The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1904-02-10
ct VITIISnANGE Sure Cure Rt c5cOlsr 81 p
NEW USES FOR ALUMINIUM.
Valuable Metal in Welding Rail
Ioints--Rival of Copper.

Valuable Metal IN welding NAh
Joints--Rival of Copper.
When aluminium first became
cheap it was employed for scarce
ly anything besides the manufac-
ture of u few household utensils
and class of ornamental and use
full articles of which the pocket
matchbox is type. Its next I'M
portant service was to compete
with copper as an electrical con
ductor. Between Niagara and
Buffalo and in several other parts
of the country it has demonstrate
ed its technical and economic
value in this kind of work beyond
a doubt. A third field of useful
ness has more recently been
opened up, says the New York
Tribune. To this the attention of
Americans is just now directed
by the second visit of DR.. Hans
Goldschmidt to the United States.
His lecture at Columbia university
recently revealed new possibili-
ties for the metal, which, accord
ing to chemists, is more abundant
than any other in the earth's crust.
The key to the function which
aluminium performs in metallurgy
and engineering is found in the re-
markable heat that is suddenly de.
veloped when it is burned. Com.
bustiOn, it will be remembered, is
simply the union of given Gle,
ment with oxygen. When wood
or coal is set on fire the carbon
combines with that gas and pro.
duces carbOnic oxide. Aluminium
will not unite with atmospheric
oxygen, though. tits necessary to
supply the element in a solid form.
The oxide of some other metal fur.
nishes this. If equal parts of alu.
minum and the oxide of iron, both
pulyerized and cold, are placed in
a crucible and a tiny fuse of the
right kind is applied a marvellous
effect is produced. The receptacle
becomes a furnace. BY purely
chemical means a temperature Is
induced which rivals that of the
electric arch. Within a minute or
two the aluminium steals the oxy.
gen 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
element the product is a steel pos.
sessing qualities that adapt it to
some special purposes.
One highly practical operation
made feasible by the process here
described is the welding of rails
on trolley roads. In order to EN-
plOy both the main track and the
third rail Of there be One) as cleo.
trical conductors it is customary
to do one of two things. Either a
copper bond is attached to the ends
of adjacent rails at each joint or
a little molten iron is poured
around the cold steel there. The
latter operation, as formerly con.
Quoted, involved the use OF cum.
brous and expensive apparatus. In
Europe aluminium is now used to
some extent instead. A small
portable crucible, tapering to a
point, is adjusted over the right
spot, mold is formed around the
joint to be welded, the proper mix.
ture is ignited and almost immedi-
ately a supply of liquid steel is
ready to be run into place. So in.
tense is the heat of the latter that
it dissolves part of the metal of
which the rail is composed and IA
joint of surprising strength is Gre
ated. Here, again, aluminium fig
ures as a rival of copper, and it
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