The record-union., 1891-04-26
ALUMINIUM.

| The economic production of aluminium
progresses with great rapidity. It seems
but yesterday that this metal. light as pa
| per, tenacious as iron, almost as elastic as
steel, and resisting oxydization almost as
well as gold, cost SO pound; and now it
promises to fall to 81, it having reached
81 70 already, and many believe it will go
down, under the new discoveries in the
process of producing it, to 25 cents.
If it reaches a cheap figure aluminium
will be potential factor in the advance
Of the mechanic arts. At present its use
is mainly confined to production of fancy
| articles, for which brass and German sill
yer have been used heretofore, such as
plaques, match-boxes, clock cases, etc.
1t is to some extent used for vessels to
hold acidulated waters, and it is begin
ming to be used for household utensils in
place of timed copper and granite ware.
A great value of the metal is in its nom
poisonous character and its resistance to
the action of acids. 1t is well known that
many physical ills are due to antimony,
arsenical, cuprous and other salts which
go into our food from vessels in which it
! is cooked.
! A cubic inch of aluminium weighs one
tenth of pound. It is therefore but one
| fourth the weight of silver. It can be
rolled, beaten, drawn, engraved and bur-
nished as well as brass. 1t melts at 200
degrees Fahrenheit. 1t is not difficult to
introduce il into the manufacture of steel,
and one of the Government cruisers is
now under construction with steel armor
plate, with one-fourth of one per cent.
aluminium to increase its strength and
toughness.
An advantage Of aluminium is its ca
pacity to cover surfaces. Thus, as coat
ing it greatly outlasts tin, and for equal
weights will cover three times the sur
face, so that if it falls to fifty cents
pound it can compete with tin at sixteen
cents, and outstrip nickel at seventy
cents pound. At the Pittsburg works
pure aluminium is produced so as to sell
at S2 a pound. At Joplin, Mo-, process
of manufacture is claimed that will en-
| able it to be put upon the market at 81 25.
a Brooklyn inventor claims to have
| discovered a process reducing the cost of
production to five cents pound, but
this is probably an extravagant claim.
From Germany comes news of process
that viii make the cost but half of that at
the Pittsburg works.
In the production Of aluminium the cost
is mainly in the process, for since it is ex-
tracted from clay the supply of the base
is inexhaustible. When the cheap pro-
cess is discovered, the metal will take a
first place almost Immediately, and there
will be such revolution in metal manu-
features as only the few now contemplate.
In the Seattle Post IntetIigencer, S. G.
Dewsnap, manufacturing expert, tells
| of experiments he witnessed recently at
smelling works in Kentucky. Com
mon clay was taken, and with copper ore
| and corrosive plates, by charging them
with coke in water-jacket blast furnace,
the aluminium in the clay was reduced,
and an aluminium bronze was formed.
This was heated to given temperature,
when semi-huid squeezed out by the con-
traction of the copper in sudden cooling.
This process was repeated until no more
would exude. The metal was then re-
| fined and cast into bars. The affinity of
| the metal for iron and copper makes the
residue from the reduction of
great value, because it is found
that a combination between the COM
bined aluminium and iron, cast or
wrought, is possiblein an ordinary cupola
| furnace, and can then be worked hard
enough to cut glass, or soft enough to
| double on itself without breaking, and
yet to have double the tensile strength
| of wrought steel. Mr.. Dewsnap says
81 saw bar of iron cast of 'Schmied-
| eighths and eight inches long, drawn out
under the hammer to length of thirty
inches and then bent point to heel and it
| sprung back almost straight. A piece of
cast bar an inch square was drawn out
into button hook. A piece of the same
metal shows for tensile strength 2S5, 900
pounds to the square inch and the bar
! was not broken. / also saw number of
bars with every possible article forged
out of one end or welded on and yet they
We're not broken. A bar with one end
burned off in blacksmith's fire was cut
| into pieces and to one of these common