FIREPROOF SHIPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21922, 17 January 1946, Page 2

FIREPROOF SHIPS

NEW MATERIAL TESTED “A LAMINATED PLASTIC” A near approach to the fireproof ship has been made possible by new materials for cabin wall and ceiling panels, doors, internal partitions, stairways and other shipboard equipment, writes the shipping correspondent of the Times of London. A light but strong material, which does not support combustion, was developed during the war, and is now being mass-produced at New Hythe, Kent, in a factory which cost about £250,000. It has been successfully fitted in an aircraft-carrier and a number of merchant ships. The initial cost of the material is greater than that of the more orthodox equipment for ships, but its properties and durability would appear to offset that. What impressed me most was the material’s fire-resisting properties. I saw a specimen which had been immersed in benzine since September, 1942, set in a Bunsen flame. All that happened was that the benzine burned away and the material remained intact. A complete ship’s cabin built of this material wa s similarly tested and gave the same result. Cther characteristics of this plastic composition are that it is unaffected by water, normal heat changes, most solvents and oils. This new composition is described as a laminated plastic, and is in effect a series of small girders, made of specially impregnated paper joined by high pressure into a homogeneous unit.