Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 31.djvu/670

652 The manufacture of all these various articles naturally involves the production of considerable quantities of cork-clippings; these, together with the waste incurred in gathering the crop, and with old cast-away corks, constitute the raw material with which a number of important industries are fed. The coarser chips are sought for as packing material for fragile articles, in which their elasticity gives them a peculiar value. The finer particles constitute suberine powders, the balsamic properties of which are well known to hygienists. In treating the rashes of new-born children, they take the place of lycopodium and starch-powders. An insecticide, which is offered under the name of Zifa powder, is composed of cork mixed with phenol. Fire-kindlings have been made of cork-powder, but they do not seem to have given any grand results. The most important application which has been made of cork-refuse is in the manufacture of linoleum. For this fabric, cork-powder is mixed with oxidated linseed-oil. The resultant paste is then spread upon cloth if a carpeting is to be made, or on paper, if hangings are in view. The color, which is a little darker than that of cork, may be enlivened by colored designs. Applied to moist walls as a foundation, or in hangings, linoleum will receive more substantial paintings than wood which warps, or plaster, or other materials, which are liable to crack. Ceilings may be made from it, which can be washed whenever they become soiled or smoked. "When used for carpets, linoleum makes the floors quite insonorous, and transforms damp and unhealthy rooms into warm and salubrious habitations. It has the advantage, for kitchens and offices, of not being stained by grease. A new decorative product, lino-burgau, is obtained by fluting linoleum, and by the application of colored varnishes and the metalization of some parts giving beautiful iridescent effects.

A composition of coarse powder of cork and milk of lime, pressed into bricks or tiles, forms an excellent material for the construction of conduits, the lining of damp walls, and for roofs. Lining of the cellars of breweries with these tiles diminishes the melting of the ice; in gunpowder-factories it prevents the deterioration of the powder by damp, and, by virtue of its levity and friability, helps to decrease the damage in case of explosion. Employed as pugging for floors, they destroy the disagreeable resonance. In the spinneries of Alsace and Eastern France, the bricks have proved effective to resist the passage of sound, of heat and cold, and are economical withal.

When distilled in a close vessel, chips and waste of cork give off an illuminating gas, which is capable of shedding a brighter light than coal-gas, and is free from the sulphurous emanations which are so objectionable in that illuminant. When tried for lighting the city of Nérac, the difficulty of providing storage for the immense bulk of chips, needed to furnish the required amount of gas, proved so