The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-12-01

4 and tiny fuse Of the right kind is APP
Piled a marvellous effect is produced.
! The receptacle becomes a furnace. BY
=: purely chemical means temperature is
induced which rivals that Of the electric
arc. Within minute or two the alumni
mum steals the oxygen from the iron
and the latter is melted. If in advance
| and with a view to further operations,
the iron is charged with the proper
amount of carbon or some other ele-
ment, the product is a steel possessing
qualities that adapt it to some special
services.
One highly practical operation made
feasible by the process here described is
the welding of rails on trolley roads.
In order to employ both the main track
and the third rail Gf there be one) as
electrical conductors it is customary to
do one of two things. Either copper
bond is attached to the ends of ada
cent rails at each joint, or little mott
en- iron is poured around the cold steel
there. The latter operation, as formerly
conducted, involved the use of cum
brous and expensive apparatus. In Eu-
rope aluminium is now used to some ex-
tent instead. A small portable crucible,
tapering to point, is adjusted over the
right spot, a mould is formed around
the joint to be welded, the proper mix
ture is ignited, and almost Immediately
supply of liquid steel is ready to be
run into place. So intense is the heat
OF the latter that it dfssolves part of
the. metal of which the rail is composed,
and a joint Of surprising strength is
created. Here, again, aluminium figures
as a rival copper, and it promises to
make the old style of bond unnecessary.
When one has once grasped the sim
phcity and effectiveness of the new
process, as applied to electric railways,
ne VIII be quick to see how helpful it
can be in repairing great castings or
forgings like the sternpost or crank
shaft of an ocean steamship. 1t will Of
ten happen that work of this kind can
be performed at sea; but, even IL it is
delayed until the end of voyage, the
necessity for going into drydock and
resort to the services of forge can
usually be avoided. 7
One of the earliest applications which
DR.. Goldschmidt made of his discovery
was to the production of pure chronic
UNI. BY the addition of a certain per-
centage of that metal to steel great
hardness is impaired to the latter. In
steel making, however, 1t is necessary
to be exceedingly particular about the
amount OF carbon present. Until re-
Gently all chromium was made with an
electric furnace. There was no other
way of gentrating the requisite heat.
Ihat process contaminated the ctromi-
UNI, though, with carbon, because the
conductors which led the current into
and out Of the furnace were on that
substance-the most refractory known.
BY extracting the oxygen from the OK
ide Of chromium with the aid Of alumni
mum absolute purity is insured. Al
ready the system has yielded admirable
results with nickel, manganese and IT,
tanium, in which freedom from other
ingredients is essential; and it is prob
ably susceptible Of further extension in
the separation of rare metals from the
materials with which they are found in
nature. .+
DR. Goldschmidt's service to industry
will never rank with Bessemer's, but its
full Importance has probably not vet
been recognized. New York Tribune.