Lines. 59 



importance to durability that the waterproofing mixture 

 should thoroughly permeate the line to and through its 

 very centre. Otherwise, upon the first break in the 

 waterproof shell, due to snag or rock or other cause, the 

 water will penetrate to and fill the centre by capillarity, 

 and the line speedily rots. It is clear that a boiled-silk 

 braided line before treatment must have more or less 

 air imprisoned within its meshes. It is equally clear 

 that such a line cannot be thoroughly permeated with 

 any liquid until after this air is thoroughly displaced. 

 With fluids so viscid as are all these waterproofing mix- 

 tures, it would seem as if the desired result could be ob- 

 tained with far more ease and certainty by the aid of 

 the air-pump, than by any merely mechanical squeezing 

 process. It is very difficult to determine by inspection 

 whether the waterproofing has really filled the centre 

 of a line. Of course, the extreme ends are filled, since 

 they are directly exposed to the liquid, so nothing can 

 be learned from them. On the other hand, if the ends 

 are cut off, the edge of the cutting tool crushes and 

 welds the waterproofing compound together, making it 

 appear as though the line were filled to its centre, when 

 really such may not be the case. A process which, by 

 the operation of a law of nature, automatically insures 

 the desired result, as it would seem the air-pump process 

 must, would appear to be advantageous. 



While, of course, I may be all wrong, still it is to this 

 method of application, in combination with celluloid so- 

 lution as a waterproofing compound, that I look for the 

 line of the future. Celluloid can be given any desired 

 degree of toughness and flexibility by the addition of 

 castor-oil to its solution, and if the cotton from which 

 the celluloid is made is well washed and neutralized 



