| Show = REDUCING REFRACTORY ORES An Interesting Paper by Professor Hunt in Rcjrara to Electrolysis HALIFAX N S September 17The formal for-mal reception of the members of the American Ameri-can Institute of Mining Engineers took place yesterday in the Legislative Council Chamber of the Provincial building J A Bayles President of the Association occupied occu-pied the chair and exGovernor Sir Adams G Archibald delivered tho address of welcome wel-come in tho name of the people of Nova Scotia Ho was followed by Mayor Mackintosh Mackin-tosh who welcomed the visitors on behalf of the city Sir Adams dwelt at some length on the HISTORY OE THE MINERAL DEVELOPMENT Of the Province and referred briefly to the present extent of the coal iron and gold product President Bayles replied to the address of welcome in a short speech In the course of his remarks he laid particular stress on the value of the coking coal of the Province which ho had been surprised to learn was to found in large quantities This product He said was in much demand in the iron regions rl re-gions of Pennsylvania and Ohio and he believed be-lieved the most ardent protectionist in the United States would not have the slightest objection to allowing coking coal from Nova Scotia to enter that country duty free President Bayles expressed the opinion that free trade rather than protection was an aid to the development of the mineral resources of a country The remainder of the morning morn-ing session was taken up with the reading of papers on various scientific subjects The following is an abtract of a paper entitled AX ELECTRICAL 7UKNACE FOR REDUCING BE FBACTOBY ORES By Professor T J Terry Hunt of Montreal The power of electric currents to generate intense heat in their passage through a resisting re-sisting metal has long been known and the late W Siemens thereby succeeded in melt ing considerable quantities of steel It was I however reserved to Messrs Eugene H I Cowles Ohio to take a new step in tho metallurgic art by making heat thus pro duced the means of reducing in the presence of carbon oxides not only alkaline metals but of magnesium manganese aluminum silicon and coron with an ease which permits the production of these elements and their alloys with copper and I other metals on a commercial scale An apparatus ap-paratus devised and now employed by Messrs Cowles is made of column fragments frag-ments of well calcined charcoal so prepared and arranged as to present the requisite electrical resistance and is imbedded horizontally hori-zontally in finely pulverized charcoal and covered by a layer of the same material coarsely brokep the whole being placed in a box of fire brick covered with perforated tiles with open ends to admit two carbon electrodes elec-trodes an inch and a half in diameter Through these currents from a dynamo electric elec-tric machine SOhorsepoweraro nowmade to traverse the central core of carbon whereby Such a temperature is at once produced pro-duced that platinindium may be instantly melted therein and the most refractory oxides already named are not only fused I and voltalized but t REDUCED TO THEIB ELEMENTAL STATE With formations of carbonized oxide gas If alumina in the form of granulated corundum corun-dum is mingled with carbon in the electric path aluminum is rapidly liberted being in part carried off with the escaping gas and in part condensed in the upper layer of charcoal char-coal In this way aroobtained considerable masses of nearly pure fused aluminum and Ors of a crystaline compound of metal with earbon When however a portion of the granulated copper is placed with corun dum and au alloy of the two metals is ob tained which is probably formed in over lying stratum at tKe close of the operation opera-tion it is found in fused tnasses below In this way there is got after the current has passed for an hour and a half through tho furnace from four to five pounds of an alloy containing from 15 to 20 per cent of aluminum alumi-num and free from iron On substituting this alloy for copper in a second operation a compound with over 30 per cent is obtained ob-tained Already a small experimental fclant with a thirty horsepower dynamo is producing pro-ducing daily over five pounds of aluminum in the form of A BICH AND BRITTLE ALLOY Which by suitable additions of copper is converted into different grades of aluminum bronze The remarkable qualities of these are so well known that it is only their great cost hitherto which has prevented their more general use in the arts They are now offered off-ered for sale at Cleveland on a basis of 5 a I pound for the contained aluminum I |
