Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-02-11
ALUMINIUM,
ELECTRICITY PROTEGE.

ALUMINIUM,
ELECTRICITY PROTEGE.
Fifty years ago aluminium, the
lightest of all well known metals, was
extracted from it's ores by an elabor-
ate chemical process and retailed for
$500 a pound. Today the Invisible
fingers of electricity pick the tiny
atoms of this metal from the ore de-
posits and rearrange them so eco
nomically that aluminium can be pur-
chased for less than thirty-fve cents
a pound.
Electricity has made aluminium
possible to the commercial world
and, coincidental, aluminium, because
of it's light weight and great strength
already ranks next to copper as the
most desirable metal in the manu-
facture of electrical machinery and
electrical apparatus.
Aluminium Is quite common now,
thanks to it's patron saint, Electricity,
but a few hundred years ago it's pres
ence was only suspected, although
it is one of the most common metals
in the world. But so cleverly had
Dame Nature hidden away this metal
that it was hundreds of years before
| IL w do oO uGu do SCCu ny
eyes. In the sixteenth century sci
enlist named Paracelsus, native of
Switzerland and man famed for his
knowledge Of alchemy, made a good
guess at the presence of aluminium in
some ore he was examining, but even
he could not extract it. 1t was
habit with those ancient scientists to
call anything of an earthly nature
/ 4n1, ffa1, II
could not otherwise identify. This is
how aluminium came by its name.
1t was in 1928 that the new metal
was first seen by human eyes. In
very costly laboratory experiment the
metal was produced in a pure state
and the scientific world was astound-
ed to hear that a new and wonderful
metal had been found which was very
strong yet so light that cubic foot
of 1t weighed less than 100 pounds,
| while cubic foot of copper weighs
$50 pounds. and cast iron 450
pounds.
Aluminium Is nearly white, with
slight blush tinge. 1t is as hard as
silver, very mallable and ductile-
can be hammered into a leaf or
drawn into fine wire. 1t is equally
as strong as copper and the melting
is high. Aluminium Is one of the
most abundant metals known to man.
as 1t Is common in nearly all the
earths, especially in clay banks, and
is nearly always found mixed with
the other metals in their native ores.
But the process of extracting this
metal, which is SO light and yet so
strong, is very tedious and costly
compared with the cost of smelling
copper or iron, so it will be many
years before 1t will come to its own
in the metal world.
To most people aluminium is best
known ini the form of kitchen uten-
sils. There is no reason why the
cooking pots and pans should be so
heavy when they can Just as well be
made of metal equally as strong
and lasting. Aluminium devices weigh
only fourth as much as the old iron
kettles and pans. The automobile
business was a great stimulant for
aluminium, as the metal Is extensive
| ly used In the power driven devices
where strength and lightness are de-
manded. But by far the greatest de-
mand for the white metal is in the
electrical world.
AS everyone knows, electricity Is
| transmitted from one point to an
other by wires suspended from poles
| Where there is an enormous amount
of electricity to be transferred and
the distance Is great 1t takes a num-
Der of large and heavy wires. OF
course copper is the best conductor
of electricity of all the common met
ais, but copper Is also very heavy and
quite expensive. A six wire trans
mission line covering. distance of
a hundred miles and made entirely
OF copper wire would weigh hum
dreds of tons and would cost a for
tune. The copper wires would be
so heavy that large number of
transmission poles would have to be
used owing to the fact that they
would have to be set so close to-
gether. A general electric engineer
developed the practice, now quite
universal, to build these transmission
lines of aluminium, which Is cheaper,
and so much lighter that the trans
mission poles or towers can be placed
further apart without danger of the
wires breaking from their own
weight. Aluminium is also used in
the manufacture of electrical ma
chinery and nearly all the new elec-
trical heating devices are made Of
it.
Common as this metal Is In all
parts of the world, it was not until
. the electrical process was discovered
that it could be secured in large
quantities. This electrical process
; is very similar to the electro-platine
process. The metal is first placed in
solution and then deposited on one
of the poles of a powerful electric
battery. About a hundred pounds OF
the metal can be secured in twenty
four hours with one of these large
battories