The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-10-13
MELTED WOOD.
4 New Material, With Promise Of Great
Everyday Usefulness.

quay OoSi uAHrSes
II is now possible to melt wood. BY
heating it in vacuum, producing q
hard, homogeneous substance that ap.
parently has an industrial future before
u. The history and present status Of
tle process are given by Francis Marie
IN la Nature. To melt wood appears
at first sight to be an impossibility,y
he remarks, but It is, in fact. possible
and practicable. Melted wood has been
hitherto only laboratory curiosity, but
Il may we'll be that industry shall pre-
sently discover practical applications
Of the greatest interest He continues:
Although wood is eminentIy inflam-
mable, it melts at relatively low tenn
perature, but in very precise conditions,
and only when II IS absolutely removed
from contact with oxygen, 50 that its
combustion Is impossible This may BE-
understood when we remember what IFS
composition IS. When It's Immediately
soluable constituents have been remov
ed, by means Of alcohol. for instance. Il
gives on analysis organic acids, water,
oily essences, silicatess sulphates. phos-
pilates, chlorides, and hydrocarbonates
81 lime, potash, soda and magnesia, car
homie acid, carhonicated sydrogen, etc.
that Is to say, solely bodies susceptible
OF being evaporated or dissolved after
having co-operated BY chemical affinity
IN the formation Of determinate sub
stances
Starting from these data. Messrs.
Bizouard and Lenoir. the former an
electric engineer. the second printer.
studded ii 1891 the problem IL THE fiji
sion Of wood, and after year OF in
vcstigation succeeded in producing
sample Of melted wood which, although
obtained without special apparatus, still
had remarkable peeuliarities The de-
tails Of the process are not exactly
knowns they operated in a closed vessel
at relatively low temperature this IS
about oil that we can gather from the
technical journals Of the period
eBut their work has been taken up by
others, and now there is a full operative
teehnie that enables us easily to obtain
excellent results A metal receiver.
SORT Of boiler having a double bottom
through which superheated steam pass
"a. IL filed with bits 81 wood II IA
closed by lid similar To that used IN
auto-clayes. and provided with tube
and stopcock communicating with an
apparatus for exhausting the air.
When the wood thus kept ID > vacuum
Is heated above 2sf degree r the water
and other volatile substances are given
of FIRST and are drawn off bv means ~
the exhausting apparatus. after which
the heating Il continued for about three
hours. There then take place com
pick series of reactions and phenomena
analogous to those that accompany the
distilIation Of wood in a closed vessel,
and in this way all tie so-calied pyro-
renous products are separated these IN
turn are drawn off condensed, and sep
arated 20 that they may BE ptiligel
lr0nmercally. There then remain ID the
receptacle only the hhrous skeleton of
the wood and the mineral salts. which
taken together, constitute fuslble
mass This IS allowed to cool slowly,
1 ont Of contact with the air. and then
piaced ID q second boiler which. after
| tile air has been exhausted, is filed with
nitrogen under d pressure Of Is 70 2
lstmospheres The whole is
| heated to 500 degrees + for two hours,
and at the end Of this time the wood Is
melted into d homogeneous. hard mass"
The melting process may also be per
formed, We are told, without drawing
oil the. distllation products, resulting
lii about two hours, In the formation 81
solid amophous mass Of fused wood.
Melted wood, the writer goes on to say
has an lndoubted Industrial future, Az
it has fine grain. takes a high polish,
and ii nard and resistant.
1t tanes printing ink readily and may
be cleaned with potash, soda, or turpen-
tine
II may also be easily cast and nodded
into all sorts Of shapes, and by adding
preservatives to It during the melting
process it may be rendeder practically
indestructibe Translation in Literary
Digest.