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Show Celluloid Rubber Is a German Invention i DR RIDOLPT DITMAR, the famous German rubber chemist and technologist, has just announced the success of his efforts to combine j i elluloid and rubber, a solution of one of the most Important technical problems of the age The answer to how he did it is very simple he found the common solvent. The whole mat- ter has rested on this, for whatever dissolved rubber would not dissolve celluloid and vice erso. and no one was able to fiud a mateiial that I would dissolve both of then at the same time. The common solvent is one of the products ob- j) tained from coal tar. or rather from naphthalene 1 that is contained in coal tar and which Is com- j mon to us In the form of tar camphor balls The I naphthalene is treated with hydrogen, and the I result is a series of substances, one of which known as hexaliu. a clear, colo lss liquid, is the j mon n.Ih m u;' 1 t 1 1 irhiml and rubber It The importance of the discovery is manifold. It yields a substance celluloid rubbe-. which I possesses many interesting and advantageous propei ties which ate not common to either of Its '-dl constituents. A large variety of compositions fll can be obtained by varying the proportion of the I rubber to the celluloid. H Phe celluloid rubber mixed with finely ground mica gives a mateiial which makes an excel- H lent electrical Insulator. It can be moulded or il machined Into any sjape and form. The msu- 'H lating material is made by permitting the solvent sol-vent to evaporate, but when it Is not allowed to do so then there Is obtained a nvjst admirable |