THE USES OF ALCOHOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3196, 16 June 1915, Page 66

THE USES OF ALCOHOL.

A RUSSIAN OFFER. ■ An official notification by the Russian Minister of Finance has been received in Sydney and Melbourne, which is well worth til o consideration of inventors, chemists, and technologists generally. The Russian Government is offering three prizes of £3250, £1625, and £541 13s 4d respectively for the invention of new denaturants, or for improvements in existing processes of denaturation of alcohol or spirit—that is, for the rendering of alcohol or spirit impossible as food. Three other prizes are offered, of £6500, £3250, and £IOB3 6s 8d for the invention of a new process of application of alcohol in the preparation of a product completely different from alcohol in its nature beyond serving in such production ; as, for instance, vinegar, ether, chloroform. Three more prizes, of £5416 13s 4d, £2116 13s 4d, and £541 13s 4d, are offered for the invention of a new process for the utilisation of alcohol in producing an article in which alcohol or its derivatives is a constituent, but cannot be recovered therefrom advantageously; as pharmaceutical preparations and perfumery. Also, three prizes, of £3250, £1625, and £541 13s 4d, are offered for the invention of a new process of utilising alcohol in an industry wherein alcohol or its derivative serves as an intermediary solvent, or acts as an extractive or precipitating agent; for example, as in the production of smokeless powder, or the manufacture of artificial silk. Two series of four prizes each, of £8125, £5416 13s 4d, £3250. and £2116 13s 4d, are to be given for (a) the invention of improvements in apparatus for utilising alcohol in internal combustion motors, and (b) for improvements in apparatus for utilising alcohol for heating; and a further four prizes, of £5416 13s 4d, £5250, £1525, and £541 13s 4d are offered for the invention of or improvement in apparatus for the utilisation of alcohol for lighting. The specifications of these inventions or improvements, with or without samples, models, etc., must be filed in Petrograd by January 1, 1916, and the awards will be made not later than the July following.