A Product of the Imagination

to rough shape giant objects using thousands of tons of pressure as deafly as a jeweler uses a pair of [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] tweezers large pieces can be pressed in giant hydraulic forging presses and in several crushing squeezes they become virtually completed structures practically ready for assembly [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] but perhaps the most amazing way to work aluminum is the method of Extrusion in which an Ingot is forced through a Dy by a piston with at the other end of the cylinder the aluminum emerges in exact Conformity with the shape of the die in practically any cross-section the designer May specify extruded shapes can be made in one piece crosssections impossible to form any other way [Music] the boats take passengers too they tell me it makes a wonderful vacation Adam stick to the point oh yeah well box site isn't pure the way it comes from the ground so it has to go through the refinery before you melt it well boide doesn't melt no matter how much heat you apply so we have to put it through another process a washing process naturally there's a lot more to it but in the end and we have aluminum hydrate in suspension after the liquid is drained from it we collect it and dehydrate it completely in huge kills which are constantly rotating Flames shoot through from one end to the other driving away the remaining moisture and what is left is a fine white powder that's no longer boxy but a new simpler compound called alumina Pure aluminum oxide does that melt no but it does something else now let's go back to that cryolite yes at least that melts and the molten cryolite dissolves alumin exactly as water dissolved sugar or salt so far as you can tell by looking at the solution it's still just molten cryolite but if you could see inside you'd see the aluminum oxide breaking up aluminum falling to the bottom of the pot while the oxygen atoms burn away as carbon dioxide now this action eats away the carbon of the anodes at the rate of one pound of carbon anod for each pound of aluminum recovered so naturally we have to keep replacing the anodes pound for pound but how do you get at the aluminum we siphon it out of each reduction pot on a regular schedule every few days into a ladle lined with fire brick and as the aluminum is recovered we keep pouring more aluminum oxide into the cryolite to be dissolved and separated in the same way every aluminum reduction plant has row after row of such pots and the process continues endlessly the molten aluminum is cast into pigs or ingots and there you are one of the most obscure secrets of nature exposed and laid bare a pure product of man's imagination in this case largely the well-directed imagination of a man called Charles Martin Hall my it must have taken a Lifetime on the contrary Hall was only 22 years old when he reasoned out this process in 1886 and formed the company which became the standard bearer of a revolutionary new industry working out the recovery process was only the beginning aluminum still had to win its rightful place among the medals of the world hear this story or not of course dear ooh what are you going to do with all that nasty stuff that stuff as you call it is almost pure carbon and we're molding it into what we call [Music] anodes and we also use this carbon to line troughs which we call pot well it does look like you're finally beginning to make something what's going into those pots well that is crushed cryolite looks like gravel here but in its natural state oh it's pretty you know that would make a lovely pair of earrings oh but I suppose it has aluminum in it h yeah but that isn't important because we've never found a practical way to get the aluminum out of cryolite yet cryolite has a very important function in the aluminum production process here you see all that electricity going to work huge amounts of current flow from the anodes to the carbon lining of the pot Heating and melting the cryolite now perhaps you begin to understand why we build those big dams and generate so much electricity or uh or do you I think that's very perhaps Adam may be forgiven for adopting a somewhat condescending attitude in revealing his latest project to Eve penny for your thoughts Adam look out there 700 lb a piece only well if they were iron they'd weigh a ton well who cares about a great big 2,000 lb block of something just because it weighs only 700 lb now really confounded woman look at this Adam who is that woman what do you care look at her dress it's made of aluminum l m it is beautiful and it's as light as silk [Music] aluminum is such a reaching out into the future oh you've been saying that since the creation but what is it it isn't very clear of course not yet but when it's fully realized it'll be a better way of living more beautiful more durable a lot less work and a lot less oh I'm sure but what's back of all this a new lightweight metal a friendly metal of infinite versatility exciting new forms textures and colors you mean a new element has been added oh no it's been there ever since the beginning in a way in a way yes it was right at my feet when I first bent down and wondered what the Earth might be even thousands of years later when we were living here oh that heavy Kettle well Adam where were those light metals in those days well one of them was right at your feet why didn't you dig some up and make me a kettle I could carry confounded woman it wasn't that easy I didn't know it was there then not even one your voices think of them as the voices of Adam and Eve The Originals last name unknown to imagine otherwise would quite destroy the illusion and the whole thing is just an illusion a product of the imagination but then so are you don't be offended so are we understand think how difficult it must have been in the beginning for Adam to understand anything at all he could not realize where he was or what he was or for that matter what anything was in any case the creation was finished complete seemed to be nothing remained to be done about that so why bother to try but something within Adam stirred and a new situation became apparent Awakening Adam found that he had been given what has since been called a helpmate a helpmate to help him do nothing Preposterous what Adam really was given was a starter being feminine Eve probably started in a small way perhaps as simply as Adam get up and move this rock it'll look much better over there now don't just lie around use your imagination and go to work of course that was a long time ago but it was a beginning Adam soon caught the idea never to rest on his past achievements keep driving to devise new and better ways of doing things material it has something special for everybody first of all it's lightweight and enduring ideal for irrigation pipe and this is the Alcoa building in Pittsburgh thanks to aluminum the lightest building of its size ever built and its beauty is Everlasting because the outside