BADIN BULLETIN
VOL. II
' ■» "
MAY, 1920
No. 8
A** A** A**
OF GENERAL INTEREST
AH' ^
Electric Power
A Brief History of Its ^Development for
the Manufacture of Aluminum
Many years ago when aluminum was ^
being made chemically and sold for sev
eral dollars per pound, Charles M. Hall
hen a student in Oberlin University
conceived the idea that it might be made
electrically, or rather electrometallur-
gically. At that time the electrical in
dustry was confined almost entirely to
a few small dynamos for furnishing
power for a few street lights. Some
inay remember the awkward looking con
trivances; two great spools of wire
Wound on two iron bars and a large
block of iron on top to hold the spools
together or rather to keep a few of the
lines of magnetism from going where
they ought not, and the small bundle of
wire wound on a shaft which revolved
between t^ bottoms of the two iron bars
bolding the large spools of wire. These
dynamos were usually driven from some
^kind of steam engine. If there were two
j more in the plant it was customary
"^0 have a long counter shaft belted to
the engine, and each of the two or more
dynamos driven by a separate belt from
this counter shaft. Five to ten K.’ W.
Was the usual size, but they were usually
^ated in lamps capacity such as twenty
lamps, thirty lamps, forty lamps, etc.
The style of dynamos built in those
days was not well adapted to Mr. Hall’s
experiments, so he decided to use bat
teries, not the neat dry cells as we use
our telephone or bell work of today
or the highly developed storage batteries
^sed in automobiles, but just plain pieces
zinc and carbon lowered in dilute acid
Contained in cups, bowls, butter crocks
or anything he could find which was an
insulator and would hold the acid. He
l^ad to have a great many, and worked
^any days fitting up his power plant.
Professor Richards, then professor of
chemistry in Oberlin University said in
describing this experiment, that it was
the most wonderful collection of jars,
crocks, etc., that he had ever seen. When
all was ready the bath had to be melted
and kept in a molten condition while the
electric current was being passed
through. This was done by heating the
vessel containing the bath over a fire.
After the bath was melted and ore dis
solved in it the electric current from the
batteries was passed through the bath
for some time. The current was then
shut off and the molten mass allowed
to cool. It was then broken open and
a few small pieces of aluminum found,
the total being only a few ounces. Mr.
Hall then sought Professor Richards and
with great pride showed his results
which proved his ideas to be correct, and
demonstrated that if he could only get
the necessary amount of direct current
electric power aluminum could be pro
duced at a far less cost than it could be
by chemical means and could be made in
great quantities.
The next step was to get financiers
interested in his discovery and get them
to advance the necessary money, then to
get electrical engineers to build the right
kind of electric machines. After further
experiments on a small scale the first
iPontinued on page 6)
Facing the Sun
“Don’t hunt after trouble, but look for
success.
You’ll find what you look for; don’t look
for distress.
If you see but your shadow, remember
I pray.
That the sun is still shining, but you’re
in the way.
Don’t grumble, don’t bluster, don’t dream
and don’t shirk.
Don’t think of your worries, but think
of your work.
The worries will vanish, the work will
be done,
No man sees his shadow who faces tbe
sun."
Health Conditions for Workers
Having lived in Badin for the past
four years and being interested in the
i health of the community, and in rather
close contact with many departments of
the Badin Works, I am naturally in a
position to know something regarding
the influence of this place upon the
health of the men who come here to
work for the Company.
A little over a year ago the superin
tendent decided to have all those em
ployed by the Company, and all appli
cants for employment, to stand a physi
cal examination and those who fail to
come up the standard or have physical
defects or infectious diseases are re
quired to bring themselves to a satis
factory condition of health before they
are employed. The wisdom of this rule
can readily be seen in reducing the
amount of sickness and in raising the
standard of health by increasing the
number of healthy workers. The ex
tremely small death rate of Badin is to
some extent due to this method. The
results also .show that the same number
of men will accomplish 25 per cent, more
than those formerly employed without
examinations.
I have found that in almost every in
stance men who have been working irt
the plant have gained from 5 to 15
pounds after being here from three to
six weeks. I arrive at this deduction
from the fact that men being trans
ferred from one department to the other
have to be examined and the records
show this gain.
The management has ever been mind
ful of its employees, endeavoring to sur
round them with every means for safety
and good working' conditions. Abun
dance of pure water, a perfect system of
sanitary sewerage, and the dwellings be
ing so built as to allow a free circulation
of fresh air—^with these conditions, how
can our town be otherwise than healthy?
Among other advantages are its school
and splendid corps of teachers, three