The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-10-08
TUNGSTEN AND ITS USES
An Unusual and Important Mineral
Widely Employed In Various In
dustries

Last year there was a sharp de-
crease in the production of tungsten
ore owing to the decrease in the de-
mand for tool steels, in which the
bulk of the tungsten produced is
used, according t. Frank l.. Hess in
report on this metal just sshed
by the United States Geological Sur
vey. The production of domastic
tungsten ore in 1911 amounted to
1,139 short tons of concentrates, car
rying 60 per cent of tungsten tri-
oxide, valued at s4O7.9S5; in 1910 the
production amounted TO 1921 short
tons, valued at $S32,992.
Tungsten is used chiefly in making
steels that will hold their temper
| when heated, but 1t is most gene al
ly known as supplying the flanel-
of tungsten incandescent lamps. The
great improvements in drawing tung-
stem wire and further notable i'm
provements in the size of the globe
of the tungsten lamp and in other
mechanical details that add greatly
to its efficiency are making it en-
croach upon the carbon filament
lamp and the arch lamp, and it is
rapidly driving from the market the
tantalum lamp, which was the first
good incandescent lamp having me.
tallic filament. Diamonds are Used
for dies in drawing tungsten wire.
At first It did not seem possible to
drill small enough holes through the
diamonds to make wire sufficiently
fine for lamps of small candlepower,
but wire 0.0006 inch in diameter can
now be drawn in qauntity. The TO.
tai quantity of tungsten ore used for
electric lights, however, amounts 20
only a few tons year New uses
of tungsten, in making electric furn-
aces, electric contacts, and targets
for Roentgen rays, have been devel-
oped, and the last two products are
being actively manufactured.
Even for purposes of war tungsten
may have it's uses, and Investigations
are now being made with view to
its application in the manufacture
of projectiles.
The present small arm service pro-
| jectile is made of lead with a pack
ct of copper nickel alloy. The prin-
cipal advantage of lead over iron,
which would of course be cheaper,
is that 1t has higher specific grav-
ity. Because of this fact lead bull
and will therefore encounter less air
resistance to its flight than will an
iron bullet Of the same weight, and
1t will consequently give a fiatter
trajectory and longer range. An iron
bullet of the same diameter as the
lead bullet could of course be made
of the same weight by increasing its
length, but this would at once neces.
state giving it a higher rotational
velocity to keep its axis tangential
to its flight. To impart this added
rotational velocity would call for the
expenditure Of energy and so leave
2ss for velocity OF translation. With
the exception of tungsten, lead is
the densest metal which can be con
sidered for this purpose, for gold is
the cheapest of the other elements
having a higher specific gravity than
lead.
For military purposes the softness
of lead is not an advantage, soft
nosed bullet being tabooed in civil
lied warfare. For this reason and
because OF the fact that it is toe
weak to hold the rifling 1t has tc
be jacketed with copper nickel alloy
To take the rifiing and to act as
gas check, the tungsten bullet vii
require a copper band or its equiv
alent at the base.
The hardness and high tensile
strength of wrought tungsten vii
give high penetrating power Tit
high melting point OF tungsten viii
prevent the projectile from beinl
harmfully upset at the base by thu
combined action Of the high temper
ature and rapid impact due to tn