II.—Prideaux’ process consists in submitting the leather to treatment with a solution of caoutchouc until it is thoroughly saturated with the liquid. The latter consists of 30 parts of caoutchouc in 500 parts of oil of turpentine. Complete impregnation of the leather requires several days, during which the solution must be frequently applied to the surface of the leather and rubbed in.

III.—Villon’s process consists in applying a soap solution to the leather, about as follows: The leather is first treated to a solution of 62 parts of soap, 124 parts of glue, and 2,000 parts of water. When it has become saturated with the solution, it is treated to rubbing with a mixture of 460 parts of common salt and 400 parts of alum, in sufficient water to dissolve the same. After this it is washed with tepid water and dried. This process is much the quickest. The application of the soap requires about 2 hours, and the subsequent treatment about as much more, or 4 or 5 hours in all.

Probably the best oilskins ever made are those prepared by combining Dr. Stenhouse’s process (patented in 1864) with the ordinary method, which consists in the main of painting over the fabric with two or more coats of boiled linseed oil, allowing each coat to dry before the next is applied. This, with a few variations in detail, is the whole method of making oilskins. Dr. Stenhouse’s waterproofing method is to impregnate the fabric with a mixture of hard paraffine and boiled oil in proportions varying according to circumstances from 95 per cent of paraffine and 5 of oil to 70 per cent of the former and 30 of the latter. The most usual percentages are 80 and 20. The mixture is made with the aid of heat, and is then cast into blocks for storage. It is applied to the cloth stretched on a hot plate by rubbing the fabric thoroughly all over with a block of the composition, which may be applied on one or both sides as may be wished. The saturation is then made complete, and excess of composition is removed by passing the cloth between hot rollers. When the cloth is quite cold the process is complete. The paraffine and the drying oil combine their waterproofing powers, and the paraffine prevents the oil from exerting any injurious action upon the material. Drying oil, partly on account of the metallic compounds in it, and partly on account of its absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, has a decided slow weakening effect upon textile fibers. Dr. Stenhouse points out that the inflammability of oilskins may be much lessened by the use of the ordinary fireproofing salts, such as tungstate of soda, or alum, either before or after the waterproofing process is carried out.

The following are some of the best recommended recipes for making oilskins:

I.—Dissolve 1 ounce of yellow soap in 1 ¹/₂ pints of boiling water. Then stir in 1 quart of boiled oil. When cold, add ¹/₄ pint of gold size.

II.—Take fine twilled calico. Soak it in bullock’s blood and dry it. Then give it 2 or 3 coats of boiled oil, mixed with a little litharge, or with an ounce of gold size to every pint of the oil.

III.—Make ordinary paint ready to be applied thin with a strong solution of soap.

IV.—Make 96 pounds of ocher to a thin paste with boiled oil, and then add 16 pounds of ordinary black paint mixed ready for use. Apply the first coat of this with soap, the subsequent coats without soap.

V.—Dissolve rosin in hot boiled oil till it begins to thicken.

VI.—Mix chalk or pipe clay in the finest powder, and in the purest state obtainable to a thin paste with boiled oil.

VII.—Melt together boiled oil, 1 pint; beeswax and rosin, each, 2 ounces.

VIII.—Dissolve soft soap in hot water and add solution of protosulphate of iron till no further precipitate is produced. Filter off, wash, and dry, and form the mass into a thin paste with boiled oil.

All these compositions are painted on with an ordinary painter’s brush. The fabric should be slightly stretched, both to avoid folds and to facilitate the penetration of the waterproofing mixture. To aid the penetration still further, the mixture should be applied hot. It is of the greatest importance that the fabric should not be damp when the composition is applied to it. It is best to have it warm as well as the composition. If more than one coat is applied, which is practically always the case, three being the usual number, it is essential that the last coat should be perfectly dry before the next is applied. Neglect of this precaution is the chief cause of stickiness, which frequently results in serious damage to the oilskins when they have to be unfolded. In fact, it is advisable to avoid folding an oilskin when it can be avoided. They should be hung up when not in use, whenever practicable, and be allowed plenty of room. It goes without saying that no attempt should be made to sell or use the oilskin, whether garment or tarpaulin, until the final coat of composition is perfectly dry and set. It is unadvisable to use artificial heat in the drying at any stage in the manufacture.

