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Show oo MODERN ALCHEMY. In tho days of the medieval alchemist alchem-ist It was believed that it was possible possi-ble by means of some undiscovered laboratory operation to convert tho baser metals' Into gold With the development of modern chemistry this belief was shown to be baseless, at least in the sense In which tho older workers held It. At the same time there has been evolved as a result of the work of the more recent chemists and metallurgists metallur-gists a transmutation In the properties of addition of which will Impart to steel which Is of far more real value to the world than any formula for making gold could ever be The discovery that iron containing a certain proportion of carbon constituted con-stituted steel transformed society ind created modern civilization. Without With-out steel we should relapse Into barbarism. bar-barism. Today it is known that In addition to carbon there are other elements the addition of which will impart to steel certain properties Increasing In-creasing immensely its value as a material of construction and of operation oper-ation Among tho substances which wero formerly classed as tho "rnro' elements ele-ments there arc several which were Hire only because there was not sufficient suf-ficient use for them to provide an incentive in-centive to discover natural sources of supply. Thus vanadium, known as an element ele-ment for a hundred year, estimated as having a value many times that of gold and need solely for a few artistic ar-tistic purposes in coloring tubrlcs, has within a few years risen immensely immense-ly In Importance becauso of the knowledge knowl-edge which has been acquired of the v.iluable properties which It imparts to steel, while at the same time It has fallen In cost to a point about one-cent that of sliver because the cry demand has revealed hitherto unknown deposits. Th,e influence of vanadium upon steel may well be regarded as a triumph tri-umph of modern metallurgy, and vanadium van-adium steel has becomo one of the most Important of the so-called alloy steels. The older steels, now known broadly as "carbon" steels In distinction distinc-tion to various alloy steels, had certain cer-tain fairly well ascertained properties proper-ties together with determinate limlta-t.ons. limlta-t.ons. They could be made ductile within certain limits of strength or strong within certain approach to brittloness but when both strength and toughness tough-ness were demanded it was realized that something else In addition to carbon car-bon was essential. That something has been shown to be vanadium TV. l-n . 41.- -j.iril "c iiimii-ijui; vi me ilUUiuuu ui small porportlons of vanadium to steel Is two-fold; It acts as a scavenger lemovlng exldes, nitrides, etc., in a form easily carried away to the slag, and. it also toughons tho steel directly, by its solid solution, under normal conditions in the carbonless portion, known nsrforrlte. In addition it forms complex carbides of such a nature as greatly to strengthen the steel statically The result is a product so vastly superior to the ordinary carbon steel ns to render it practically a new ma terial of construction, especially for situations in. which shocks must be met and resisted. The combination of high strength and great toughness makes It the material above all .others for automobile parts as well as for railway axles and engine frames, for springs for the important parts of vessels and for bridges and similar structures. For the latest types of engineering work, such as flying machines, submarines, sub-marines, torpedoes and similar work the possession of a material of high ieslstanco to stresses of all kinds en ables some of the most difficult elements ele-ments of the workto be solved. . While the application of vanadium to ste'el constitutes at present Its most Important use, it has also a marked influence upon cast Iron and upon copper, and while its use has pot yet been developed to far in these dlrec-tipns, dlrec-tipns, there Is every reason to believe be-lieve that these applications will fol low. Cas-1 -' ?Iatrazine. |