Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-01-03
THE cosrLIEsr OF COMMON. METALS
Reasons Why Platinum is in Good Demand
at $50 an Ounce.


What do you suppose is the most ex-
pensive part of those incandescent cleo
trio lamps which we see burning in that
shop Window" asked an electrician yes
terday.
"You would naturally suppose it
would be the glass bulb, or perhaps the
brass fitting for screwing it 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
through the base OF the lamp, TO which
the fine carbon flament is attached, en-
ter more greatly into the cost than any
other part of these now almost indispen-
sable 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 great
fortune awaits the man who can pro-
duce 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
filiment would burn out and become
destroyed the instant the electric cur
rent is turned on. Therefore the rea-
son for using the platinum wire for run
ming through the glass is because I'M
equal expansion between the glass and
wire would either crack the glass or
create space about the wire, and,
inf tnl min
would find its way in and destroy the
carbon.
1.-The cost OF platinum at the present
market price In London Is $50 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 100 per cent. in eighteen months.
In each sixteen-candle power lamp
there are from four 10 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 incandescent lights within the
last two years, it is safe TO state that the
demand for siXteen-candle power lamps,
or their equivalent, in the year 1891
will be 10000, 900. This means n de-
mand for l25. 900 ounces of platinum,
which, at the present price, will amount
TO considerably over $1,000, 900, for this
item alone.
The history of platinum" continued
the electrician, ais quite as interesting
as its qualities are remarkable. During
the sixteenth century 1t was found with
gold in the Darien mines, but the Span
ish Government, which controlled the
mines, did not make known the discov-
cry CT the new white metal, as it was
found TO be good material with which
tor adulterate gold. The deposits of
platinum in the Ural mountains, whence
the supply is mostly drawn, were dis
covered about 1922, and have been
worked in connection with gold mines
by the Russian Government since 1928.
Owing to the large supply of gold the
platinum for a long time was sold
cheaply, but with the growing scarcity
of gold the cost of producing the other
metal increased.
"A well-knOwn chemist says that
without platinum crucibles, which share
the infuSibility OF porcelain with the
chemical inertness of those Of gold, the
composition of most metals could not
have been ascertained, and chemistry
could not have come TO its present level.
Very few people in this country are
probably aware that pure platinum has
even been coined. 1t was coined by
Russia, however, as late as 1864, at
which time it had been put into circula-
ton to the value of over $1,000, 600"