Cork: Its Origin and Industrial Uses

by Gilbert Erwin Stecher

The manufacture of stoppers and of the various objects that we have just enumerated furnishes a considerable quantity of chips, which along with the waste derived from the collecting of the material, and with old, second-hand corks, constitutes the crude material destined to supply certain important industries, which, for the sake of completeness, must be mentioned.

We have first the cork powder industry, which manufactures powders of various degrees of fineness. The coarsest powder is used for packing fragile objects, on account of its elasticity, coupled with its lightness, which permits of a great saving in freight charges.

The finest powder forms, “liegine” or “suberine,” whose balsamic properties are well known to hygienists, and which may be used as a substitute for lycopodium, starch and fecula as an application to the skin of babes. Under the name of “zifa powder,” an insect powder has been made composed of cork and phenol. Fire lighters have likewise been made from cork powder; but this and the last named application have not amounted to much.

We cannot enter into much detail in regard to the manufacture of linoleum, notwithstanding the interest that it presents. The manufacture began in Scotland, and is tending to settle in our own country. Linoleum is made by intimately mixing cork powder with oxidized linseed oil. The paste thus prepared is spread over canvas if the intention is to manufacture carpets, but over paper if it is desired to make hangings. The color of linoleum, which is the same as that of cork, only a shade darker, can be enlivened by colored designs. When applied to damp walls, linoleum is capable of receiving oil paintings of a more stable nature than those executed upon wood, which warps, or upon other building materials, which crack, such as plaster, for example. It can also be used for decorated ceilings for public halls, cafes, etc.; and when such ceilings become black through smoke and dust, they can be washed.

As a carpet, linoleum renders flooring perfectly insonorous. It converts damp and unhealthy apartments into healthy and warm places of habitation. Used in kitchens and offices, it has the advantage of not being spotted by fatty matters. It has been generally adopted in our naval and merchant ships, where the use of it has given a great setback to the oil cloth industry.

A new decorative product, “lino-burgau,” obtained by embossing linoleum, possesses the iridescent reflections of nacre, due to the application of colored varnish along with a bronzing of certain parts. Notwithstanding its expensive nature, we believe that there is a great future in store for it.

The manufacture of agglomerates of cork is becoming very widespread in France. We have already mentioned the use of artificial cork for jacketing steam pipes, and we have stated that this product is obtained by mixing cork powder and starch under pressure. This dried paste can be given the most diverse forms, and be made of any thickness. Another substance, called brick paste, is obtained by mixing the coarsest cork powder with milk of lime, and, after compression and drying, constitutes, under the form of bricks and slabs, an excellent material for the construction of party walls, for covering damp walls and sloping roofs.

In the cellars of breweries, these bricks diminish the melting of the ice. In gunpowder works, they prevent the caking of the powder through dampness, and, in case of an explosion, their friability and lightness lessen the importance of the catastrophe. They are also used as a foundation for flooring in order to destroy its disagreeable sonorousness. In the spinning mills of Alsace and the west of France, they have given excellent results, both as regards their resistance to the passage of sound, heat and cold, and their cheapness.

Cork chips and waste, when distilled, furnish an illuminating gas that burns with more brilliancy than that made from coal, and does not, like the latter, give off sulphureous emanations that tarnish frames and other gilded objects. The city of Nerac was lighted with cork gas for a certain length of time, but the use of it had to be given up on account of the difficulty of storing the chips, which, with but little weight, took up an enormous space. This gas, in view of its slight density and its purity, would prove an excellent one for the inflation of balloons.

Finally, cork parings and waste, properly carbonized, produce Spanish or cork black, one of the most beautiful and durable blacks known in painting.”