Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-02-15

| Corn oil cake, gluten feed, chop
feed, and gluten meal are all cattle
feeding stuffs of a very high grade
and capable of being scientifically fed
with superior advantages.
Rubber substitute is, as it is made
substitute for crude rubber and very
extensively used.
Corn germ is simply the germ from
which the oil and cake is obtained and
| is sometimes sold commercially to peo-
pie who extract the same.
British gum is a starch so converted
by application of heat that it creates
very adhesive medium and is used by
textile mills for running their colors,
as we'll as by manufacturers who re-
quire very strong adhesive medium
that contains no trace Of acid. It is
made from starch in the same manner
as dextrine, but is higher priced on &C
count Of not being able to use acid as
an assistant in its conversion.
Granulated gum is an American pro-
duct that completes with the foreign
production known as gum arabic"
and is used successfully in place of the
latter and finds preference by reason
of the absence of any offensive odor.
Probably the most important of the
above list of products is rubber sub
stitute, the substance which force of
Chicago chemists has been bringing to
perfection. This new rubber, made
from the waste of ordinary corn will
cheaper the price of rubber goods 25
per cent. Corn-rubber must be COM
bined with an equal quantity Of Para
rubber to give it general utility.
Twenty chemists have been employed
at the Chicago refinery over a year, in
bringing this new rubber to perfec-
ton. The greatest difficulty that has
been encountered was to make a pro-
duct that would resist heat At last
the chemists have developed a quality
of cOrn-rubber that will bend, stretch,
and has all the resiliency of the best
Para which is the standard of COM
merce. In the manufacture of
glucose, a part of the corn has been
waste material. Some of this was
made into other products, but there
has always been a refuse of about five
per cent. that could not be utilized.
This waste is what will be transformed
into the new substitute for rubber.
Corn-rubber has almost the same ap-
pearance as the ordinary reddish
brown India rubber Oil of corn, from
which principally the rubber is made,
does not oxidize readily. It's tendency
toward oxidation is one of the princi
pal defects of India rubber The
chemists who are working on the corn
rubber declare this to be an enormous
advantage for the new product.
Articles manufactured from it will
always remain pliable and not crack.
Corn oil from which the rubber is
made, comes from the germ of the
corn and not from the hull The
starchy. and glutenous portions Of the
kernels are used in making starch.
while the corn oil, heretofore, accord
ing to the refners, has been practical
ly waste. The five refneries in the
United States have used 100000
bushels of corn in the last ten months,
of which about five per cent. has been
refuse. Though 20 different products
have been made by the companies, still
five per cent. has been practically
waste. By utilizing this new product,
it is calculated that corn-rubber can
be sold at &c a pound. It can be adapt
ed to nearly all of the uses for which
ordinary rubber is used, from bicycle
tires to linoleum. The more refined
uses to which rubber is put, however.
will still be closed field, for the con-
sumption of corn-rubber will prevent
its substitution for India rubber for
scientific purposes.-St. Louis TimeE-
Democrat