FIRE-RESISTING CEMENT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18036, 13 March 1933, Page 10

FIRE-RESISTING CEMENT

QUALITIES OF METAL AND WOOD

MANCHESTER, Feb. 6.

A new form of cement combining the strength of metal, the pliability of wood and the fire-resisting properties of asbestos is the invention of an electrical engineer here. It is claimed that it will prove an effective substitute for wood and metal in numerous industries, such as housing, electrical engineering and shipbuilding. The substance is a binder or liquid cement in its first stages, it is stated. Under beat and pressure treatment the binder becomes infusible and as solid as stone. ’ it is then claimed to have a tensile strength of 13 tons per square inch and can be moulded in any shape or form. Having pliable properties like wood, it can be sawed, machined, tap ped, and drilled. The product, which will be made from British mineral compounds, is claimed •by its inventor to have an even greater resistance to fire than asbestos. The test reports testify that at 360 degrees centigrade no flame can he produced.

Three mills on the outskirts of Man Chester have been bought for conversion into factories for the production oi the new material.

Originally intended solely as an insulating material for high tension switchboard work, the product has undergone laboratory tests during the past 21 years by a large engineering firm.