The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-09-08
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:. WHAT WOLFRAM is. :.
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Wolfram is not the name of wild
beast even if the word is apparently a
combination OF the names of. two well
known members of animal society.
Neither wolf nor ram, taken separately.
has anything To do with IL. There may
be great many people who know
and again a great many more who do
not know-that wolfram is a mineral,
and that tuussten is the metallic chem
zeal element found therein. fact
which gives II an Importance it might
otherwise not have.
In a series OF pamphlets describing
the various countries of Latin America,
published lay the Pan American Union.
Washington, u, CO will be found two,
those on Argentina and Bolivia. in
which il is stated that these countries
each export annually. among many
other minerals, something over 500
tons OF wolfram. That brings on the
query. what is wolfram?
Wolfram is really the most common
~ known of the various tungsten ores,
and is the tungstate of iron and man
sanese II is dark brown-almost
black-iu color. is very dense and
heavy, being frequently mistaken for
iron ore, and is heavier than metallic
iron itself u is said 20 have been first
discovered by Swedish sailing master
i'm 1871. hence it's name tung, meaning
heavy and stem. stone-heavy stone.
Various tungsten ores are mined and
exported 10y several countries the
chief supply coming from Queensland,
Portugal. Argentine, Bolivia and the
United States, some of the most pro-
life deposits being found in California.
What's it good for? To make the
flameuts in our incandescent electric
lights for one thing, thereby saving To
the consumers a total of something
over $24O,000,000 a year. That of it
self is enough TO establish it's import
ance. by a method discovered by one
of the large electric companies of the
United States IL is now possible to
draw tungsten metal into a wire as fine
as one thousandth of an inch in dia-
meter so that the wire is pliable and
can be wound upon spools like sewing
thread. IL is used in one piece i'm the
lamps and is said not 10 be SO fragile
as that produced by certain methods
used I'm the German product. The tung-
stem wire as drawn out for this pur-
pose, is very strong. it being claimed
that ii has more strength than any
steel piano wire that was ever made
The specific gravity Of tungsten metal
is given at 1912. almost as much as
that Of gold. which is 1913.
The discovery of this metal for
making flaments has caused an enor-
nous saving to the consumers of cleo
trio light the world over. II enables
the consumer TO obtain two or three
times the quantity of light at about
one half the consumption Of electricity
formerly used by the old carbon lamp.
The principal use Of tungsten, how
ever is 20 harden steel, especially the
steel Of which tools are made. The
| tool steel of the present day is said
10 he nearly all tungsten steel, hav-
ing from S 10 20 per cent metallic tune-
stem mixed with the steel in its manu-
! facture II is sometimes called self
! hardening steel because il does not
have to be tempered, for, with Tie adj
ditional of the metallic tungsten it
| tompers itself. When heated 10 cher
~ red and allowed To cool the steel at
tains its maximum hardness and can
be used by machnists for lathe cut
! ting tools and for drills. Machinists'
tools can be run at much greater speed
and il has been estimated that at least
| four times as much work can be done
| with the tungsten steel as with the or
binary kind, because the machines can