Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-06-06
#1iseellaneous &eadin9.
THE COMING AGE Of ALUMINIUM.
Doom of the Copper Industry Foreshad'
owed and the Ultimate Downfall of Iron.

Doom of the Copper Industry Foreshad'
owed and the Ultimate Downfall of Iron.
Nicola Tesla in The Century Magazine.
The coming age will be the age Of
aluminium. 1t is only 70 years since
this wonderful metal was discovered
by Woehler, and the aluminium indus
try, scarcely 40 years old, commands
already the attention of the entire
world. Such rapid growth has not
been recorded in the history of civil.
ization before. Not long ago alumi.
mum was sold at the fanciful price ol
500 or $40 per pound {; today it can be
had in any desired amount for as many
cents. What is more, the time is not
far off when this price, too, will be
considered fanciful, for great improve.
ments are possible in the methods OF
its manufacture.
The absolutely unavoidable conse.
quence of the advance of the alumf.
mum industry will be the annihilation
of the copper industry. They cannot
exist and prosper together, and the
latter ia doomed beyond any hope OF
recovery. Even now it is cheaper TO
convey an electric current through
aluminium wires than through copper
wires ); aluminium castings cost less,
and in many domestic and other uses
copper has no chance Of successfully
competing. A further material reduc.
ton of the price of aluminium cannot
but be fatal to copper. But the pro-
gress of the former will not 60 on un-
checked, for, as it ever happens in such
cases, the larger industry will absorb
the smaller one; the giant copper in
terests will control pigmy aluminium
interests, and the slow-pacing copper
will reduce the lively gait of alumi'
MUM. This will only delay, not avoid,
the impending catastrophe.
Aluminium, however, will not stop
at downing copper. Before many
years have passed it will be engaged
in fierce struggle with iron, and in
the latter it will fnd an adversary not
easy to conquer. The issue of the con.
test will largely depend 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 con.
summated, there can be no doubt that
the future belongs to aluminium, and
that in times to come it will be the
chief means of increasing human per-
formance. 1t has in this respect ca.
pacities greater by far than those Of
any other metal. I should estimate Its
civilizing potency at fully 100 times
that of iron. This estimate, though il
may astonish, is not at all exaggerated
First of all, we must remember that
there is 80 times as much aluminium
as iron in bulk available for the uses o1
man. This in itself offers great pos,
sibilities. Then, again, the new metal
is much more easily workable, which
adds to its value. In many of its
properties it partakes of the character
of precious metal, which gives it ad-
ditional worth. Its electric conduc'
tivity, which, for given weight, is
greater than that of any other metal,
would be alone sufficient to make IL
one of the most important factors in
future human progress. Its extreme
lightness makes it far more easy to
transport the objects manufactured
By virtue of this property, it will rev.
olutionize naval construction, and in
facilitating transport and travel it will
add enormously to the useful perfor'
nance of mankind. But its greatest
civilizing potency will be, I believe, in
aerial travel, which is sure to be
brought about by means of it. Tele'
graphic instruments will slowly en-
tighten the barbarian. Electric motors
and lamps will do it more quickly
but quicker than anything else the
flying machine will do it. By render
ing travel ideally easy it will be the
best means for unifying the heterogen'
eous elements of humanity.