The treatment consists, first, in saturating the paper with glutinous material, preferably animal glue, and by preference the bath of glutinous material should be hot, to effect the more rapid absorption and more perfect permeation, impregnation, and deposit of the glutinous material within all the microscopic interstices throughout the body of the paper being treated. By preference a suitable tank is provided in which the glutinous material is deposited, and in which it may be kept heated to a constant temperature, the paper being passed through the tank and saturated during its passage. The material being treated should pass in a continuous sheet—that is, be fed from a roll and the finished product be wound in a roll after final treatment. This saves time and the patentee finds that the requisite permeation or incorporation of glutinous matter in the fiber will with some papers—for instance, lightly sized manila hemp—require but a few seconds. As the paper passes from the glutin tank the surplus of the glutinous matter is removed from the surface by mechanical means, as contradistinguished from simply allowing it to pass off by gravity, and in most instances it is preferred to pass the paper between suitable pressure rolls to remove such surplus. The strength and consistency of the glutinous bath may be varied, depending upon the material being treated and the uses for which such material is designed. It may, however, be stated that, in a majority of cases, a hot solution of about 1 part of animal glue to about 10 parts of water, by weight, gives the best results. After leaving the bath of glutinous material and having the surplus adhering to the surfaces removed, the paper before drying is passed into or through a solution of formaldehyde and water to “set” the glutinous material. The strength of this solution may also be variable, depending, as heretofore stated, upon the paper and uses for which it is designed. In the majority of cases, however, a solution of 1 part of formaldehyde (35 per cent solution) to 5 parts of water, by weight, gives good results, and the best result is attained if this bath is cold instead of hot, though any particular temperature is not essentially necessary. The effect of the formaldehyde solution upon the glutin-saturated paper is to precipitate the glutinous matter and render it insoluble.

As the material comes from the formaldehyde bath, the surplus adhering to the surfaces is removed by mechanical means, pressure rolls being probably most convenient. The paper is then dried in any convenient manner. The best result in drying is attained by the air-blast, i. e., projecting blasts of air against both surfaces of the paper. This drying removes all the watery constituents and leaves the paper in a toughened or greatly strengthened condition, but not in practical condition for commercial uses, as it is brittle, horny, and stiff, and has an objectionable odor and taste on account of the presence of the aldehydes, paraldehydes, formic acid, and other products, the result of oxidation. Hence it needs to be “tempered.” Now while the glutinous material is rendered insoluble—that is, it is so acted upon by formaldehyde and the chemical action which takes place while the united solutions are giving off their watery constituents that it will not fully dissolve—it is, however, in a condition to be acted on by moisture, as it will swell and absorb, or take up permanently by either chemical or mechanical action a percentage of water, and will also become improved in many respects, so that to temper and render the paper soft and pliable and adapt it for most commercial uses it is subjected to moisture, which penetrates the paper, causing a welling in all directions, filling the interstices perfectly and resulting in “hydration” throughout the entire cellular structure. Two actions, mechanical and chemical, appear to take place, the mechanical action being the temporary absorption of water analogous to the absorption of water by a dry sponge, the chemical action being the permanent union of water with the treated paper, analogous to the union of water and tapioca, causing swelling, or like the chemical combination of water with lime or cement. For this purpose it is preferred to pass the paper into a bath of hot water, saturated steam or equivalent heat-and-moisture medium, thus causing the fibers and the non-soluble glutinous material filling the interstices to expand in all directions and forcing {753} the glutinous material into all the microscopic pores or openings and into the masses of fiber, causing a commingling or thorough incorporation of the fibers and the glutinous compound. At the same time, as heretofore indicated, a change (hydration) takes place, whereby the hardened mass of fiber, glutinous material, and formaldehyde become tempered and softened and the strength imparted by the previous treatment increased. To heighten the tempering and softening effect, glycerine may, in some instances, be introduced in the tempering bath, and in most cases one two-hundredths in volume of glycerine gives the best results.

