The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-09-05
WHAT WILFRAM IS.

| Wilfram is not the name Of wild
beast, even ii the word is apparently
a combination OF the names of two
well known members of the animal
society Neither wolf nor RAM tax
on separately. has anything to do
with it. There may be a great many
people who knuw-and again great
many more who do not know--that
i wolfram is mineral. and that tung
stem is the metallic chemical element
found therein. fact which gives it
an importance 1t might not have.
In series Of pamphlets describing
the various countries of Latin Amer
lea. published by the Pan American
Union, Washington, D. c.. will be
| found two, those on Argentina and
| Bolivia, in which it is stated tina;
these countries each export annually
among many other minerals, some
thing over 500 tons of wolfram. That
bings on the query, What is wolf
ram?
Wolfram is really the most COM
monty known Of the various tungsten
ores. and is the tunstatc of iron and
| manganese. It is dark bruwn-al-
most black-in color is very dense
and heavy. being frequently mistak-
| on for iron orc and is heavier than
metallic iron itself 1t is said to have
been first discovered b va Swedish
sailing master in 1881, hence its
name, "tung," meaning heavy, ana
l ...n Various
tungsten ores are mined and export
cd b yscveral countries. the chief
supply coming from Queensland.
Portugal. Argentine. Bolivia and tl"
United States. some of the most pro
life deposits being found in Califor-
mia.
What's it good for? 10 make the
/ lilamcnts in our incandCsccnt electric
flights for one thing, thereby saving
tC the consumers Il total Of something
over $2iO, 100000 Il year. That of
itself is enough to establish its inn
portancc. BY a method discovered
/ by one of the large electric cOmpa-
MES of the United States it is now
possible to darw tungsten metal into
1 wire as fine as onc-thOuSandth OF an
inch in diameter so that the wire Is
pliablc and can be wound upon spools
/ like sewing thread by certain meth
DDS used in the German product. The
tungsten wire. as drawn out for this
purpose, is very strong. 1t being
claimed that it has more strength
than any steel piano wire that was
yer made. The specific gravity OF
tungsten metal is given as 19.l2. al
most as much as that of gold. when
is 1913.
The discovery of this metal for
making tilaments has caused an chor-
nous saving to the consumers OF cleo
trio light the world over. 1t enables
| The consumer to obtain two or three
times the quantity of light at about
| onc-hulf the consumption of electric
ity formerly used by the old carbon
lamp.
The principal use of tungsten.
however. is to harden steel, especial!
| the steel of which tools are made.
| The tool steel of the present day Is
said to be nearly all tungsten steel,
having from to 30 per cent metallic
tungsten mixed with the ctceel in Us
manufacture. It is sometimes called
"sclf-hardcning steel" because II
.lccs not have to be tempered. for,
with the addition Of the metallic
tungsten, it tempcrs itself. When
heated to cherry red and allowed 10
cool. the steel attains its maximum
/ hardness and can be used by machp.
lists for lathe cutting tools and for
drills. Machinists' tools can be run
al much greater speed and Il mas
hccn estimated that at least four
times as much work can be done with
the tungsten steel as with the ordin-
ary kind. because the machines can
be run four times as fast ana lhat
without taking the temper out OF the
tool when it gets very hot. as is the
case with ordinary steel. The prcsi-
dent Of one of the large automobiie
manufacturing companies is said 10
have stated that If there were no
such thing as tungsten steel the cost
Of each automobile would be S2Oo
more than it is now.
Tungsten and its salts are used for
making silk and cotton fabrics ire
proof: for winding electric furnaces
and for use in the apparatus employ
cd for the utilization of Rocntgen
rays. Also occasionally in~the man
rfacture of silk in order to add
weight and to give it the desired CT
feet. 1t will thus be seen that from
the standpoint OF practical utility
tungsten is of more benefit to hui
manity than gold.
r.