The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-27
HARDER THAN A DIAMOND.
Patent to he Granted On n Wonder
full Metallic Compound.
From the Sd. Louis Globe pemocrat.

L
| From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
| Washington, D. C.-Wlthin a
few days the patent office
| will grant title in discov-
cry which may fairly be considered the
most remarkable since the xray. 1t is
| most remarkable since the X rays. 1t is
a substance harder than the diamond, and
| the inventor is Moissan, the French saw
ant, whose experiments in the line of dia-
matchmaking by artifce have obtained
| such wide publicity. The utmost secrecy
has been maintained in regard to the mat
| ter, but investigation reveals the fact
that the substance in question Is a carbide
of titanium-that is to say, a compound
of carbon with the metal titanium. There
can be no doubt that it's production in
quantities will revolutionize many indus
tries wherein abrasives are employed,
and it may even be used for the cutting
of diamonds. This seems wonderful
enough when 1t is considered that the
diamond is the hardest thing in nature.
Titanum is one of the most interesting
of the rare metals. 1t Is about half as
heavy as iron, and, like the latter, it is
white when perfectly pure. Chemically
properties it is like iron The familiar
mineral, "rutile," is an oxide of titanium,
| and is used to give the proper color to ar
tifcial teeth. Rutile of exceptionally fine
quality is found in Pennsylvania, where
boys sometimes make a business of fol-
| lowing the plow for the purpose of picking
| up chunks of it when they happen to be
turned up. They call the chunks mon
ey stones" because they are worth about
"a pound. These Jumps of rutile are
black, but make a red mark when any
thing Is rubbed with them. small guam
tity of the mineral put into the mixture
for tooth enamel produces the peculiar
yellowish tint that counterfeits nature so
admirably.
Titanium has no other commercial use
than this. There is none of it on the mar
ket in the metallic state, and probably
not an ounce could be obtained at any
price by advertising for it. Dealers in rare
metals will quote you gallium at $500 an
ounce, garmanium at s., 125 an ounce, rho
dunn at SIP an ounce, ruthenium at 800 an
ounce, iridium at $37 an ounce, osmium
at $26 an ounce, and palladium at $24 an
ounce; but they have no titanium to sell,
because there Is no demand for It, and
| also for the reason that it is extremely
difficult to separate from the substances
with which it is found combined in ma
ture. At the same time there is no doubt
that plenty of it could be produced at very
moderate cost if large demand should
spring up. Though classed as a rare me-
tai, it Is not really such, inasmuch as it is
a common impurity IN iron ores.
Hitherto tltanium has been Of interest
| to metallurgists chiefly as a nuisance,
rendering iron ores refractory. Millions
of tons of iron ores la Virginia and New
York state are made worthless by the
presence of or 6 per cent of titanium
Nearly all of the so-called rare metals are
| without commercial uses at present. being
merely curiosities of the laboratory, but
there is no telling when one or another of
them may turn out to be exceedingly val
liable. Titanium has been known for
1 nearly a century, but it has remained for
| M. Moissan to discover an employment for
| it, wherein it will be a most precious gift
to mankind The distinguished savant has
| turned out quite a number Of new and re-
markable things from his electric fur
mace, in which he is able to subject various
raw materials to temperature OF 1850
| degrees Fahrenheit. In this way he made
real diamonds of small size by fusing char
coal with wrought iron and permitting the
carbon to crystalize out In slow cooling.
| The carbide of titanium was produced
| in the same furnace and doubtless IL will
earn for its inventor the prize of $4,000
| which was offered some time ago by the
| French academy for a substance to take
the place of the black and brown dla-
monds used in drills. These black and
| brown diamonds are not gems but are a
variety of true diamonds known CONNER
| cially as bort" Their employment for
| drills and for other similar purposes is
| so extensive that the supply does not
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, Bra
| I'll, couple of years ago. 1t weighed
SV3 carats, ana its value was estimated
at 1886 carat, or more than $4,000 for
| the lump.
| Diamond drills are indispensable in
mining, In digging artesian wells and in
many other employment. The crystals
| are set around one end of a steel tube
which In revolving cuts a core out OF the
| solid rock. BY this means, the core he
| ing examined as 1t is taken out piece by
| piece, an ore body may be explored for
hundreds OF feet without digging or blast
ing, the degree of its richness being ascer
tanned with certainty. Now. presurnabIv
II VIII be possible to substitute for the
diamonds small ring of carbide of titanI-
UNI, nxed upon the end of the tubular
| drll. 1t Will be cheap, and, being harder
| IMAM the diamonds, will do the work bet
| ter. In like manner the new substance
WIN be utilized instead of diamonds. for
.ne saws winch are now employed for cut
| ung hard stone. At present the cost of
cutting agatized wood into slabs suitable
Tor tables and other such purposes Is
great. but II will not be so when the chean
carbide of titanium takes the place Of
| diamonds. Vi
Inln circular disks Of steel several fee,
| IN diameter are set with crystals of "borti
around the edges, forming circular saws
OF great power which will cut through
large blocks of hard stone easily. Some
umes' however, the saws are straight
blades OF iron, set with black diamonds
IN IKE fashion, which are drawn hack
and forth. For all such saws n continu-
Gus strip of carbide OF titanIum win take
the place OF the diamond. II NAV be an.
ucipated that NJ. Moissan's discovery win
cause big drop I'm the price of "bort'
which for long time past has been ex-
ported from Bahia at the rate OF 10000
carats year, this being the greatest
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 va
rious commercial processes.
About 100000 watches with feweled
works are manufactured annually m Inc
United states, requiring 100000 Jewels
or from seven 10 twenty-one for each
watch. OF these 5000 OnO are r,thIos a.