Evening star., 1950-04-21
Strong Leother-Rubber
Developed by Bureau
Wearing Qualities Are Better
Even With Low-Grode Hides
ey Thomos Z. Henry

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A combination leather-rubber has been
developed by United States Bureau Of
Standards physicists,
It has much better wearing qualities
than ordinary sole leather. II makes
such leather almost waterproof. and
ii makes possible use Of sub-standard
leather which now Is rejected by shoe
manufacturers.
In the method developed by Bureau
OF Standards scientists the naturally
porous leather is impregnated with q
natural rubber solution which then Is
vulcanised. Appearance and other prop
critics Of the leather are little changed
in the process.
Started M War Project
The work started as wartime prof.
ect for the Army Quartermaster Corps
TO improve the wearing quality of army
shoes and increase the amounts Of leather
available for the civilian population.
Tanned hides were impreanated with
various synthetic resins. but with in
different success.
Now experiments are in progress in
which leather Is being impregnated with
solutions of the various synthetic ruhbers
and similar materials.
The leather-rubber has been subjected
to extremely severe tests In the water
proofness test the fiexing of a sole in
walking on a wet surface Is simulated
by a specially designed machine which
continuously bends leather specimens
around a wet sponge. The time. or the
number Of bending cycles required for
water to penetrate a specimen Is taken
as q measure Of waterproofneSS. The
tests showed that this Is about twice
as great as in untreated leather.
Wearing tests showed the new product
Is from so to 100 per cent more durable
than ordinary leather.
The product was developed In the
Bureaus leather laboratory by Drs. Rene
Oshler. Timothy J. Kildun and sverrs
Dahl
Writing Is complex process involv-
ing six parts Of the brain.
1t Is a late evolutionary acquisition. an
extension Of the purely human faculty
Of speech. and often is an early function
to become disordered In general illness
Of the BRAIN
There Is constellation Of higher
speech centers grouped in the side of the
brain just in front of and above the
ear. but in addition there is a specific
writing center In the frontal lobe All
these are intricately connected. with all
sorts of possibilities of the wires getting
crossed.
Brain Map Constructed.
This Is stressed In a new brain map
being constructed at Georgetown Uni
versity School of Medicines Brain Insti-
tute. Sometimes ability to write is lost
altogether while a patient retains COM
plete ability to read. Sometimes only
the reading faculty Is lost. A victim
can write as we'll as ever but Is unable
to read what he has written.
Other curious conditions result from
LESSONS in the same brain area One of
these Is agrammatism, of which several
cases recently have been reported A
victim apparently loses the ability either
to speak or write dramatically. He 10
likely to speak OF himself in the second.
rather than the first. person. Another
is acalculia, the loss OF ability to use
mathematical symbols. 1t often is part
Of complex syndrome which includes
loss OF ability to write. inability to dis
criminate between right and left or to
pick out individual fingers.
Still another disability which some
times enters the same complex is amusia.
or complete loss OF musical functions.
One may completely and suddenly lose
ability to sing or play. Others may
suffer complete loss of ability to appre-
ciate music when heard. The new brain
map locates this in lesion Of q specific
music center at the tip Of the temporal
lobe Of the brain.