The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-11-09

A Frsach Chemists Discovery Of . Nsw
Kind Of CrvsfaI..


Kind Of Crystal.
Henri Moissan. the distinguished
French chemist who created q sensa-
ton a few years ago BY producing
small white diamonds n his electric
furnace. Is nov credited with another
interesting achievement. says the New
York Tribune. This latter piece Of
work while perhaps not quite 70 star
Ting as the other will probably prove
Of more practical benefit TO mankind
and hence a source Of greater revenue
20 NJ. Molssan.
Hitherto the diamond has been con
sidered the hardest thing In nature
The closest approach 10 Il, until recent
ly was made by the ruby. Something
halfway between them, In this respect
was discovered only two or three years
ago By r. c. Acheson OF Pittsburg, who
was experimenting with an electric
furnace for an entirely different pur-
pose He. too, was trying 70 make
artificial jewels. and succeeded In get
ting a lot Of small crystals which were
neither diamonds nor rubies. but we're
harder than the latter. They we're
composed Of sixty-nine parts Of silica
and thirty-one parts Of carbon. Tech
nically the substance Is carbide OF
silicon" The dlscoverer. however gave
to II the name carborundum. and IL
now manufacturing about two tons OF
Il daily at Niagara Falls fer chemical
purposes. Il Is used for the same pur'
pose az emery.
Molssans new product Is carbide OF
the rare metal titanium. The proper
materials having been deposited In a
small cruclble made Of lime. an electric
current Of large volume and low volt
age Il turned on. temperature OF 1000
or 5000 degrees Fahrenheit Is devel-
oped. and then the stun Is allowed 20
cool. The resulting crystals are said
10 be harder than diamonds. which now
take the second place. Carborundum
comes next and the ruby drops 10 the
fourth rank.
The carbide OF titanium Ia AZ much
harder than carborundum AZ carborun-
dun Is harder than emery. The latter
two are only good for abrasive service;
that IL. they are employed only for
grinding and polishing other very hard
substances Il Is probable that car
bide OF titanium will have a much more
extensive use. There are many rock
cutting drills which consist Of = tube
In one edge OF which are embedded
brown or black diamonds NJ. Mois-
sans new product will be both cheaper
and more efficient than these. Il may
also be substituted for real jewels Ia
watches. delicate balances and In othel
mechanism where small bits Of partic
ularly hard material are needed n
bearings. The dlscoverer has apple,
for patents on bis invention In thi
country as well as Europe. and Il q
thought probable that the French asa
DENY will award him a cerga.n {, .00
} prize offered some tim ago log q sat
1factory substitute fe- black diam nds
: fltanlum. when pure Is white. '.il
% about half a. heavy as lro- Il g %.
7 most impossible 20 buy any becsu;
] there !c 40 demand. and consequently
2 no production. However. il Is no. 3
I very scarce. An oxide Of titsniail
found IL ;he form OF small black stone
that give a red mark. Ia pi,sei lp q
!, some newly plowed fields lr Pcnnsyl
vania and sells for 81 q pound IN
metal Is frequently found In eor;.blns
tio7 with iron. bd; hitherto has bee
regarded az q nuisance. because Il rtn
,iers an ore refractory. A recent writ
r er sayg: Millions Of tons Of iron O.;
In Virginia and New York are mad
n worthless by the presence Of or pe
= seni o. tltanium."