226 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 



inum is used in the manufacture of camp equipment, where special 

 lightness and non-corrosiveness are desirable. The metal is 

 used also in the manufacture of army equipments as shells for 

 cartridges, drum heads for the Austrian army. It was tried in 

 drum heads in the United States during the Spanish-American 

 war, but this use was not desired by the American soldier. 



Aluminum is used extensively for pigments. By the intro- 

 duction of a small quantity of aluminum a paint is formed which 

 is more impervious to the action of the corrosive gases of the 

 atmosphere or a laboratory than almost any other pigment. 

 The metal is used in silvering letters and signs. 



Aluminum is used in the reduction of refractory metals to the 

 elemental state. Copper, chromium and iron are very readily 

 reduced to the metallic state through the influence of aluminum. 

 It is used also in lithography where it displaces limestone and 

 zinc for stock patterns for foundry work. It is used extensively 

 for boat building and marine engineering. It was utilized in the 

 manufacture of vessels for the Madagascar campaign for France 

 and the vessels were returned to France exceedingly well pre- 

 served. Under certain conditions of cleanliness a progressive 

 disintegration of the metal can occur. In England aluminum 

 was not generally adopted for the army. In India the govern- 

 ment adopted the metal for this work in 1902. The report of 

 the German Admiralty authorities was that aluminum remains 

 unattacked in the presence of both air and sea water. It is used 

 in light boat building. The international racing yachts, the 

 Columbia and the Shamrock, each contained large quantities of 

 aluminum. The Shamrock was lined with aluminum to the 

 water line. The deck plating and the top staff were also 

 aluminum. 



The numerous uses of aluminum in metallurgy, whether in the 

 form of the metal or in a pulverulent state, depend upon its 

 remarkable affinity for oxygen and its power to rob all other 

 metals of this element when in contact with them under the 

 right condition of heat. 



In 1901 the United States purchased 10,000 blanks the size of 

 a nickel presumably for coinage. Such coins would be light and 

 should wear well. Aluminum is used in the New York telegraph 

 and telephone wires. These have stood the ravages of many 

 winters without failure. It is used extensively for such pur- 

 poses in high altitudes where the snows are heavy and deep. 



