ELECTROCHEMISTRY 159 



heat to the useful purpose is usually high; in many cases 

 50 to 75 per cent, of all the heat developed can be usefully 

 applied, as against 5 to 50 per cent, utilized in fuel-fired 

 furnaces. The heating value or thermal equivalent of the 

 electric current is perfectly definitely known; one kilo- 

 watt-hour will furnish 860 calories (3,400 B.t.u.), which if 

 applied usefully at 100 per cent, efficiency would bring to 

 boiling and convert into steam 1.35 kilograms (3 pounds) 

 of water, or bring to melting and melt about 3 kilograms 

 (6.6 pounds) of cast iron, or 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) 

 of steel. 



Artificial graphite is a product particularly electro- 

 chemical in its manufacture. Your fellow-townsman, Dr. 

 E. G. Acheson, has practically created this industry and 

 his name sticks to the product Acheson graphite. No 

 temperature but that of the electric furnace can convert 

 the ordinary amorphous carbon, containing small amounts 

 of foreign substances, into pure, soft, homogeneous, unc- 

 tuous graphite. The purity of the product and its quality 

 has even surpassed the artifice of Mother Nature herself. 

 Whereas before graphite in small scales was laboriously 

 gathered from Ceylon and Siberia, and with great pains 

 worked up into graphite articles, now the articles are simply 

 molded in ordinary impure amorphous carbon, and con- 

 verted through and through, retaining their shape, into 

 finished and complete graphite articles. What this highly 

 pure product is going to do for lubrication, for annihilating 

 the friction of the world's machinery, perhaps only a few 

 suspect and only Mr. Acheson knows. You will all know 

 more about this soon, and every one of you who uses ma- 

 chinery will profit by it. Meanwhile, in another direction, 

 probably half the electrochemical industries now operating 

 are beneficiaries of this invention, using artificial graphite 

 anodes in electrolytic operations or as electrodes in electric 

 furnaces. The electrochemical industry in general has 

 been most wonderfully helped by this one electrochemical 

 process. 



