Defying ^ the Action of ^^kFire 



^ 



A LIQUID that resists the action of 

 fire and water and renders all in- 

 flammable materials absolutely 

 fire-proof has been ]:)erfected in the phar- 

 maceutical laboratories of the University 

 of Iowa. When wood, cloth, or paper are 

 saturated with it and then dried, an in- 

 soluble mineral material is left in the cells 

 of the fiber which makes combustion 

 impossible. The drying may be spon- 

 taneous, or, in the case of wood, may be 

 done in a kiln. 



As a test, a block of wood which had 

 been soaked in the new prcjiaration 

 and afterward dried resisted the flame 

 of a Bunsen burner for one hour, whereas 

 a similar block of untreated wood was 



The Inventors Claim That All Building 

 and Household Materials and Even Ordi- 

 nary Paper Can Be Made Non-inflammable 



l)urned to ashes in exactly nine minutes. 

 The flame of a Bunsen burner gives a 

 much greater heat than an ordinary 

 fire — from 700 to 1,000 degrees Fahren- 

 heit. The board was slightly charred 

 o\'er the area struck by the flame and a 

 hole about fi\'e-sixteenths of an inch in 

 diameter was made, but at no time did 

 a blaze appear. Ordinary paper, gun 

 cotton, and other highly combustible 

 stuffs, when similarly treated, failed to 

 burn. 



Rainfall, running water, climatic con- 

 ditions and all sorts of weathering agents 

 do not appear to affect the residue of the 

 solution in the slightest degree. The 

 pine board, which resisted the Bunsen 

 burner for an hour, was placed under a 

 heavy running stream of water for 

 twenty-four hours after the solution had 

 dried on it. Strips of ordinary toweling 

 were treated with the liquid and then 

 placed in windows and exposed to rain 

 and dew, but this did not afTect their 

 resistance lo Are. This is an improve- 

 ment on fire-proofing materials now on 

 the market, which are soluble and only 

 serve to retard the destruction of fire. 



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