Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-24
NARpeR THAN A DIAMOND.
Patent 10 BE Granted On . Wonderful mstalfe
Compound.

within few days the patent Office VIII
Grant title In d discovery which may fair
| ~ be considered the most remarkap,,e
| since the x-ray. 1t is a Substance i'aiu-
err than the diamond, and the inventor ~
I Moissan the French savant Whose -
! neriments in the line Of diamond making
!, Nv artificc have obtained such VIDE pun
I, Iicity. The utmost secrecy mas peen
! maintained In regard to the matter put
I inys s.egation reveals the fact that tns
| substance in question Is a carbide OF
titanium--that is to say, compoumd OF
| carbon with the metal titanium. Iheie
! can be no doubt that its production ~
quantities win revolntlonlxc many nous,
! tries where abrasives are empioyen, any
| IT NAV even he used for the cutting o.
diamonds This seems wonderful enouSn
| when ii Is considered that the diamond
/ IL the hardest thing IN nature.
4 T.tanium Is one OF the most inter SUNG
or the rare metals. II is about half as
| heavy as iron. and. like the latter. It Is
| white when perfectly pure. Chemically
Fit resembles tin. while In It's physichl
| rrope rites II liz like iron, The iamiliar
MINERAL 'rntile' is an oxide OF litaniuin,
| and is used to give the proper color 20
artticial teeth. Rutile of exceptionally
| fine quality Is found in PenDsyivanid,
where boys sometimes make business
! OF following the plough for the PURPOSE
| of picking up chunks Of II when they
| happen to be turned UP. They call me
| chunks money stones" because they are
worth about four dollHrs pound. lheS"
] humps OF rutiie are black. but make a
red mark when anything Is rubbed with
| them small quantity of the mineral
| put into the mixture for tooth-enamei
| produces the peculiar yellowfsh tint thar
eounterfeits nature 50 admirably
| Titanium has no other commercial use
than this There is none of II on the
| market In the metallic state. and prob
| ably not an ounce could be obtained at
any price by advertising for IT, Dealers
! in rare metals VIII quote you Gaiiium az
| $30o0 an ounce. rhodium at sii2 an ounce.
| ruthenium at $50 an ounce. iridium al ~.
| an ounce, osmium at 500 an ounce. ana
palladium AZ ga an ounce but they nave
| no titannm to sell because there Is no
| demand for E. and also for the reason
J that IL Is extremely difficult to separate
| from the substances with which u u
! found combined in nature. Al the same
1 time, there il no doubt that plenty OF IL
could be produced AT very moderate cost
u large demand should spring up
Though classcd rare metal. /, Is not
really such. Inasmnch as II IL a common
| impurity In iron ores.
Hitherto tlianlum has been OF interest
10 metailn1gisis chiefly as a nuisance.
rendering Iron ores refractory. Millions
Of tons 81 iron ores In Virginia and New
York state are made worthless by the
presence of FIVE or six per cent Of uta-
mum Nearly all OF the so-csillcd rare
metals are without commercial uses at
Z
laboratory. but there II no telling when
one or another OF them may turn out 10
be exceedingly valuable. Titanium has
been known for nearly century. but II
has remained for NJ. MoiSsan to discover
an employment for I, wherein II VIII be
most precious gif; 70 mankind. The Dis
tlnguish.d savanf has turned out quite
number of new and remarkable things
from his electric furnace. in which he Is
able TO subject various raw materials 10
Il temperature of $50 degrees Fahrenheit.
IN this way he made real diamonds of
small size, by fusing charcoal win
wrought iron and permitting the carbon
| to crystalline out III slow cooling.
The carbide OF tttanium was produced
In the same furnace. and doubtless IL Will
earn for It's inventor the prize OF Sieee
which was offered some time ago, by the
French academy Cor substance 10 take
the place OF the black and brown dia-
monds used In drills. Those black and
brown diamonds are not gems. but are
variety of true diamond known CONNER
cfaliy as bort" Their employment for
drills and for other similar purposes Is
~ extensive that the supply does moi
meet the demand. and the price of them
has risen enormously within the last
few years. The largest piece OF bort
, ever discovered WAS picked up in Bahia.
Brazil. "a couple of years ago II weighed
9p7S carats. and its value WAS estimated
at SIG carat. or more than si2c.0o0 for
the lump.
| mining, in digging artcsian wells. and In
| many other employmcnis. The crystals
are set around one end of steel tube,
which In revolving cuts a core out OF the
solid rock. By this means. the core be-
ing examined as Il is taken out piece by
piece. ana ore body may be explored for
hundreds OF feet without digging or blast
Ing, the degree of It's richness being as
certained with certainty. Now, presum-
ably. II will be possibly to substitute for
the diamonds a small ring of carbide of
titanium fixed upon the end of the tubu-
lar drill IL VIII be cheap. and. being
harder than the diamonds. will do the
work better. In Ike manner the new
substance will be utilized instead of dia-
monds for the saws which are now en-
pioyed for cutting hard stone. AT present
the cost of cutting agatized wood into
sla BIS suitable for table and other such
purposes is great but IL will rot he so
when the cheap carbide of titanium takes
the place of diamonds.
Thin circular disks of steel several feet
in diameter are set with CRYSTALS of
bort around the edges, forming oircu-
lar saws of great power which will cut
through large blocks of HARD stone cas-
lily. Sometimes. however. the saws are
straight blades OF iron, set with black
diamonds in like fashion which are
drawn back and forth. For all such saws
a continuous strip of carbide of ttanium
viii take the place of the diamond. 1t
may be anticipated that NJ. Moissans dis
coyery will cause big drop in the price
of bort" which for long time past has
been exported from Bahia at the rate OF
50.oc0 carats a year. this being the great
est source of supply. AT the same time.
the discovery of SO cheap and effective an
abrasive will have a great influence on
many trades. lessening the cost of yari-
Gus commercial processes.
Abou. 100000 watches with jcwelled
works are manufactured annually in the
United States, requiring 100000 jewels
or from seven to twenty-one for each
watch. OF these 100000 are rubies and
sapphires while the remaining 70oO 900
are garnets. the whole being valued at
over 3.0000Do. Most of them are import
ed. They are used as bearing because
they do not wear out. being so hard. In
the same way and for the same reason
similar gems are employed as knife-edgcs
for delicate balances. For these purposes
ii seems likely that carbide of titanium
will be utilized in future. being cheaper
and enduring more wear on account of
its superior hardness. 1t is even possible
that the new substance will take the
place of the diamond in glass-cutting.
NJ Moissan has been engaged for a
number of years in trying to earn that
prize of $4,000 offered by the French
academy. He tried combination of Dor
ic acid and sugar in his electric furnace
al one time, and obtained from them
substance of extraordinary hardness
which he imagined would prove a salts
factory substitute for black diamonds.
IL.