The silver star., 1897-10-28
HARDER THAN a DIAMOND.
A French Chenists Disoovsry Of . New
Kind Of Crystal

snon Chenists Discovery Of New
Kind Of Crystal.
Henri Moissan. the distinguished
french chemist who created q sensa-
llon few years ago by producing
small white diamonds in his electric
furnace, Is now credited with another
interesting achievement, says the New
fork Tribune. This latter piece Of
work while perhaps not quite 90 star
Ting as the other. will probably prove
OF more practical benefit to mankind
and hence source of greater revenue
to M. Moissan.
Hitherto the diamond has been con-
sidered the hardest thing in nature.
The closest approach to 1t, until recent
~, was made by the ruby. Something
halfway between them, in this respect,
was discovered only two or three years
ago by e. G. Acheson of Pittsburg, who
was experimenting with an electric
furnace for an entirely different pur-
pose. He. too, was trying to make
artificial jewels, and succeeded in get
ting lot of small crystals which were
neither diamonds nor rubies, but were
harder than the latter. They were
composed of sixty-nine parts Of silica
and thirty-one parts of carbon. Tech
nically the substance is carbide of
sliicon.' The discoverer, however gave
to 1t the name carborundum. and is
now manufacturing about two tons of
1t daily at Niagara Falls for chemical
purposes. 1t is used for the same pur-
pose as emery.
Moissan's new product il carbide of
the rare metal titanium. The proper
materials having been deposited in a
small crucible made of lime, an electric
current OF large volume and low volt
age Is turned on, temperature Of 4. 900
or 5000 degrees Fahrenheit is devel-
oped. and then the stuff is allowed to
cool. The resulting crystals are said
to be harder than diamonds, which now
take the second place. Carborundum
comes next and the ruby drops to the
fourth rank.
The carbide Of titanium is as much
harder than earborundum as carborun-
dunn is harder than emery. The latter
two are only good for abrasive service;
that is. they are employed only for
grinding and polishing other very hard
substances. 1t is probable that car
bide of titanium will have much more
extensive use. There are many rock
cutting drills which consist Of a tube,
In one edge Of which are embedded
brown or black diamonds M. Mois-
sans new product will be both cheaper
and more efficient than these. 1t may
also be substituted for real jewels in
watches, delicate balances and in other
mechanism where small bits of partic-
ularly hard material are needed as
bearings. The discoverer has applied
for patents on his invention In this
country as well as Europe, and 1t is
thought probable that the French aca-
deny will award him a certain 81, 1000
prize offered some time ago for a sat
isfactory substitute for black diamonds
Titanium. when pure, is white, and
about half as heavy as iron. II Is al
most impossible to buy any because
there is no demand, and consequently
no production. However, 1t is not SO
very scarce. An oxide of titanium,
found in the form of small black stones
that give red mark. is picked up in
some newly plowed fields in Pennsyl-
vania and sells for "a a pound. The
metal is frequently found in combina-
tion with iron. but hitherto has been
regarded as nuisance. because 1t rem
ders an ore refractory. A recent writ
er says: Millions Of tons of iron ore
in Virginia and New York are made
worthless by the presence of or per
cent Of titanium."