will always take care of itself together with aluminum a lot of imagination went into its design and construction as you would expect from a company founded on imagination may I interrupt no it was strong lightweight aluminum that made possible modern aircraft and enabled railroads to carry more people at higher speeds in more comfort and carry greater payload with less dead weight same thing goes for trucks and for everything that moves down to those things that must be pushed by hand like lawnmowers and baby strollers like anything that has to be lifted either at work or at play Adam just a moment furthermore aluminum resists corrosion and that's why it's so good for anything that has to stay smooth and bright outdoors and why it's used for the roofs and even the walls of the most up-to-date houses not to mention window screens in almost any house and highway signs that won't rust no matter what people do to them aluminum light poles and railings are easy to put up and keep up chain link fencing shines for years and years without any care telephone booths are completely impervious to weather never require painting and when things do need painting aluminum paint is next best to aluminum itself do aluminum resists corrosion it's used for outdoor industrial piping and tanks electrical conduit instrument lines and in all kinds of marine applications industrial and otherwise but Adam as a woman as a woman you'll want to know that aluminum is non toxic and can be used for easy to clean pots and pans and aluminum foil can be formed into cooking utensils that you just throw away and don't have to clean it all foods and drugs and candy can be packaged in it and aluminum is also non-magnetic which means a lot to the electronic and instrument Industries aluminum won't make sparks which is why you find it made into stairways and gratings around refineries and powder plants and other places where a spark could blow the place up a pound of aluminum will carry twice as much electricity as a pound of copper and so you'll find it not only in Long transmission lines and Towers but also in bus bars in buildings and factories and in wiring of more and more kinds all Eve are you listening do I have a choice well this should interest you aluminum is outstanding as a conductor of heat that makes it ideal for radient heating and cooling panels in offices and homes for flat irons refrigerators and right down to even ice cream Scoops that stay slippery just from the heat of your hand well that certainly covers on the other hand aluminum is also an excellent reflector of heat which is one reason why people paint with aluminum and use aluminum roofs on barns and other buildings to keep them cool and why the reflectors and drying ovens are aluminum and aluminum reflects light too so it's not only good for drying ovens but also for Flash guns for the mirror surfaces of Street lamps for brighter TV pictures to catch the invisible rays of radar Adam slow down you're losing me is not only naturally beautiful but it also responds to more beauty treatments than any other metal we've ever known including buffing stamping embossing engraving etching hammering sand blasting bright dipping electroplating porcelin enameling and anodizing in all the free state like gold silver copper and iron I had to discover its very existence well now at last you're doing something is that how you get that what do you call it aluminum the the most widely adaptable metal of all time you mean there's aluminum in that clay H some but right now we're building a dam why to hold back a huge wall of water to make aluminum from water of course not to make electricity electricity yes electricity is the key to the whole production process so first of all we must create a big lake our dam acts as a stopper in the river and so having no place to go the river Rises until we have a wall of water as high as we need high enough for what high enough to come charging through those immense thousands of horses horses horsepower oh now wherever you see those tubes the Titanic force of water has been harnessed and is running back into the river well yes but on the way turning Mighty generators to produce electricity and besides these hydroelectric plants there are others some powered by natural gas others that burn coal and today even atomic energy is being explored just a minute dams and lakes tubes generators when do you start making aluminum well this is all part of it around any smelter plant giant transmission lines themselves made of aluminum bring in the tremendous flow of electric current required as a matter of fact if we hadn't discovered how to utilize electricity and the production of aluminum its cost would be prohibited I merely asked when do you start making taking aluminum that called for pioneering and education proving to people the advantages and widely Diversified usefulness of this material as a result of their pioneering almost all the development of properties and processes of aluminum and its Alloys as we know them today can be attributed to this one company today that same pioneering in progress continues on an Ever widening front in research facilities across the country men in this company are still exploring and revealing new avenues to a better way of life with aluminum of course well now you make aluminum sound very very important but can you prove it aha I'm glad you asked that now those are pigs of commercially pure aluminum they and aluminum can be joined and fastened in every way we've ever found to fasten two pieces of metal together and it can be wedded to Plastics steel c iium paper and other materials you can look for a world of aluminum in The Wonderful World of Tomorrow [Music] w [Applause] [Music] [Applause] a [Music] oh how exciting a solar power plant uh yeah of course a solar power plant how clever harnessing the light from from the Sun to run things Adam you are wonderful yes but why don't you act like you think oh you're so funny though you make everything sound so complicated like aluminum for instance as I see it aluminum is procured by the electrolytic reduction of alumina in a cryolite bath confined in a chemically inert recepticle that's all there is to it what where now just a minute here e and it does excite the imagination I'll bet there are a lot of people using their imaginations about it right now good grief what's that it's a flying boat anybody can see that looks like fun imagine that an aluminum house roof and walls and everything imagine that you melt the cryolite and get nothing whatsoever then what oh no don't tell me you're building another Dam no we're mining boite because boite in its pure form is the richest source of aluminum there are huge deposits of boxit scattered all over the earth now this one happens to be in the American state of Arkansas but we also get it from Surinam in South America and the Caribbean area and bring it to the refineries in the United States in a fleet of or boats that shuttle back and forth all