Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 81.djvu/409

Rh be fireproof. It furthermore seemed reasonable to suppose that, as the salt is insoluble in water, it would remain in the fiber even after several washings and therefore that permanent fireproofing might be achieved in this manner.

A piece of flannelette was therefore soaked in sodium tungstate and, after passing through rollers, to remove the excess of the solution, left for a considerable time in a solution of alum. It was then squeezed, dried and was passed through the same process again with the result that the material became almost as fire-resistant as asbestos. When, however, the piece was thoroughly washed with soap and water, it was most disappointing to find that the greater part of the fireproofing was removed during the first washing and after several washings the material was little better than the original flannelette.

While this unexpected result was being investigated, it was noticed that aluminum tungstate is soluble in acetic acid and is reprecipitated when the acetic acid is removed by evaporation or by the action of steam and as the precipitate formed seemed granular in appearance, it was thought that this process, if applied to the flannelette, might yield a better result than the process of double decomposition had done. Accordingly, a solution was made up of sodium tungstate, aluminum sulphate and enough acetic acid to dissolve the precipitate, the flannelette was thoroughly soaked in this solution, dried and then placed in an ordinary steamer and subjected to the action of steam until the odor of acetic acid could no longer be detected.

The material was, of course, non-inflammable and when it was washed it was found that this property was distinctly more resistant to soap and water than was the case in the first experiment, but after several vigorous washings almost every trace of the fireproofing had disappeared. These negative results seemed therefore to indicate that aluminum tungstate was not suitable for the purpose of permanent fireproofing. On the other hand, the failure of this salt was possibly due to some peculiarities in its specific properties and was not considered valid evidence that other insoluble tungstates might not combine more completely with the fiber and thus resist removal by washing.

A careful examination of the tungstates was therefore made and such insoluble salts only selected for experiment which, like aluminum tungstate, are colorless, since it is obvious that a fireproofing agent to be of any use must be capable of application to white cloth without staining it. Several hundred pieces of flannelette were treated under the most varied conditions with all sorts of combinations which it was known would precipitate insoluble tungstates in the fiber, but in no case was a satisfactory result achieved.

However, a fact was noticed which afterwards proved to be of value, and it was this, that, of all the salts, the tungstates of zinc and tin