The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-07-17
GAS FROM FIR STUMPS|
New Illuminant Discovered by
Professor Frankforter.
HAS STRONG HEATING POWERS.

moves ~Turpentine and Tar. and
This Process Develops the Gas.
Each Stump of Douglas Fir Worth
5000.
Discovery Of a new Illuminating gas
which can compete with coal gas for
Illuminating purposes, the detection Of
processes by which a new %turpentine in
limitless quantity and Of properties
permitting Its genera. use in manufac-
lures and the arts, can be- produced
from material formerly thought worth
less, and the solution of the problem
Of utilizing the b%yproducts of the great
thousands Of square miles Of the Pa
cific northwest. are the recent achieve
ments of Professor George F. Frank
forter, dean of the school of chemis-
try of the University of Minnesota,
says a st. Paul special dispatch to the
New York Herald.
Professor Frankforter's discoveries
are the result of many months of ex-
periments in the western forests and in
the laboratories of the state university
and are of immense commercial value.
They relate entirely to the utilization
Of stumps Of the Douglas fir left by
the lumbermen and until now thought
to have no value. These stumps cover
a tremendous area of western ''cut
over timber lands, and SO little have
they been regarded that it has been
~ ,,rA~- - 1,,-1 4l~y1~ ~,rA H., >rs9 49,
land Of them and to permit agricul-
tural operations. The burning process
left ash deposit which for several years
robbed the soil of it's agricultural
values. For each stump burned Pro
fessor Frankforter announces the own
ers have thrown away the equivalent
Of 5000.
the western timber trees and is much
sought for building purposes. Its lower
portions are filled with a resinous
pitch, and the portions containing the
pitch deposits have been valueless for
lumber because of the impossibility of
forcing the saws through the pitch
soaked fbers of the log. For this rea-
son the lumbermen have cut the trees.
frequently eight to ten feet in diam
eter, at a height of twenty feet from
the ground. This left the pitch soaked
stump standing, to be burned or al
lowed to rot away.
Announcing the results of his dis
coveries, Professor Frankforter said
the other day:
1T has long been known that the
pitch in the abandoned stumps had a
commercial value. but means of ex-
tracing it have not been at hand. 1t
was to provide these means hat l
spent months experimenting. I have
been astounded to find, by exact scien-
tiic methods. that 40 per cent of the
abandoned stumps is valuable pitch.
This pitch. properly treated. produces
a turpentine inestimably superior to
forests, the supply of which is decreas-
ing year by year.
1.-THE new turpentine has all the
chemical and medicinal qualities of the
common commercial turpentine, but is
absolutely free from it's disagreeable
smell and taste. These two features
have been the greatest drawback to
the more general use of turpentine in
manufactures and the arts. The odor
of the fir turpentine is mild and bal
samic. and it's taste is mild and pleas
ant. 1t might be utilized in a thou
sand ways. even in chewing gum and
for soda fountain f1avors. so pleasant
Is it's taste.
ITO give tersely the results. l will
say that each stump contains 40 per
cent of its bulk in pitch. 1t contains
five or six cords of wood. OF the pitch
in the stump 20 per cent can easily be
resolved into t%urpentine. 80 per cent
into tar oil and so per cent into com
mon tar. The tar is an excellent prod
uct and can find ready sale. The minor
product is p%yroligneous acid. contain
ing acetic acid.
"All the products of the fir stumps
can be removed by what is technically
known as destructive distillation.' One
of the most marvellous features is that
during the distillation process the fir
gives out a gas of strong heating and
Illuminating powers. sufficient to main
tain the process and furnish the means
of extracting the products desired for
commercial purposes. The distillation
pays for itself and leaves the products
Of the pitch practically clear profit.
"After all the products have been eX-
tracted-turpentine. tar oil, tar. acids.
gas-there is still left a charcoal the
superior of which is hard to find. Re-
garding the gas given off. it is a strong
illuminant. and with reduction opera
tons carried on on a large scale it
would be produced in volume sufficient
to conduct extensive gas lighting oper-
ATOMS
"a new source of turpentine at this
juncture is especially important. I
have made thorough tests of the west