Show BAUXITE AND ALUMINUM the year 1913 was the most prosperous in the history of the bauxite and alami num industries in the united states according to W C phalen of the united states geological survey in a report on the production of bauxite and aluminum in 1913 from mineral resources the production of bauxite in 1913 was long tons at against long tons valued at in 1912 bauxite is used chiefly as raw material in the production of metallic aluminum in the manufacture of bauxite bricks and in the manufacture of for use as an abrasive the amount of aluminum consumed in the united states in 1913 was pounds against pounds in 1912 the marvelous growth of the aluminum industry is shown by a comparison of the 1913 output with the total consumption of aluminum during the last twenty years pounds more than pounds have been consumed inthe in the last ten years the total production in 1884 was only pounds aside from its use in the manufacture of cooking utensils aluminum is now being employed on a larger scale in the construction st of welded tanks cooking vats and vessels used by brewers preserve manufacturers and fat recover ers and in industries dus tries where a metal is required that will conduct heat will not corrode and is not poisonous it has been f found by experiments that the only substances which dissolve any of the metal are oranges lemons brussels sprouts and tomatoes and that in every test the quantity dissolved was so small as to be harmless the use of aluminum wire as a conductor in long distance power transmission schemes is increasing A recently developed branch of the aluminum industry is the manufacture of the powdered metal known as aluminum bronze powder which is used extensively as a paint pigment in explosives plo in lithographing litho graphing and in printing aluminum foil has partly displaced tinfoil for wrapping articles such as cheese chocolate candies and tobacco one of the newest and perhaps oddest uses for aluminum is its employment in making the soles of shoes to be used by workmen employed in wet and damp places the aluminum soled shoe lasts much longer than an ordinary shoe and is said to be impervious to dampness A copy of the report may be obtained free on application to the director of the geological survey washington D C |