The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1912-10-12
TUNGSTEN ADAPT
ED TO MANY USES

Last year there was 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 to Frank l.. Hess, in a re-
port on this metal just issued by the
United States Geological Survey. The
production of domestic tungsten ore in
1911 amounted to 1,139 short tons Of
concentrates, carrying so per cent Of
tungsten trioxide, valued at $4O7,9S5;
in 1910 the production amounted to
l,S2l short tons, valued at $S32,992.
Tungsten is used chiefly in making
steels that will hold their temper when
heated, but it is most generally known
as supplying the filament of tungsten
incandescent lamps. The great i'm
provements in drawing tungsten wire
and further notable improvements in
the size OF the globe of the tungsten
lamp and in other mechanical details
that add greatly to its efficiency are
making it encroaeh upon the carbon
filament lamp and the arc lamp. and
it is rapidly driving from the market
the tantalum lamp, which was the
first good incandescent lamp having q
metallic filament. Diamonds are used
for dies in drawing tungsten wire. At
first 1T did not seem possible to drill
small enough holes through the dia-
monds to make wire sufficiently fine
for lamps of small candlepower, but
wire 0.0006 inche in diameter can now
be drawn in quantity The total guam
tity OF tungsten ore used for electric
lights, however, amounts to only
few tons year. New uses of tung-
stem, in making electric furnaces, cleo
trio contacts, and targets for Roentgen
rays, have been developed, 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 pro-
jectiles
The present small-arm service pro-
jectile is made of lead with a Jacket
of copper-nickel alloy. The principal
advantage of lead over iron, which
would of course be cheaper, is that it
has higher specific gravity. Because
of this fact lead bullet will have a
smaller cross section and will there
fore encounter less air resistance to
its flight than will an iron bullet Of
the same weight, and it will conse-
quently give a flatter trajectory and
longer range. An iron bullet of the
same diameter as the lead bullet conld
of course be made of the same weight
by increasing its length, but this
would at once necessitate giving it a
higher rotational velocity to keep its
avis tangential to its flight. To i'm
part this added rotational velocity
would call for the expenditure Of
energy and so leave less for velocity
of translation. With the exception Of
tungsten, lead is the densest metal
which can be considered for this pur-
pose, for gold is the cheapest of the
other elements having higher specific
gravity than lead
For military purposes the softness
of lead is not an advantage, a soft
nosed bullet being tabooed in civilized
warfare. For this reason and because
of the fact that it is too weak to :
the rlfling it has to be jacketed with
copper-nickel alloy. To take the
rifling and to act as gas cheek, the
tungsten bullet will require copper
band or it's equivalent at the base.
The hardness and high tensile
strength of wrought tungsten will
give high penetrating power. The
high melting point of tungsten will
prevent the projectile from being
harmfully upset at the base by the
combined action of the high tempera-
ture and rapid impact due to the CON-
bustion of the powder charge.