The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-19
MORE MICA EMPLOYED.
Once Seen Chiefly in the Stove-Now
Used to lnsuIate Electric Wires.
lNeW YOrk Snn ]

There was a time when mica. ar ism
glass as II was far more commonly called
was FAMILIAR in one limited use i'm every
household in which there was a DarIor or
sitting-room stove thin. transpar rent
sneets OF this mineral being set i'm the
stove door Through the ''iSingIass'' not
destructible when subjected to heat as
glass would have been, the glow of rhe
fire within could be seen
WITH long use the mica might become
smoked up and Opaque or it might he
come marred and broken. Then the head
or the household would get and set into
the stove door fresh isinglass. from the
stove dealers, while the fragments of
the old were very probably turned over
10 the children, who were likely to he
surprised to find into how much thinner
sheets still the thin old pieces from the
stove door could be divided As a matter
az fact mica is diVisible into sheets one
two-thousandth OF an inch IN thickness
Now there are many who don't know
mica at all, not even as il is used in
stoves, people born and raised i'm houses
that are heated by steam, In which no
stoves are used Tor heating purposes: but
while the number OF these is large and
all the time growing. the number of peo-
PIE who yet use stoves is still larger
and so while mica may have passed en-
urely out OF the sight and mind of many
who once knew il I'm this use and in
this use only. the preparation -of II FOR
stove use still constitutes a regular branch
Of the mica trade: and thus one of the old
uses OF mica still continues
The chief use TO which mica is now mt
IS one not dreamed of until within a com
paTatiVely few years namely as an in
sulating material in the construction Of
electrical apparatus. for which purposes
its use is now general and constantly In
creasing. and far larger than i'm any use
TO which II had ever before been put
Mica is now used also for making chin
neys for incandescent gas lamps placed
where they would be exposed 10 drafts
or out Of doors. subject 10 the weather
Mica is used TO make protectors for or
namental candle shades. and Il is used
for making fancy boxes. and. in place az
glass. for covering the Ia bells on dra wers
as I'm desk. GrOund-up mica is now used
in the manufacture OF lubricants and OF
fertilizers. and Of dynamite and in other
forms II is used FOR boiler coverings.
Mica WIS long used for windows and
for lanterns. and IL is still used I'm Ian
terms where such use would be advan-
tageous. IL is used in place of glass In
Spectacles worn by stone and metal work
erS. and in miners lamps. and il has been
IN the past or stu IS put TO various other.
including ornamental, uses; but among
it's various modern Uses the chief is In
ifs application TO electrical machinery,
For this the mica is cut into hundreds of
different shapes and sizes.
India is the chief source Of the worlds
supply Of mica. with Canada next the
United States next and Brazil and other
countries following. Mica. from one
source and another ranges in color from
white or transparent. through various
shades TO black
In the formations I'm which il exists IT IS
found i'm more or less scattered deposits.
regard to the uses to which it may be put
on it's color. it's freedom from impurities
and the size OF the sheets that can be OBJ
tanned from IL.
many years put to varied though com
paratively limited uses finds more extern
sive use than ever in applications pecu-
li9rly modern.