Omaha daily bee., 1911-10-15
GROWING USE OF NEW METALS
Molybdenum, Tungsten, VRnadium
ana Uranium Are Becoming
Common.

Not so long ago such metals as tung-
STEM molbdenum, varadium and uranium
were 30 rare that tho commercial world
knew nothing about them, and as rule
only students were aware that they had
been discovered Few people ever saw
boron silicon, titAnium and chromium
except In museums.
The cry for more light" has been
echoed around the world until cities now
blaze at night with the glory of the
MONDAY sun. and this has been made
possible by some OF these rare metals.
SO, too, automobiles owe their present
perfection in part to the once rare metals
that temper and tougher the steel.
Until a comparatively short time ago
these rare metals were left In the dump
heap at the mines, being deemed not
only valueless, but actually detrimental
to the concentration of the ore which was
considered of value. In Colorado he
miners used to throw away what they
called BLACK jack" Now that they
know black jack to to be wolframite.
an ore OF tungsten, they are carefully
smelling the dump heaps, and tungsten
forms a valuable branch OF the mining
industry.
Tungsten Is now in demand for ncon-
descent lamp filaments. In the form OF
sodium tungsten a flreprooflng OF value
Is produced. Tungsten brought Joy to
the heart OF the housewife In that It
fixes dyes so that wash goods will wash
silk merchants rejoiced for other tung-
stem salts added weight to silk.
Tungsten steel is extremely tough. Pro-
jectiles made from II have penetrated
through fourteen inches of the best ar
NOR plate, Tungsten compass needles
are the best on the market.
Tungsten ores have been melted in cleo
trio furnaces, but the problem now is to
produce It by direct pig iron blast furnace
smelling.
Tungsten Is now mined In Arizona, Cali
fornia, Nevada. Montana, Idaho and
Colorado. which produces 90 per cent OF
the output. The Tungsten belt In Colo
RADIO is three miles long and eight miles
wide The market for tungsten has be-
come almost as staple as that for copper,
zinc and lead.
A possible rival OF tungsten is molybde-
mum, metal discovered In ITS, but as
yet found In such scant quantities that
the uncertainty Of the supply makes It
commercially second to tungsten.
Though tantalum has been known for
century II was not commercially use
ful until Moissan, In 1903. brought Il into
the limelight through the electric fur
mace II Is found in the Black Hills OF
Dakota and It's most important min
erals are columblte and tanallte. A small
quantity has been kept In this country
for experimental work, but the yearly
output. amounting to several tons, has
been shipped 70 Germany,
The most important use to which tan
| talum is put Is IN the manufacture OF
! AILMENTS for incRndescent lamps. They
were put on the market in Germany In
! 1905 and in the United states In 1906. The
tantalum lamp scores on these three
! points-high efficiency ability to with
stand high currents and whiteness Of
! light,
VanRdium in small quantities Is dis
! tributed In sandstones. limestones and
! igneous rocks. It's greatest value, when
| alleged with iron as ferroyanadium, Is In
! the making OF steel. The automobile
! business has greatly increased the mar
ket for vanadium.-Popular Electricity.