Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-08-03
MILLIONS IN A VACUUM.
CURIOUS THINGS MADE FROM LESS
Than NOTHiNG.
All Kinds OF Food Products, imperishabie
Wood and Bottled Bcer Due to an
Old scientific Iact-tofY,ns
and Preserved Eggs


| millions Of dollars In this country are
invested In patents depending upon a
| vacuum, which Is less than what most
| people call nothing. These Inventions
cover q great variety Of industries, such
| as preserving foods. tanning, ferment-
| ing, bleaching, hardening stone and
making woods imperishable. Some Of
! them actually relate TO the keeping Of
corrscs and the manufacture OF mortu-
! arY memorials
The history of the vacuum in the
| United states patent Office Is an inter-
esting one, dating back to 1888 In which
| year George II. Richards took out eN-
| elusive rights IN process for preparing
| leather in a chamber exhausted OF air.
Many valuable extracts are got from
various substances by evaporation IN
yacuo at a temperature below 2l2 deg.
| the object being 20 avoid inlurng tn"
| product by too great heat This method
| is applied In obtaining fllvors for syrups
dispensed at soda water fountains. IT
also serves In making extracts from
malt and hops and from coffee. The
fact Is well known that firms engaged
IN the business OF roasting coffee for
market commonly deprive the beans ~
their volatile ilaNorlng essence ana sell
the latter separately An honest coffee
roaster returns This essence to the beans
There was once "a firm Of bakers in
London, says the New York World, who
hit upon a very novel eNpedicnt The
process of hrcadmakiuE depends upon
a fermentation which develops alcohol.
| This alcohol passes off I'm VnpOr from the
ovens under ordinary circumstances. The
concern In question devised method by
which it could hc saved, the vapor be-
ing PASSED into "A condenser. Unfor-
tuuatcly, rival bakers took a notion to
advertise as widely as possible that
their bread was sold with all the gin in
it" As result the Cutcrprisiug cstah-
Iishmout lost It's trade and was ruined.
Al ltA - faf o.
for preserving eggs in their shells by
means OF vacuum one method is
10 place them in a chamber which IS
tbon exhausted of air The air con-
tanning the germs Of decomposition, is
thus drawn ont of the eggs and car
boic acid is forced into the receiver to
take the place of IT, The eggs are
taken out and covered with a varnish,
10 prevent the air from getting into
them again.
BY far the most useful application Of
the vacuum has been for the preserva-
tion of wood. Scores of patents in this
line have been granted. So far back as
the wear 1S37 August Gotthilm, of New
York. secured exclusive rights in a pro-
cess for "prutectiug timber from destruc-
-ion hv worms. dry-rot and other causes
Of spontaneous decay" His idea was to
exhaust the air from the wood and fill
NJ the pores with coal tar and turpen-
tinc. i'm this direction a great industry
has since grown up
At wilmington. ~ c., piles and rail-
way timhcrs for the entire South are
imprcEnated with preserVatiVc sub
stances Railway ties are commonly
treated I'm this manner, while metallic
and other solutions are employed to
defend bridges against the deprcdations
of the devouriug shipworm or teredo.
Wood Is artdcially colored by using
the vacuum to withdraw its fluid juices,
the place of which is filled with solu-
tions containing pigments. In this man
nsr ordinary pine may be beautifully
stained and made to serve as sub
stitute for rare and costly woods. Lum-
Der is seasoned oi-hand ny eNhauSuilS
tho air from it and then forcing dry air
through the pores to carry OF the
moisture
Wood Is hardened for all sorts Of pur-
poses from bridgemaking TO wagon
making 10y a process called "vulcaniz-
ing" Rubber Is vulcanizod by treating
II with sulphur being thus transformed
from a substance soft and flexible To one
that is hard and brittle. This idea was
long ago applied TO wood by saturatinE
Inc latter with a solution of rubber and
mon applying The sulphur. Nowadays
the rubber is not used, The wood being
subjected to the action of hot air under
pr.Ss,lrs I'm a closed chamber. The
pressure prevents the escape of the sap
and gums. while the heat has a harden
ing effect That IS what is now termed
yUicanlzing.
seem to show that people in these days
arc almost as much interested In pre-
sarving cJrpses as were the ancient
I.gvrtians. Inventions in this line ara
rntIfituIlnous one of them describes a
.r.Hfu or glass which is TO be exhausted
of air gas that is destructive Of all