The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-04-17
vANADIUM AND
WHAT USED FOR

eff an irresistible force strike al
~immovable object, what will happens
That may be an ancient trap for tn,
youthful logician and philosopher, blu
the developments of modern warfare
have almost made it a practical ques
tion. The efforts to produce an IRE
sistible steel projectile have, at leas-
until very recently, been pretty wei
counterbalanced by those seeking l,
produce an n~destruetible armor to re
sist them. Out of this situation hrsi
grew the Importance of what a few
years ago was a comparatively little
known substance. This substance Is
the metallic element known as vana
dunn. In 1896 vanadium steel was useC
in the production of some armor plate.
in France. Tests of these plates dem
onstrated that they were much tougher
and more highly resistant than like
plates made without the use of vana.
dunn. At once the element became i'm.
p~Ortant and the demand for il grew
further uses for it We're discovered
and now yanadium steel is one of the
most important products of the iron
industry.
According to an instructive article
in the March number of the Monthly
Bulletin of the Pan American Union,
Washington, ID. c., vanadium is not
such a recent discovery as many per-
sons think. 1t seems that had he not
himself repudiated his W discovery,
the honor of finding the new element
would have been accorded to Andres
Manuel del Rio, a professor of miner
= 49,. =. A. Deal GaI1-I - Af...- -
tn. 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. 1t was in reality
what We now know ar ~vanadium. The
discovery was a genuine one, but IN
fortunately the Mexican professor was
a little too much under the glamou~
o. the French school and when Collet
Descotils published an article in which
he stated that Del Rios eritronium
was nothing more than impure ehro-
MUM, Del Rio accepted the French
professor Judgment and in 1904 dis
avowed his claim of discovery and ad-
mitted that the substance was a lead
chIomate. Subsequent events showed
that Del Rio had originally been right,
and that the element does not even
belong to the chromium group. 1t was
not until 1880 that the Swedish scien-
fist, N. G.. Sefstrom, r~ediscovered the
element among the slags of the Ia
berg iron ores and gave it the name
OF vanadium, 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 atom
ic weight of 51.2, is non-magnetic, has
a very high electrical resistivity, and
melts at about 1880 degrees G.. As an
point is about 800 degrees lower. 1t
is one of the most widely disseminated
elements, although commercially avail
able deposits are comparatively rare.
1t has been found in several of the
western states of the United States,
in Sweden, Australia, Spain, England,
Argentina, Chile and in Peru. 1t is
upon the last named country, however,
that the world s commercial supply
depends The ~asphaltite deposits from
which the Peruvian vanadium is OBJ
at Yuali, Matucan, Casalapca,
Huari, H~uancayao and, last and larg-
est, at Minas Ragra. The ore from
the Ragra mines, which looks like a
hard, slaty coal, contains about 40 per
%vanadium sulphide, 30 per cent
sulphur, IA per cent silica, 4 per
cent iron sulphide, ETC., and after burn
ing out the free sulphur the ore con
about so per cent vanadium OK
ide.
Until the recent development of va
in the steel industry, its com
use was largely confined to ink
making and colorIng fabric and leath-
er. The ink is made of a mixture OF
a neutral solution of ammonium vana-
date, gum water, and a solution Of
gallic acid. Neither acids nor alkalies
can DESTROY it, nor can it be bleached
with chloride. About 1905 the sup
ply 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
10 DG uultilllCQ do a cttCl HHdhluE
The claims of it's users are
that it has accomplished wonders in
crucible and open hearth steel, that it
gives east iron greater strength and
and that copper and alumni
mum are remarkably improved for Ger
tain purposes by its addition. 1t IS
used in steel for engine axles and
frames, in transmission shafts and
gears, in wire springs, piston rods, by
draulic cylinders, tires, tools, boiler
plates, gun shields, projectiles,
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 facto-
ries to reduce weight in such construc-
tions as locomotives, cars, machinery,
ate its oreater durability being an