The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-06-05

COMING AGE OF ALUNINIUM
owed ard fhe Ultimate DownsAll Of
Iron.

Nicola Tesla In the Century Magazine.
The coming age win be the age Of
aluminium. 1t is only seventy years sincs
this wonderful metal was discovered by
woehler, and the aluminium industry,
scarcely forty years old, commands al
ready the attention Of the entire world
Such rapid progress has not been
recorded In the history of civilization be
fore Not long ago aluminium was sold
ut the fanciful price Of so or $40 pc
pound: today IL can be had In any
amount for as many cents. What Is more,
the time Is not far of when this price,
too, will be considered faneiful, for great
improvements are possible in the methods
Of It's manufacture.
The absolutely unavoidable oonse
auence Of the advance of the aluminium
industry will be the humiliation OF the
copper industry. They cannot exist and
prosper together, and the latter Is doomed
beyond amy hope of recovery. Even
now 1t Is cheaper tO convey an electric
current through aluminium wires than
through copper wires; alumni mum cast
ings cost lass, and In many domestic and
either uses copper has no chance of sue
eessfully competing. A further material
reduction of the price Of Alumni m can
not but be fatal to copper. But the pro-
gress Of the former win not 60 on un-
checked, for, as 1t ever happens In such
cases, the larger industry Will absorb the
smaller one; the giant copper interests
win control the pigIny aluminium inter-
ests, and the slow pacing copper will re-
dues the lively gait Of aluminium. This
will only delay, not avoid, the impend
ing catastrophe.
aluminium, however, win not stop ut
downing copper: Before many years
have passed IL will be engaged In q fierce
struggle with iron, and in the latter it
will find an adversary not easy to con-
quer. The issue OF the contest will
largely depepd ON whether iron shall be
Indispensable in electric machinery.
This the future alone can decide.
While it Is impossible to tell when this
Industrial revolution will be consum-
mated, there can be no doubt that the
future belongs to aluminium, and that
In times to come IL viii be the chief
means of increasing human performance.
1t has in this respect capacities greater
by far than those Of any other metal.
should estimate its civilizing potency at
fully one hundred times that of iron
This estimate, though 1t may astonish, Is
not ut all exaggerated. First of all, we
must remember that there Is thirty
times as much aluminium Us iron in bulk
available for the uses of man. This in
itself offers great possibilities. Then,
again, the new metal Is much more easily
workab lie, which adds TO Its value. In
many of its properties 1t partakes of the
character Of precious metal, which gives
1t additional worth. Its electric conduc-
tivity, which, for q given weight, Is
greater than that of any other metal.
would be alone sufficient to make it one
of the important factors In future human
progress. Its extreme lightness makes it
far more easy TO transport the objects
manufactured. BY virtue Of this property
1t will revolutionize naval construction,
and In facilitation Of transport and travel
1t will aid enormously In the useful per
Torrance OF mankind. But it's greatest
civilizing potency viii be, 1 believe in
aerial travel, which Is sure to be brought
about by means of 1t. Telegraphic In
struments will slowly enlighten the bar
barian. Electric motors and lamps will
do 1t more quickly, but quicker than any
thing else the flying machine kwill do It.
BY rendering travel ideally easy IL will
be the best means for unifying the heter-
openeous elements OF humanity.