The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-08

for some military purpose which ha. l not yet teen discovered It is probably
 in connection with tungsten in combina-
 tion with which it is valuable as a ferro l alloy. The stuff brings about $7.50 a l pound or $15,000 a ton. We have tie l largest deposits in existence and are
 using it to make high speed tools, 1 A metal which is of much the same 1 class as those above mentioned. ard 1 perhaps the most important of all, is 1 tungsten. It's value was known before the war in Europe began, but since then it has become almost indispensanle and the price has risen from S360 to S60t0 a ton. Tungsten is used in shells anu projectiles, out it's chief value is for mak- ing high speed tool steel. 1t is estimated that one man equipped with tungsten
 steel tools using single machine can do as mpoh work as five men with five machines eqnipped with the carbon steel tools that were formerly used. One ot the makers of cheap automobiles says
 that his company would have to add 500 to the prize of each automobile if it had to use the cid style carbon steel tool.
 The vnetal is used also for filaments in electric and incandescent lamps. It can be drawn out into wires one eighth as thick as a human hair and almost aa fine as as the finest strand of co5- web By tungsten filaments one can now get for 15 cents as much electric light as formerly cost him sI, and the light
 is better. It takes a very small portion of the metal for each light and the saw ing runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
 Tungsten is valuable in speed too's because it melts only at 59o0 degrees Fahrenheit. Such tools will keep on cut ting when red hot, and they can be
 1t- r1,1 t-1 h tensile strength of more than 300 tons to the square inch. and it resists rust and acid. Ii is absolutely essential to us in tnis time of war in order to main tain and increase the output of steel parts needed for munitions and for mill tary and naval equipment.
 Before the war began tungsten was used largely in Germany, but the supply began to play out before we came il!. The Deutschland, the submarine tl tt came to this country in 1916, bringing cargo of dyes, took pack a cargo largely made mp Of tungsten. Before the War the Germans got most of this metal rom the British possessions and they owned also mines in Argentina. The ore was smelted in Germany and sold to the rest of Europs. The most of the product went to the KrdpI steel works at Essen.
 Today the United States is the largest producer of tungsten ore in the woril. making about one fifth of all that IS mined Our principal deposits are in Colorado, California, Idaho, New Mexlco' Nevada, South Dakota and Alaska, the richest and most valuable of all beng in the Mojave desert of California. The mineral is produced also in Burma, Bo- livia, Portugal and Australia. It taxes but a small amount of tungsten to each ton of steel, and the world supply is not large 'The metal is used also in ign'- tion systems, in telegraphy and as substitute for platinum as electrical con tact points.
 As to the platinum itself, this IS now one of the most valuable metals | on earth It was worth twice as much as gold before the war began. ana ll | is now worth five times it's weight m | that metal The most of the world supply has come from Russia, ana before the war the Russian output was controlled by a French syndicate which brought the platinum to France and sent it out from there. when the war came the Russian mines broke down, and from now on they Will pc in the hands of the Germans. We snail have to get out additional supply from :