lithium. End Product Of Local Plant, Replacing Use ol Lead (Ed. Note: The following arti cle on the growth "?f use of li thium, end product of the min ing Of lithium oxide by Foote (Mineral Company at its Kings Mouhtaln plant, appeared In the February 19 issue of the New York Journal of Commerce. It was date -lined Paoli, Pa., and was written by Dwight Moody.) "Lithium, a hitherto relatively neglected metal, Is rapidly re placing scarce-supply lead in chemical compounds fop a num ber of important industrial uses. "Officials of Foote Mineral Co., the largest producer of lithium, reveal that In the ceramic in dustry, ? for instance, lithium compounds in 1950 displaced ap proximately 10,000 tons of lead. This is one-third of theindustry's total requirements. Foote Mineral officials claim that the switch to lithium com pounds from lead already has saved the ceramic industry mil lions of dollars. And because of the cost advantage as well as other factors coincident with growing shortages in lead, they look for an eventual lead dis placement of 32,000 tons a year in the ceramics alone. This Includes use of lithium in television glass which in the past contained as much as 29 per cent lead oxide. At present about SO per cent of television glass being produced uses lithium. "Lithium glass is Increasingly replacing lead glass in television tubes. And ? continuing Shift from lead is predicted, particular ily because, it is claimed, new li thium glass tubes are both easier to form and lighter in weight than lead, making for better tubes at reduced cost. Also Replacing Nickel ''Lithium also is replacing scarce -supply nickel in televls ? ion sets In ferrlte cores, such as deflection yokes and horizontal output transformers. Foots Min eral official! say that use of fer rlte cores In TV components has permitted design of higher-effi ciency Circuits using fewer tubes with resultant consumer cost re duction. Such widening industrial uses Cor lithium and other products, plus new military demands, ac counted for the 50 percent gain in Foote Mineral sales in 1950, to $5,440,000 from $3,613,909 ? and officials of the company predict further sharp gains In 1951. Pending Treasury Department tax findings, final audited earn ing figures for 1950 are not yet available, hut President H. Con rad Meyer, at the company's an nual meeting a few days ago, es timated the past year's earnings at $9.47 a share on some out standing common shares, com paring with. $3.47 a share on 56, 355 shares in 1949. Zirconium Citad "Final figures; he added, won't vary more than a few cents a share from this estimate, in eith er .direction. "As an example of new mili tary demands, the case of zircon ium can he cited. The metal zir conium In pure ductile form has been produced commercially toy Foote since 1942, tout following receipt of a contract from the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, relatively large-scale production of zirconium has developed dur ing the past few months. A EC's Interest 1n zirconium lies in the fact that this metal, un like most other metals,, has a comparatively low tendency to capture neutrons, in addition to such other properties as corros ion resistance, strength and weir ght Thus, zirconium is adapta ble for use in atomic furnace* and the A EC la acquiring sub stantial quantities of the metal for an experimental program. To Introduce Bleach "Foote also expects to enter the consumer product field shortly, for the first time, with a new household ble>a?"h, * pondered compound of lithium hypochlor ite. One ounce of this dry mater ial is said to perform the same duty as a half -gallon of conven tional liquid bleach. " Another, older lithium com. pound, for which demand has been tiring sharply of late, is li thium multi-purpose grease, which has a wide range of oper ating temperatures. At the start, acceptance of this grease devel oped only slowly, but at present, 27- major oil companies have been licensed by Foote to pro duce lithium greases, and de-. mand is in a sharp upswing. 'To assure adequate supplies of lithium ? bearing ore, Foote has contracted for the entire out put of the lepidolite mines oper ated by Jooste of Southwest Af rica ? believed to be the world's largest source. In addition, to provide against loss of this sup ply in event of war, the compa ny has acquired control, with op tion to buy, of lithium ore bodi es in Kings Mountain, N. C., be lieved to be the largest deposits in the Western Hemisphere, and will be receiving ore from this source by next summer. Obtain Pure Hafnium "Among recent outstanding re search achievements at the com pany's laboratories has been dis covery of a process for obtaining a pure form of the metal hafnium through conversion of the crude metal to a gaseous compound, followed by decomposition throu fifh contact with an incandescent surface ? the same method us ed In obtaining pure zirconium and titanium, but with certain fundamental changes of equa tion and process adaptations. "Potential industrial uses for pure hafnium are now being ex plored. "To meet Indicated defense and essential civilian needs for its products, Foote Mineral Isj embarking on an extensive ex pansion program this year, and plana for raising additional cap ital are expected to be announc ed in a few months." By Way Of Mention By Loi* Beatty Clyde Cooke of the Army spent the weekend In this community. Miss Ann Costner spent the weekend In Cherryvllle. Miss Edith Queen