Weekly journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1908-1929, 1909-06-02
MAY REvoLUrIoNIzE THE
LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY

occurs rs tungstate Of iron and man.
ganese Of the mineral "wolfraroite. ,,
and as the calcium tungstate. The
fusing point Of tungsten 10 higher than
any other known metal, which enables
1t to operate at the very high efReien.
cy obtained In the tungsten lamp. One
OF the laws Of incandescent lights il
that the higher the temperature the
better the light and the greater the
economy Of current consumed.
The principal tungsten minerals are
wolframite, a tungstate Of iron and
manganese, and scheeiite, a tungstate
OF calcium. Both minerals, like tin
ores, occur as a rule in quartz veins
cutting rocks containing much silica,
such as granite and rhyolite, but some
apparent exceptions 10 this rule are
found, as for instance in New Mexico.
where hubernite and a small amour,
OF scheeiite occur with pyrite and lead
minerals in n vein cutting limestone;
and at Nome, Alaska, where scheelite
Is found in the gold plaeers in q re.
sion Of schists several mile. from the
nearest granite outcrops. The greater
part Of the American tungsten pro.
duced in 1907, 1910 short tons. yalued
at ssO,04s, came from the mines in |
Boulder county, Colorado, which re-.
ported an output Of ll46 tons Of
wolframite value at s573,642.74. In
California, which was the second state
in order Of production, the output wa.
in the form Of scheelite, as was also
most Of that from Montana. The total
sbeelite reported was 4l4 short tons.
Small amounts OF tungsten ores were
also produced in Washington, Nevads.
Arizona, and probably in New Mexico.
Considerable tungsten is also mined in
Australia, New South Wales, South AZ.
RIGA and New Zealand.
Up TO two years ago tungsten was
known only in Laboratories and then
only in very impure state, and on ae.
count Of its rarity tho price was very
high. But latter day prospects have
resulted in the finding Of vast bodies
OF the ore and the price has correspond.
ing dropped to about o. a pound. II
would be even lower than this but for
the difficulties in refining the metal.
Only with the electric furnace 10 IL pot.
sible to produce tungsten in its pure
form. 4,
Pure tungsten is hard enough TO
scratch glass; 1t is almost impossible
to melt il; IL 10 malleable to some ex-
tent, but not ductile.
Because IL cannot be drawn into
wire, the wire-like flaments in the
electric lamps are made by the
PASTE process, which consists Of
mixing the powdered meta; with bind 8
ng or stiffening agents such as gums, $
iextrine, etc, until the mass has the
Of putty. II is then q
'quirted through very fine orifce in I
! diamond with a pressure Of several q
ions to the square inch. The result is .
\ somewhat moist thread which has
enough conference to be formed into al.
sments which do not break while being .
Tried. The 6laments are first heated,
hen subjected 20 an electric current I
which causes them to sinter. The pro-
less Of sintering is carried out in gases 7
which chemically attack all the con.
'tituents Of the binding agent, without q
he metal being affected, so that even.
ually hlament Of pure tungsten re.
mains. n
The light from the new tungsten in.
'andeseent lamps 10 very nearly pure .
White. II is the first artificial illumi.
,ation by which all colors can be dis i
inguished. Color is an ocular eoncep-
ion. without light there il no color. o
Red Ii red only because II has the quail.
ty Of absorbing all other eolors Of the {
'peetrum and rejecting the red rays. B
Artificial lights in which the yellow, i
Tiolet or red rays predominant cannot ?
'e used to match eolors. Under the {
lear white light OF the tungsten lamps
'iolet 10 not blue, pink is not red. and I
'lue is not black, as when looked st y
'nder other artificial light. The most ].
lelieate tints show clear and true.
The ordinary, now old. fashioned, in.
andescent lamp consumes 3.s watts Of a
Electricity per eandie.power The new II
ungsten lamp consumes only i2 watts .
70 less than q third. This means that .
Z person 10 paying $3.50 for $4,000 c
'atts ga kilowatts at Is cents q tiio. c
satD Of electricity consumed by the .
Id lamps for a given amount Of light,
e could enjoy the same amount Of {
'etter light with tungsten lamps for p
600 watts or mt n eos, Of tl.l5.
Within the past few months tung. n