NEW ENGINE METAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 798, 19 October 1929, Page 26

NEW ENGINE METAL

HUGE BERYLLIUM DEPOSITS DISCOVERED PERFECT FOR AIRPLANES Demands made by America’s motor end airplane works will probably bring to Africa a new mineral industry, the production of beryllium, says the Johannesburg correspondent of a United States exchange. This commodity has hitherto been counted as a geological curiosity of small economic importance, a metallic substance interesting to scientists and possibly to engineers, yet one that was never mentioned as a commercial possibility. Surprising progress made in flying, both by the United States and by Europe, has during recent months turned the notice of research workers to all sub- | stances suitable for the construction I of high-speed gasoline engines. Extreme strength and extreme lightness •were the essentials for which de- j signers yearned. Beryllium, it has now been discovered, may be the missing substance for the perfect airplane. Like aluminium in days before commercial processes of extraction were discovered, it has been regarded as a semi-precious metal. Now deposits so large that they may almost be described as solid mountains have been discovered in two widely separated

African districts, one in Northern Kenya along the Equator and another in the diamond country of Namaqualand, where so many other valuable minerals have lately been found. Beryllium appears to be a white metal, the lightest known. It is so hard that a steel file will not cut it and at the same time it mixes well with other substances. Neither rust nor tarnish affects it, so that it is : ideal for highly-finished machinery such as is used in aircraft. Brittleness appears to be its chief disadvantage, but laboratories both in Africa and America are searching for the most suitable alloj’s. Beryllium cannot be described as a cheap metal, but the price is certain to drop in the early future. Only the very costliest airplanes will at the outset possess beryl-Jium-built engines. According to overseas experts at present in Africa it is likely that in the cheaper models important parts such as pistons and cylinders will be turned out in this material. Electrical engineers are studying the value of beryllium wires. Theoretically, it is the most perfect conductor of current, and if the price sinks sufficiently copper will have a serious competitor. Beryllium in bulk has for the first time been marketed lately, fetching a price of 63 dollars a pound. For the present this entire industry remains in the laboratory stage. In the meantime Africa’s mining cities are passing through a beryllium boom and all the great company of prospectors, who are everlastingly searching the veld, are loading up their old ox wagons and motor-cars and are out to secure claims in this, the latest treasure from Africa.