Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-07
NICKEL CHIEF AID
IN BATTLE ON RUST
Metal Mixes Well With Others
and HardenS Al
Toys.

Industry Is mobil!zing number Of
metals and alloys in the chemists war
On the waste of rust. Chromium. cop
per, brass and other copper alloys, and
aluminium are substances whose indus
trial use, in part at least. has been
augmented by the fight on rust. One OF
the major new allies on the non-rust
battlefront is nickel.
One Of nickel's chief industrial at
tributes is its willingness to mix with
other metals, although 1t also Is used in
its pure state" says a bulletin from
the headquarters of the National Geo.
graphic Society.
Mixes Readily.
1T readily associates with several
hundred metals and metallic alloys
toughening the mixtures. increasing
their heat resistance and improving
their non-corrosive qualities. 1t also
is used as a Whitener of dark metals.
Nickel and products of nickel ma
chinery are seldom out of range of
mans fingertips. In modern homes they
may be found in many articles. ranging
frcm kitchen sinks to door knobs, in
GLIDING table tops, refrigerator handles
and hinges, cook pots, stove trimmings
electric iron. percolator. toaster and
waffle iron heating elements and plating
radio tube grids, safety razors, plumbing
fixtures. cabinet shelves and the metal
that is hidden beneath bathtub enamel.
Silver plated ware usually Is nickel al
10y covered with film of silver.
In the city streets huge nickel alloy
thumb tacks' flank pedestrian lanes
nickel alloy building towers and trim
mings CLEAN overhead, while under
ground telephone wires wear small
nickel alloy loading coils to make tele-
phone conversation clearer and TO speed
transmission. About one-twelfth of the
cleaning metal tower of the Chrysler
Building and also the metallic ribbons
adjoining the walls of the lofty Empire
State Building are nickel.
Because of its toughening effect on
fellow metals, nickel helps make travel
safer. Frames and engine parts OF
many automobiles contain nickel. Once
all the bright parts of automobiles were
nickel plated. Chromium has taken the
place of nickel plate but nickel is often
hidden beneath chromium plating.
Resists Salt Water.
Many modern steamships are equip
ped with nickel alloy hardware and fit
tings because the metal resiStS salt
water corrosion and in the small boat
market one now may buy pleasure boats
with nickel alloy hulls that need no
paint to preserve them.
Commuters deDend upon the tough
nickel alloys that go into the manu-
facture of locomotive and car parts, and
often into the molding of tracks, when
they board the 8:l5, while nickel alloys
have also played an important part in
improving aviation metal. The pro-
peller of the Southern Cross which
winged its way from California to Aus
tralia was nickel alloy.
white gold is white because nickel
us per cent? is mixed with ordinary
gold. A lesser amount of nickel makes
fiesh-colored gold while still lesser
amount makes green gold. German
silver Is a mixture of brass whitened
with nickel.
full in the manufacture Of steam shovel
marine shafting. die blocks and mining
tools. Flat keys that do not twist in
the doorlock perhaps contain nickel
Printing presses contain many nickel
alloy parts.
"Nickels non-corrosive qualities make
it useful in the dye and chemical in
dustries and.in salt factories. Its clean
appearance makes 1t popular among
manufacturers of restaurant, bakery
and dairy equipment.
Nickel for Coins.
THE American nickel is oT1e-fourth
nickel The other three-fourths is cop
per- Twenty-three countries use pure
ri nociOy,iToo Y1iRka1 coins
is Il hobby of the King of Italy.
mo one knows how long nickel has
been in use 1t Is we'll known that the
ancients shaped swords from meteorites
which contained the metal. Because
the meteorites originated in the
heavens warriors believed the sword:
had some sort of supernatural quality
During the early part of the last CEN
fury deposits we're found in New Gale
with the metal. Attempts to part
it from its metallic neighbors were sc
difficult that metallurgists called il
old Nick, synonym for something
stubborn. From old Nick came the
name nickel
Nickel was discovered in Canada ir
1858 when surveyors compass was
detected, but because so little was
known about the metal the find re-
manned only a mention In a surveyors
notebook until 1888, when a railroad
was put through the Sudbury region
Shovels struck rock of strange forma-
ton. Analysed. the rock was dis
covered to contain nickel and copper
Copper was then more valuable, so the
ere was mined for that metal. Not
until several years later was nickel
prof1tably mined and isolated. Today
80 per cent OF the worlds nickel sup
ply is mined in the neighborhood OF
the original Canadian area Of dis
coyery"