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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
throws out this challenge-or perhaps it should be termed invitation-to the nation: ‘If the Government is prepared to give the necessary financial assistance and special priority for the erection of plant, we, for our part, will guarantee to make this country independent of Germany or any other foreign source of dyestuffs.’ “This is an undertaking which cannot be ignored by the Government. In the Levenstein organization the country has an asset of the highest economic value. After the war Ger-
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many’s dye industry will be one of her strongest economic weapons. Tariffs will not exclude German dyes if the necessary plant does not exist in this country to meet trade requirements. British Dyes Limited, in which the Government is interested, has not yet displayed the capacity for production of the country’s requirements, and it is essential that further steps should be taken. We hope that the fullest impartial consideration will be devoted to Sir John Lonsdale’s statement and that prompt action will be taken, as the aiiestion admits of no delay.”
CURRENT INDUSTRIAL NEWS PLATINUM IN SPAIN A memoir published by the Spanish Geological Survey gives some details of the platiniferous deposits of the Serania de Ronda. The region of Southern Spain, situated between Malaga and Gibralter, is of very complex structure. It has formed in recent years the object of investigations by mining engineers commissioned by the Spanish Government. Samples were taken of river sand and the gravel from a river the bed of which is dunite, and others from rivers in which dunite was absent. I n the first case, the presence of platinum was revealed, but not in the second. On washing considerable quantities of sand and gravel, small, lucent grains of platiniferous ore were discovered, the platinum content of which varied from 78 to 82 per cent of pure ore. I n some zones the ore contained from 2 to 3 grams of platinum per cubic meter of substance examined, while in others the yield was as low as 0.25 to 2 grams per cubic meter. From the economical point of view, the nature of the platiniferous sand or gravel is considered excellent, as it does not contain clay. The first river to be investigated systematically between February and June, 1916,was the Rio Verde over a stretch of 3 l / 2 kilometers. The platinum contained in this area gradually increased from 8 to 20 centigrams per cubic meter from the point a t which prospecting was begun to the finishing point.-A. MCMILLAN. TUNGSTEN IN MALAYA According to the Mining Journal, IIQ (1g17),657, a rich deposit of mixed wolfram tin ore was discovered recently near the village of Changloon in Sungei Sintok. The discovery was made by Chinese who were working for tin on some small adjoining leases. The discovery caused a rush and as there were over twenty applications for the area, the Kedah Government decided to put the property up a t auction. Subsequently, however, the area of 3000 orlongs was given to a local firm. The monthly output hitherto has been about 300 pikuls (I pikul = 142.7 lbs.) but an increase to 800 pikuls is expected shortly. The rich discovery seems to be confined to this localized area and no further discoveries have been made outside. The ore occurs in quartz veins but as no regular prospecting work has been done upon it, no reliable idea can be formed as to its life.-M. TUBULAR CYCLE COMPONENTS A catalog issued by Messrs. Accles and Pollock of Birmingham, England, illustrates a wide range of tubular parts for the construction of cycles, motor-cycles, and aeroplanes, such as handle bars, seat pillars, seat-pillar laps, frame lugs, bridge pieces and loop struts, stays and front forks, and steering tubes. Full-size illustrations are given of 268 special sections in colddrawn, weldless steel tubing, as well as of a number of sections from the Air Board’s standard lists, and there is a description of an attachment called the “Apollo Mykarmo,” which, when cramped on the thimble of standard micrometer calipers, a t once converts them into a limit gauge having a tolerance of from 0.0001in. to 0.022 in., with variations of 0.001in.-M.
MAGNETO MACHINES FOR POCKET TORCHES A recent issue of the Elektvotechnische Zeitung gives some particulars of a new type of pocket torch being developed in Germany and Austria in which the lamp is supplied with current from a small hand-driven magneto. The shortage of certain material is putting a limit to the manufacture of dry cells and small accumulators for public use and this is no doubt responsible for the tendency to utilize hand-driven sources of current for pocket lamps of various kinds. Lamps of this kind are more expensive than the ordinary kind but do not require refills or charging. One of the types described depends on the release of energy from a series of springs put into tension by the pressure of the thumb on a lever. The whole arrangement weighs about I lb. and is so contained that the release of the spring supplies enough energy to keep the lamp alight for 3 min. I n order to secure a light for IO min. a heavier machine, weighing about 5 lbs. and requiring to be wound up with both hands, has been designed. In these lamps the armature is the rotating part but in another variety, due to 0. Pletscher, the field revolves in ball-bearings round a T-shaped armature. This lamp is stated to weigh only about 1/2 lb. The application of this principle of portable electric lamps seems quite simple and practicable.-M. THERMIT WELDING TheFBritish Board of Trade have now given formal sanction, says Engineering, to a new company with works in London and Liverpool and known as the British Barimar Thermit Welding Company to take up and exploit the Thermit-Welding process which prior to the war was exclusively in German hands. Thermit is especially applicable for tramway welding and for repair of heavy castings and machine parts. The registered offices of the new company are a t IO Poland St., London. The Thermit Co., Ltd., of Commercial Rd., London, are not connected with this new company which has only rights to work certain of their patents. They continue their manufacture of various Thermit compounds and are a t present especially engaged upon the manufacture of certain metals and alloys in connection with the war.-M. REFRACTORY PROPERTIES OF MAGNESIA BRICKS A contribution to the Proceedings of the Paris Academy of Sciences was recently made by MM. LeChatelier and B. Bogitch on the refractory properties of magnesia bricks, either made in the laboratory from pure magnesia or from commercial specimens. The resistance to crushing was measured a t 15, 1,000, 1,300,1,500 and 1,600’ C. for two bricks and a t 15, 1,500 and 1 , 6 0 0C. ~ for the remainder. A11 the magnesia bricks show a sudden fall of resistance to crushing at a temperature depending on the degree of purity, a fact which explains why, in practice, it has been found that magnesia bricks stand less well in furnaces than silica bricks, although their fusing points observed in the ordinary way without reference to resistance to crushing are higher than the silica bricks.-M.
