Arizona republican., 1905-03-25

tual necessity for the makers of steel | armor plate if they hope to compete | with the Krupp and other European | manufacturers and remain abreast of the procession in this great world in dustry. And the occasion for this ar ticle is the fact that within three or four months. Arizona may be supply | ing this commodity in a quantity Of perhaps a ton per day. the value of the | product being $1.50 per pound.
 This enterprise, for which the great est success is anticipated, is an un- dertaking of the Troy Manhattan Cop | per company, whose properties are To- cated at Troy, PinaI county, Arizona, | and of which properties the public is already well advised in respect of cop per developments. But the molydenum development is another story and an- other branch of the business entirely, which has been placed un- der the direction of MT. c. Otto Schwabe. MT. Schwabe is now in Phoenix, a guest of the Com mercial hotel, and patiently waiting for transportation lines to make it pOssi- ble for him to go to Troy, which is to be the scene of his future activity. He kindly consented yesterday to an in E what is hoped to be accomplished to- gether with some technical information that is not so technical. however. but that it should interest the general reader.
 Mir. Schwabe is a German chemist of ability, though he has lived in this country for fifteen years and much of that time has been connected with the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. Among other researches he has given much of his time to the study of mol ybdenum and particularly during his residence in Germany where he was connected with the Krupp company, of international fame as the manufactur- CTS of heavy guns and armor plate. After the discovery of the Troy Man haitian company and the proving to it's satisfaction that it had a molybdenum deposit of commercial quantity, tests were made of the ore by MT. Schwabe and by other chemists of recognized ability, after which the company or ! ganized a department of its business 1 for the exploitation of the molybde- mum enterprise and employed MT. ] Schwabe under a years contract to take charge of it. Previous to his de- parture from the east he bought the machinery necessary for reduction and refinement, for shipment as quickly as ] it can be made ready and within month or six weeks it should be on the i ground if all plans carry.
 l Concerning the use of molybdenum MT. Schwabe said its peculiar virtue | is its toughness and elasticity. Twen- ] ty. years go the Krupp company began experimenting with it and later ac- quired control of the larger part of the s~ .T.- manufacture Of guns and armor plate. American manufacturers, having no moIybdenum supply, sought the best substitute. which Is tungsten, but while it is equally as hard it Is more brit tie and therefore when used in plate and guns it is more liable to burst or split. The real value of molybdenum as a steel alloy is not fully appreclat- cd here yet but the principal reason it has not been previously employed in the large works is that the quanti- ty has been so limited no company could afford to fit it's plant for its use, or to educate it's patrons to demanding that kind of material, else the supply would be exhausted. They could not afford to build up a market they could not supply
 The Troy company, he says. has aI-
 
 S150,O0O pounds of molybdenum as soon as it can be produced and once em- ployed there is no question that the demand will exceed any possible sup ply. The purchasers of the Troy pro- duct, whose name Mir. Schwabe for ob- vious reasons withheld. will be greatly favored over their competitors in the manufacturing business by reason of their supply of superior material and the Troy company as the chief pro- ducer, will be something of a power in the steel market as well.
 Concerning mOlybdenum, the metal. MT. Sclnwabe says it is generally found with lead and silver, in Wolfenite ore. which is the mother ore for all of them, though molybdenum is also sometimes found in granite. It is a very refrac- tory ore, the concentrates being smelt- ed only at a great degree of heat and which can be furnished only by cleo tricity. The machinery which he has ordered for the Troy company he be- lieves from the ore he has seen should produce ton per day of the metal, which will be cast about fifty per cent pure, alloyed with iron. A great CT purity would make the product too difficult to melt by those who are to use it. Asked how much steel a pound of molyb- denum would harden. MT. Schwabe said that was a question he could not answer as it would depend entirely on the wishes of the manufacturer as to the quality of plate he desired to produce.
 In connection with the subject of molybdenum. MT. Schwabe said it might prove of profit for the prospec- tor, metallurgist or chemist to keep his eyes open for the deposits of the rarer metals in this country for he has no doubt they exist here in quan- tity if they can be found. There are frequent discoveries of Wolfenite and mOlydenum ores reported but most of them fail to develop any considerable