The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1898-02-25
HARDER THAN a DIAMOND.
a Frszss chsaisrs Dissssssy 81 S.-
Mad Of Crystal.

- @ff-+EF"HN - = 80
kisd Of Crystal.
Henri Molssan. the distinguished
French chemist who created a sensa-
ton a few years ago by producing
small white diamonds In bis 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 ~ the other. will probably prove
Of more practical benefit 10 mankind
and hence a source Of greater revenue
20 VI. Moissan.
Hitherto the diamond has been con
| sldcred the hardest thing In natur,
| The closest approach 10 n. until recent
~. was made by the ruby Something
halfway between them. In thi respect,
vas discovered only two or three years
ago By +. G. Acheson Of Pitisburg. who
was experimenting with an electric
furnace FOR an entirely different pur-
pose. lie. too. was trying % 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 gere
composed Of siKty-nine parts % silica
and thirty-one parts Of carbon. Tech
nlcally the substance IL a carbide u
silicon" The dlscoyerer however gave
10 II the name carborundum. and is
now manufacturing about 'wc tons %
o. daily At s.'agara Falls f.r chemical
purposes n lg used Tor the same pIr.
pose az emery.
MOissan's new product d. carbide %
the rare metal titanlum The proper
materials having been deposited 10 a
small crucibe made OF lime. an electric
current Of large volume and low volt.
age b. turned on. temperature u 1000
or 5000 degrees Fahrenheit BE- deyel-
oped. and then the stun is allowed 20
cool. Tho resulting crystals are said
10 be- harder than diamonds which now
take the second place Carborundum
comes next and the ruby drops % the
fourth rank
The carbide ~ titan.um Or az much
harder than carborundum az carborun-
b dun 10 harder than emery The latter
TWO are only good FOR sbraslve service.
that is they are employed only for
b grinding and polishing other very hard
substances. 10 il probable that car
bide o. tltanIum will have a much NOR,
extensive Use There are many rock
cutting drills which consist of . tube
10 one edge of which are embedded
brown or black diamonds N Mois.
sans new product will be- both cheaper
and more efficient than these. Il may
also be- substituted for real jewels In
] watches. delicate balances and In other
mechanism where small bits % partic.
ularly hard material are needed al
% bearings The discoyerer has applied
FOR patents on biz Invention in this
l country as well as Europe and 81 &.
thought probable that the French a's
] DENY will award BIN a c6-a.u g. .00i
d prize offered some TIM ago Jos sst
uiactory substitute Co. black diam nds
liLan.um when pure is wl.te .4l
10 about half as heavy as .rl- y g. r..
7 most .mp0 Ole 90 bus any be..u.,
u there 20 ao demand and con oquonI,
. 90 production. However 10 be- no. ~
7 very scarce An oxide ~ rfani.n
u found Zoe form ~ small black STONE
that give red mark. is % aet ID {.
!. some newly p.owed fields In Pcnnsyl
vania and sells ior 81 pound tn
y metal is frequently found iu cor. bln.
too with iror bI' hitherto has beri
regarded aE . nuisance. because il rem
der5 an ore refractory 4 recent writ
10 er sayg Millions % tons o. iron q:
10 Virginia and New York arc mad
n worthless 1y the presence ~ 8 or 6 De
!. cent OF litanum."