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Show Dust of Factory Proves To Be Source of Nickel SCHENECTADY, N. Y. Fifty thousand pounds of factory dust has helped solve a serious shortage in nickel which is essential to the defense de-fense program. Enough nickel has been recovered from the dust to supply a fifth of the needs at the General Electric plant in West Lynn for the manufacture manufac-ture of tiny magnets in electrical meters in airplanes and other instruments. instru-ments. These magnets are the smallest and most powerful in the world. When they are ground the grlndings form a black, sooty dust, partly grinding material, parUy nickel and other metals. It is swept out and poured Into barrels. It has been going to the scrap pile, In charge of Charles Stevens, a Scotchman. Believing Uie metal in this dust ought to bring a price from some scrap dealer. Mr. Stevens hoarded the soot until he had 50,000 pounds piled up, but no customers. A few months ago Jack Siever, a General Electric metallurgist, six years out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, did some invesUgat-lng invesUgat-lng in Uie West Lynn foundry and decided he could recover the nickel In the dust His chief, James Goss, obtained an appropriation of $1,000 to complete com-plete Uie experiments. The tests were successful for an important part of the needed nickel. |