The paper may be dried in any convenient manner and is in condition for most commercial uses, it being greatly strengthened, more flexible, more impervious to moisture, acids, grease, or alkalies, and is suitable for the manufacture of binding-twine, carpets, and many novelties, for dry wrappings and lining packing cases, etc., but is liable to have a disagreeable taste and may carry traces of acids, rendering it impracticable for some uses—for instance, wrapping butter, meats, cheese, etc., after receiving the alkali treatment. The paper is also valuable as a packing for joints in steam, water, and other pipes or connections. For the purpose, therefore, of rendering the material absolutely free from all traces of acidity and all taste and odors and, in fact, to render it absolutely hygienic, it is passed through a bath of water and a volatile alkali (ammonium hydrate), the proportion by preference in a majority of cases being one-hundredth of ammonium hydrate to ninety-nine one-hundredths of water by volume. A small percentage of wood alcohol may be added. This bath is preferably cool, but a variation in its temperature will not interfere to a serious extent with the results. The effect of this bath followed by drying is to complete the chemical reaction and destroy all taste or odor, removing all traces of acids and rendering the paper hygienic in all respects. The material may be calendered or cut and used for any of the purposes desired. If the material is to be subjected to the volatile alkali bath, it is not necessary to dry it between the tempering and volatile alkali baths.

The paper made in accordance with the foregoing will, it is claimed, be found to be greatly strengthened, some materials being increased in strength from 100 to 700 per cent. It will be nonabsorbent to acids, greases, and alkalies, and substantially waterproof, and owing to its component integrate structure will be practically non-conductive to electricity, adapting it as a superior insulating material. It may with perfect safety be employed for wrapping butter, meats, spices, groceries, and all materials, whether unctuous or otherwise.

The term “hydration” means the subjecting of the material (after treatment with glutinous material and formaldehyde and drying) to moisture, whereby the action described takes place.

A sheet or web of paper can be treated by the process as rapidly as it is manufactured, as the time for exposure to the action of the glutinous material need not be longer than the time required for it to become saturated, this, of course, varying with different thicknesses and densities, and the length of time of exposure may be fixed without checking the speed by making the tank of such length that the requisite time will elapse while the sheet is passing through it and the guides so arranged as to maintain the sheet in position to be acted on by such solution the requisite length of time. Four seconds’ exposure to the action of formaldehyde is found sufficient in most cases.

II.—Saturate in a solution of zinc chloride.

WAX

Rosins are detected by cold alcohol, which dissolves all rosinous substances and exercises no action on the wax. The rosins having been extracted from the alcoholic solution by the evaporation of the alcohol, the various kinds may be distinguished by the odors disengaged by burning the mass several times on a plate of heated iron.

All earthy substances may be readily {754} separated from wax by means of oil of turpentine, which dissolves the wax, while the earthy matters form a residue.

Oil of turpentine also completely separates wax from starchy substances, which, like earthy matters, do not dissolve, but form a residue. A simpler method consists in heating the wax with boiling water; the gelatinous consistency assumed by the water, and the blue coloration in presence of iodine, indicate that the wax contains starchy substances. Adulteration by means of starch and fecula is quite frequent. These substances are sometimes added to the wax in a proportion of nearly 60 per cent. To separate either, the suspected product is treated hot with very dilute sulphuric acid (2 parts of acid per 100 parts of water). All amylaceous substances, converted into dextrin, remain dissolved in the liquid, while the wax, in cooling, forms a crust on the surface. It is taken off and weighed; the difference between its weight and that of the product analyzed will give the quantity of the amylaceous substances.

