Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-08-17
USES FOR CORN PITH.
WILL MAKE our wARsnIPs THE BEST
IN rnH WORLD.

Defensive Belts Of csIIsIose'..NsvsI utIlIzs'
Ties Of q Waste Farm Product'--Csss'
stalks ressd to Be Valuable for Masy
Other Purposes.
A new device In warship construc-
ton has been found. which, 1t Is be-
lieved, will make the American navy,
ship for ship, the superior Of any other
In the world. Curiously enough, the
material for this Improvement comes,
not from our seaboard products, but
from the waste of Western farms. Its
value lies in the fact that it will pre-
vent a vessels fighting ability from
being destroyed even after she has
been pierced in dozen places.
Mr.. Lewis Nixon, formerly United
States naval constructor and who Is
now engaged In building warships for
the government ut Elizabethport, N.
j., says Of the new invention:
"The value of some light substance
that will preserve the stability of light
armored vessels by displacing water
that might enter after prOjectile has
been appreciated by naval constructors
ever since we began to build steel arm
Ored vessels.
''To meet this need the French orig
mated the use Of cellulose, which.
when fired into, swells up under the in
fluence Of water and prevents further
inflow. After various trials 1t was
adopted in our navy. Thus, in the
Columbia, the New York and the
Olympia, there are protective decks Of
ample strength to keep out the shells Of
any vessels they are liable to engage,
while their stability is protected by
belts of cellulose several feet thick
along the edges.
mo thoroughly satisfactory, cellulose
material for this purpose was discover
ed, however, until the pith of corn
stalks was utilized in it's manufacture.
Corn pith Is perfect obturator. 1t alb
solutely prevents wafer from coming
in by the opening made by an eight
inch shell. When chemically treated
1t is thoroughly fireproof and in every
situation. Maize is exclusively an
American product. This gives us an
immense advantage over other nations.
We have in the waste matter of our
Western fields the very best material
in the world for imparting this sort of
strength to our warships.
For keeping out water n cellulose
belt of three feet may be said to be
about as efficient as n siX-inch belt of
steel, so that we can protect our sta
bility, when we have a good protective
deck back of it to protect the vitals
with 100 tons of cellulose where we
should require 1000 tons of armor
I'm vessels of high speed, where
weight is needed for machinery and an
armor belt cannot be carried. cellulose
is used to preserve the stability. In
battle ships thick armor is used
amidships and n protective deck and
cellulose belt beyond the limits Of this
armor. In accordance with this plan,
the Navy Department has provided for
cellulOse protection in the Kentucky,
Kearsarge, Alabama. Wisconsin, ILL
nois and other new ships of the navy.
The use Of corn pith for this pur-
pose was suggested several years ago
by Prof. Mark w. Marsden, who had
observed its remarkable absorbent
qualities. He brought the matter to
the attention of the Cramps, and ut
their suggestion devised an apparatus
for separating the pith from the stalk.
In 1895 the naval authorities were in
duced to make n test Of the new pro.
duct. A 250-pound projectHe was fred
through steel Golfer dam packed with
cellulose three feet thick. The shell
made q hole foot in diameter through
the structure. The water was imme-
diately turned on and continued for an
hour. At the end Of that time not a
drop had come through, and the pack
ing at the hole in the rear of the plate
was not even dampened. The cocoa
cellulose, tested at the same time,
failed to come up to these require
ments and since then the use of corn
pith has been adopted in all of our
naval construction.
The cellulose is packed i'm the Golfer
dam space between the outer and in
ner walls Of the ship. A belt Of it three
feet thick backs up the armor belt, ex-
tending six feet above and six feet be-
low the water line, entirely around the
vessel. Fifty tons of it is required to
equip a vessel of the Illinois class, and
this is computed to equal 500 tons Of
steel in adding to the defensive
strength of the ship. 1t takes about
fifteen tons Of the raw material to pro-
vide one ton of cellulose. To supply
this important feature in the construc-
ton Of each of our new battle ships,
therefore, requires $50 tons of stalks,
or the product of more than 200 acres
of corn land.
In the same way that the corn pith
enables our fighting vessels to keep
afioat, even after holes have been
punched In their sides, 1t may be used
to add to the safety of merchant and
passenger ships.
In trying to find n product that
would answer the needs of the navy,
Mr.. Marsden unwittingly stumbled up
on product that is useful in a great
err variety Of ways than any other
growth Of our fields. Since the manu-
facture of cellulose for the use OF the
navy, two years ago, It has been ap-
piled to dozen other practical uses,
which ultimately will utilize the whole
product Of our cornfields. 1t is esti-
mated that hundred and fifty mil