Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvi. (1902), No. 0. 



VI. On the Fusion of Quartz in the Electric Furnace. 



By R. S. HUTTON, M.Sc. 



Received and read [anuary "jth, 1902. 



During recent years a good deal of attention has been 

 paid to the working of fused quartz with a view to its use 

 in the construction of apparatus.^ Owing to the 

 exceedingly small coefficient of expansion of this material- 

 and to its high melting point, it would doubtless 

 find many applications for making vessels in which to 

 study the properties of substances at high temperatures, 

 and especially for making high temperature gas ther- 

 mometers. Further, since fused silica withstands very 

 sudden changes of temperature without showing any 

 tendency to crack, probably many industrial uses could 

 be found for it as soon as a more economical method of 

 fusing and working it is forthcoming. Up to the present, 

 the oxyhydrogen blowpipe has been used almost 

 exclusively, and, in the hands of Shenstone and Lacell 

 and of Dufour, has led to very satisfactory and promising 



1 C, V. Boys, Phil Mag., 1887. 



H. L. Callendar. Jourii. Iron and Steel Inst., 1892, Vol. i., p. 165. 

 W, Crookes. "On the Spectra of Argon." Phil. Trans., Vol. 



186 (A), (1895), P- 245- 

 R. Threlfall. " Laboratory Arts." 1898, esp. p. 199. 

 A. Dufour. Comptes Rendus, Tome CXXX. (1900), p. 775. 

 A. Gautier. Comptes Rendits, Tome CXXX. (1900), p. 816. 

 W. A. Shenstone. Nature, Vol. LXI. (1900), p. 540. 

 W. A. Shenstone and H. G. Lacell. Nature, Vol. LXIL (1900), p. 20. 

 W. A. Shenstone. Proc. Roy. Inst., 1901. Nature, Vol. LXIV. 

 (1901), pp. 65 and 126. 

 - H. Le Chatelier. Cot?iptes Rendus, Tome CVIIL (1889), p. 1046, and 

 Tome CXXX. (1900), p. 1703. 

 H. L. Callendar. Vide Shenstone, Nature, Vol. LXIV. {1901), p. 66. 



February lOth, ig02. 



