The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-21
MAKING PRECIOUS STONES.
Edison Produces Rubies, But Has Not
Mastered the Diamond.

MI. Edison is not alone experimenting
with the base metals like iron and steel,
which he says after all are the precious
metals, being more valuable than gold
and silver, which are of little practical
use. He can make gems and precious
stones. Rubies he has made in large
quantities. Mr.. Edison does not propose
to flood the market with emeralds and
rubies, nor demoralize the jewelry trade
by selling Kohinoors for quarter. He
manufacturers his precious stones for
use and not for ornament. The way he
was led into this was by following his
policy of seeking a cheaper substance
which would do the work as well as the
one he was using. For a long time he
had been paying large prices for sapphires
from Ceylon, to be used in the bearings
of monographs and other machines, like
Jewels put into watches to reduce the
friction and last a long time. 1t oc-
Cured to him that science, that fruitful
mother of invention which answers to
the call of NECESSITY, ought to be able
some equally hard, but cheaper sub
stance. So he went into an analysis OF
the different precious stones, which are
the hardest things known. Only the
diamond puzzled him. He could make
nothing out of it but pure carbon. He
said yesterday that a diamond was moth
ing but crystallized lamp black, but he
how it was made Then Mr.. Edison
tackled rubies, sapphires and emeralds,
and he succeeded in resolving
them into their original elements.
He discovered how they were
made, and he straightway proceeded to
make them. He began to turn out
rubies by the pound.
here said Mr. Edison. "As they were
only for commercial use did not color
them, but aside from the color they
were rubies to all intents and purposes,
having exactly the same chemical ele-
ments as the natural stones. Nobody
suspected them until some one detected
the fact that they contained bubble
that differed in shape from the bubble
in the natural stone. Then an investiga-
tion followed, and it was found that they
were all turned out by a syndicate in
Paris where the manufacture of rubles
had come to be a regular trade. I'M
derstand that Tiffany, in New York, was
deceived by them, and has large guam
titles, for all of which the money had to
be refunded. The dealers came back on
the Paris manufacturers and made them
disgorge some of their profits"
"Can you make diamonds and emer-
alds?n
II believe it would be possible to make
the emerald as easily as the ruby, but
not the diamond Nobody knows how
diamond is made. 1t is a mystery.
Diamonds, however, are of no use except
for their cutting qualities, and the black
diamond, which is not used for ornament
but is more valuable than the white or
clear diamond is harder than the latter,
more valuable and more costly. 1t
would be great thing to be able to
make black diamonds. See how they
could be used in rock drills, which
would then bee ONE cheaper and effect a
great economy in mining and engineer
ing works There is no known substance
that is SO hard as the black diamond.
When they want to cut white diamond
they get black diamond to do it with. u
Mr. Edison was asked if it would not pay
some clever chemical inventor to devote.
his time, as did the ancient alchemists,
to trying to find a way to make gold and
precious stones He replied that there
would be little money in it.-New York
World.