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Show SOUTH CACHE COURIER Chemists Strengthen Low Grade Lumber, Promise Profitable New Field for Farmers You Pays Your Money and You Takes Your Choice & west, and New Jersey, Pennyslvania sary vacuum and pressure in which and New York on the east. Three the wood is placed. A steam jet and one-hamillion acres are con- ejector is an effective, simple means sidered desirable for shelter belts. of producing the vacuum. The chamThe soil conservation districf pro- ber should be equipped with a presgram, under which the farmers sure door or removable head, and. By BARROW LYONS themselves decide' what lands are with a source of vacuum and of fWNU Washington Correspondent.) suitable for today offers pressure. A tank for preparing the The alchemy of modern a practical woodlands, opportunity for giving solution, an auxiliary overflow tank, chemistry suddenly has pre- the Du Pont process a real tryout. and means for drying the wood are By means of the process, wood also needed. Mild steel equipment pared a new field of profit for farmers. By the use of rela- can be made for the manufacture of may be used. windows and drawers that The chemicals are no more cortively inexpensive equipment doors, not swell and stick, or contract rosive than water, and are neither and by the application of cer- will and become loose. Wood can be flammable nor poisonous. To pre- -' tain cheap chemicals, ordi- made strong enough to substitute vent rusting, it is desirable to apply transbe can woods soft nary for even steel in certain machinery a waterproof finish to the exposed formed into material of al- parts. In a few days woods harder surfaces of the equipment. This type most any desired hardness than ebony, which take a century to of could be set up and equipment and color. grow, can be made at small operated in almost any lumber Not only does this multiply the expense. handling concern throughout the uses for which wood may be used in Poplar becomes harder than hard country. ) building and furniture manufacture, maple, which in turn can be made A chemical change takes place in use its for but opens possibilities the actual fibers of the wood under under conditions of pressure, treatment. Methylolurea in solution that and moisture formerly humidity enters the wood structure. In the only metals and plastics could course of drying it gradually reacts satisfy. Also, the decorative value with itself and with the components encan be of many woods vastly firing lines, at of the wood, first to form insoluble Ever hear of the Anzio Turf club? This club has been established only a mile behind the hanced. And fast growing species of which are moved are horses used, Wooden soldiers. S. U. and British of amusement Given sufficient fusible but products. Anzio, Italy, for the trees, use of which was formerly of dice. Betting is brisk. In picture at left the entries in tte comreaction is throws the or time to shown numbers heat, by according like crops limited, can now be grown the barrier is sprung and they are off. pleted and an infusible product respring handicap are chalked on the blackboard. At right, to replace the slower growing varito sults. If the wood is subjected eties. sufficient heat and pressure while These facts were revealed rethe resin is still in the fusible stage, of Berliner T. Dr. F. J. cently by the resin will melt, flow and allow I. du E. of the ammonia department the wood to compress. This treatPont de Nemours and company, who ment converts the resin to the final scientists of a told group recently infusible form, maintaining the wood and writers about the development of the chemical called methylolurea, the reagent which transforms the inner structure of wood into new " substances. Tht chemicals used in this process cost only 3 cents to 4 cents per board foot treated, although the cost of equipment and labor will add to that figure in producing the new product. For the average veneer the cost of chemicals used amounts to of a cent per less than ' square foot. This development assumes unusual significance in view of recent efforts of the department of agriculImpregnating apparatus in the Du Font experimental laboratories is ture to bring about a new realiza- rather simple. The wood is placed in the horizontal cylinder. The overof tion of the potential importance tank contains the solution of methylolurea, which flows down and head the woodlot to the farmer. John F. the fibers of the wood. A vacuum is first created in the impregnates S. conservation soil Preston, U. then cylinder, pressure. service, estimated a few weeks ago from to farmers the income that harder than the hardest tropical in the dimension resulting from the farm woodlands could be increased woods. The compressive strength of press. to $500,000,000 a year, or more. The wood is so increased, and other Thus, treated wood may be comdiscovery of the Du Pont chemists properties imparted, that in fact a pressed to produce a stable, exmay considerably raise this esti- new material is created, which can tremely hard, dense product with a mate. wood. By consolidated closed surface requirbe called transmuted Income from Woodlot. d this process, species ing no filling, sanding or polishing. Farmers are interested in wood- of woods that grow on your own It is possible to apply moderate lands not only as sources of income woodlot can be made as useful as pressures sufficient to compress and with which to pay taxes, buy seed, the costlier, scarcer varieties, many consolidate only the surface or outer Jean Mullins, 15, lives in one of the many logging camps near Allagasb, Maine, which recently contri-to of which are imported from distant zone of the treated wood to produce buted a total of 10,000,000 feet of lumber to the largest drive in the East since 1900. The drive was aimed emfinish. a hard If polished or lands. in with the European invasion, since every foot of this wood will go to the war effort. Jean is shown bossed platens are used, these tie Wont Warp or Shrink. Here Jacks with their Furniture made from the trans- finishes can be reproduced on the at left rolling a log with her peavey from the pile into the St. John river. Right: them and through the boom. over the guiding clamber and logs, separating floating peaveys pike poles muted wood can be shipped through- surface of the wood. As far as is