Flowers of sulphur are recognized readily from the odor of sulphurous acid during combustion on red-hot iron.

Tallow may be detected by the taste and odor. Pure wax has an aromatic, agreeable taste, while that mixed with tallow is repulsive both in taste and smell. Pure wax, worked between the fingers, grows soft, preserving a certain cohesion in all parts. It divides into lumps, which adhere to the fingers, if it is mixed with tallow. The adulteration may also be detected by the thick and nauseating fumes produced when it is burned on heated iron.

Stearic acid may be recognized by means of boiling alcohol, which dissolves it in nearly all proportions and causes it to deposit crystals on cooling, while it is without action on the wax. Blue litmus paper, immersed in alcohol solution, reddens on drying in air, and thus serves for detecting the presence of stearic acid.

Ocher is found by treating the wax with boiling water. A lemon-yellow deposit results, which, taken up with chlorhydric acid, yields with ammonia a lemon-yellow precipitate of ferric oxide.

The powder of burnt bones separates and forms a residue, when the wax is heated with oil of turpentine.

Waxes For Floors, Furniture, Etc.—

Melt the articles together over a gentle fire, and when completely melted and homogeneous, pour into a sizable earthenware vessel, and stir in, while still warm, 6 parts of the best French turpentine. Cool for 24 hours, by which time the mass has acquired the consistence of soft butter, and is ready for use. Its method of use is very simple. It is smeared, in small quantities, on woolen cloths, and with these is rubbed into the wood.

This is the best preparation, but one in which the beeswax is merely dissolved in the turpentine in such a way as to have the consistence of a not too thin oil color, will answer. The wood is treated with this, taking care that the surface is evenly covered with the mixture, and that it does not sink too deeply in the ornaments, corners, etc., of the woodwork. This is best achieved by taking care to scrape off from the cloths all excess of the wax.

If, in the course of 24 hours, the surface is hard, then with a stiff brush go over it, much after the way of polishing a boot. For the corners and angles smaller brushes are used; when necessary, stiff pencils may be employed. Finally, the whole is polished with plush, or velvet rags, in order not to injure the original polish. Give the article a good coat of linseed oil or a washing with petroleum before beginning work.

II.—Articles that are always exposed to the water, floors, doors, especially of oak, should, from time to time, be {755} saturated with oil or wax. A house door, plentifully decorated with wood carving, will not shrink or warp, even where the sun shines hottest on it, when it is frequently treated to saturation with wax and oil. Here a plain dosage with linseed oil is sufficient. Varnish, without the addition of turpentine, should never be used, or if used it should be followed by a coat of wax.

III.—A good floor wax is composed of 2 parts of wax and 3 parts of Venice turpentine, melted on the water bath, and the mixture applied while still hot, using a pencil, or brush, for the application, and when it has become solid and dry, diligently rubbed, or polished down with a woolen cloth, or with a floor brush, especially made for the purpose.

IV.—An emulsion of 5 parts of yellow wax, 2 parts of crude potassium carbonate, and 12 parts of water, boiled together until they assume a milky color and the solids are dissolved, used cold, makes an excellent composition for floors. Any desired color may be given this dressing by stirring in the powdered coloring matter. Use it exactly as described for the first mass.

Grafting Wax.—

Color yellow with turmeric.

Harness Wax.—

Dissolve the wax in the oil by aid of a low heat, on a water bath. Mix the remaining ingredients, which must be well powdered, and work up with a portion of the solution of wax. Finally, add the mixture to the solution, and mix thoroughly on the bath. When a homogeneous liquid is obtained, pour into earthen boxes.

II.—Summer Modeling Wax.—White wax, 20 parts; ordinary turpentine, 4 parts; sesame oil, 1 part; vermilion, 2 parts.

