Norwich bulletin., 1915-05-08
vANADIuM AND ITS USES.
Silver White Metal Which Readily Oxidizes-Found In Several coun- tries.

tries.
 If an irresistible force strike an
 immovable object, what will happen?'
 That may be an ancient trap for the youthful Iogieian and philosopher, but
 the developments of modern warfare
 have almost made it a practical ques-
 tton. The efforts to produce an ir-
 resistible steel projectile have, at least
 until very recently, been pretty well
 counterbalanced by those seeking to
 produce an indestructibIe armor to re- sist them. Out of this situation first grew the importance of what a few years ago was a comparatively little known substance. This substance is the metallic element known as vana- dium- In 1896 vanadium steel was used in the production of some armor plates in France. Tests of these
 plates demonstrated that they were
 much tougher and more highly resis-
 tant than like plates made without the
 use of vanadium. At once the element became important and the demand for it grew, further uses for 1t were dis covered and now vanadiun steel is one Of the most important products of the iron industry.
 According to an instructive article in the March number of the Monthly O11On, Washington, D. C., vanadium is not
 such a recent discovery as many per sons think. It seems that had he not himself repudiated his own discovery, the honor of finding the new element would have been accorded to Andres
 Manuel Del Rio, professor of miner alogy in the Royal School of Mines of the City Of Mexico. In 1901 the pro-
 lessor, in examining some brown lead ores from the mines of Zimapan, in what is now known as the State of Hidalgo, believed that he had discov- cred a new element different from
 chromium and uranium, and this he
 named eritronium. It was in reality what we now know as vanadium. The discovery was a genuine one but un-
 fortunately the Mexican professor was a little too much under the glamour of the French school, and when Collet Descostils published an article in
 which he stated that Del Rios eritro-
 nium was nothing more than impure
 chromium Del Rio accepted the French professors judgment and in 1894 dis
 avowed his claim of discovery and ad-
 mitted that the substance was lead chromdte. Subsequent events showed that Del Rio had originally been right and that the element does not even
 belong in the chromium group. It was
 not until 1880 that the Swedish scien-
 tist, N. G. Sefstrom, rediscovered the
 element among the slags of the Taberg lTOu ores dIlO gave IL Un6 name N6LQd- dium, a name probably derived from
 what might be termed a family name
 in Morse mythology, Vanir or Vana,
 to which group Freyja, the Morse Venus, belonged.
 Vanadium is a silver white metal which readily oXidizes;' it has an atomic weight of 51.2, is non-magnetic,. has a very high electrical resistivity,
 and melts at about 1880 degrees. AS an alloy of iron, however, its melting nn I1r-- J1--
 one of the most widely disseminated elements, although commercially avail able deposits are comparatively rare. It has been found in several of the western states of the United States, in Sweden, Australia, Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, and in Peru. It is upon the last named country, however, that the worlds commercial supply de- . bends. The asphaltite deposits from which the Peruvian vanadium is Ob- tained are located at Yauli, Matucan, CaSalapca, Huari, Huancayo, and last and largest, at Minas Ragra. The ore from the Ragra mines, which looks like a hard slaty coal, contains about 40 per cent Vanadium sulphide, 30 per cent free sulphur, IA per cent silicia, 4 per cent iron sulphide, etc., and af- ter burning out the free sulphur the ore contains about 52 per cent vana- dium oxide.
 Until the recent development of van aQluIn III the SIeel industry US com mercial use was largely confined to ink making and coloring fabrics and leather. The ink is made of a mix ture of a neutral solution of amonium vanadate, gum water, and a solution of gallic acid. Neither acids nor alcalies can destroy it, nor can it be bleached out with chloride. About 1905 the supply of vanadium, owing to the de- velopment of the Minas Ragra and other mines in Peru, began to increase. /; From having been a, rare metal, it be- { came available in quantities claimed to be unlimited as a steel making metal. The claims of it's users are that it has accomplished wonders in crucible and in open hearth steel, that it gives cast iron greater strength and endurance, and that copper and aluminium are remarkably improved for certain purposes by it's addition. It is used in steel for engine axles and frames, in transmission shafts and gears, in wire springs, piston rods, hy- draulic cylinders, tires, tools, boiler plates, gun shields, projectiles, armor plates, gun barrels, watch springs, and
 in castings and forgings generally. One of the great advantages of the use of vanadium steel in the future will no doubt be in enabling the steel {, factors to reduce weight in such con structions as locomotives, cars, ma chinery, etc, it's greater. durability be- :, G11