The Ely miner., 1931-03-20

the fall shows deep basic green, al
most covered with thick white foam.
Its surface from fall to bridge is
splotched with the irregular circles of
miniature whirlpOols."
Niagara is not only a thing of
beauty. For more than a generation
it has been hard at work; and the
story of it's workaday role is an epic
in the history of industry. Forty years
ago certain manufacturers seeing the
tremendous amount of power running
to waste where the waters Of Supe-
rior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie leap
from lake level toward sea level, un-
dertook the installation Of great hy-
dro-electric plant at Niagara. Later,
other power-developing interests en-
tered the field, and then began a legis-
lative and diplomatic war between
those who would utilize some of the
power of Niagara and those who
would keep it untouched by the unsen-
timental hand of commercialism.
Division of Its Power.
Finally the governments Of the
United States and Canada made
treaty regulating the amount of wa
ter that could be diverted for power
purposes. Canada has used her share
to the last second-foot, but the United
States has never permitted the utiliza-
tion of a considerable share Of her
allowance.
But for the part used there has been
made one of the most remarkable
showings in the history of commercial
progress. The cheap power obtained
made Niagara a laboratory where
great ideas could be transformed into
great enterprises.
When Niagara power was first de-
veloped, efforts to make artificial
grinding materials were proving fail
ure because of lack of electric cur
rent at a price the new venture could
afford to pay. Those who backed the
process thereupon went to Niagara
Falls, set up plant, and founded the
artificial abrasive industry. How much
it's success means to America it would
be difficult to overeStimate.
Take the grinding machinery out of
the automobile factories, remove it
from the munitions plants, eliminate
it from the locomotive works, car foun-
dries, and machine shops of the coun-
try and you would paralyze the ma
tons whole industrial system. Just
that would have happened during the
World war, as a matter Of fact, had
not Niagara's artificial abrasiveS
stepped in to save the day when hos
tilities shut out the natural supply of
emery and corundum from Asia Minor.
Making carborundum.
While the processes of carborundum
manufacture were being perfected an
other lesson was learned. Quartz is
the geologist's thermometer, for it is
formed between narrow ranges of tenn
perature. If the materials from which
than so much heat, they take on an
entirely different character from
quartz. The same is true if they are
subjected to less than a certain
amount Of heat.
So, also, it is with carborundum.
In it's manufacture large quantity of
a mixture of coke and sand, with
touch of sawdust and a dash of salt,
is put into an electric furnace. A
heavy current of electricity is passed
through this for 4S hours, heating it
to 1850 degrees centigrade.
If it is properly heated, there forms
around the central core of coke
great array of crystals, large and
small, almost as hard as diamonds. II
too much heat is applied, instead of
forming into crystals, the material
breaks up into fine particles of black
dust and you have graphite.
Therefore, largely by the same proc
ess, the electric furnace produces
from the same materials the near-dia-
mond of the artificial grindstone and
the microscopic dust that becomes lead
for a pencil, color for ink, base for
lubricants, electrodes for furnaces and
death chairs, or a thousand other
things under the manipulations of in
dustrial science.
In making carborundum wheels,
whetstones, and other grinding imple-
ments, the crystals are separated,
graded, mixed with various binders,
pressed into the shapes desired, dried
and then baked in kilns, like porce-
lain or other ceramic products. In
some cases binders are used
Carborundum has a companion, al
undum, as an abrasive, each having it's
more advantageous uses. In the man.
ufacture of the latter certain clays are
used. One of these is bauxite. This
is first purified and then put into a
water-jacketed electric furnace, which
fuses the aluminium oxide. The fused
material is taken out, crushed, and
prepared for use much after the man.
ner of carborundum.
With the two, Niagara has succeed
ed in giving American industry an in
valuable supply of abrasives.
But Niagara's bit in behalf of Amer
lean industry does not end with the
story of abrasives; indeed, it only well
begins. The story of ferro-silicon is
another illustration Of how beauty un.
der the alchemy of science is trans
muted into Industrial output The en-
tire ferro-silicon industry, practically.
Is centered at Niagara.