The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-12-10
POWERS OF THERMIT.
German Savant's Demonstration
of a Chemical Compound.
Observation-Disclosures

Professor Hans GoIdsehmidt shows
American Mechanical Engineers at
noboken, n. j., That the Compound
WIN Quickly fuse Metals without
Radiatinn sensible Heat-NonexpIo-
sfve ana Does Not burn on a stove.
Before the American Society Of Me
chanical Engineers The other afternoon
in the assembly room Of the Stevens
Institute Of Technology at Hoboken-
n. j.. Professor Hans Goldschmidt of
Essen, Germany, described and demon
strafed the remarkable powers Of Their
nit in an illustrated lecture ON alumino
thermies and their application TO en-
cheering and metallurgy' says the New
York Times
By alumlno thermics IS meant the
useful application Of the heat generat-
ca By the burning of a compound com.
posed Of powdered aluminium and ses-
quioxide Of iron. when fired by the
application Of a bit Of magnesium tape.
this compound burns fiereely, generat-
ing heat equivalent TO that of the
electric are. The oxygen to support this
intense combustion is taken from the
iron oxide, and the resulting products
Of the combustion are metallic iron and
oxide Of aluminium, or corundum. The
fused combination is hot enough to
burn a hole with clean edges through
an iron plate Of any thickness, accord
ing to the quantity Of thermit burned,
without heating the plate except At
the point OF perforation- The material
is not explosive and If thrown upon a
fire will not burn.
The industrial applications Of Their
NIT, some Of which were demonstrated
on the platform, were extremely inter
esting. Rails and pipes were united
very quickly. and the unions were as
good, judging from samples which had
been planed, as tie body Of the metal.
The joining Of masses Of iron by means
Of thermit is scarcely welding and
might be more appropriately designat
ed fusion
Probably the most important Of these
processes iss the one by which q con
tinuous rail Of equal conductivly, a
necessity Of modern electric railway
construction, is obtained very quickly
and cheaply. This union may be effect
ed after the trolley track or third rail
is in position and Is much less expen-
sive than adequate bonding Third rail
welding is now in operation on some
twenty miles OF electric railway IN
Paris, also on two electric railways con-
Meeting Berlin with its suburbs. Re.
suits of great interest to the engineer
have also been attained with HERMIT
In such difficult operations as mending
the broken sternpost OF an ocean liner
the Sevilla; repairing the broken driy
Ing wheel Of a locomotive, Welding
broken crank shaft on a Rhine steamer
correcting the defects Of large steel
castings and preventing the formation
of pipes in steel ingots.
The operations with which the lee
ture of Professor Goldschmidt were II
Illustrated were very brilliant and beau
tiful and gave results with astonishing
rapidly. One of the most surprising
Of these was the fHsing Of a quality Of
nickel ore in a crucible in about one
minute, giving a button Of pure nickel
of several pounds weight There was
no sensible heat radlated Ii these oBer
atoms. and the assistant who managed
the experiments ala not even wilt his
collar.
It was a matter Of interest that these
operations, requiring temperatures
which can only be estimated for the
reason that no pyrometer could meas.
IRE them. could be conducted on
wooden platform with no other protec-
ton than some loose bricks laid side by
side and covered with a sprinkling Of
sand. It was also d matter of curiosity
that the operator, after pouring from
ladle the mixture Of fused iron and
corundum, could take In bis naked
hands the vessel lii which this fusion
had just been effected ana turn Its
glowing mouth to theaUdience to show
the intense incandescence Of Its in
terror.