Salt Lake Telegram | 1937-01-14 | Page 10 | Fine China Made in America, Big Possibility

FINE CHINA MADE IN AMERICA, BIG POSSIBILITY Experimental Laboratories ProveValueof"Native"Clay I - v . s I - ' i i Within the shadow of N orris dan a small (roup of men have transformed trans-formed gray Tennessee valley clay into light white, egg-shell porcelain porce-lain dtnnarware that is acclaimed as fine as any In the world the first time that porcelain has been made from clay found in this country. coun-try. Up to now, either the clay or the finished product has been imported from Europe or Asia. And capping the achievement of opening America's Amer-ica's clay deposits to industry, for the first time the firing or bailing has been done by electricity. According to 8. T. Henry of Spruce Pine, N. C who conceived the idea for the experiment, their success will have far reaching consequences. con-sequences. It means, for Instance, that high grade dinnerware will become available in this country at a low price possibly low enough so It can be sold in the lowest-priced stores. had been used In a small way in firing decorations on porcelain ware, but this called for a tempera-ture tempera-ture of only around 1000 decrees Fahrenhlet, whereas the TV A researchers re-searchers required a temperature of 2500 or more degrees for fusing the kaolin, feldspar and quarts Into porcelain. The use of the heat units made of metal wss out of the picture. Metal would not stand up under Freqile-loekinf oeathell percale! reapers mede from Teaaettee valley -clay ere emoae; the first all-America a predacto of their lied, made aesiible rhreue;h the reteercck ef Robert E. eVetrid at Nerris dam. Thota belew ar two pott from the lame mold. That at right h the larger because it Kel net yet baae fired. Electric firing eveet, top, ware designed te mate Mia el the vert Norm dam power sua- I ph thet wait only the throwing of e switch, lower right, re work for the potential sow ceramics industry. 77 BseeSBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBSBBS It means a new, major Industry In the United States. Now you have only to look at the back of your plates, cups and saucers to see that they come from Japan, England, France, Poland and Csecbo-Slo-vakia. Hereafter, In times of war, we no longer will have to depend on other countries for the kaolin vitally essential to make spark plugs and electric Insulation needed in military transport. The fact that North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama have rich deposits de-posits of kaolin is not news. Up to now small quantities of It have been used In a mixture with imported kaolin. The real news Is that porcelain por-celain can be made from the native clay. Also that. In such a refined state. It can take the place of imported im-ported kaolin. Mr. Henry and TV A administrators adminis-trators picked one Robert E. Gould, an American ceramics engineer, to head the experimental laboratories. Mr. Gould, then chief engineer of a ceramics plant In Poland, picked his staff and set to work. After months of experimenting with a waahing and settling process that had not been used before, they found ways and means to remove sll impurities from the native kaolin. kao-lin. Next was tackled job No. X firing by electricity. Up to now electricity JJC- yd . such heat Experiments were made with other materials. Finally carborundum car-borundum bara were decided on. They worked. Mr. Gould and his electrical experts ex-perts want to find a material that will last even longer than carborundum. carborun-dum. They think that they have found it It is graphite in a vacuum inside a carborundum bar. One furnace with such resistors has been kept at 2600 degrees since last April and the units haven't burned out yet A much larger kiln Is being built It will be the only one In the coun- try and a high degree of efficiency! is expected of it Up to .now ceramic plants have fired with oil, gas or coke. Electricity Elec-tricity is believed to have several big advantages, provided it can be bought cheaply. Mr. Henry said electric firing will greatly reduce the waste because the heat can be controlled and Is more uniform. Uniform heating is Important because be-cause If, for instance, more heat hits one side of a cup that the other, it will warp or break it