The record-union., 1891-03-05
THE CosThIEsT OF METALS.
Reasons Why Platinum is in Good De
mand at $40 an Ounce.

mand at SEQ an Ounce.
"What do you suppose is the most eX-
pensive part of those incandescent cleo
trio lamps which we see burning in that
show-window? asked an electrician re-
Gently.
''You would naturally suppose it would
be the glass bulb, or perhaps the brass
fitting for screwing il into the socket, but
you would be wrong. Those two little
pieces Of platinum wire, so fine that you
can hardly perceive them, which pass
through the glass stem up in the base of
the lamp, to which the fine carbon fila
ment is attached, enter more greatly into
the cost than any other part Of these now
almost indispensable electric lamps.'
why don't they use some other metal
than platinum for this wire? ?''
Because platinum is the only metal in
which the expansion and contraction are
the same as in glass, and a great fortune
awaits the man who can produce a cheap
metal or alloy in which this valuable
property of platinum can be preserved.
You probably know that vacuum must
be maintained in these incandeScent lamp
bulbs, or the carbon filament would burn
out and become destroyed the instant the
electric current is turned on. Therefore
the reason for using the platinum wire
for running through the glass is because
unequal expansion between the glass
and wire would either crack the glass or
create space about the wire, and, even
though infinitely minute, the air would
find its way in and destroy the carbon.
1.-THE cost of platinum at the present
market price in London is $40 per ounce,
or about the same as gold, and the
amount used for this purpose alone has
grown to be enormous. This demand,
together with the increased cost of pro-
duction, has caused the price to advance
about 160 per cent. in eighteen months
In each l6-candle power lamp there are
from four to eight grains of platinum. If
six grains are taken as an average one
ounce will be used in eighty lamps.
Based on the increased use of incandes-
cent lights within the last two years, it is
safe to state that the demand for 16-candle
power lamps, or their equivalent, in the
year 1891 will be l0,000,000. This means a
demand for 1851 600 ounces of platinum,
which, at the present price, will amount
to considerably over S2,000,000 for this
item alone.
''The history of platinum continued
the electrician, sis quite as interesting as
its qualities are remarkable. During the
sixteenth century it was found with gold
in the Darien mines, but the Spanish
Government, which controlled the mines,
did not make known the discovery of
this new white metal as it was found to
be good material with which to adulter-
ate gold. The deposits of platinum in
the Ural Mountains, whence the supply
is mostly drawn, We're discovered in 1882.
and have been worked in connection
with gold mines by the Russian Govern
ment 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 producing the
other metal increased.
"A well-known chemist says that with
out platinum crucibles, which share the
infusibility Of porcelain with the chemi-
cal inertness OF those of gold, the compo-
sition of most metals could not have been
ascertained, and chemistry could not have
come to its present level. Very few peo-
pie in this country are probably aware
that pure platinum has ever been coined
II was coined by Russia, however, as late
| as 1864, at which time it had been put into
circulation to the value of over s., ,0O0, ,0OO."
= IVaSiti31gton Post