Cork: Being the story of the origin of cork, the processes employed in its manufacture & its various uses in the world to-day

by Armstrong Cork Company

Cork Strippers’ Camp

This substance is employed more particularly attached as a buoy to the ropes of ships’ anchors and the drag-nets of fishermen; it is used also for the bungs of casks and as a material for the winter shoes of women.” Cork jackets—life-preservers—are mentioned by Plutarch. Thus five of the principal functions which cork fills in the world to-day were recognized two thousand years ago. In the fifteenth century glass bottles were introduced, which gave such great impetus to its general use that the real beginning of the cork industry may properly be said to date from that period. Some conception of its importance to-day may be gathered from the fact that the importations of the United States of crude and manufactured cork now aggregate almost $5,000,000 in value annually.

Stripping the Trees

The word cork is derived from the Latin cortex, meaning bark, and the study of its origin and manufacture leads at once to those romantic countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

Gathering the Bark

Spain and Portugal divide honors among the nations of the world so far as yield of raw material is concerned, with perhaps the advantage leaning slightly to the latter.