CHEMICAL ANTIDOTE.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18878, 23 February 1933, Page 4

CHEMICAL ANTIDOTE.

BTOPS FREEZING. A remarkable discovery of the highest importance to all outdoor winter pastimes, and also tp cities after heavy falls of snow, has been made by Mr J. Halbert, a chemist, of Whitley Bay, Northumberland. He has produced a chemical which will not only prevent the ground front freezing, but will also take the frost out- of it as well as cause snow to ■melt in a few minutes. He claims, in fact, that he can clear a thoroughfare of snow in a quarter of an hour, and that in the event of subsequent frost it will not freeze within three days. A Magical Fluid. ir Kilfrost" is the name which Mr Halbert has given to his magical fluid, and it has been put 'to an exhaustive test by an ice-manufacturing company In London, says an English newspaper. Two pieces of turf two inches thick were put In an Ice chamber registering 36 degrees of frost. One was In its natural state, and the other was treated with “Kilfrost." At the end of 24 hours the untreated piece of turf was as hard as marble, whereas the piece which had been sprinkled with the chemical was as soft as when it was dug from the ground. The turf which had been frozen was then treated with the chemical and exposed to 22 degrees of frost; in three hours It was back in its normal state. The second test was of great significance, for it proved that a football ground or racecourse which had been frozen could be thawed in a few hours. A block of ice In a bottle with the temperature 27 degrees became liquid in two hours, and a bucket of snow in the same temperature melted in a quarter of an hour. Mr Halbert stated the cost of thawing a full-sized football ground would not exceed £25. The work could be started on the morning of a match, and the turf would not freeze again for at least seven days. Mr Halbert was a student of mining engineering at Armstrong College, Newcastle. 'He started to experiment with a view of taking frost out of the ground three years ago after having noticed how the erosion of rocks on the Northumberland coast was hastened by the action of frost.

A Word for His Wife. I could never have carried out my experiments and succeeded without the encouragement and wonderful ■help of my wife," Mr Halbert said. “On one occasion It was necessary to watch the action going on In 80 test tubes at the same time. Something I wanted to find out would take place in one of them, but I did not know which one. The experiment had to go on for 80 hours, and unless it were noted Instantly, the experiment would fail. “I was worn out and had to go to bed, but my wife, with wonderful courage and faith in my work, kept watch. What we expected occurred in the 73rd test tube. Just before this important experiment our boy, aged l i, bad been killed in a sireet accident, but despite the grief which this caused us, my wife helped me in all my work.”