The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-11-03
GRAPHITE PROCESS
IMPROVES NATURE
fHrpRfFfEs ELIMINATED FROM
START IN SYNTHETIC
PRODUCT.
MINERAL LONG KNOWN
HISTORY OF SUBSTANCE DATES
BACK TO THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY AT LEAST.

| Graphite has been known about ever
since the latter part of the fourteenth
century. When graves OF the anctents
have been opened. discoveries were
made which revealed they knew OF
graphite, but still made no mention of
its existence. In the Middle Ages there
came a more pronounced application IF
It's use and to A G.. Werner. the au-
thorities give credit for having been
first TO use the word and name
graphite.
J II lis eas, to determine that the orig
: iual impression relative to this min
erai was that 1t belonged to the lead
/ family and even today. for all 1t IS
known to contain no lead, it is stu
called black lead by many THIS
Is particularly true in the field or
electrotyptng. where the name graphite
is seldom used.
/ Heinrich Pott. a German chemist
was first to demonstrate that graphite
contains no lead. Karl Wilhelm
1 Scheele, of Sweden, determined the
true chemical nature of graphite away
back in 1879. Smithson TanI'tnt n
| 1896. showed that charcoal, the dia-
mond and graphite are closely related
F., in carbon family association, and to-
de- charcoal diamond and graphite
are recognized as three distinct aiio-
i tropic forms of the element carbon,
I In Canada, Mexico, Italy, Ceyion.
/ Bavaria, Austria, England. Siberia, and
/ in this country man mines graphite
f:om the earth. This graphite of the
earth is of two classes. crystalline, the
hard, tough flaky abrasive like MIN
eral, and the amorphous graphite,
which is finer and softer. 1t has come
to be somewhat of the habit on the
part of those poorly posted on the
merits of graphite TO call for the nara.
tough, fiaky variety. whereas for fupri-
cation graphite of the amorphous KIND
la vastly superior.
II is in making this amorphous gra-
phita where man has learned TO out :
distance nature in the production NJ
this mineral. and every year more
graphite is made in the electric fiir-
naces of Niagara Falls than is mihe"
in the United States.
In this accomplishment of MAX
ing graphite man has given the world
a superior article because OF the
= fact he has the selection IF raw ma
terint from which the finished pro-
duct in made, whereas nature had
no selection OF the raw materials she
; used, and for this reason all mlheo
graphite has associated with 1t GER
tain Impurities difficult 81 removal,
which greatly lessons the Value Oh
> mined graphite for the purposes OF
fabrication.
Anthracite coal is the raw material
man uses in making graphite. The
great furnaces, open hoXlike struc-
lures, b4ilt up with side walls and
} end walls and without top. are load
ed with the raw material, and then
many horsepower of electrical cur
rents are sent through the MACS,
gradually heating 1t to an intensity
. AM
. 5000 degrees, Fahrenheit, about thu
= highest temperature used on eartf
e | commercially. This burning UP o.
: impurities are volatilizad leaves tbs
!. remnant of the charge in the fur
n mace in the form of graphite of high
i est purity.
. Man has learned how to make
1 one grade of graphite best for dr4
. Hing ssfetifer-tilat Ia superior
4 as a paint pigment, another that Il
! best for electrotypers' leads, ant
I so on down the line in the fields wher'
q | graphite is giving such favor, an(
4 he has also learned how to maxi
a graphite in sticks as big as the hu
man body and equally as long. Ora
i, phte in this form Is known as cleo
4 trodes, and finds use in the eiectfH'
: lytic, electrothermic and electrical
fields. they having made possible man
. wonderful processes.
= Man has developed a process where
" hy graphite is rendered finer thai
the dust in the atmosphere. In seek
ing a name that would describe thi
condition the word "defocculated
has been selected. This detioccusa
ton of graphite has aroused new in
terest IN coloids, about which tn
world yet knows comparatively lit
! tie.
= In Ceylon the coolies climb up on
1 of the mines on long rope ladders
, bringing the mineral from the cart
In baskets, to be sorted later by han
by women and children at com
d pensati ton of but few cents day
BY the modern process it Is made 1
any quality and of any purity. Eve
in lead pencils great Improvement ca
be found az result of the giving O
this man made graphite to the worlc
} The artificial graphite naturally pos
X sesses the unctuous quality necessar
% to a good pencil, and where nature
IT graphite is used this quality is I'm
f. parted through the use OF way.
Y, However, 1t Is In the field OF lubri
l. cation where graphite Is making re
- markable strides today. as the outpu
It demands on modern machinery ar
such as to require the highest an
n most perfect tyne Of fabrication. Thi
! ran be obtained through the use &
: graphite in colloidal form. which In
a dicates that as the needs marked b
a the progress in one field are show
> the advance in another field meet
:, those needs accurately, and thus gra
- phite in colloidol form Is mixed wit
oils to reduce their viscosity and les
:, sen the power and fuel losses whic
= occur through friction.