out the world to humid tropics or now known, the treatment does not dry areas with assurance that it will have any adverse effect on the Rally not warp, swell or shrink. A built-i- n gluing and finishing characteristics finish is imparted so that scratches of the wood. Flame resistance is may be removed by simply smooth- improved, and the wood is also more ing and rubbing. By mixing dyes resistant to fungi, rot and pest inwith the impregnating chemicals, festation. But from experiments made in Du d pine may be given the color of cherry, mahogany or Pont' laboratories, it appears certain ebony; or the wood may be made that a process has been developed green, purple or any bright color which will give new value to the trees standing on every farm wood-lo- t. throughout. That should give an impetus to Veneers sufficiently treated become requiring no reforestation of many marginal adhesive to be formed into ply- farms, bringing back a woodland woods, since heat and pressure fuse a hard, dense subTop Compressed treated wood the product into becomes very hard and dense. The stance. Even sawdust, shavings and three balsa blocks in the picture similar woodwastes may be moulded were all originally the same size, into articles with dyes incorporated. Methylolurea pronounced but the second and third from the is compounded by addleft have been subjected to heavy urea to dimethylolurea. Both maing at the The thinnest, right, pressure. is now harder than any known wood, terials are white and soluble in and 10 times as heavy as the origi- water. They are produced from amnal balsa. Balsa is one of the soft- monia, carbon dioxide and methanol, which are synthesized from est and lightest woods known. Below Remarkable resistance of coal, air and water. Urea results treated wood to warping' is shown from the reaction of ammonia and dioxide. Formaldehyde, by this test, the result of which is carbon S pictured. Two strips of veneer, one which is derived from methanol, Treated wood doesnt swell while treated and one untreated, were condenses with urea to form wet, or shrink when dry. In this placed on wet towel. The untreated dimethylolurea. are chemicals These prothe test, two dowels of exactly the same while being curled impregup, strip duced cheaply on a large scale, but diameter were fitted with brass nated remained flat. , are under allocation by the war pro- rings that would just slip off. Then Speaking at a rally at Aurora, duction board. Small quantities for the dowels were soaked for about leading shoes, clothes and put up buildings, d Aboard a coast assault transport heading hack from Lieut. Ira (Ike) Kepford, Mr. Preston said, "but also as investigation and preliminary tests, 24 hours. It was found that the two U. S. army nurses minister to two wounded navy flying ace, looks up to watch battlefronts, Europes rewould dowel on wood the can be obtained treated without of slip means however, ring building up warriors convalescing on deck. The nurses are Second Lieuts. Eliza- plane piloted by Comdr. J. T. Blacthe unserves to create an income balance formal allocation. After the war off as easily as before,-bu- t and Margaret Collopy, sisters, of Lawrence, Mass. Their kburn, leader of the Skull and Cross, treated dowel was so swollen that beth (left) wheel. We might call it an large quantities can be obtained. bones Corsair squadron. are Private Hawthorne (left), and Pvt. William Schreibeck. patients The equipment required may be the ring could not be removed. woodbin. Farm forestry has long served such a purpose in Euro- quite simple. In fact, most of the S. apparatus now used in impregnating cover to the soil that will conserve S. pean countries. the danger of Originally there were 913 million wood with various substances, such rainfall and lessen acres of forest land in this country, as creosote and flameproofing floods. The scientists who perfected this but 60 per cent of this was converted chemicals, can be adapted with process say there are in the United into farms, and farms now occupy minor alterations. Because of shorter treating pe- States some fifty species of tree now fully half of the land area of the used for industrial purposes, and move now The is riods, however, smaller scale equipUnited States. no practo reconvert much of this cleared ment can be used. An ingenious nearly 1,000 types for which beuse has been found, tical the largely understood who prinmechanic woodlands. to farm land With of new this their softness. cause could new of the acres 12,500,000 rig process On farms today, ciples applied to the very soft mostly abandoned fields and gul- up equipment from elements on magic all can now be added to the woods, chemists the most in reforesfor hand suitable are plants, only lies will help to make which resources tation. Of this large acreage, only declare. a victorious postwar America someEquipment Simple. 15 per cent is in the south. Sixty All that is required is a chamber thing like the dream which the techper cent is in the central region between Iowa and Missouri on the capable of withstanding the neces- nicians have envisaged. TreatedWoodAlmost Hard as Metal. lf Lumber Jacks Do Their Bit in Biggest Log Roll , two-tent- near-at-han- Ace Speaks at Sisters of Mercy light-colore- g, meth-il-ol-ur- W-- guard-manne- ever-norm- al in 6 Hours Span U. Blockbusters Blind Inventor Visits U. Two pieces of wood, one impregnated with methylolurea and the other untreated, were exposed to the flame of an alcohol burner. Tbe untreated wood soon took flame, merely while the impregnated chars. At right is shown a demonstration of hardness. Two blocks of wood, one treated, the other untreated, but otherwise exactly the same, were squeezed with a C clamp to the same extent. Untreated wood shows a deep depression, while treated wood was scarcely dented. blind hero of the Air Commander Patrick Huskinson, RAF, who invented the most lethal weapon of World War II, the 12,000-poublockbuster, has been in Washington participating in Allied discussions on armament design and development. He was robbed of his sight by the German blitz of 1941. Photo shows Commander Huskinson and his wife during a press conference. nd Col. Jack Carter, left, shakes an-hands with Col. Clair Peterson, u 1 er the fliers landed their trantangs in New York, to break P-5- scontinental records. Petersons was 6 hours, 32 minutes. ti |