Title: AUTOMOBILE FINISHING-VARNISH
text: Annual Meeting and Detroit Section Paper - As the success or failure of the finish of an automobile depends largely on the finishing-varnish, a plea is made for more scientific analyses of the problems of automobile finishing and more care in selecting and applying a suitable varnish. The qualities to be desired in a finishing-varnish are divided into two classes: the shop qualities and the service qualities. The shop qualities include color, body or viscosity, working, flowing, setting, hardening, fullness and the safety of working. The service qualities, or those that enable the varnish to withstand the various conditions of use, include resistance to break-down under the chemical action of the actinic rays of sunlight, to the destructive action of moisture and the alkalis in mud and soap, to expansion and contraction, to vibration and to abrasion. The three most important factors in estimating the service-giving qualities of varnish are said to be elasticity, moisture-resistance and the film factor. Each of the various terms mentioned is carefully defined, analyzed and explained. Among the constants that must be determined, either for checking uniformity or for use as bases of tests, are the non-volatile content, which is the starting-point in the test for elasticity and in computing the film factor, or thickness of the dried film; the ash, the flash-point and the acid number. An empirical formula is derived by which the thickness of the dried film can be estimated with accuracy; and in a series of appendices the details are given concerning tests for the drying, the safety of working, non-volatile content, ash, flash-point and acid number; the Kauri reduction test; and tests for moisture and alkali resistance.