FORTUNES MADE FROM CLAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17246, 12 January 1924, Page 5

FORTUNES MADE FROM CLAY.

HOW ALUMINIUM HAS HELPED INDUSTRY.

Fifty years ago the common metal **rhich we call alumiuium was so rare that it cost nearly £2l) a pound, and was used almost solely in the making of Jewellery. Now it costa rather less than a shilling a pound (says “ Tit-Bits”), and is made into thousands ot different ar tide*, from teapots to motor oar parts ; from wireless masts to nutmeg graters and soup plates! Many years before anyone could olaim to have seen aluminium, its existence was suspected. Th© metal is obtained from a white powder, not mi like soda in appearance, which is one of the commonest chemical properties of the earth’s crust. Known as alumina, this substance is th© basis of day, and it® identity was first established not. quite a century ago by u German chemist named Woehler. A KITCHEN LABORATORY. Later a French chemist named Do Till© succeeded in producing aluminium on a considerable scale, though not in sufficient quantities to justify its use outside jewellers’ shops, where it was made into ornaments. For fifty years after this the chemists of the world concentrated on the problem of chaining aluminium in bulk, an • American scientist, Charles Hall, whose laboratory was in theback kitchen of his lodgings, finally being •uccessful in the quest. Hall carried out numerous experiments, and was on the point of giving up when he found •t the bottom of his crucible a tiny disc of the new metal, produced by a method that was both simple and cheap. Th© discovery was made thirty-seven rears ago. since when aluminium has been put to an astonishingly wide variety of uses. The part which this won derful metal will plav in the future is incalculable, for its lightness, durability. strength and cheapness render it one of the most valuable substances of the kind known to man. NEITHER RUST NOR TARNISH. Aluminium will neither rust nor tarnish. and it is so adaptable that it can hammered into sheets no thicker than cardboard, cr drawn out into very tine wire. One of its most remarkable characteristics is that it is a rapid conductor of heat, while it is also nonDoieonous. Our preserves, including meat and fruit, will one day be packed in aluminium containers instead of in tins. Aluminium cooking utensils are already becoming a feature of modern lomestic life, and aluminium tea and Jinner services are being put on the uarket in increasing numbers. Experiments are being made with 1 notor-cars built almost exclusively of it© metal. Recently an aluminiumk milt car was tested at high speed on ,* * railway track, a gruelling trial for my form of vehicle other than a rail- ,• ray engine. The car emerged from the <\ »rdeal as if it had been running on i\ ih© smoothest of roads! Aeroplanes of aluminium are likely fc> be common very' soon. USED BY CHEMISTS. Aluminium has made it practicable . hr chemists to make certain precious , rfconee, notably rubies and sapphires. Considerable numbers of these gems ire manufactured by adding colouring substances to powdered alumina and annealing it by means of a specially charged blowpipe. The metal also plays art important • part in the iron and steel industries, being used in both as a means of purification. Small quantities of aluminium added to steel in the furnace disperse the gas, and ensure the elimination of certain defects which at one time greatly hindered the production of | first-class steel.