The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-11-21
ALUMINIUM AND ITS USES.
What the White Metal is and Where it
Comes From.

ALUMINIUM AND ITS USES.
What the White Metal is and Where it
Comes From.
There is talk of an aluminium age now.
There are many uses for which the white
metal which weighs so little and yet
any one who has not kept in touch
with science of late years. From use
in making flying white yacht to uphold
the honor of American ship building,
aluminium has been turned to account
in such widely different business as that
of dentistry, and plates for the teeth are
now often made of it. The prospects of
a suspension bridge, something more
elaborate and grand than anything the
world has ever seen, are only limited
by the still high price of the product.
1t is said to be the intention of the prin-
cipal company now engaged in its pro-
duction to make it much cheaper. Then
there will be found manifold uses for
aluminium, and more still for it's numer-
GUS alloys that the world, so far, little
dreams of.
The oil cups for the crank pins of the
high speed engines of all the principal
railways are made from it. Some of the
S-foot drivers of the Philadelphia and
Reading railway locomotives broke as
many as one or two of these cups a day,
which were formerly made of copper,
when making speed trials. BY the use
of aluminium the weight of the cup was
reduced two-thirds, and the centrifugal
force being reduced the new cups are
able to stand the strain of the immense
momentum. The Paris, the st. Louis
and all other fine big ships have alumni
um fittings now and orders have been
sent in lately for the air ports and dead
light covers for the three gunboats build
ing at Newport News to be made of
aluminium. Bicycles with parts that
must be strong, yet light, are made of this
metal The strength of the bicycle made
with aluminium is increased, while their
weight remains the same by the use
of aluminium, for the aluminium bars per-
nit of a greater size and solidity while
the size of the bars and parts remains
the same as if made of steel.
]. G. Mcclure, the consulting engin-
eer of the Pittsburg Reduction company,
says that the newest use of aluminium is
to make the metal part of cartridges.
This allows a soldier to carry fully 20
per cent more ammunition and makes
the science of war so much more deadly
In Germany two out of ten army corps
have been entirely equipped with alum
mum, even down to the buttons on the
soldiers clothes and the pegs in their
shoes, and two other corps are in pro-
cess of being similarly equipped. Bag.
gage checks, the numbers on conductors
caps and the metal work of fremen's
helmets are some of the uses of like
nature to which aluminium has been put
in this country, and one great danger mas
been reduced to a minimum through the
employment of aluminium IN the manu-
facture of powder. Aluminium gives out
no sparks.
Mr.. Mcclure says that some twenty
five tons of aluminium are used every
month in the manufacture OF cooking
utensils in this country alone; "A lot
eiqn note of interest is that the French
Government has just accorded permits
sion to the railway officials in France
to use aluminium for all iron and copper
ma rts of their carriages with the exception
of springs, wheels and couplers.
There is one use to which aluminium
has been put that is surprise to those
who have not kept in full touch with the
march of progress in the hthograpmc
trade. and that is the use of the soft
white metal to replace the big stones that
were the sole reliance of the picture max
ers who wised to produce soft, flowing
effects. until zinc came into use. 1t it
were not for the use of zinc, aluminium
would have created q revolution. AS
il is, it's use in TYPOGRAPHY is only more
or less of a fad. Aluminium is consid-
cred to be about equal to zinc for this
purpose, as it will give about the same
effects. The difference in the cost &c.
tween the use of aluminium and that OF
a photographic stone can be appreciated
when it is said that stone often weighs
about 800 pounds, while block or sheet
of aluminium will not weigh over two or
three pounds. And lithographing stones
have to be imported into this country.
Aluminium is made from beauxite,
which is the hydrated oxide of aluminium.
The clay from which it used to be made
is silicate of aluminium, and it is the
presence of silicon, which is costly to
remove, that makes the aluminium such
n high priced metal when made from
clay. By preference the oxide is used,
which contains only a small percentage
of such impurities as islicon and iron.
The clay is q silicate of aluminium.
Beauxite is an oxide of aluminium into
which silicon enters only as an impurity.
Beauxite was first found at BeauX, on
the Mediterranean, and large quantities
of it are now found in the south of
France and in Ireland, as well as in the
States of Texas, Arkansas, Georgia and
Alabama in this country.
Aluminium is preceded in the relative
malleability of metals only by gold and
silver, and in ductility by gold, silver,
platinum, iron, soft steel and copper.
Aluminium of over SO per cent purity is
rolled into sheets of only five to seven
of an inch in thickness,
and such sheets are hammered into leaf
nearly as thin as any gold leaf can be
beaten. Aluminium leaf is largely used
n decorative work, and on account of
is relative cheapness and non-tarnishiDg
Qualities, has almost entirely suppressed
ID the use of silver leaf. Aluminium
eaf is ground up into powder and used
.or the pigment of decorative paint,
,alled by the trade aluminium bronze
paint"
The extreme ductility of aluminium
makes it one Of the readiest metals to
work under the rolls. Rolled sheet al
minimum of one-thousandth of an inch in |
hichness is readily used for beating into |
eaf for decorative purposes. 1t is best |
o roll the larger ingots hot, i. e., at a low |
heat, though the metal is often |
oiled cold into thin sheets from ingots |
# an inch to an inch and a half in |
thickness. Aluminium becomes hard and |
oses it's ductility under rolling sooner
han either steel, brass. or copper, and
therefore, requires more frequent anneal- |
ne during the process. Aluminium can