59 



The work of the Committee up to the present time has seemed to 

 indicate that certain factors existing in this region make desirable, 

 even in the light of present knowledge, certain modifications in exist- 

 ing specifications, in order to insure for marine construction a creosote 

 oil which shall be best suited to this specific purpose. The specifica- 

 tion presented is necessarily tentative and has been formulated speci- 

 fically for local needs. It is expected that it will be amended and im- 

 proved as further knowledge becomes available. 



The specification as presented is practically the same as those in 

 current use, excepting in the creosote oil section, whose modifications 

 from existing specifications have been referred to. The chief consid- 

 erations with reference to local conditions which seem to require 

 modification of existing specifications, such as the standard specifica- 

 tion of this Association covering creosote for ties and structural 

 timbers, are the following: 



1. Oil tar creosotes. Such creosote is now being offered for wood 

 preservation use on the Pacific Coast. Repeated analyses show that it 

 will pass every test embodied in the standard specification, except the 

 requirement as to origin. (See analysis at end of chemical section of 

 this report.) It is well known, however, that such oils do not contain 

 the tar acids which characterize coal tar creosote. In order, there- 

 fore, to provide a test for the compliance of oils with the requirement 

 of origin it has seemed necessary in this Committee's tentative specifi- 

 cation to restore the tar acid clause which was formerly in common 

 use but has been omitted from the specifications of recent years. It 

 is recognized that there is no conclusive evidence of lack of preserva- 

 tive value in oil tar creosotes, which have a composition so closely 

 similar to that of coal tar creosote; and some investigations in this 

 direction are being undertaken by the Committee. The Committee 

 heartily shares, however, the feeling now widely held with respect to 

 specifications for wood preserving creosotes, that, in view of the lack 

 of authoritative knowledge of the effective constituents in such creo- 

 sotes and the mechanism of their preservative action, it is the part 

 of wisdom to insure so far as is possible the obtaining for this purpose 

 of coal tar creosotes, similar to those which have proved effective in the 

 past. The tar acid clause cannot entirely guarantee a coal tar oil, but 

 it will insure that at least a certain percentage of the oil must be of 

 coal tar origin unless the producer of the oil knowingly sophisticates 

 it with the intent to defraud. 



2. Whole creosote oils. The early creosotes, which retained their 

 wood preserving effectiveness for so many years, were whole oils. It. 

 may not yet be susceptible of proof to what extent the removal of naph- 

 thalene and anthracene derivatives, as is now common in foreign oils, 

 or of tar acids for the phenol group of synthetic drugs, which has more 

 recently taken place, will impair the wood preservative value of creo- 

 sote. The same considerations with respect to lack of present knowl- 

 edge which have just been stated have seemed to the Committee to 



