The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-06-30

a. the development of the vast mineral
deposits Of The State through the help
az 81 electrical energy that is to come
from the water power of the streams.
OF these il is likely that the alumni
mum industry rs it is to be eXemplified
nn the Yadkin river in the big works
now building will probably be the
chief. The application of high tenn
raratures as developed in the e~lectri-
cal furnace will solve the problem Of
flsing the refractory minerals, and
yucn they can be fused freely at
small cost q new element will enter
into industry that has in the past been
barred out both by the inability to
handle them as well as the cost if they
could he handled.
over the border in Virginia it is
likely that much coke will be made
for use i'm conversion with lime into
calciL.n carbide for cheap lighting in
the rural sections and other places
where gas and electricity will not be
available from municipal works. The
manufacture OF calcium carbide re-
Quires coke for the carbon, and lime
10 make the combination. The cheni-
cal union is brought about in the cleo
tric furnace. The western portion of
me state has lime convenient to the
water powers for conversion into cal
cium carbide, and with the coal handy
i'm Virginia the carbide industry can
grow to vast proportions in North
Carolina with the help of the cheap
water power if anybody cares to en-
bark in that line of production. 1t
IS merely q question of the desire of
clpitai to embark in the work. The
opportunity is a hand.
Produce Abrasivcs.
Another industry available for North
Carolina, and which will probably de-
relep some day, is the production Of
~, Ct,4D hoo =, 4, rrn y-,
licty of alX1SiVe mineral of the corun-
dum or emery type, which is readily
converted by electrical heat into the
convenient carborundums of modern
use, and if capital shall desire one
Of these days To embark in the pro-
duCtiop of abrasive tools and nipple
meuts in North Carolina the business
can be established in several sections
of the state with every convenience
at han.
The progress of the manufacture OF
emery and carborundum tools in the
last few years is one of the interesting
features OF applied chemistry and cleo
trical knowledge. Without the emery
wheels of today a thousand things tha
are made to sell at small cost would
i've impossible. We used to depend
and not very long ago, on the grint
stone, the file, or the turning too a
the lathe for a lot Of things that ar
now done by an emery wheel in les
time han it takes to tell. Corundun
is harder han anything else but tn
diamond. A cutting toe like an ak
can forged roughly with a heavy steam
hammer and hen turned to the rap
idly revolving emery wheel, and tn
rough face Smoothed down almost be
fore the axe maker of u few years az
would have an idea Of what he pro
posed to do with his hand hamme
and grindstone.
Castings that were once put in tn
lathe and turned with the waste of
lot of time are now flashed against
Curundum wheel and rue UP in
minute or two. Knives are sharpene(
glass is cut n polished, grindins
polishing, everything that require
rapid and smooth cutting of hard SUI
faces, is accomplished with incredible
Swiftness and effectiveness by tt
emery wheels.
Water Power THE Main Thing.
1t is not so much that we have
the state large quantities and Nari'
ties of the corundums, which embraf
the impure varieties called emery,
the purcr varieties that become real
precious stones. They are all of IT
I'm composition, Il little alumlnu
and a little Oxygen. The main thlr
is that we have in North Carolina III
water power available for operatir
electric furnaces and machinery II
making that aluminium oxide serNlc
able in proper shape for the work
has to do. In this respect Nor
Carolina will owe Il considerable dc
10 Niagara Falls, New York, Whe
the virtues of the electrical furna
were brought into such %pronInen
as to establish them. Niagara fa
has tried out a lot Of the eXperlner
which have established the work on
practical basis. North Carolina WI
It's water power a go ahead IN [
paths Niagara Falls has blazed g
The experimental work is large
done. From now on the electric
furnace is an ordinary affair well u
dcrstood. and IL necessity.
| have no idea OF how many
the less known minerals OF the ST.
can be introduced to electrical int
enccS to advantage, and probably 1