1 86 Miracles Ahead! 



containers. After his meal he may ease himself into a porch 

 chair which resembles rattan, but if it is a new one it may be 

 of highly processed paper. His wife may be putting the gar- 

 bage into a paper garbage pail and brushing crumbs into a 

 paper dustpan. Later they may retire under the light but 

 warm protection of a blanket made of quilted layers of paper. 

 The OWI adds that this blanket, which was originated for 

 use in case of air-raid casualties, has been adopted by some 

 thrifty households for summer use. Its low cost means it can 

 be discarded at the end of the season with no thought of 

 packing in moth balls. 



There are, however, more than fifteen thousand different 

 kinds of paper and paper products in use today, and paper 

 magicians are making it perform new feats of strength every 

 day. 



Alarm clocks, flashlight cases, and many other products 

 replacing metal on the home front are made from waste paper 

 that is ground up and molded by great heat and pressure. 

 Tough fiber containers, which take the place of tin cans for 

 packing many products, are made of paperboard. Then there 

 is the very unpaperlike "plasticized paper" now used by air- 

 plane companies. 



A new method which turns coarse paper into a strikingly 

 waterproof material was announced in mid- 1943 by Dr. Wil- 

 liam D. Coolidge, research director of the General Electric 

 Laboratories. The materials to be waterproofed paper, as 

 well as cloth and ceramic insulations for radio equipment 

 are put in a cabinet and exposed to chemical vapors. The 

 treatment leaves no mark upon the materials, but it does cover 

 them with a thin film which successfully repels water and 

 can stand temperatures of as high as 550 degrees for a short 

 time. 



Another process for "water-conditioned" (aqualized) pa- 



