Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-11-24
SAYS HE HAS SOLVED
THE ALCHEMISTs' RIDDLE
ANTIM0NY THE RAW MATERIAL
EXPECTS TO PRODUCE BRICKS
WORTH sI3,4oO NEXT SATURDAY..
Process Requires Four Days and In
tense Heat Is u Prominent Feat
ure of It-Inventor Has
Worked 20 Years on
His Scheme.

. Chicago. Nov. 23.-If the predictions of z.
c. Brice and those associated with him in
the National Metallurgical Company are
verified he will on Saturday next have
demonstrated that he has solved the al
chemists riddle and holds in his hands the
secret of transmitting the baser metals into
pure gold. 80
Yesterday at the company's plant, Thirty
ninth street and Lowe avenue. the process
was begun which is expected to result on
Saturday in a harvest of sl3,40o worth of
gold 1,GOO fine from an original product of
antimony and lead worth only $50. The
cost of the labor engaged in the work will
bring the entire cost of the process up to
about $500.
The distinctive feature of the process is
the destructive distiIlation of the metal an
timony by intensely heated atmospheric
oxygen. The crude metal is first subjected
to an intense heat, then antimony is
carried through a tunnel los feet in length
into series of iron pipes 600 feet long, and
elected into steel building provided with
bags for collecting the, resultant oxide.
which is collected on a cloth with the nap
on the inside. The product is shaken into
receiving bags, nodded into blocks. and
then submitted to a temperature of 5000 de-
grees Fahrenheit for forty-eight hours.
Then comes the smelling or refining process.
which lasts sixteen hours. from which re-
suits the gold and silver to the amount of
s2,6S0 ton. The process requires four
days.
Mr.. Brice who is a metallurgical chemist
has devoted many years TO the study of this
problem and says the present process is no
experiment, as he has cOnclusively proved
on smaller scale the success of his theory.
The plant cost $4,000.
According to one of Mr.. Brice's acquaint-
ances, it is now twenty years since Mr..
Brice, who is now IS years old, became
weary of the old methods of getting gold
and began to look for some way to man.
ufacture it. After much study he was
struck with the fact that antimony always
contains minute quantities of silver and
gold. From that fact he struck out the
theory that antimony was the result of an
arrested process, and that if the process
could be discovered and resumed the anti
mony would all turn to silver and gold.
MIR. Brice hit on his theory by accident.
He was in Washington in 1879, and had a
little laboratory in which he was trying
all sorts of metallurgical experiments. On
one occasion some melted antimony was
spilled on the furnace CRATE. and. after be-
Ing there day or two, was examined and
found to contain more gold than in a nat
ural state. This suggested the theory that
1t was heat that would convert antimony
was necessary.
Mr.. Brice became so possessed with this
idea that he went to Italy to study vol
canic heat at the crater of vesuvius Hav-
ing satisfied himself that volcanic heat
was 5000 or 5000 degrees. he came back to
Washington, invented and patented 4 fur
and resumed his experiments. He salts
fled himself that he was on the right track.
but three years ago his factory was burned
and he transferred his field of operations
to Chicago.
In this city Mr.. Brice had small fac
tory at Wentworth avenue and Fortieth
turned antimony into gold. But the plant
was not large enough. so the National Met
allurgical Company was organized. the
stock being divided into $500 shares at par
The company leased some plain factory
buildings at the southwest corner of Lowe
avenue and Thirty-ninth street. one block
west of Wallace street. and turned them
into the gold factory plant. which started
up yesterday morning. Mr.. Brice, wearing
blue jeans Jacket and overalls and face
expressive of honesty and cheerfulnesS, had
to be dragged out Of his arcanum to be
interviewed concerning his work.
For fear somebody might corner the an
mountain of it out in Utah, and now has
ten teams hauling it to the depot to be
shipped to the gold factory in Chicago.
laid down in the factory. 500 ton. and
that from each ton of the antimony ore
he makes just s.. $50 in gold. The amount of
gold he can make in a day depends on the
number of furnaces he runs. and as he has
four he estimates his output at $1,000
worth Of gold day.
gun. A good lot of antimony dust was
manufactured and n few bricks pressed.
But it will be next Friday before the doors
of the volcanic furnace are opened and
$4,000 worth of gold bricks are taken out.
However. a volcanic furnace is not neces-
sary for the manufacture of a small piece
pilment to a newspaper reporter. took up
little of his antimony dust, heated it in a
stewpan and presented him with a S15 mug
get of silver and gold.
Mr.. Brice was cautioned by his visitors
yesterday that he was tamperng with the
foundations of the universe by trying to
demonetize gold. but he only smiled He
was also told that he was saving OFF the
limb he sat on. as he would be pauperized
along with the rest. But while he admitted
that the days of gold We're numbered he
said he hoped to make a lot of it and turn
it into something else before the crash
came. He was told that the crash would
he said he was safely intrenched behind
the public incredulity.
Mr.. Brice said his discovery was not to be
confounded with the alleged discovery of
DIR. Emmons, who tried to Sell it to the gov
ernment. DIR. Emmons' scheme was to make
said he had never offered his discovery to
the government. but that he had expert
enced trouble with the government in get
ting his patents. and in consequence of the
experiments which the government made
before the patents were granted.
Robert w: Hunt. of Robert W. Hunt &.
Co.. yesterday explained the experiment
which he conducted last spring for Mr..
Brice, He said Mr.. Brice got him to try an
experiment with antimony which would
produce gold. but not in mercantile ouanti-
ties.
Under Mr.. Brice's directions. Mr.. Hunt
chemically pure .and made tests of his own
which proved it. He then followed Mr.
Brice's directions. and the result was a
quantity of gold equal to So per ton.
Mr.. Hunt offered no explanation of the
phenomenon. but intimated that he did not
believe In Mr.. Brice's discovery.
BOSTON MAYORALTY CONTEST.