The Washington herald., 1918-03-21
HALLPROCESS
now FAMOUS
Holland Declares Inventor
ofiAluminum Never Fore
saw Metal Development.

saw meldi DcVeiOplIlciit.
II the late Charles Han had been
told at the time he invented the pro-
cess for making aluminium at such
httle- cost as to insure for it great
commercial market. that in 1911 the
United States would produce 1So.ooo.ooo
pounds Of aluminium. even he, en-
thusiastio as he was. would have been
likely to say that this prediction !,
would not be justified by the event.
Yet Mr.. Hall lived long enough to
realize that be had perfected an In
vention which would become Of In
estinabls value to the United States,
for. Il would provide a new mineral
product that would enter into the arts
and be much used IN the Industries.
; Mr.. Halls invention furnished one
ef the best illustrations Of the i'm
portance Of the new era Of electro
chemistry. How important electro
ehsmistry Is Is shown by the fact
mat a compilation published day or
two ago by experts sets forth the /
figures which show the growth OF the
production Of aluminium In the Unit
"a STATES, WHICH - ouo cnIlrcIy
electro-chemistry.
In 1880 there were produced In the
United States according to statistics \
only 5000 pounds Of aluminium. The /
Priee was 50 high as TO make It pro-
hibittve. Yet within ten years follow
ing Mr.. Halls invention the produc-
ton had increased to 100000 pounds,
and ten years later to a, 900. 900 pounds, |
whereas in 1917 approximately $4,000,
600 pounds Of this new metal were
produced in the United States.
Was Curiosity.
Aluminium before Mr.. Hall began
hfs-researches was a sort OF metal
curiosity. 1t was known to exist
in various elays and especially in
! the peculiar kind Of clay which is
called bauxite. But there was no
commercially practicable way Of
recovering these scattered frag-
ments and uniting them into a COM
pact mineral. 1t is true this was
sometimes done, but usually in the
way of experiments or else in the
college laboratories or lecture !
rooms to set before the students
a mineral curiosity, as it was
called
Mr.. Hall was persuaded. after the
dyatno was introduced and espe-
cialIy after 1t became practicable
to employ water power so as to
convert It into electrical energy, |
which would give forth heat In al
most worId-consuming intensity.
that in that way it might be prac-
tieable to extract the aluminium
grains from the clay, collect them
and thus secure q pure metal and
at such low cost as to insure COM
nsrcial utilization of it.
what Electricity Did.
! Mr.. Hall did, cause to be built an
electric furnace in which he gener-
ated and developed such heat as the
earth has not known since the days I
when tho present world was in for
snation. In this way he was able
to separate the alumina, as it was
called. from the clay, collect It, and
at last have m his possession a mer~
ehantabIe brick, so to speak, Of pure
aluminium.
1t was one Of the great discoveries
or inventions Of modern times. Mr..
Han himself could not realize that /
the day would soon come when by
reason OF two other inventions, the
aeroplane and the motor car, there \
would arise q very great demand for
aluminium, because this metal is
found most serviceable for aeroplane
and motor car uses.
He did realize, however, that by /
reason Of the rapid lowering of the /
market price for the metal, it was
to come into widespread commercial |
use, anticipating, in fact, the coming !
~ OF the day, now at hand, when alu- /
minum would in certain lines Of in /
dustry and for certain purposes sup |
plant TIN.
Incidentally Il may be reported in |
this place that Mr.. Hall was a man :
whose disposition caused him to (
shrink from any publicity or any per- !
sonal reference to himself of a kind !
that would hx the public eye upon |
him. He seemed to his friends to be |
almost morbidly sensitive, preferring |
to withdraw himself entirely from any |
association excepting that which was !
necessary for the development Of the |
industry he had created.
He was at last persuaded to appear |
Cin public 50 that he might accept the /.
highest honorary distinction that one |
Of the great scientific bodies could Of |
fer. . medal symbolic of his wonder |
fd achievements and inventions.
The Capitalists Take Hold.
When Il was demonstrated that Mr.. |
Halls apparatus and his utilization of |
his electric furnace were to make the |
manufacture of aluminium commercial |
ly practicable, capital. chiefly Pitts |
burgh capital, was found in abund- |
ance for promoting the industry. A
great plant was established at NIaea-
IA Falls and IN this plant Lord Rsl-
vim passed several hours, completely |
absorbed In the Demonstration of the |
capacity Of the electric furnace to |
capture . vague, almost phanton-like, |
rninsraI-nke substance, and convert IL
into . metal which was to be of vast |
importance tn many industries.
The Pittsburgh Company also estab- |
lished near a water power In Canada |
about half way between Montreal
and Quebec another plant from which |
comes aluminium IN various forms.
almost exclusively absorbed by the |
Canadian market.
The company obtained control of |
the largest and best deposits of |
beauxits IN the United States and
since the war in Europe began !
secured control OF q large deposit in |
New Guinea. South America Some |
day this South American bauxite will |
be transported to a new plant at or |
near Baltimore there to be used for |
the manufacture Of aluminium.
One Of the reasons why the unique |
deposit Of alunite in one Of the noun /
tains Of Utah, cannot be made, as 1t |
Is said, readily, available for the re-
coVery OF the potash that is in II. |