THE WAR YEARS AND AFTER 317
as well as to the establishment in South Africa of a diamond tool industry.
In
1934 there was founded in London the Diamond Development Company, with
a modest capital of -£20,000, subsequently increased to -£50,000. Its
first managing director was A. E. White, who had entered the firm of
Dunkelsbuhler and Company contemporaneously with Ernest Oppenheimer,
who became, like him, a great expert on diamonds, and who was at that
time connected with the Diamond Corporation. The development of the use
of industrial diamonds in the past, had, of course, necessarily implied
investigation and research: the part subsequently played by the Diamond
Development Company can best be stated in A. E. White's own words:5
With
the advent of cemented carbide-tipped tools, which had been gradually
replacing the hard steel tools previously used, a grinding wheel much
harder than the silicon wheel was needed. The Norton Company and the
Carborundum Company (in the United States) discovered a method of
pressing crushed diamond into a resinoid bond formed in the shape of
cutting and grinding wheels. There was also a firm in England, Messrs.
Wickman, making the same type of wheel for the same purpose.
In
June 1934, the Diamond Development Company was formed and I was asked
to leave the Diamond Corporation to take over the position of managing
director. The object of this company, as the name implies, was to
develop new uses for industrial diamonds, especially Congo bort. We
first concentrated on the drilling industry by selling small round
stones selected from the Congo bort. With this we were fairly
successful in Europe, particularly with a large Swedish firm of
drilling contractors. Previously, most drills were set with either very
expensive carbons (carbonado) or small round stones from better class
diamonds (fine hard). As we were able to sell these selected Congo bort
rounds at a much cheaper price, we were very soon supplying firms in
many other countries.
To
increase the popularity of these Congo stones, we decided to start
manufacturing pre-set drilling crowns ourselves. We opened a small
workshop in London and were quite successful. Soon we were
manufacturing and supplying crowns to Australia, Yugoslavia and to the
gold-mines in West Africa. We met some opposition in South Africa, as
the drill setters on the mines there did not like the use of pre-set
crowns. . . .
Of
course, the supply of stones for drilling did not decrease the stock of
bort to any great extent, as the quantity of stones suitable for
drilling crowns was very limited. ... It 'was not until the advent of
cemented carbide-tipped tools that we began to liquidate the huge stock
of Congo bort. . . .
5 In two memoranda kindly furnished to the present writer by Mr. A. E. White.