III.—Winter Modeling Wax.—White wax, 20 parts; ordinary turpentine, 6 parts; sesame oil, 2 parts; vermilion, 2 parts. Preparation same as for Formula I.

The oval and square sticks of sealing wax are cast in molds, with the above compound, in a state of fusion. The marks of the lines of junction of the mold box may be afterwards removed by holding the sticks over a clear fire, or passing them over a blue gas flame. Marbled sealing wax is made by mixing {756} two, three, or more colored kinds together while they are in a semi-fluid state. From the viscidity of the several portions their incorporation is left incomplete, so as to produce the appearance of marbling. Gold sealing wax is made simply by adding gold chrome instead of vermilion into the melted rosins. Wax may be scented by introducing a little essential oil, essence of musk, or other perfume. If 1 part of balsam of Peru be melted along with 99 parts of the sealing-wax composition, an agreeable fragrance will be exhaled in the act of sealing with it. Either lampblack or ivory black serves for the coloring matter of black wax. Sealing wax is often adulterated with rosin, in which case it runs into thin drops at the flame of a candle.

The following mistakes are sometimes made in the manufacture of sealing wax:

I.—Use of filling agents which are too coarsely ground.

II.—Excessive use of filling agents.

III.—Insufficient binding of the pigments and fillings with a suitable adhesive agent, which causes these bodies to absorb the adhesive power of the gums.

IV.—Excessive heating of the mass, caused by improper melting or faulty admixture of the gummy bodies. Turpentine and rosin must be heated before entering the shellac. If this rule is inverted, as is often the case, the shellac sticks to the bottom and burns partly.

Great care must be taken to mix the coloring matter to a paste with spirit or oil of turpentine before adding to the other ingredients. Unless this is done the wax will not be of a regular tint.

WAX FOR BOTTLES: See Photography.

WAX, BURNING, TRICK: See Pyrotechnics.

WAXES, DECOMPOSITION OF: See Oil.

WAX FOR IRONING: See Laundry Preparations.

WAX FOR LINOLEUM: See Linoleum.

WEATHER FORECASTERS

(See also Hygrometers and Hygroscopes.)

I.—It is known that a leaf of blotting paper or a strip of fabric made to change color according to the hygrometric state of the atmosphere has been employed for weather indications in place of a barometer. The following compound is recommended for this purpose: One part of cobalt chloride, 75 parts of nickel oxide, 20 parts of gelatin, and 200 parts of water. A strip of calico, soaked in this solution, will appear green in fine weather, but when moisture intervenes the color disappears. {757}

III.—This is a method of making old-fashioned weather glasses containing a liquid that clouds or solidifies under certain atmospheric conditions:

Dissolve the camphor in the alcohol and the salts in the water and mix the solutions together. Pour in test tubes, cover with wax after corking and make a hole through the cork with a red-hot needle, or draw out the tube until only a pin hole remains. When the camphor, etc., appear soft and powdery, and almost filling the tube, rain with south or southwest winds may be expected; when crystalline, north, northeast, or northwest winds, with fine weather, may be expected; when a portion crystallizes on one side of the tube, wind may be expected from that direction. Fine weather: The substance remains entirely at bottom of tube and the liquid perfectly clear. Coming rain: Substance will rise gradually, liquid will be very clear, with a small star in motion. A coming storm or very high wind: Substance partly at top of tube, and of a leaflike form, liquid very heavy and in a fermenting state. These effects are noticeable 24 hours before the change sets in. In winter: Generally the substance lies higher in the tube. Snow or white frost: Substance very white and small stars in motion. Summer weather: The substance will lie quite low. The substance will lie closer to the tube on the opposite side to the quarter from which the storm is coming. The instrument is nothing more than a scientific toy.

WEATHERPROOFING: See Paints.

WEED KILLERS: See Disinfectants.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

International Atomic Weights.

The International Committee on Atomic Weights have presented this table as corrected:

United States Weights And Measures