The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1925-04-23
ARTIFICIAL LEATHER
DISCUSSED IN RADIO
TALK OVER K F A E

Leather substitute known as ar
tificial leather, is modern chemical
product, a woven cotton fabric coated
with various chemical products de-
rived from cotton, producing nom
.absorbant and waterproof surface,
said Prof. Carl M. Brewster of the
chemistry department of the State
College of Washington in a recent
radio talk over X F A E.
With the improvement in the pro-
cess OF manufacture, uses of the ma
terial have extended till it has become
strong competitor for leather, and
we open our magazine to the unusual
sight of full page advertisement de-
Tending the virtues of genuine leather.
Recently large publishing house
announced that it had bound million
books in leather substitute. Large
amounts are used in the furniture
trade. There is hardly an automobile
on the market today which does not
use leather substitute in some form or
other, either for tops, curtains, seats,
tire cases, rear trunks, or even COM
plete body covering. There is large
demand for it from car builders, car
riage manufacturers, makers of
runks, gloves, coats, hats, caps, and
belts.
Extension of the use of leather
substitutes since thee war has been
one of the notable developments in
/ American business. In 1919 here
were II establishments making leather
substitutes valued at more than $780,
100000 a year. One company alone
turns out some 100000 yards each
month.
"The reason for this great develop
ment may be shown by number of
examples. When factories making
automobiles or furniture attain an out
put Of several thousand cars or sets
day, Il, g-s &C genuine leather
raises difficult problems. Leather
varies greatly in quality, must be sep
arately cut by experts, and is very ex-
pens.vc to handle because subject to
great waste Where small economies
per car or per chair are important,
leather substitute gives an advantage
because of the superiority over the
cheaper grades of leather in wearing
quality, waterproofness, and especially
because it is made in long rolls of uni
form width so that manufacturers can
reduce waste to minimum, and the
operations of cutting to pattern can
be greatly simplifed.
Most concerns making leather sub
stitute are constantly searching for
new uses and developing new markets.
Wonderful tests have been made to de-
termine its suitability for specific pur-
poses. In the bookbindnig trade, for
instance, where it has replaced leather
for many editions, it is used because
it is completely immune to dampness,
mold no the attack of insects. A
recent test was conducted in the Phil
ippines where the great enemies Of
books are the insects. In order to find
out Just what effect these destroyers
would have on various coverings, a
special book was made up with leather,
Heather substitute, and cloth bindings.
J, The book was then put away for a
; time. When it was again examined
it was found that the insects had COM
pletely destroyed all the bindings ex-
Icept that made of leather substitute.
This was because there was nothing
in the composition of the leather sub
! stitute on which insects can feed.
"A remarkable market for leather
substitute has been found in mine ven
tilation. In some of the lower tunnels
: of mines, the miners efficiency has
been declared by engineers to depend
I upon the amount of fresh air received
, There is now in use in the copper
mines, tubing Of large diameter made
of artificial leather, conveying air to
the side chambers where the miners
are at work. Because of the nature
Of the material it stands up under this
dampness, moisture and fungus-pro
ducing atmosphere better than most
other substances.
"The largest consumption is by the
automobile industry, for the curtains
tops, cushions and Innings of cars. But
there are other industries closely re
lated to that Of leather substitute
manufacture, as one sees when looking
into the manufacturing process. Wher
cotton is treated with mixture o.
sulfuric and nitric acids for shorf
time, and the excess Of acid quickly