The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-08-12
Ulco Hard
Metal Made
IFrom the Engineering and Mining
Journal

TFrOm the Engineering anu H"ine
JournaLl
OF the many inventions that may
be directly attributed TO the slresS
of necessity caused by the war tue
discovery of new alloy winch ap
pears to be performing the oii1ce ~
number of other metals Is or the
greatest Importance TO lnousIiIai
America. and incidentally Of vital as
eis+ance to the government in its
Efforts to conserve the rapidly dim1n-
ishing tin supply Of the world.
In the summer Of 1915, when the
foreign demand for shrapnel balls
was it its height, causing famine CON
ditions in the antimony supply, anti-
mony was selling at As cents per
nound in New York. Even at THIS
nnheard-of price, there was no anti
monv to be had. Conditions had be-
come so serious that the Unlteo
cad company. one of the large
American manufacturing companies
issned orders to it's technical force
Ia find a substitute for anthony. IL
vas not long before this condition
vas brought to the attention OF FRO
fessors Frary and Temple, then on
the University of Minnesota, VINO
snent their vacation in developing a
metal that could be used for shrapnei
haus Their results were successful
in the fall of the year, when tnelr
nrod,,ct was offered to the manufac-
turing company originating the sus-
eestion. and steps were at once taken
p manufacture the metal experiment.
ally at Keokuk, Iowa (the United
Lead company.
The metal has been oeslgna]eu
"JTlco Hard Metal" 1t Is nara anu
tough and has a distinctly metaiiie
ring. despite the fact that In chemi
cal composition 1t Is 81 to ~ per
cent lead, plus barium ana calcium
The latter elements are 1ntIoauceu
Inv an electrolytic process. ana nence
the plant for the produccon OF the
e.,i was erected at Keokuk, where
NJ electrical energy developed by
the Mississippi river al INC Ae'AAA
dam was available.
Ch-.nne, balls manufact ured from
tho new alloy were pronounced SUI
nar,or to the lead and antimony pal
Nv raason OF their higher specltle
vitv greater toughness and the
ear,nlete absence Of brittleness-al
thasa oualfties combining to produce
rail with superior ballistic effects
va+ ahout the time the metal wa
. .,,IIy developed for this purpose, anu
!. wow had receded in price to suci
a.4ent a. to make the use OF tn
new metal for the special purpose
unneeessarJ- -.
, Tb. research laboratories OF tn
: manufacturing company responsfo,e
, .or the INTRODUCTION of the metal de
: rn+.d themselves diligently to the
study of its peculiar nature an
. have since discovered Its real WORT
. IN bearing metals. Here the meta
q Ia found to possess hardness, com
= nressiye strength, low friction, hea
: rresistance-all the qualities or
t hiyh-grade babbitt.
r Tin lends an element on hardnes
!, "a t,urghness to babbitt; antimon
bardness alone; and it has been ger
y orally supposed that where LEAD wa
,,sad IN a babbitt it added greatly [
v ;+s antifrictional qualities. The ne'
! r,e+a1 having all these characterls
., ties being principally lead, with II
:. bigb anti-frictional qualities, appear
y ~. he su,planting babbitt of tn
bipher grades. Moreover, OF specl'
;nnortance is the fact that the ne
= -,ntaI Is conserving the supply 9
" an so urgently demanded by all I'd
. I1Ico hard metal may be cas-
oIIad drawn and extruded; its mel
= mo noint is the same as lead, an
Its specific gravity about the sam