Glue, gelatine, animal charcoal, phosphorous, cements, pastes and mucilages

by F. Dawidowsky

Chrome glue. This preparation is very permanent and durable. To prepare it add to a moderately concentrated solution of 5 parts of glue 1 of dissolved acid chromate of lime, this salt being considered better for the purpose than the bichromate of potash usually used. The glue thus prepared becomes, after exposure to the light, insoluble in water in consequence of a partial reduction of the chromic acid. This preparation can be used for cementing glass articles, liable to be exposed to boiling water, the treatment being the ordinary one of applying the glue to both surfaces of the fractured object, and then binding them together until dry, and exposing them for a sufficient length of time to the light, after which boiling water will have no effect upon them. It is suggested that this preparation is better adapted to cementing the covers on glass slides than any now in use. The same preparation can be applied for making fabrics water-proof, especially sails, awnings, etc., where no great flexibility is required. Two or three applications of the glue, either by immersion of the object in it, or by the use of the brush, will answer the purpose. Roofing paper is also rendered impervious, even when exposed to long-continued rains.

Glue for attaching leather to metal. A method of affixing leather to metal, so that it will split before it can be torn off, consists in digesting a quantity of nutgalls, reduced to powder, in eight parts of distilled water for six hours, and filtering it through a cloth; then dissolving one part by weight of glue in the same quantity of water, and allowing it to remain twenty-four hours. The leather is moistened with the decoction of nutgalls and the solution of glue applied to the metal, previously roughened and heated. The leather is then laid upon it, and dried under pressure.

Glue for leather, paper, etc. The following process affords an unusually adhesive paste, adapted to fastening leather, paper, etc., without the defects of glue, and if preserved from evaporation in closed bottles will keep for years. Cover 4 parts, by weight, of glue with 15 parts of cold water, and allow it to soak for several hours; then warm moderately till the solution is perfectly clear, and dilute it with 65 parts of boiling water, intimately stirred in. Next prepare a solution of 30 parts of starch in 200 of cold water, so as to form a thin homogeneous liquid free from lumps, and pour the boiling glue solution into it with thorough stirring, and at the same time keeping the mass boiling.

Glue for parchment paper in making sausage skins. The supply of intestines soon being exhausted by the enormous quantity of pease-sausages manufactured for the German army during the Franco-German war, the necessity arose for a substitute. This consisted of a tube of parchment glued together. Millions of these tubes from Dr. Jacobsen’s factory were tested by the government, and found to answer the purpose admirably. They were even boiled for hours without either the glued seam or the paper itself being injured by the operation. The secret of the composition of the glue employed for fastening the parchment paper seems to be well kept, but the one given in the following is equal to it in all respects, if not indeed identical: Add to one quart of a good adhesive solution of glue ¾ to 1 oz. of finely powdered bichromate of potash. Warm the mixture slightly on a water-bath when about to use it, and before applying it moisten the parchment paper. The latter, when glued with this preparation, as in the formation of the small cylinders for sausages, must be rapidly dried on a hurdle, and then exposed to the light until the yellow glue becomes brownish. The cylinders are then slowly boiled in a sufficient quantity of water to which two or three per cent. of alum has been added, until all the chromate is dissolved out, and they are then washed in cold water and dried, and will look very inviting, especially if white glue has been used. A similar result may be reached by using a concentrated solution of cellulose in ammoniacal oxide of copper. Thus if cylinders of unsized paper are formed with this paste, and when thoroughly dry drawn through a parchmentizing solution (a cooled mixture of 2 volumes of fuming sulphuric acid and 1 volume of water), they will be beautifully parchmentized, and after the neutralization of the acid, washing, etc., it will present a striking resemblance to natural intestines.

Tungstic glue. This preparation offers an acceptable substitute for hard India rubber. It is made by mixing a thick solution of glue with tungstate of soda and hydrochloric acid, by means of which a compound of tungstic acid and glue is precipitated, which, at a temperature of 86° to 104° F., is sufficiently elastic to admit of being drawn out into very thin sheets. On cooling, this mass becomes solid and brittle, and on being heated is again soft and plastic. It can be used for all purposes to which hard rubber is adapted.

Indestructible mass for the manufacture of ornaments, toys, etc. A mass, which is to have the hardness of horn, consists of 50 parts of glue, 35 of wax or rosin, 15 of glycerine and the required quantity of a metallic oxide, or mineral color. A soft mass consists of about 50 parts of glue, 25 of wax or rosin, and 25 of glycerine. The glue is melted in the glycerine with the assistance of steam, and the wax or rosin added. The latter in melting mixes with the glue and glycerine, and finally the mineral color is added. The mass is poured in a liquid state into moulds of plaster of Paris, wood, or metal. The degree of hardness of the mass is increased by an addition of 30 to 35 per cent. of zinc white, or other mineral color, according to the color the article is to have.

Compound for billiard balls. Allow 80 parts of Russian glue and 10 parts of Cologne glue to swell up in 10 parts of water; then heat over a water-bath, and when dissolved, add 5 parts of heavy spar, 4 parts of chalk and 1 part of boiled linseed oil. Of a portion of the mass form small sticks, dip them in the remainder, and allow the adherent portion to dry, and repeat this process until a crude ball has been formed. This is placed in a dry room for three or four months, and when thoroughly dry, it is turned. The finished ball is placed in a bath of sulphate of alumina for one hour, dried, and polished like an ivory ball.

Coloring glue. Common black or dark glue, while possessing all the adhesive and other essential qualities of fine colored glue, has heretofore, owing to its color, been confined in its use to such purposes in the arts where color was not essential.

The object of the following process, which is the invention of G. J. Lesser, of Frankfort, Germany, is to color such glue so that it is both refined and tinted, and may be used for various purposes in the arts. It is especially applicable in the manufacture of sizing and finishing compounds for paper hangings, compounds for the manufacture of elastic rolls, for glue and size compounds for finishing yarns, textile fabrics of silk, cotton, etc., for the manufacture of calcimines and wall-coverings, for glue to be used with colored woods, and for all other purposes where a fine, strong-colored glue is required.

For coloring common black or dark glue take a pound and a half of liquid extract of lead and mix it into the water in which the glue has been soaked, as follows: Thirteen pounds of glue, sixty-three and a quarter pounds of water. Allow the glue to soak for about twenty-four hours, then dilute it by a slow fire, and when heated gradually pour in one and a half pounds of the extract of lead and mix it well together.