The Opelousas courier., 1903-07-18
TYHE electric furnace for con
mercial uses has brought into

mefclal uses has brought Int
existence electro-chemical an
electro-metallurgical indus
tries that were previously confined Ell
tfrely to the laboratory Of the expert
menter. New companies are bein:
formed continually to manufacture tn
products Of the electric furnace, or t
convert metals into new commercial
forms and to refine others. The eX
IRENE possibilities Of discovery in thi
direction are still beyond prediction
and chemists and inventors are con
stantly experimenting to find cheape,
and more effective ways of manufac
turing metal products.
High temperature electro-chemistry
has consequently an important bearin:
on the mining outlook and the meta
trast& in general. The consumption Of
rdsny Of the minor metals by the new
group Of industries has become sud
denly so great that the demand exceeds
the supply. In the use Of copper, ir
particular, the consumption has tended
toward a rapid increase, while the
price Of metal has steadily advanced
The comparative production Of copper
for the past ten years has averaged
about nine per cent. increase, while the
consumptive demand has advanced in
recent years until the total stocks of
copper in the country have several
times been at an extremely low ebb.
Speculation in copper, and attempts
to corner the market, have several
times caused panicky prices and abnor,
NAL conditions, but the trade demands
have been steady and healthy, and
many dealers had no fear Of the ulti-
mate value of the metal and carried
their stock easily through the short Pc
RODS of depression. Mills and brass
foundries have been running steadily,
and the supply for the current year
will no more than equal the demand.
In the high temperature electro-chemi-
cal factories copper will be more Of a
factor than ever before, and the con-
sumption Of the metal for electrical
purposes must to a large extent deter
mine the actual value Of the product.
The manufacture Of carborundum
and calcium carbide in the electro
chemical industries has advanced SO
rapidly that immense investments have
been made in the furnaces and plants,
while the output Of the factories is
steadily broadening. In the steel in
dustry alone the consumption Of ear
borundum amounts to seyenty-fve
tons per month. and in nearly all lines
it is largely taking the place Of emery
and ferro-silicon. While the manufac-
ture Of this product requires only coke,
sand, sawdust and salt as raw mate
rails, 1t nevertheless makes q big de-
mand upon the copper market and also
upon lime and other materials en-
ployed as fuxes. The manufacture of
calcium carbide is even a larger indus
try than that Of carborundum, and its
effect upon the mining Of metals is
more important. This industry prom
ises to extend for the current year so
that the output will be nearly doubled.
ARTIFICIAL GRAPHITE.
The manufacture of artificial graph
lite in the electric furnace is another &C.
complishment that has resulted in the
establishment on a large scale Of al
entirely new industry. By passing
amorphous carbon through the electric
arc artificial graphite has been made
for many years past, but its CONNER
eial manufacture in the electric furnace
is scarcely a year old. Almost pure
graphite, containing only one-tenth of
one per cent ash. is made in large bulk
in the factories. A granular graphite
suitable for many lubricating purposes
is produced in the electric furnace by
capitalization of anthracite coal. This
process has enabled the manufacturers
to make a common form Of cheap gra-
phite, which enables many uses for it
heretofore denied by virtue Of its cest.
There Is to-day manufactured by the
processes some 100000 or 4,000,-
600 pounds Of graphite a year; and the
material has been employed more ex-
tensively than ave- before in the differ
emit trades and industries.
The artificial graphite lends itself
to various forms Of manipula-
ton. which opens up for It new fields
for usefulness. Thus it can be planed
and cut by machinery and used for
screwing up against beams and Orders
where needed without splitting or
breaking. The ease with which It can
be machined by ordinary wood tools
has made 1t one Of the most popular
materials yet manufactured by the
new electric furnaces. The elimination
Impurities from the graphite by the
process also recommends the
product for the more difficult and ex-
trade demands where a very fine
material is demanded.
IMITATION ALUMINIUM.
The manufacture of artificial alumni
.um has attained considerable impor-
.ance through the same process as that
which has revo~lutionized the graphite
industry. Both the chemical and elec-
rfcal processes Of making aluminium
ire in vogue, and the output is SO con-
siderable to-day that aluminium is
generally used in over two-score
liferent industries. New shelters for
making the metal are in course Of con-
Itruction at Niagara Falls and at Mas
lena. N. Y, while smaller ones have
,een projected In other parts of the
The electric furnace used for
his urDo is q carbon-lined crucible.