Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-01-24
USES OF PAPER.
Wood Pulp May Yet Furnish Armor for
War Shina.


War ships.
Nothing of recent years has given a
greater incentive to the exercise of
the forester's art than the discovery
OF the method of making paper out of
wood pulp. Wood pulp to-day sup
plies 20, 900 weekly and daily period
icals with paper, and each year the
number increases from ten to twenty
per cent, making the demand upon
the spruce forests so great as to
threaten their extinction unless intel
ligent efforts are made to preserve
them. In Germany, where the manu-
facture of wood pulp is even greater
than in this country, the forester's art
is exercised so that the forests stead
lily keep up the supply. 1t is to imi-
tate this method of using, but not
abusing, the natural spruce forests
here that paper makers are trying to
buy up the large areas of woodland
covered by these trees.
In the arts and trades new uses are
found for paper every year, SO that
the demand increases as fast as the
patent Office in Washington show an
astonishing number of uses to which
paper is put, and applications are
made for patents for other queer in
ventions that never see the light of
day.
Cigar boxes are made of paper and
favored with cedar oil to give the inn
preston that they are manufactured
of cedar. Medals are pressed out of
paper and then coated with prepare
ton to make them resemble either
silver or bronze. Similarly cornices,
panels and friezes are nodded out of
the paper pulp, and both interior and
exterior architectural effects are OBJ
tanned at a relatively low cost by this
method.
The manufacture of car wheels out
of paper is an old story. 1t is proba-
bly, the good results obtained with
them that suggested the idea of coat
ing irOn-clad men-Of-war with paper.
Inventors are now working on the
problem of finding a preparation
either of compressed paper or of COM
pressed ramie that will form a bullet
proof coating for war vessels. The
car wheels and steam pipes made of
paper admit of being nodded and
formed to suit any purpose, and it is
suggested that by using paper for
coating armor plate the surface could
be formed like fish scales with tiny
overlapping plates. The surface
could be made rough or smooth, and
besides giving more strength to the
steel armor the paper coating would
protect the metal from corrosion.
Another queer use to which paper
promises to be put is in the manu-
facture of telegraph poles. The paper
poles are hollow. and are made from
paper pulp, and then coated with
silicate of potash to preserve them.
Electric conduits in successful use are
made out of paper pulp, and also
steam and water pipes of great
strength and durability. Paper roof
ing material is so common that it is
unnecessary to mention it. and also
paper pals. basins and pans.
Undertakers are using cheap collins
pressed out of paper pulp. When
polished and stained such collins are
almost as handsome as those of wood.
They last longer in the ground than
collins of wood or metal, and they
can be Theoretically sealed better than
the heavy metal collins.
Paper boats are generally looked
upon as playthings for very small
children, but large, commodious,
staunch boats are now manufactured
out of paper pulp. They can resist
the water and are lighter than wooden
or metal boats. Lead pencils and
cigar holders made of paper are in
daily use, and even carpets and mat
tressos are manufactured in limited
way out of paper. The mattresses
are made of paper pulp and ordinary
sponge. with springs imbedded in the
composition. Artificial straws for
drinking iced beverages, which are
superior to the natural straw, are be-
ing placed on the market. and so is
peculiar cloth paper for printing bank
notes on.