The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-07-09

/ will always be found the ingenious
Yankee.
The latest product of the Yankee
brain is an invention by which common
corn pith, which has been considered
worthless raw material heretofore,
can be used in the place Of cocoa cellU
lose, as packing for the cofferdams of
ships of war.
With view of proving the merit of
this new material, the Navy Depart
ment conducted comparative tests of
the cocoa and corn pith cellulose, at
the Indian Head proving grounds re
Gently, in which tests the corn pith
was found to be greatly superior to the
cocoa cellulose. This very gratifying
result has awakened lively interest
in the matter, and opens up the way
for the establishment of a new indus
try in this country.
AS above stated, coacoa cellulose is
used as a packing for the ccfferdams of
war ships, and while it is manufactured
in this country at Philadelphia, and in
SC@AALS44AC@S 6bAA4 V44O 40W A4C4OC4 4ChA 40 q
foreign product, and it's Importation,
coupled with the fact that the convert
| ing of this raw material into cellulose
| is virtually a monopoly, makes the
manufactured article very expensive,
besides the fact that it compels Uncle
Sam" to depend on foreign country
for material with which to protect his
ships from the ravages of the ocean,
when wounded by these same for
eigners
The Navy Department has recently
had it's attention called to this new ma
terial, under the name of !"Marsden's
American Cellulose, and the tests con-
Quoted at Indian Head we're made with
this home product.
| Secretary Herbert was seen by a
representative of the Associated Trade
and Industrial Press, and his opinion
asked in regard to this matter. Hav-
ing been absent himself when the last
tests were made, he referred the re
porter to Conductor Taylor, who was
a member of the board who made these
tests. Mr.. Taylor stated that the corn
pith had proved, under a severe test of
firing, much more satisfactory as a re-
sistance to water than the cocoa cellu-
lose, ar that the only question now to
be settled by the board, before the
adoption of the American cellulCse
would be recommended, was the dura-
bility of the corn pith material. 1t had
been urged, he said, as an objection to
corn pith, that the presence of vermin
would sooner or later render this home
product unsatisfactory as a packing
for coferdams, when compared to the
foreign product. Tnis objection, (even
admitting that all corn pith was har-
Dor for vermip) could be overcome by
the fact that the corn pith was subjected
to such pressure as to obviate any dan.
der to the substance from this source.
However, no official report of the re-
suit of these tests can be obtained until
further experiments as to these points,
(Which are now in progress are con-
cluded. Nevertheless, Mr.. Taylor gave
it as his opinion that the American
corn cellulose was greatly superior and
more desirable as packing than the
cocoa cellulose now in use.
The object in packing the coferdams
of war ships with cellulosei is to prevent
water from sweeping through shot
holes in the ships side, and to thus
overcome any danger of the vessel
sinking, no matter how fierce the firing
from the attacking vessels may be.
B ing an indigenous plant, the fibres
of cocoa and corn, are so complicated
and 80 thickly woven that they exclude
a fluid; and it is this quality which
makes them so valuable as a resistance
to water which would come through
the ships side when pierced by a shot.
In the stems of an indigenous plant
a cross section shows no distinct ring
of wood, and no separation into pith,
wood aud bark but bundles of woody
fibre are irregularly scattered through
the cellular tissue, orpith, though they
are less numerous in the centre than
at the circumference of the stems. The
corn stalk is an illustration of an an
nual indigenous plant stem, which
while young has an epidermis, but no
separate bark. Each one of its fbrous
bundles contain all the elements of the
exogenous stem. 1t is this peculiar
quality of it's fibrous bundles, and the
: fact that they are more numerous at
the circumferences of the stems that
will make our corn pith so valuable as