Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-11
FOR HARDENING STEEL
REMARKABLE RESULTS FROM
USING RARE MINERALS.
Queer Things Turned Up During a
Geological Survey Mans Trip
Through the West.

An indication of some of the vast and
almost untouched mineral resources of the
United States is given in some facts gath
cred by Mr.. F. L. Hess of the geological
rurvey, who has just come back to WASH
ington from season in the field studying
what has been done and what Is being done
with new group of steel hardening miner
ais. The minerals themselves are not new
by any means, but their application to steel
manufacture is just being studied seriously
by the big producers. There is one English
firm that has been working with steel
hardening alloys for a long time and the
Bethlehem people have recently taken it
up and have had men experimenting con-
tinually. The. minerals used include man
ganese, tungsten, vanadium and uranium
and good many of the rare metals for
which. there has been little practical use
till recently. Their place in steel economy
is that or per cent of them will change
the nature of the metal entirely, and 1t Is
to see how these qualities can best be uti-
lied that the big firms are now working.
Mr. Hess went over a good many of the
fields in Utah, Texas and California and
he said that one of the noticeable points
in the field was that whereas a few years
ago the practical prospector seldom knew
what tungsten mineral was, now it was
the exception to find a prospector who did
not. New deposits are being uncovered all
the time and with better methods of mining
and concentrating the potential wealth Of
the country is immensely developing.
Practical Application.
AS to the practical application of the steel
hardening minerals to the iron and steel in
dustry, 1t has been found that a small per
cent, say of tungstn, will make a tool steel
that although it is very hard to work up
into a machine, will hold an edge even after
it gets dull red hot. This enables lathes
where tools of such steel are used to be
speeded up so that their output is increased
about three times. The practical machinist
will appreciate what it means to work with
a tool you cannot burn in the machine.
One disadvantage of these excessively hard
steels Is that it is hard for blacksmith to
forge them. They are very refractory even
at the highest forge heat, and there is hard
ly any way of shaping them except by
grinding. However, the companies are
working at the problem of handling them
and WILL of course. solve it in time.
The usefulness of manganese steel has al
ready been demonstrated, especially in
dredger construction, where bearings and
working parts made Of it will stand three
times as long under the cutting action of
sand and gravel as ordinary steel.
Rare Earths in Texas.
The field trip Of Mr.. Hess took him into
the mining region for rare earths in Llano
county, Texas, where the Westinghouse
people are getting out yitrium and thorium
for the construction of Nerst lamps. This
is an incandescent electric lamp that re-
qulres no globe and promises to put the old
globe and ilament lamp out Of business.
1t was discovered some years ago by the
German chemist whose name 1t bears, and
the patents for this country were bought,
but the manufacture was never pushed
because of the lack of the incandescent
earths necessary to make the lamp fila
ment. The lamp is n peculiar Arrangement
compared with the ordinary incandescent
lamp. Practically all there Is to it Is a
little earth pencil taking the place of the fila
ment In the old type of lamp the pencil
being attached to the wire at each end. A
thin spiral Of platinum Is wound around
the pencil to heat 1t and make it q con-
ductor Of electricity, the thorium and
yitrium being good electrical conductors
when hot, but non-conductors when cold.
globe is put around the lamp for pro-
lection just as in an incandescent gas
mantel. but no vacuum globe is necessary.
The Westinghouse Company has about
1000 persons at work on their lamp plant
and takes out enough Of the rare earths in
two or three months to keep their factory
running the rest Of the year.
In the same Texas region Mr.. Hess found
immense bikes with masses Of pure feldspar
thirty feet In diameter and running theoret-
ically about II per cent in potash. This
deposit has never been worked commercial
ly, but probably will be used ultimately in
the manufacture Of potash fertilizer.
- H. 1t IL