PULP, PAPER, AND BY-PRODUCTS 



tion, wood chips are fed into a steel cylinder into which 

 live steam is then introduced. The pressure is raised to a 

 thousand pounds, held there for a second or two, and 

 then a hydraulic valve at the bottom is quickly opened. 

 The mass of chips literally explodes from the "Masonite 

 gun," rent into a fibrous mass. This is washed and then 

 formed on a paper-making machine into thick, wet 

 mats, which are pressed hydraulically into the familiar 

 boards. By changing the temperature or pressure within 

 the gun, by drying the wet mats before pressing, by 

 adding tempering oils, plastics, resins, or other ingred- 

 ients, many modifications can be made of the finished 

 product. Naturally the Masonite research staff has been 

 experimenting along these lines. 



"Masonite material as it comes from the gun," ex- 

 plained Rodger Borland, the assistant director of these 

 researches, "is a semiplastic. Sparked by the war need 

 for semicircular reflectors for fluorescent lights, we have 

 been doing a lot of work in preforming and have de- 

 veloped an all wood plastic which ought to be cheaper 

 than the cheapest synthetic molding material." 



A really low-cost plastic cheap enough to compete 

 with wood in window frames, moldings, baseboards, 

 and other building materials is still an unfulfilled 

 dream. Accordingly, this new Masonite material, which 

 makes greater use of lignin as a binder and plasticizer, 

 ought not to have much difficulty elbowing its way 

 into the already crowded field of plastics. 



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