Mar., 1914
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T H E J O U R i V A L O F I N D L ’ S T R I A L A N D ELVGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
ware line though kaolin deposits are abundant. [The rubber industry was discussed in Chem. Ztg., 35, 1303 ( I ~ I I ) . ] The iron industry is quite undeveloped. The ore is very pure, rich, and easily smelted but a suitable fuel is lacking. I t is reported that an English firm has a concession to build several blast furnaces. Coal for gasworks, railroads, etc., is imported chiefly from England and charcoal is made by the peasants for their own use. There is one modern charcoal kiln near Rio de Janiero and another near Sao Paulo. Rich manganese ores are abundant but a market is lacking, as is the case with other possible products. The government is beginning a survey of its mineral resources. Oil and coal of very poor quality occur in quantities in the state of Sao Paulo and elsewhere. Almost all the necessary minerals for a solidly founded series of chemical industries are to be found in Brazil: only the necessary capital and spirit of enterprise are lacking. Much in these lines is looked for from North America and England, from whence financiers and large companies have begun a systematic campaign for concessions. ~
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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS I N I913 Information collected from all available sources by the Prudential Insurance Company shows the ‘total number of persons killed in American industries in 1913to be about 23,000 in a total of 38,000,000 employed. The following table was made up from available information: OCCUPATIONS
Number employed
Agricultural pursuits.. . . . . . . . . . . 12,000,000 Building and construction.. . . . . . 1,500,000 Coal mining.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750,000 Draymen, teamsters, etc. . . . . . . . 686,000 Electricians (light and power). , . , 68,000 Fisheries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150,000 Lumber industry.. . . . . . . . . . . . 531,000 Manufacturing (general). . . . . . . . 7,277,000 Metal mining., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170,000 Navigation. . . ...... 150,000 U. S. S a v y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62,000 Quarrying. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150,000 Railroad employees. . . . . . . . 1,750,000 U. S. Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73,000 Street railway employees. . . . . . . . 320,000 Telephone and telegraph (including linemen). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245,000 Watchmen, policemen, firemen. , 200,000 All other occupied males. . . . . . . . 4,678,000 Total males. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,760,000 All occupied females. , . , . , . . , , , , 7,200,000 Grand total.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,960,000
Fatal accidents 4,200 1,875 2,625 686 153 450 797 1,819 680 450 115 255 4,200 109 320 123 150 3.508
--
22,515 540
23,055
The probable number of serious injuries, causing more or less prolonged absence from work, was estimated a t 300,000. PROCESSES FOR FIREPROOFING WOOD Consul-General John L. Griffiths, London, England, states that considerable attention has been given in the United Kingdom to the best method for fireproofing wood, especially in connection with railroad construction. The following process, it is claimed, has received the favorable consideration of the British Admiralty: The wood is placed in large iron cylinders having hermetically sealed doors. The wood is steamed, and under vacuum the air and moisture in the pores of the wood are removed and the sap vaporized. The fireproofing solution is then run into the cylinders, and under pressure forced throughout the pores and fibers. Subsequently the water in the solution is evaporated in drying kilns, and the chemicals, in minute crystal form, are left embedded in the wood. When heat is applied, these crystals expand to many times their original size, forming a glassy coating to the fibers of the wood which excludes the oxygen in the air. I n time the heat causes the crys-
26 I
tals to collapse, but further crystals in the wood immediately expand, and the same process of resistance against fire continues. The chemicals used are antiseptic and preservative, consisting chiefly of phosphate of ammonia. As a result of the treatment, the life of the wood is also lengthened, for the cause of decay (sap water) is eliminated. This process is claimed to be especially satisfactory, inasmuch as the material treated is not saturated with a solution of salt, nor are such Chemicals used as tungstate of soda, sulfate of ammonia, sulfate of alumina, alum, etc., which invariably cause discoloration of the wood, corrosion of metals, destruction of fibers, and prevent satisfactory painting or polishing. After, this treatment, the wood call be worked, nailed, glued, painted, polished, etc., as though it had not been subjected t o any special process. All kinds of timber can be treated, including oak, teak, deal, pine, mahogany, walnut, beech, birch, ash, maple, whitewood, pitch, pine, larch, etc. The first railway company to take advantage of this process was the Underground Electric Railways of London, and a t the present time it is stated that the woodwork of all the cars of the company has been subjected to the treatment. It is also stated t h a t after exhaustive tests the British Admiralty has adopted the process, that the company is engaged in fireproofing large quantities of wood for 7 0 motor boats for the British warships Indomitable and Monarch, and that the two new superdreadnoughts now building, the Queen Elizabeth and Warspite, are to have their woodwork fireproofed by this process. The company using the process states t h a t as a result of the recent disaster a t Aisgill, the Midland Railway (on whose system the accident occurred) has requested the fireproofing company to submit a tender for erecting a fireproofing plant a t the company’s works in Derby, and that, pending the erection of such a plant, the company has sent 144,000 feet of timber to be treated by the fireproofing company. The cost of rendering wood fireproof by this process is a uniform one of 73 cents per cubic foot, for all woods excepting oak and teak, for which the charge is 85 cents per cubic foot. There is another fireproofing process, known as the “Snowdon process,” the chief feature of which is a chemical mixture, but the formula is not disclosed. By the use of this mixture it is claimed t h a t woodwork and all manner of fabrics may be rendered non-inflammable and insect proof. I n the case of w-ood already in position, it may be painted or washed with three or more coats according to density, when the solution penetrates to a depth of about one-eighth of a n inch. When treated prior to construction, the wood is usually soaked in the solution in tanks, but if it is desired t o render the wood fireproof throughout, pressure cylinders are used t o force the liquid into every fiber. GERMAN UTILIZATION OF IRON-FURNACE SLAG Consul-General A. M. Thackara reports, from Berlin, t h a t the utilization of iron-furnace slag is well developed in Germany, and the problem of its further utilization is receiving the attention of the Prussian Government and the Association of German Iron Founders. I n solid form it serves for highway and railway construction and as a body material for concrete; granulated, i t is used for making building blocks, bricks, tiles, etc., and for the manufacture of cement. Slag is also employed to a lesser extent as a raw materia! in glass-making and in the production of artificial marble and artificial pumice stone. Experiments have been made in the past with the use of slag paving blocks, but little or nothing seems to have come of them. The usual practice is to use slag in rubble form for road-making, the rozd being constructed after the system of macadam, the slag simply replacing the usual crushed stone. Its use ceases t o be economical as soon as any considerable transportation charges are involved.
