The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-04-04
New Roofs From Old Rags
Fathers Shirts and Mothers Discard
ed Dresses, Transformed Into Dur
able Fire-Desistant Shingles, Now
Cover Most Suburban Homes.

When mother, with characteristic
impatience at house cleaning time,
drags forth from the clothes closet
fathers long disused or, perhaps, re-
emily discarded fishing togs, or gives
the contents of the garret TO the rag
man, she little realizes perhaps how
much she is contributing in the effort
to overcome the housing shortage.
Old rags may be poor shelter for
the human body but American inge-
uuity has made of them an exceed
ingly artistic, fire resistant and ser
vicraLlc shelter for the human habitl-
tion.
From rags to roof is far cry. Bat
nevertheless old rags are now covering
more American houses in the form of
roll roofings and prepared shingles
than all other types of roofing com-
bined. Two-thirds of all roofing r.
uuircments in the United States are
now supplied from asphalt materials
known as prepared roofing, the
product of novel and typically Amer
lean industry that has been develop ID
within the past few years.
The thousands Of tons of rags cen
.umcd daily by this industry arc q b.
tanned through dealers in all pats
Of the country and, upon their arrival
ut the factory are sorted and reduced
to a pulp, similar to that used in the
manufacture of paper. This pulp is
then transformed into a fabric OF
felt, of long fibre and great durabil,
ity. Hot asphalt is forced throu II
every pore and fibre of the fabri,
and the combination is then coated
above and below with asphalt so as
to make it proof against decay and
leakage. Because asphalt is a sub
stance that does not dry out, the roll
roofings or the shingles which are cut
from this fabric do not crack or split
They are resident and pliable and d,
not break from their moorings. A.
they contain no materials that fire, z,
or rust they are also proof against
frost. The roll roofings or shingles
are covered with a crushed slate OF
rock surface in attractive colors which
shields them from wear and further
preserves the fabric against the raw
ages of the weather. During manu-.
facture the crushed slate or rock sur
face is imbedded in the asphalt a.
firmly as pieces of marble are imbcd.
,ed in Il mosaic floor. The singles are
made i'm different sizes and in thre,
colorS red, green and blue black. b.
using appropriate colors or different
combinations of colors it is possible
for the home builder to get not only
Il fire safe and a Serviceable roof bu
one that can be made very artistic alt
that will blend nicely with the sur
rounding landscape.
While asphalt may be new as roo
covering it is known to have been uset
for many centuries as building ma
terial, preservative against decay ant
watcr-proofng substance. In fact, j.
is the oldest waterproof adhesiv,
known to man. When the children of
Israel were suffering under the bond
age Of Egypt about 1900 B. c., Pha
roah's daughter found the infant
Moses concealed among the bulrushe
n Il basket made of papyrus grass an,
daubed with asphalt. Noah's ark.
boat that was 500 feet long and thai
was made of gopher wood, was calke,
with asphalt before Noah filled it will
his animals and rode out the flo d
The ancient Egyptians mummifc'
heir dead by wrapping the bodies il
cloth and then coating the cloth wit
aSphaltic pitch. The sacred cham
bcrs, or tombs, of the dead Egyptia,
kings, as well as all the crevices l.
Che pyramids were sealed against thr
centuries by means of asphalt. Tn.
bones of mastOdon, sabre tooth tige
and other prehistoric mammals re
Gently have been found perfectly pc
served in the asphalt beds Of Souther.
California.
When the prehistoric hunter made
4 tent of boat-skins, sewed with
thongs, or built goat-skin boat, h,
waterproofed the seams by coatin~
them with asphaltic bitumen. His
tory recalls that the Babylonians
crossed the Euphrates river on raft
made of inflated goat skins, water
proofed with bitumen just as the
Kurds are doing today. The anc:en
Sumarans. who inhabited the Euphra
tcs Valley about 5000 B. c., used as
phalt as cement or binder for at.
taching small ornaments to sculp
lures, carvings or pottery. AS a MOI
tar for brick, asphalt was used in tn ,
construction of the Tower of Babel
II was Nabopolassar. King of Rahv