Norwich bulletin., 1914-12-09
SUPPLIES OF WOLFRAM.
Most Commonly Known of Tungsten Ores and Uses Which Are Made of 1t.


 Wolfram is not the name of a~wild beast, even if the word is apparently a combination of the names of two well known members of animal socie- ty. Neither wolf nor ram, taken sep arately, has anything to do with it. There may be a great many people who how-and again a great many is a mineral, and that tungsten is the metallic chemical element found therein, a fact which gives it an inn portance it might otherwise not have.
 In a series of pamphlets describing the various countries of Latin Amer ica, published by the Pan-American union, Washington, D. C., will be found two, those on Argentina and Bolivia, in which it is stated that these countries each export annually, among many other minerals, something over 800 tons of wolfram. That brings on the query, What is wolfram?
 Wolfram is really the most common ly known of the various tungsten ores, and is the tungstate of iron and man ganese. It is dark brown-alrnost heavy, being frequently mistaken for iron ore, and is heavier than metallic iron itself It is said to have been first discovered by a Swedish sailing master in 1781, hence it's name tung, meaning heavy, and sten, stone-heaVy stone. Various tungsten ores are mined and exported by several coun- tries, the chief supply coming from Queensland, Portugal, Argentine. Bo- livia and the United States, some or the most prolific deposits being found in California.
 What is it good for? To make the filaments in our incandescent electric lights for one thing. thereby saving to the consumers a total of something over S24OOOO coo a year. That of It. SoIf iC fn aSt9 hliGh it's ir0nnr- tance. By a method discovered by one of the large electric companies of the United States it is now possible to draw tungsten metal into a wire as fine as one-thousandth of an inch in diameter so that the wire is pliable and can be wound upon Spools like sewing thread. It is used in one piece in the lamps and is said not to be so fragile as that produced by certain methods used in the German product The tungsten wire, as drawn out for this purpose, is very strong, it being claim ed that it has more strength than any steel piano wire that was ever made The specific gravity of tungsten metal is given as 1912, almost as much as that of gold, which is 19.3.
 The discovery of this metal for making filaments has caused an enor- nous saving to tn consumers Of cleo tric light the world over. It enables the consumer to obtain two or three
 
 one half the consumption of electricity formerly used by the old carbon lamp.
 The principal use of tungsten, how ever, is to harden steel, especially 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 20 per cent. metallic tung- sten mixed with the steel in it's man ufacture. It is sometimes called self hardening steel, because it does not have to be tempered, for with the addi- tion of the, metallic tungsten it tenn pers itself When heated to a cherry red and allowed to cool, the steel at- tains it's maximum hardness and can be used by machinists for lathe cut ting tools and for drills. Machinists' tools can be run at much greater speed and it has been estimated that at least four times as much work can be done with the tungsten steel as with the ordinary kind, because the machines can be run four times as fast and that without taking the temper out of the tool when it gets very hot, as is the case with ordinary steel. The president of one of the large auton1o- bile manufacturing companies Is said to have stated that if there were no such thing as tungsten steel the cost of each automobile would be $200 more than it is now.
 Tungsten and its salts are used for making silk and cotton fabrics fire proof; for winding electric furnaces, and for use in the apparatus employed for the utilization of Roentgen rays. Also occasionally in the manufacture of silk in order to add weight and to give it the desired stiff effect. It will thus be seen that from the standpoint of practical utility tungsten is of more benefit to humanity than gold.