Items of Interest January 30, 1915 Issue

Items of Interest

The General Electric Review says: "A process has been discovered for heating metals in revolving drums with mixtures containing, among other things, finely divided aluminum, by which a surface alloy containing aluminum is produced. With copper, this alloy is of the nature of an aluminum bronze, but richer in aluminum than the ordinary alloy of that name and more resistant to heat, so that copper thus treated is protected up to the melting period of the alloy. . . . The same general result was obtained in the case of iron and steel. Some use was made of this process, which has been called 'calorizing,' for treating copper soldering-irons and iron resistance wires for heating devices. Modifications of the process, extending it to further applications, have also been made. Pieces which because of their shape or size are not adapted for tumbling, may be calorized by packing them in or painting them with a suitable mixture and heating them. Thus, the size of the heater is the only limitation on the size of the piece that may be calorized. There appear to be many places where it is desirable to use iron vessels or apparatus at temperatures above red heat, and at such temperatures ordinary iron rapidly oxidizes and scales away. After iron is calorized the effect of heating is slight. Instead of burning and the scale falling off, as in the case of untreated iron, practically no effect can be detected after a considerable time,—certainly none which injures the surface."

"With possibly few exceptions," says Secretary Lane of the interior department, who is defending the conservation bills for the administration, "the valuable power sites on lands not owned by the federal government have passed into private ownership in perpetuity. They cannot be recovered except at a prohibitive cost, nor can any control be exercised over them in any manner, except it be by regulation of transmission and delivery as a public utility. Out of 7,000,000 horse-power developed in the United States in 1913, twenty companies or groups of interests controlled 2,710,886 developed horse-power, and 3,556,500 undeveloped horse-power. According to a table compiled by the forest service, out of a total of 1,135,400 developed horse-power in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, 1,023,700 horse-power is owned by large corporations, while but 111,700 horse-power is owned by small developers. In California, 92 per cent of the developed power is owned by the large corporations and but 8 per cent by small developers. In Orgon 90 per cent is owned by large companies, and 10 per cent by the small developers. In California, one corporation owns 27 per cent of the total developed horse-power in the state, and two groups own 57 per cent of the total development."

"We have remaining at the present time a total acreage of coal in the public land states which is believed to exceed fifty million acres," says Secretary Lane of the interior department. "Probably three fourths of this is in public ownership. Not all of this coal land is available for immediate utilization under any kind of law, because of its remoteness from settlement and transportation lines. The director of the geological survery, however, estimates that about twenty per cent of the full acreage, or between seven and eight million acres, is available for use, or will be so within the next decade or two. Translated into tons, it seems probable that this acreage of public domain, now or soon to become available, contains something like ten billion tons of bituminous coal, thirty billion tons of sub-bituminous, and about fifty billion tons of lignite; or altogether about ninety billion tons of coal. It is estimated that we have in sight enough coal to last us for something like twelve hundred years, allowing for very large increase in consumption. To permit those who are now holding lands out of use to acquire more lands and make the grasp of monopoly more throttling, is unthinkable. To open the remaining resources to use, under a system which encourages use, will check monopoly."

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