The times., 1899-08-24
NEW USES FOR sAwDUsT.
In Europe 1t Enters Into the Manu-
facture of Many Articles.

In Europe 1t Enters Into the Manu-
facture of Many Articles.
IN. compliance with special instructions
from the State Department, Consul General
Mason has sent from Berlin a report on
the mantifacttife and use of wood flour in
Europe He says:
In compliance with special instructions
from the department l have to report that
wood -four Gin German, HolzmehD is made
by grinding sawdust TO a fine powder, and
is used for two general purposes viz, the
manufacture of explosives. especially d.-a-
mite and nitroglycerine, and the manufac-
ture of linoleum and papyrolite, or arti-
ficiaI flooring. There is no manufacturer
of dynamite in Berlin, but from the repre-
sentative Of firm in Saxony it has been
ascertained that wood flour has been used
in the manufacture of dynamite as a cheap
substitute for infusoriai earth. which is the
standard material for that purpose. The
entire Germany supply of infusorial earth
comes from one source at Luneberg be-
tween Hamburg and Hanover, and when
that material became scarce and expensive
by reason of increased demand, expert
ments were made with wood flour as q sub
stitute. From the best information that
can be obtained it is regarded distinctly
! inferior to infusorial earth for making ex-
plosives. and is only used when extreme
| cheapness Of product is desirable or the
| infusorial earth cannot be obtained.
| Wood flour has also been somewhat ex-
| tensively used in the manufacture of limo
| lerm, a kind of floor cloth made by
| laying coating OF hardened linseed oil
mixed with ground cork on canvas net
| lor backing; but here. again, it was found
| to be hard. inelastic, and for that reason
| inferior to cork meal so that its use has
| been, so far as can be aseertained, aban-
| doped by, most German makers of limo
| leum. If used at all for this purpose, it
is done secretly and would be regarded
| as an adulteration. The third and by far
the most important use of wood -four in
Germany is for the manufacture of papyro-
/ lite or xylolite, kind Of artificial floor
| ing, which is extensively produced by sew
eral large firms and companies in Ger
many. notably the Papyrolite Werke, Paul
| Becker, in Loebtau, near Dresden; by
| Hermann Jaritz & Co., of Bremen, and by
| Paul Karnasch, at Frankenstein, Silesia.
Papyrolite is extensively used as flooring
| for Kitchens, halls, corridors, and for pub
| lie rooms, such as cafes and restaurants.
I 1t is a substance between wood and stone,
| practically, hreproof, impervious to water,
|
warm in winter. 1t is also used as floor
| ing en- German war vessels, because it has
most CT the advantages of wood and does
not splinter from shot nor take fire.
Whether American wood flour can be
successfully introduced as commercial
product into Germany will depend upon its
| quality and the price at which it can be de-
| l1vered in this country. Assuming that
/ the American article is OF equal quality
with that OF the domestic supply, the one
remaining question is whether wood -four
of American origin can undersell the Ger
man product, which is made by pulveriz-
| ing sawtfust that has no value except as
fuel. German wood flour is therefore
abundant at from to marks Cos cents to
| s1.19) per enc hundred Kilograms (220. 46
! pounds)-a maximum of $11.90 per metric
| ton-which is price SO moderate as to
| apparently offer little encouragement for
imports from source so remote as the
! United States,