The Wichita daily eagle., 1903-08-09
HON DIAMONDS
ARE PRODUCED
May Be Manufactured by
Wholesale Very Soon
PRESSURE AND HEAT
Created by Electricity Makes
the Product Possible.

Hard upon the announcement from
and its value for testing the genuineness
of diamonds comes a cablegram stating
that making diamonds artifcially by eiec-
tricity is a success. writes A. Frederick
Collins in the New York Herald. These
manufactured stones are not base imi-
tations, but genuine diamonds made un-
der the same conditions that nature en-
ploys, that is. heat and pressure, and
these absolutely essential factors are OBJ
tanned by means of the electric furnace.
1t is also true that they are not large
diamonds.
Professor Henri Moisson of the Univer-
sity of Paris, famous for his researches
in electro chemistry, has at last been re-
warded in his attempts 10 reproduce the
crystallized gem of nature so highly
valued by connoisseurs and so much
sought after by society
The manufacture of diamonds by the
electric furnace process is directly due
to Lavoissier. who showed conclusively
that the diamond was merely crystallized
carbon, just as glass is crystallized sand.
When this deduction had been made by
Lavoissier and had been proven by a
complete physical demonstration electro
chemists set to work in earnest to devise
the same conditions under which the
gems were produced by nature.
1t is well known that the diamond is
but another form of carbon, and as it is
easy to obtain carbon since it occurs
in combination in nearly everything in
nature, including vegetable and animal
life and their fossil remains, it would
seem not unreasOna BILE to find a method
to obtain the diamond artifcially.
When carbon is found uncombined with
other substances it occurs in three very
different forms. namely Q) as the dia-
mond. (0 as graphite or plumbago and
(3) as amorphous carbon. When the dia
mond is found in the celebrated beds of
Borneo. Sumatra, Brazil or the Cape Of
Good Hope It is covered with an opaque
layer before its beautiful full properties
appear.
Graphite is found in nature in largo
quantities. and it may be prepared arti-
ficially by dissolving charcoal in melted
iron, and when this mixture has cooled
graphite will be deposited: all forms of
carbon which are neither diamond nor
graphite are called amorphorus carbon,
meaning simply that they are not crystal
lized. Amphorous carbon may be obtain
ed easily by burning wood in a kiln. the
resultant product being charcoal. or coal
being coke; If coke is powdered and mixed
with molasses and baked in a furnace.
the form of carbon used TO- arc lights
results; the temperature required for OBJ
tanning this kind of carbon is very low
a degree ranging from so to 200 Centigrade
being quite sufficient
A curious anomaly relating to graphite
is that 1t is one of the best lubricators
known for machine bearings. whereas
carbon, its predecessor, and diamond its
successor. are both so hard and sharp
either would cut steel shaft to pieces
in a few seconds. In fact, graphite is so
soft that it will leave a mark on paper
and is used in the manufacture of lead
pencils.
The degree Of heat sufficient to pro-
duce arc light carbons or graphite. is not
nearly great enough for the formation
of crystals. 1t requires temperature of
approximately 5000 degrees to produce
very small artificial diamonds. and when
nature made those in her famous diamond
beds q heat of probably not less than 10 COO
degrees was utilized in the process.
The purpose. then, OF the electric fur
oHo
of diamonds is to obtain as hieh a de-
gree of temperature as possible The
electric furnace is an exceedingly simple
and at once a clever device for produc-
ing high temperatures. In its simplest
form It consists merely of an electric
arc light Joined between two carbons
of large diameter. the heat of which is
concentrated in little crucible Of graph
lite
OF course the light of the arc has moth
ing TO do with the chemical processes
evolved in tue crucible. whether il is en-
ployed in the manufacture or aluminium
siIexicon or crystallized carbon. but il
is the terrific heat emanating from the
arc that consummates the operation.
1t consists of an iron casing having a
lower block Of carbonate OF lime consti-
tuting the body Of the furnace. The rea-
son carbonate Of lime is used is that it is
not apt TO split under the intense heat
and because il can be obtained in solid
blocks Of larger size.
A cavity is formed in the lower block
for the crucible. which is made OF mould
ed carbon. In the earlier experiments OF
Moisson rctort carbon was used but Il