Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-09

nfteen years. He has been working sue
cessfully in nickel all the time, and he
knows as much, perhaps, about it as any
man in the country. In speaking of the
similarity of nickel steel to meteorites, Mr..
Browne remarked that 1t had practically
the same composition as the latter IA
meteorite," said he, might be called part
of a burst world which has shot off
through space and fallen to earth. The
discovery of the process of making nickel
steel was by an EngiiShman named Riley,
who got the suggestion from meteor
found in Greenland. This meteor was
immense mass which had fallen from the
skies ages ago and was venerated by the
Greenlanders a god. The natives were
wont to hammer splinters from #, and
| make them into spear heads and hammer
heads. They accompanied their work by
prayers to the god, and found that their
~pear heads were finer than any that they
could get elsewhere. A few years ago
Peary the explorer brought one of these
meteoriteS to New York and IL is now in
the center of the arch Of the Museum OF
Natural History, on nth street. That me-
teor Is pure nckel-steel. and the splinters
and the hammer heads of the Greenlanders
were nickel-steel Riley heard of these dis
coveries and this gave him the idea which
ended In the new metal. I think IT was
Tyndal who first made IT publicly known
that the meteorites contained nickel-steel.'
Nickel-Steel for Gunboats.
81 suppose the chief use of nickel is FOR
making such steel, is It not?'
Yes although there are many other
manufactures into which nickel enters. The
beauty about nickel-steel is that 1t COM
bines exceeding toughness with great
strength. Copper wire has great toushness.
A needle or a penknife has great strength
But 1t is only nickel-steel that has tough
ness and strength combined This makes
1t especially valuable for armor Plate a
war vessel with a hull covered with steer
or iron would be shattered TO pieces II one
IL till ~
the armor plate is made of nickei-steei IL
does not break. The great pro1ectlle makes
only a dimpIe IN 1t, as you would In PAT
of butter if you stuck In your niger. Lnt3
nronerty of toughness is added to the steel
Inv uniting In three and one-half per cent
of nickel while 1t is making All the war
vessels of today are plated with that COM
position They have an armor plate OF
nickeI-steel about eighteen inches thick.
such were the plates on the hulls OF inc
battleships OF both countries IN the Rus
sian-Japanese war. and the shot which was
employed in the several engagements was
almost altogether nickel-steel
For Railroads.
rs the metal generally used for other
purposes"
oft is too costly for many uses, replied
M Rrowne, but it is employed where
toughness and strength are necessity. It
&c largely used on the railroads where
tbera are curves at the bottom OF steep
grades If a heavily loaded freight tram
strikes such q curve there are only Two
things which hold 1t on the track, ana ness
are the fanges of the wheels and the heads
of the rails In the winter time the rams
are apt to become brittle ana When inc
train, rushing down hill. strikes them they
sometimes break, and there is wreck.
For this reason nickel-steel is used al such
curves. The Horse Shoe curve of the PENN
syIvania railroad, for instance, Is made OF
that kind of rails. The metal Is also no"
I~;Ju hull
haitian bridge will be made of IL. 1t Is go
ing into many of our large apartment
houses or other tall steel buildings. In this
case it is fifty per cent stronger imam or
binary steel; the result is that less metal
can be used or with an equal weight the
building can have double the strength
Nickel-steel does not expand or contract
like common steel, and for this reason II IS
made into clock pendulums, which must be
of the same length the year round In order
to have the right time. Indeed, it IS valu-
able for many things, and it viii be widely
used as it grows cheaper
Glow about our nickel coins, MI
Browne?" I asked. Are they made Of tho
nickel that comes from here?
ePartly So" was the reply. "AH the
nickel they contain is from our mines They
are only one-quarter nickel, however. the
remainder being pure copper Indeed' mere
is only about one-ffth OF cents worth OF
nickel in five-cent piece. NlcKeI Is worth
about forty cents a pound, While copper
10 worth only about fifteen cents, so you
see there is a nice little profit in money Of
such composition.
"There are few countries which use
p,Ire nickel for their coinage" continued
the metallurgist land among them are
Belgium and Switzerland. The smaller of
the Belgian coins are of nickel with hole
through the center, in order that they may
not be taken for silver coins of a higher
denomination. Nickel looks like silver, but
1t does not tarnish and does not get black
The East Indian government Is now con-
sidering the use of nickel for its coinage,
and few blanks with holes in the center
like the Belgian coins have been made.
These coins, however, have not been put
into circulation, because King Edward
head is to go on the coin. and his majesty
naturally objects to having hole punched
through his face. For this reason the new
Indian coins will probably be solid.
How about nickel-plating, Mr. Brown
THAT was one of the drst uses of nickel
The metal does not rust. and thin coating
is often put over other metals on that ac-
count This is done by hanging the things
to be plated in a solution of nickel, IN
which slab of pure nickel metal is hung.
A current of electricity is sent through the
solution in such way that small amount
of the nickel coats the other metal hanging
in the solution, making it rustless."
| FRANK G. CARPENTER.