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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



holding in readiness for the possible dash 

 of a German fleet, has a striking mo- 

 mentum at a distance of eight miles equal 

 to the colliding force of a modern express 

 train running at top speed. 



Yet this shell must have a nose so hard 

 and so perfect that, although the entire 

 force of the impact is upon its narrow 

 point when it strikes the armor plate, it 

 will pierce the plate without being de- 

 formed itself. 



NIAGARA PROTECTS YOUR AUTOMOBILE 

 AXLE 



Not only does ferro-chromium go into 

 the shells of American manufacture, giv- 

 ing them hardness and death - dealing 

 qualities which must make the stoutest 

 enemy heart quail, but it gives strength 

 to the tool steel shaft, life to the auto- 

 mobile axle and gear, and serves peace 

 and war alike with equal fidelity. And 

 Niagara produces half of America's sup- 

 ply of ferro-chromium today. 



Other alloys indispensable to our suc- 

 cess in the great war, in the production 

 of which Niagara is a contributing factor, 

 are tungsten, vanadium, and molybdenum. 

 Some of these alloys are made there, but 

 in the production of the part that is not 

 Niagara contributes the aluminum which 

 makes their preparation possible. To- 

 gether with chromium, they give us our 

 high-speed steels, gun steels, etc. 



America has been able to turn out mu- 

 nitions with a rapidity that has astonished 

 the world and even ourselves, because 

 through Niagara's influence the high- 

 speed tool reached an unprecedented de- 

 velopment in days of peace. 



In the old days of carbon steel the ma- 

 chine that would cut rapidly would heat 

 the steel so hot as to ruin its temper. 

 Today alloy steel is not even fretted, 

 much less put out of temper, by cutting 

 speeds that would have been fatal to any 

 carbon steel ever produced. 



Niagara's gift of aluminum 



Where once a cool cutting edge was 

 absolutely indispensable, now even a huge 

 battleship shaft can be turned down, re- 

 volving at a speed of 30 feet a minute 

 and giving off shavings more than half 

 an inch thick. 



It was the touch of Niagara that trans- 

 formed aluminum from a laboratory curi- 

 osity into one of the most essential of all 

 the minor metals, one with which it would 

 now be difficult to dispense and which 

 has been power to the Allied arm in the 

 European war. Take it out of the auto- 

 mobile industry, and the stream of cars 

 America is sending to the battle front 

 would fall to low-water mark, instead of 

 rising above it. 



Then there is silicon metal which keeps 

 transformer steel in electric transmission 

 from ageing, and which, in conjunction 

 with caustic soda, will produce the gas 

 for the army's hydrogen balloons, and 

 titanium — both Niagara products which 

 cannot be overlooked in any summary of 

 Niagara's part in America's war. 



Between Niagara's alloys and her 

 abrasives, it is estimated that every in- 

 dustry utilizing steel has multiplied its 

 productive powers by three. Engineers 

 who know every phase of the processes 

 of automobile manufacture declare that 

 if it had not been for these abrasives and 

 alloys, every motor-car factory in Amer- 

 ica would have had to slow down to one- 

 fifth of its normal production when the 

 war broke out. 



PREPAREDNESS AGAINST THE DYNAMITE 

 PLOTTER 



Calcium carbide is another product of 

 the electric furnace which Niagara is giv- 

 ing to the nation in vast quantities. One 

 furnace uses egg-size lime and chestnut 

 coke in the proportions of 3 parts lime 

 and 2 parts coke and is able to produce 

 as much calcium carbide in a day as the 

 original furnace could produce in a year. 

 This compound is the only commercial 

 source of acetylene, whose many uses are 

 well known. 



In every big industrial plant in the 

 country there is fear of the spy, and 

 ever}- oxy-acetylene blow - pipe in the 

 neighborhood is registered, so that in the 

 event of a wrecked plant the work of 

 rescue and restoration can begin at once. 



When the Eastland went down in Chi- 

 cago harbor it was the cutting power of 

 the oxy-acetylene flame that liberated the 

 imprisoned people. Calcium carbide is 

 also the material from which calcium 



