891 will 20 100000. This means
a demand for 1885, 900 ounces Of platinum
! which. at the present price, will amount
| to considerably over 81, 600, 900 for this item
| alone.
| "rhe history Of platinum" Continued the
! electrician, sis quite as interesting as 1T
| qualities are remarkable. During the SIX
| tenth century it was found with gold II
| the Darien mines, but the Spanish govern
meut. which co itrolled the mines, did moi
make known the discovery OF this new
white metal, as il was found to be gooc
material with which to adulterate gold. The
deposits Of platinum in the Ural mountains
whence the supply is mostly drawn, wer'
discovered about 1882, and have beer
worked, n connection with I'D mines, by
the Russian government since 1923. Owing
to the large yield of gold, the platinum was
for long time sold cheaply, but, with the
growing scarcity of gold. the cost Of pro
| ducing the other metal increased.
"a well-known chemist says that without
platinum crucibles, which share the infnsi
| bility of porcelain with the chemical inert
ness of those of gold, the composition o
most metals could not have been ascer
tanned, and chemistry could not have conn
TO its present level. Very few people IL
this cou TRY are probably aware that pure
maximum has ever been coined. 1t wa
| coined by Russia, however, as late as 1864
| at which time it had been put into circuia
tion to the value Of over S2,O00,00O.