The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-02

The use of ammonia in hotel.
restaurants, ice plants, and the H.
for refrigerating purposes has h.
come extensive. Ammonia Gas !.
used in industry under high Drss
sure, and when leak occurred II NJ.
formerly impossible for ANYONE :
enter the room and shut Of ~.
valves. The chemical warfs-s
service discovered that silica 81
used in the canister OF a. gas rs sJ.'
was adequate protection agains,
ammonia gas. This has proven
great boon to industry. and MAJ
an ammonia leak an easily ~
trolled and minor event.
The research work of thiE ss-r
ice has developed tremendonsl,
the knowledge about the DroSnc
ton and uses of high grade che.
coal. Relatively little had ba@.
known about it. One of the ussa
of this high grade charcoal is in N
tanning gasoline from natural %,
! Experiments are now under -
with the idea of producing char.
coal direct from coal, something =,
immense industrial importanss
which has never yet been dona
In cooperation with the dens,,
ment of agriculture, chemical AZ.
periments are being conducted Il,
the development of new means !,
destroying animal and bird ness,
in this country. Tentative project,
have been outlined for kilHns
gophers, ground squirrels. blarF'
birds, and other pests which do mil.
lions of dollars of damage to cron,
every year. Chlorine gas, arn
used by the Germans at YUrsa"
has been found efficacious in er.
terminating gophers.
Cooperative projects are upS.,
way to determine what chemia
agents are useful for extermipat
ing insect pests and to hit ma,
the best means for employing then
Several of the most important N,
gases have given great promise Of
usefulness in this direction Parti,l
success has been obtained in 6pS.
ing chemical means of fighting fra
cotton boil weevil. Experimants
with gas bombs to control forest
fires in their initial stages were
tried, and the information gained
has been of benefit to the forest
service.
Fighting Potato Bugs.
One use to which chemicals are
being put is in the eradication Of
the blister beetle, commonly called
the potato bug. These insects make
their appearance suddenly, and
reliable insecticide is necessary N
order to control them. There are
and have been insecticides on the
market for years, but the chemical
warfare service has experimental
along this line with the idea of Oh
tanning an even more reliable means
of combating this pest and che
which could be sold at a lower
price than usually obtains. It is
officially stated that valuable re-
suits have been obtained TO date
from the actual test of these
chemicals on plants"
For the bureau OF standards, the
chemical warfare service is CO
operating to aid in determining the
faow of gas from natural gas fields
through the medium OF great
meters. The apparatus OF the
chemical warfare service will be
used for this purpose.
Chemical means are being used
or experimental with to destroy
locusts in the Philippine Islands,
rats in the sugar cane fields OF
Hawaii, in the matter of spraying
fruit trees from airplanes, and in
the improvement of the oxygen
breathing apparatus in use in
mines the world over. One diff
Guilty with this apparatus has been
to find something impervious TO
gasoline vapors, and it is believed
that this difficulty soon will be
overcome through the perfection Of
a chemically treated cloth.
Another important development
coming out of the necessity OF de-
vising clothing and materials in
pervious to mustgTd gas, has been
to obtain much material Of value
in determining methods OF water
proofing cloth and leather.
This does not pretend to be a
survey of all Of the commercial
and industrial uses TO which war
chemicals are being put. It is
merely an outline, necessarily in
complete.