USES OF GELATINE AND GLUE 263 



It is used in the manufacture of furniture of all kinds, of 

 pianos, organs, billiard tables, panels, picture frames, and 

 of toys and brushes. Mixed with white lead, chalk, and 

 sawdust, it forms a composition used for mirror frames, 

 rosettes, etc. Glue is used for veneering, for mosaics, 

 plaques, trays, fingerplates, leather wall converings, and 

 for staining floors. 



There is also a considerable sale for glue in book-binding, 

 for which a sweet, light-coloured, and strong product is 

 required. It has been found particularly suitable for 

 leather bindings where the grain has been artificially printed 

 or embossed (see pp. 97 and 117), and in finishing and gilding. 



The compositions used for printing rollers all contain 

 gelatine or glue together with sugar or glycerin and possibly 

 oil and soap. They are often hardened with formalin. 

 Similar mixtures are used for the beds of hectographs. 



Glue (together with waste leather) is used in the manu- 

 facture of imitation leather and leather substitutes. Cotton 

 and wool fibres are often incorporated, and sometimes 

 textile fabrics. 



Much glue is coverted into " size/' which is a weak gel 

 used as a filling rather than as an adhesive agent. A low- 

 grade glue is often therefore preferred for such purposes, 

 as having " body " rather than " strength." Size is often 

 sold in cake, but sometimes in the form of the gel itself, 

 in which case it may never have been evaporated. Indeed, 

 size is often overboiled glue, made by crude and out-of-date 

 methods. It is largely used in the paper trade, and for wall- 

 papers, millboards, papier-mache, paper and cardboard 

 boxes, etc. Mixed with logwood and iron, and possibly 

 alum, it formed the " blue size " once largely used by boot- 

 makers as a foundation for blacking, and is similarly used 

 in currying (p. 82). Size is also used in making oil paints 

 and varnishes. Distemper is a size with which is incorporated 

 whiting or gypsum and coloured pigments. In all applica- 

 tions of size, it is common to use antiseptics. Salicylic 

 acid has been widely used in this sense. L,ow-grade glue is 

 used for the manufacture of cheap brushes and for fly-papers. 



