The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-04-01
HOW cELLULoID Is MADE.
Process Not Hard, But Injurious To
Health OF Workmen.


Celluloid is chemical substance
made mainly Of paper and crude cam
phor to initiate ivory, tortoise shell,
coral, amber, glass, etc. Considerable
secrecy ie maintained by the makers
OF celluloid as to their respective
methods of manufacture, says a writer
in Fabrics, Fancy Goods and Notions,
but apart from dye-stuffs and acid 1t
may be said to consist of about equal
quantities of paper and camphor.
The process of its making is not a
complicated one, although II is one
that is highly injurious to the health
of those employed in handling the in
gradients. The workingmen are COM
PEELED to wear clothing of rubber. and
invariably bear traces of the strong
action of the chemicals used, their
faces appearing corpselke and CHASTITY.
The first operation in the manufacture
of celluloid is the preparation of the
paper, which is composed of cotton
| and birch wood.
This made II is wound upon a hol-
low spindle holding several hundred
yards In length. A roll of the paper
is slowly unwound, being saturated
with mixture of five parts oil sulphu-
ric acid and two parts of nitric acid
which falls upon II in fine spray.
| This changes the cellulose of the pa
| per into propylin guncotton. The ex-
cess of the acid is expelled by pres
sure and the paper bleached.
After, thoroughly drying the pulp
| there is added to it a due proportion
OF camphor This is done by carefully
| weighing, mixing the two ingredients
thoroughly and pressing in canvas
| jackets between plates. 1t is at this
| point that the dye matter is added tc
l make the celluloid any desired color
In the next operation the mixture is
subjected TO the grinding and pressure
of masticators. The machines are sim
ply heavy iron rollers about four feet
long, geared together to turn inward
AS the grinding continues the mass be.
comes more and more homogeneous
and nearer to the finished appearance
Of celluloid.
It is then taken from the masticator:
In the form of huge sheets, eight feet
by four feet in size and one inch thick
These sheets are piled one on top o
the other until they I'LL a heavy iror
box which later Is run under steam
heated hydraulic press, where 1t re
mains under enormous pressure TO
about two hours. This is done for tn,
L nf mi M N Cp o.
sheets together in the form of soli'
cake.
On removal the big celluloid cake II
cut into sheets of the desired thick
ness. This may vary from one-thous
andth OF an inch to full inch or NOR
according to the variety of goods int
which the material is to be worked
After cutting, the sheets are hung u
in drying rooms six or seven month
to season." celluloid having the pecu
liar warping qualities of wood II work
ed up without due regard to this fact
From the seasoning rooms the sheet
go to the various departments of tn
factory. Those taken to the novelty de
partment are cut, turned and presse,
into any number of fancy articles. Tn
smaller articles are cut out of tn
sheets Of celluloid while cold, the
dipped into hot water, bent and shape
and plunged into cold water again L
retain their shape. The comb manu-
facture is simpler than the hard rub
ber. The teeth are stamped out wit
dies, either by hand or machinery, an
are then polished with cold water an
pumice stone. Combs are cut fror
sheets of amber" tortoise shell
and ivory celluloid. All three {
these compositions are carefully mad
and the limitations of the genuin
substance are so faithful as frequentl
to pass through the hands of expert
undetected.