SHINGLES THAT WILL NOT BURN.
According to information in the hands of the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association, an Iowa pharmacist after seventeen months experimenting, has produced a liquid which makes wooden shingles absolutely fireproof. In a test of the new fireproofing liquid, made at the University of Iowa by the inventor, a block of wood one-half inch thick was saturated with the fireproofing and then placed in running water for twenty-four hours. After that it was thoroughly dried again and held for one hour over a Bunsen burner, which had a temperature of between 700 and 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that being a much greater heat, it is said, than is developed in a conflagration. The wood was not burned and only charred very slightly at the point of the flame. The new compound is reported to be sufficiently low in cost to make it practical in connection with shingle manufacture, and when a shingle is saturated the moisture drys out, leaving an insoluble mineral fireproofing substance in the fibre cells of the wood, which cannot be washed out with water and is said absolutely to prevent combustion.
TO VISIT CANADA.
A special trade commission from Australia which will investigate overseas methods of manufacture and production, and conditions of employment, in timber, paper, iron and other industries will shortly come to Canada. The commission will be composed of experts, an equal number of representatives of capital and labor being arranged for. They will also visit the United States.
Two new wet machines are being placed in the Foley pulp mill at Thorold and a new grinder has been installed in the Davey mill, which is connected with the Foley plant and will shortly be operated in conjunction with it.
Waste hemlock tanbark remaining after tannin is extracted is being used by a number of mills in place of between 30% and 40% of expensive rag stock ordinarily used in making felt roofing.