WEALTH FROM WASTE

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160737, 25 August 1920, Page 10

WEALTH FROM WASTE

MONEY-MAKING ODDS AND ENDS. There is romance in wasting—any ■wastrel will tell you that. Dut now comes ah efficiency philosopher, Henry J. Spooner, who affixes to the second half of a recent book of his (“Wealth Prom Waste”) the title of “Romance of Waste,” and proceeds to show romance in tho extremist opposite of wasting—in the conversion of waste products into useful commodities. Tho demonstration is effected by dint of quite a catalogue of wealth-from-wasta incidents. The following excerpts will convey the mood of tho romance: In maxing corks thore is a large amount of waste, amounting-to some 35 to 40 per cent. These refuse cuttings are utilised in the manufacture of linoleum, and form the larger part of its bulk. On a smaller scale the waste from cork-cutting is used for other purposes. It is considered the best material available for stuffing matti esses to be used at sea, as it is light and damp-proof, and forma a raft in case of accidents. It would appear that in establishments where a great many corks ore drawn they should bo worth storing for sale. In shaping granite paving stones as much as three-fourths of tho rock quarned is, in some rare cases at least, wasted. The waste is apparently in many cases r.ny partially utilised for road metal, and in small chips' for granolithic pavements, Tho wasted “wheef swarf,” or grit worn away in grinding cutlery wet, has a certain value. It is used in the formation of a cement for sealing tho cementation furnace boxes used in tho conversion of rough iron into steel. Ivory turnings, chips, and dust are utilised for the production of the beautiful black pigment known as ivory black, which is employed by copperplate printers in the preparation of their ink. When mixed with white lead the ivory black also makes a rich pearl grey pigment. The preparation of ivory black includes exposure to red heat for some hours in a crucible. The product is a fine velvety black stuff free from the reddish tinge which so often mars the quality of bone black. Blast furnace slag, the scoriae or refuse jjroxn tho blast furnace, which was formerly waste material, with a bulk of three times that of tho iron from which it had been separated, is now used in several ways, such as for road material, garden rollers, slabs for jravements, etc. An incombustible, nonconducting fibrous material is also prepared by blowing a jet of steam through a thin stream of viscous molten slag. This stream is so manipulated that it causes tho molten slag to take the form of downy silictae of cotton, with delicate fibres resembling spun glass. This material is used as a covering for boilers, steam pipes, etc. Other kinds of slag on the sites of ancient smelting works have in modern times been again put through the furnace to extract metals from thorn with profitable results. For a great many years the graphite used in making lead pencils was obtained almost exclusively from mines in Cumberland. When the best quality was "exhausted (early in the nineteenth century) tho manufacturers turned their attention to the utilisation of tho accumulations of waste from cuttings of tho, original masses, which they finely ground and mixed with varying proportions of clay. In this way they were able to produce pencils of 14 degrees of hardness and softness, making them superior to those formerly made from the entire graphite, which was never uniform in hardness and colour. Soapsuds contain a certain percentage of fats combined with .alkali as soap. Formerly in certain mills in which soap ia used this fat was allowed to run to waste, but it is now largely recovered, especially in woollen manufacturing .districts The suds from woollen mills contain a large quantity of fat derived from the wool itself. Wool as taken from sheepskins or sheared from live sheep is excessively greasy from dried perspiration. After the fat is recovered, the residue (called “sud-cake”) is used for manure making. Even the waste liquor is sometimes beneficially used for irrigating pastures. Formerly the liquors in which rage, wood pulp, and other paper materials had been boiled were, allowed to run into an adjacent stream, tending to pollute it, but now all such liquors ’are evaporated and treated for the recovery of tho caustic soda originally used. And a Fulner apparatus is used for tho recovery of the fibre. Horeshoe nails are made of superior soft iron, and after use arc utilised with other high-grade scrap iron in the manufacture of soft, malleable iron -for shot-gun barrels. In some machine shop operations, mixed iron and brass turnings, etc., fall into a tray in an oil mass. Years ago, after roughly draining the oil, this mass, containing valuable brass, wan clumped. The practice now is to first put-the oily cuttings into a centrifugal extractor until the last drop of oil is recovered. The cuttings are then passed through a magnetic separator, the brass travelling down, a ebute, while the iron ones are held by tho magnets. Tho condensing flues of great length, sometimes more than a mile, forming a part of some lead-smelting furnaces, are examples of appliances used to condenseTead fume or smoke, which was formerly allowed to escape. The fumes contain from 60 to 80 per cent, of sulphate of lead, and it is deposited on the surfaces of the flues. Some of the refuse from the old silver mines of Laurium was bought up by capitalists and put through a furnace with a profitable yield. Formerly over a large district in South Spain, where superous iron pyrites occur abundantly, the barbarous practice obtained of burning the pyrites in tho open air to get rid of the sulphur, resulting in an enormous amount of sulphur being sent into tho air in the form of sulphurous acid, and in the destruction of vineyards and other vegetation. By modern methods of . treatment it is claimed that some 90 per cent, of this sulphur is covered.was the sole source from which indigo was obtained. The dyers of ancient Thebes employed it for ornamenting tho garments of the liviug and also their burial clothes. But in 1866 von Baepeor began his researches which, by laying bare the innermost structure of the indigo molecule, disclosed a limitless field of artificial dysteuffs. The starting point in the most successful is naphthaline, at one time regarded as a waste and a nuisance. N For over 1000 years the indigo plant An inexcusable form, of household waste is the discarding of soap remnants Such scraps should be utilised. They may be tied up like a blue-bag, kept at the sink, and used in place of a cake of soap. Or they may be placed in an old jar, to be rendered to the form of a solid oak-) when a pound or more has been collected. The remnants should bo sliced into thin shavings, placed in the jar, and have poured over , them a cup of boiling water, < The

jar should then be set in a saucepan of boiling water, and its contents stirred until the soap is entirely dissolved and has about the thickness of golden syrup. It may then be poured into au old biscuit box, and when quite cold the sides of the box can bo bent back and the solid block of soap removed. Tin a should be cut into suitable pieces and kept in a draw to dry and harden slowly. Tobacco ash 1 is especially rich in potash, which is of value as a fertiliser. Save it for your, garden. Daylight saving, of course, has a largo place in this romance of waste. But our new authority in economy, Mr- Spooner, goes a step further, and conjures the vision of moonlight saving. On moonlight nights all lamps in public places that are controlled from central stations could with considerable economic advantage be lowered or cut off.