Show A NEW METAL AND ITS USE Bad Conductor of and Han Hag High Melting Point V Weekly W kl A few we weeks ks ago electrical engineers got wind vind or of n a new incandescent lamp hailing from Germany Now as a a rulE rub no one even raises An eyebrow at 5 seth h han an announcement for reputed improve ments on incandescent lamps are an stor story but the newcomer was unusual In that the filament was a plain metallic wire drawn from lum an element of which most had not even heard the name Tantalum Is an element ha has been known for more than halt half a PH tur tury as a c constituent ot of varIous uncommon minerals but nobody it for anything moro more titan than a Pl pou l del der WhICh could be obtained great groat difficulty but was wan of no use all aft allone I Ione r one had It It has turned out ho howes e V that when melted in to overcool its unpleasant trIck of absorbing nitre gen gon when hot this block black powder b d tL ft little ingot of real metal PosSesseS seS very remarkable tantalum Is a Stance stanc a little darker in color tha L platinum and about j heavy for the annie bulk It Is IB for metal an unusually bad conductor l electricity and has an extremely hl hige L molting melting point both of those these boin being invaluable for the pUr purpose in ii int t Besides this it can be han Iian mored into and toled or dra into tine fine wIre quIte easily Its melting point is so 80 high that It Itcan t can be pushed to vivId iid C luo that makes makeR an ordinary lamp 10 look k yd Io low By Bt this same token the light ts ii produced at a high efficiency so o that for the same energy used the tantalum gives nearly double the light of a carbon filament The former ly lythe lythe the wa may Increases its electrical rE resist st stance ance as It gets hotter white while the laU latt has bas its highest resistance cell The result is a very curious ot of appearance when a find nd a carbon lamp are turned on The Tho latt latter takes a 8 perceptible time t retain luff while the formS r Jumps to whiteness more quickly thu IJ the eye ee can follow It |