Show How I It Is P Possible 0 S 5 i b let to 0 Me Melt It Woo Mood od d. d T is possible to melt wood by heating it in a I IT vacuum producing a hard homogeneous sub sub- stance Melted wood was for a long time only a laboratory curiosity but it may be that Industry industry industry indus indus- try shall shaU presently discover practical applications Although wood is eminently inflammable it melts at a relatively low temperature according to toa a a writer in Science and Invention but in very precise conditions and only when it is absolutely removed from contact with oxygen so that its combustion is impossible This may be understood under stood when we remember what its composition is When its immediately soluble constituents have bave been removed by means of alcohol for instance it gives on analysis organic acids water oily essences es es- silicates sulphates phosphates chlorides and hydro carbonates of lime potash soda and magnesia carbonic acid carbonated hydrogen etc that that is to say solely bodies susceptible of being evaporated or dissolved after having cooperated co op operated rated by chemical affinity in the formation of determinate substances Starting from these data and Lenoir in 1891 studied the problem of the fusion of wood They operated in a closed vessel at a q relatively low temperature Their work was was taken up by others and now there is a full op operative that enables u us usi I i Ji 4 S i r f easily to obtain excellent results A metal receiver receiver re re- a sort of boiler having a double bottom through which superheated steam passes is filled with bits of wood It is closed by a lid similar to that used in autoclaves and provided with a tube and stopcock communicating with an apparatus apparatus ap ap- for exhausting the air When the wood thus kept In a vacuum is fa heated above bove degrees Fahrenheit the water and nd other volatile substances are given off first and are drawn off by means of the exhausting apparatus after which the heating i is continued for tor about three hours There then take place a complex series of reactions and series phenomena analogous analogous analogous an an- to those that accompany the distillation of wood in a closed vessel and in this way all the so- so called so-called products are separated these in turn are drawn off condensed and sep se- separated sep so that they may be bo utilized commercially There remain in the receptacle only the fibrous skeleton of the wood and the mineral salts which taken together constitute a fusible mass This is allowed to cool slowly out of contact with the theair air nir and then placed in a second boiler which after the tho air has been exhausted is filled fined with nitrogen under a pressure of 15 to 2 atmospheres The whole is heated to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours and at at the end of this time the tha wood is fa melted in into a homogeneous hard mass man j r I |