The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-08-14
THE PROGRESS OF ALUMINIUM.

The aluminium house at the Chicago
Worlds Fair is setting people talking once
more about the future uses of that wonder
full metal. For half a century after its
discovery 1t remained laboratory product,
its cost being au effectual bar TO its use in
the arts or in manufacturing. But within
the past ten years the Germans have been
concentrating good deal of attention upon
the meth DDS of product z it, and they have
at last succeeded in making it. with the
aid of an electric furnace at 5000 degrees
Fahren heit, so that it can be sold for about
90 cents a pound. Of course, So long as
the best Bessemer steel can be produced
for about a cent a pound, aluminium Will
not drive the older metal cut of the market.
But the Germans are using 1t for the
stirrup-irons of their cavalry and the
water-bottes of their infantry. and in
England, thimbles. penholders. TASKS and
cups are made OF aluminium to sell at about
the same price as the steel articles.
The Chicago house is an object lesson.
It's material is so light and tough that it
can be moved with ease and without
danger Of fracture. 1t does not absorb
heat. and can be exposed to the hottest
sun without inconvenience to the inma ties.
1t is strong and lustrous; it will not rus:
or corrode; it is whittier than silver. On
the Lake of Geneva boats are being built
of aluminium which are two-thirds lighter
than iron boats, and can be driven through
the water with propoftlonately less i'm
polling power. They offer less friction to
the water than vessels of iron, steel or
wood. OF course. so long as the material
of which sucn houses and boats are con-
structed, is fifty times as dear as steel,
they cannot be brought into general mer-
camille use but it is on the cards that some
new process will be devised to make alu-
minum for less money. When Bessemer
steel was first invented it cost four times
what it does now.
Ii aluminium ever becomes available as
commercial product there will be no
limit to its uses, for it is far more abund-
ant than any metal or mineral. 1t is con-
tanned in common clay, of which it con.
stltutes one of the chief ingredients. At
present it cannot be got out OF the clay eX-
eept by burning the latter at heat four
times az great as that of the ordinary
smelling furnace, heat which cannot
easily be produced except by electricity.
But the progress of chemistry Is likely to
discover some new and cheaper process of
extraction. Some of the most alert minds
in Germany, England and this country are
concentrated on experiments with clay.
Scores of patents have already been taken
out in all countries. ANY year may wit
ness the solution Of the problem and the
creation of metal which may relegate
steel 10 the background. We may live to
see cities built of aluminium. incomb usti-
BILE, almost imperishable and so portable
that men, like Snails, may carry their
houses on their back when they change
their quarters.
One of the most striking results of the
discovery of a process to cheaper the cost
Of aluminium would De the solution of the
problem of aerial navigation. At the pres
ent hour the insuperab BILE difficulty in the
way of utilizing dirigible ballons is the
weight of the vehicle which contains the
machinery. The French and German
aeronauts have solved the problem of
driving balloon in any desired direction
even against the wind. One of their ma
chimes is now ON exhibition at Chicago.
But the weight of the body of the aerial
machine is so great that it cannot carry
anything but the engineer, aud is there
fore valueless, except perhaps for taking
observations in time of war. BY substitute
ing aluminium for steel a gain of &C per
cent in weight would be achieved without
diminishing the prOpelling force. Such an
advance in construction would naturally
direct to the subject aeronautics' minds
which now regard it as an unprofi,-
able subject of study; it would not
take long for them to improve upon NJ.
Krebs' rate of speed. which is about four
miles an hour When that was accom-
plished. mankind would not only travel on
the land and On the water, but through the
air likewise