The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-13

| @AA0AA- oSAC \4A04tOdA d1lo IU WdO q considerable problem to produce this gas absorbing material in suffi- cient quantities. Today this activ- ated carbon can be made from al- most anything, including coal or 1 Sawdust, and there is no shortage.
 When the war is over the plants making this activated carbon may be kept right on going, say the chemists. in new peacetime in- I dustry. The thought is not to pro- vide every cook with gas mask to protect her from the fumes of her own saurekraut, kidney stew or fried onions, but it's along that line.
 Since this activated charcoal will absorb gas, chemists say it is en- tirely possible to make handy lit- tie kitchen dingus that will absorb kitchen odors, make a musty cellar smell as sweet and clean as a mountain top, or even be able to kill those fatal post-party .nightclub fumes connected of face powder, stale perfume, la conga sweat, cigar smoke. cigaret butts and spilled Bourbon.
 Yea and moreover, the chemists say this activated carbon stuff will even take the stink out of a gymna- Sium locker room than which there is nothing huskier this side of a skunk. BOON FOR GROWERS
 New producing units de- signed to throw smoke screens over war plants or whole cities to cam oufiage them and spoil the aim of enemy bomber pilots may find a practical application in peacetine 1 as frost protectors for orange groves, early vegetable patches and the like.
 The old method of beating sud den freeze was to light smudge fires and rouse every man, woman and child in the countryside to keep the smudge pots going all night long. Orange growers even used to burn ol rubber tires because they pro- duced a heavy black smoke that protected the trees like a blanket.
 These new smoke producing units, however, will make the job of pro- tecting an orchard. an orange grove or truck farm as simple as cig- aret lighter. A small battery of machines will smoke up a square mile or more, and, being practically automatic, only few men would be required to keep the fires going all night.
 A large part of the poison gas manufactured is chlorine or chlor- inc compounds. Productive capacity for chlorine manufacture has been stepped up tremend douSly, and new processes have been developed for its more economical manufacture. Here's another industry that won't be just war baby. Manufacturing chemists are looking ahead to a big boom in the chlorine bleaching bus mess, and in further purif1cation of water supplies. whether you drink it CT swim in it. Brand new cleaning agents that will revolutionize the dry cleaning business are to be found in the chlorinated hydro car bons which also have a role some place in the complicated chemistry of synthetic rubber, and of course that may be the biggest of the war born industries.
 ] LIGHTER,
 STRONGER METALS
 Thermite, CT iron oxide, used in some of the incendiary bombs, has already found wide use in manu- featuring as welding agent, so there's nothing new in that. But in magnesium, the element used in other incendiary bombs, there is whole new light metal world wait ing to be born. U. s. production of magnesium has scared by the thou sand per cent since the start of the war, and the price has been drop ping accordingly.
 Magnesium being lighter than aluminium, its uses in manufacture are almost without limit. Alloyed with other metals, it has the strength of steel, with much less volume. Your new postwar auto- 1 mobile may a lot of magnesium in it and will consequently be lighter and much cheaper to operate.
 In these respects, it's a real chemical war, even if chemica! wea- pons are never used.