Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/720

 578 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [Mar., is necessary to have Ciyolite introduced into the country at a lower rate, before American manufacturers can compete with those of Europe. The metal — practically a new and a precious one — is, from its lustre and whiteness, as well as from its unaltera- bility in air, well adapted for jewehy, for mounting astronomical and survey- ing instruments, and for lining culinaiy vessels. With copper, in the proportion of 90 per cent, of this metal to 10 per cent, of aluminium, it constitutes alu- minium bronze, already an important article of import; 100 parts copper, TO of nickel, 5 of antimony, and 2 of alu- minium, form an alloy, which, in physi- cal properties, so much resembles silver, that it is called "minargent." An im- portant compound is formed by alloying silver and the new metal, in the propor- tion of 33 per cent, of the former to 66 of the latter. There is also an alloy, into which the metal tungsten enters, along with copper. About one-third of the Cryolite used in this country is consumed by the Hot- Cast Porcelain Company of Philadel- phia, which buys it of the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company, having purchased last year twenty-five hundred tons. The porcelain is made by melt- ing together a mixture of sand, cryolite and oxide of zinc, both the latter in powder, so that the product is really a silicate of alumina, soda and oxide of zinc, containing, by a recent approxi- mative analysis of Charles P. Williams, Esq., chemist of the Atlantic Quartz Company, to whom we are indebted for all the chemical points in this article : — Silica,. 10. Soda,. 13. Oxide of Zinc, 8.5 Alumina, 8.5 100. Tf the sand contains iron, manganese is added, to destroy the green color oc- casioned by the iron. This, of course, is to be understood of the white ware. By the addition of various metallic oxides, this "porcelain," or — in the lan- guage of the workmen — this "metal," can be produced of almost every color, tint, or hue. Though this raw material is thus the basis of the manufacture of many kinds of chemicals, all important, and all paying internal revenue duty, the United States Government, very unwisely and, indeed, unjustly, taxes Cryolite 20 per cent., through, what seems to us, an erroneous reading of the tariff, thus placing the American Company at a signal disad- vantage, in comparison with the manu- facturers of all other countries, whose governments admit Cryolite — a raw commodity unique in locality — duty free. Cryolite should be free : — as it is a raw material only available for manu- factures: — as it is the cheapest article from which soda can, at present, be made, in the United States : — as it is ad- mitted duty free into England, Canada, and every other civilized country, whence its products are exported here, to com- pete with our manufactures : — as it gives employment to twenty or more ocean vessels, some built expressly for this trade, and all chartered hy shipping houses in the United States : — as it can only be obtained through two dan- gerous voj'ages per round trip, several vessels being lost every year, thus mak- ing freights and insurance enormously high : — as it saves the export of gold, one- fourth as much gold only being required to pay for it, as would be spent for its production in soda, if imported, the rest being freight and labor paid, at home, in currency : — as it renders us independ- ent of England for soda, that nation having to import, from Sicily, Spain and Portugal, her sulphur ore, of which more pounds are required to produce a given weight of soda, than are required of ciy- olite to produce the same : — as it is no monopoly of manufacture — the holders of the contract for its importation being obliged to take many thousand tons per