KAMPTULICON 13 



K 



KABOOK. A name for a clay-ironstone in Ceylon. Simmonds. 



XAntrZTE. A hydrous sulphate of potash and magnesia, occurring in the great 

 saline deposits overlying the rock-salt at Stassfurt, in Prussian Saxony. It has 

 become an important commercial source of sulphate of potash. 



KAXi. A mining term. ' Wild iron ; a coarse, false kind of iron.' Borlase. In 

 St. Just, in Cornwall, a callan lode is a lode containing much iron. 



XAIjEIDOPHON". An instrument devised by Professor Wheatstone. An elastic 

 thin bar is fixed by one of its extremities, and at its free end it carries a silvered or 

 polished ball ; a ray of light is reflected from this ball, and when the thin plate is put 

 in vibration, the fine point of light describes various curves, corresponding with the 

 musical notes produced by the vibrations. 



KALEIDOSCOPE. A wcll-kuown instrument invented by Sir David Brewster. 

 It has been much employed in arts of design. The leading conditions are that the 

 angle at which the reflectors are placed is a submultiple of 360, that the only posi- 

 tions in which a body can be placed to form perfectly symmetrical images are between 

 the ends of the mirrors, or in contact with the ends, and the eye must be as near as 

 possible to the angular point. 



KALI. The Arabs gave this name to an annual plant which grows near the 

 sea-shore, now known under the name of Salsola soda, and from whose ashes they 

 extracted a substance, which they called alkali, for making soap. The term Kali is 

 used by German chemists to denote caustic potash, and Kalium, its metallic basis, 

 instead of our potash and potassium. 



K AIiIiriTE. Dana's name for native potash-alum. See ALUM. 



XAMAXiA, or KAMILA DYE. An Indian yellow dye for silks, obtained 

 from the Bottlera tinctoria, Kxb. The .red powder which covers the fruit is mixed 

 with alum or with carbonate of soda, and yields an orange dye. Kamala is also 

 employed medicinally in the East. 



XAiyiPTTJIiICON. This article was first made in the year 1843, but, like most 

 new productions, it remained for some time imappreciated. At length it was used 

 by Sir Charles Barry for the corridors of the Houses of Parliament. 



At first it was produced in its unstained colour, but subsequently it has been stained 

 of many different colours. It is also impressed with surface-colour designs of varied 

 and appropriate subjects. It is an admirable recipient of colour, which penetrates 

 throughout its substance, and remains permanent. Kamptulicon is composed of 

 gutta-percha, India-rubber, and ground cork. 



Other materials have been tried, such as prepared oil and ground cork ; but this 

 has not been very successful. In some, sawdust has been substituted for cork. 



One of the great advantages of kamptulicon is its property of deadening sound. 

 The Kamptulicon Elastic Floor-Cloth Company, who have extensive works at Bow 

 Common, furnish the following notice of this manufacture : 



The first part of the manufacturing process is the purification of the native caout- 

 chouc or India-rubber. It is first put to soak into large water tanks heated by steam, 

 and when sufficiently softened, is placed before a circular knife of cast steel, revolving 

 at the rate of 3,000 times a minute, and cut into small blocks ; and is then taken to a 

 pair of powerful cast-steel rollers, which seize it, and grind it with immense force ; 

 and, aided by a jet of water, all the clay and foreign ingredients are expelled and 

 washed away ; it is passed several times through this machine, till it is perfectly free 

 from all impurities, when it is taken to a formidable apparatus, called the masticator, 

 which consists of a massive structure of iron, fitted with cylinders, of which every 

 part, being subject to a violent straining, is rendered as strong as possible. The 

 material having been of a loose though tough mass on entering this machine, is 

 gradually crushed and worked down into a body of consistent substance, and has 

 altered to a light brown colour. This process is attended with the evolution of much 

 heat, caused by the immense friction in the working of the material, and any water 

 yet remaining in the mass is actually converted into steam, a succession of explosions 

 constantly being heard in the apparatus from the disengaged air or steam ; it is then 

 removed and worked into the proper consistency, by being passed through deeply- 

 indented rollers, which further grind and incorporate it with the different colours, 

 &c., for spreading upon cloth and rolling into sheets for steam packing; this is the 

 most tedious and expensive part of the manufacture, at it goes through several -pairs 

 of similar rollers, which require great mechanical power. After being brought to 



