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Abrasive property of diamond

Posted September 24th, 2008 by admin

It was not until the Fifteenth Century that the abrasive property of diamond used for manufacturing diamond engagement rings was discovered and used. The attempt to cut and polish this stone by any other stone or material had always failed, and naturally so, since diamond is the hardest substance known. Subsequently, the cleavage property of diamond became known, and this was of enormous value in dividing up the rough stone in place of the older method of laboriously slitting by hand. The introduction of modern appliances with the use of electricity further facilitated the work, and with the investigation and knowledge of the optical properties of this remarkable stone, the present forms of cutting, and especially the so-called brilliant  cut, were evolved to show its full splendor. To Louis van Berguen, a citizen of Bruges, is ascribed the discovery of the art of cutting and polishing diamonds in the year 1456. The “brilliant” form of cutting was discovered much later, toward the end of the Seventeenth Century, by Vincenzio Perruzzi, while he was experimenting with colored stones.

The craft, as an industry, dates from about the year 1580, and during” the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries it expanded considerably in Amsterdam. In many respects, early conditions of working were crude, a young girl often being hired for a few pennies per day to turn the polishing wheel. In 1822, the factories used horse power for the first time, and in 1840 or thereabouts, the first steam driven mill was opened. A model factory was built in 1886 by De Vooys in which small brilliants were cut, and from then onwards, the home industry gradually disappeared, and factory regulations with all their advantages to the employees have since operated.