September 5, 191 8] 



\ 17 I RE 



15 



went to Germany. The explanation "I this i- simple. 



In addition < iermans in\ estigated 



methods oi converting these 



■ I Di etl has 



pointi'd out, "we should be greater fools than even 



the Germans now consider us to be ii we did nol taki 



1 1 in future i" deprive thi i ierman 



nmenl ol thi pow ei to procure Wesl 



with the view ol m iking war upon us again." Foi 



it musl I" 1 thai nol onh are man) of 



these products suitabli .t- foodstuffs; the) . 



lutely essential for the manufacture of wai material. 



Of the many insl bj Mr. Dennett of the 



utilisation oi thi mpli ol thi 



the utilisation oi 

 \\.i-i' i driving power. 1 [i said : 



"In the centre of Africa, when cotton-seed is of little 

 value owing to costly transp obtaining of 



power for driving a ginnery or any other machiner) 

 is of great importance, as thi further you get into 

 the interioi . bi comes. On the 



other hand, cotton-seed is, to all intents and purposes, 

 a waste product in such places, and may well take the 

 place of coal. Thi' power is obtained, not from the 

 oil, but from the seed itself, which is composed of 

 carbonaceous mattei Cotton-seed cake or damaged 

 cotton-seed unfit for crushing purposes is equally good 

 ■ ial. 



Cotton-seed gas plants : mposed of a brick- 



lined furnace, in which the seed is burnt on a g 

 The iir is drawn through the fire and CO., is pro- 

 duced, this afterwards being reduced to CO. The 

 gas is then cooled and cleaned and the tar extracted 

 by means of a centrifugal device, which causes all 

 heavy matter to l» expelled. A plentiful supply of 

 watei is needed foi thi cleaninj process. A suction- 

 gas plant produces exactly the amount that the engine 

 requ : ' red with the steam-engine, thi 



used i" i b.h.p. is about one-half, the actual amount 

 of co the region of about 1-5 lb. per h.h.p. 



hour, and cotton-seed about 4 lb. per b.h.p., in- 

 cluding stand-by losses. The labour required to 



ibl) Ii ss than that 

 reauired for a steam-engine of similar size." 



Regarding cotton-seed as 1 \ — ibii edible oil to 

 compete with coconut or palm-kernel oil, Mr. Dennett 

 said: "Cotton-seed oil ran now be treated with 

 hvdrogen and so converted into .1 solid fat, and thus 

 hardened it is already largeh used to make compound 

 lard, which in som" cases contains no lard properly 

 lied. In this wav manv of the twenty-three Wesl 

 African oils mav also possibh be used in the manu- 

 facture of mar •arine.'* 



THE BRITISH GLASS INDUSTRY. 



GLASS i-. prominent in many parts of the British 

 ■ .i.l.l"—. I'Xliiliiii.ni a King's College. It 

 ol those commodities to which little thought 

 was given while 80 per cent, of our requirements 

 imported from abroad; bul we learn to appreciate 

 - which we have to make for ourselves, and we 

 something of the extraordinar) n 

 of tit. if glass and the multiplicit) of uses 



to which it is put. In sot 01 other we find it 



in use in m hibition, and 



ad about it in the admirable "Articles on Recent 

 nts" in the catal In the first — re- 



in "Key Industries," b) Prof. Gregory — we 

 learn of the vital national importance of glass for 

 optical and scientific purposes; and in that on "Optical 

 Instruments." by Mr. S. D. Chalmers, that most of 

 the types of optical glass which were formerly im- 

 now made in this . country. Dr. Turnei 

 XO. 2,49, VOL. I02] 



1 ontributes in 1 couni of the 1 1 



developmeni oi ["hi : Glass Industr) ' 



enerally, showing how thi it npulse came from 



an chemists, and how ii was followed b) the estab- 

 lishment of the 1 >epai 1 Munitions 

 tre Suppl) of the Ministn of Munition-.; 



b) the foundal ton oi hi Dep ilass Tecl - 



n thi I nivi 1 sit) oi Shi ffii 1 hi assist 



of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Re- 



. the Ministry of Munitions, and the mam 



liters ; and, linalK , by the formation 1 



: ■ an important and thriving 



lu i'.il association. Mr. Chapman Jones, in his 

 contribution on "Photography," tells u hi 



1 .in ieni j ..1 the cameras employed b) the '■■■< 

 and Prof. r>e-well deals with the all-important sub- 

 ject of "Glass-making and Refractor) Sands,'' relat- 

 ing how optical glasses and laborator) wan- an 

 made successfully from British deposits. 



The exhibition includes the productions of many 

 enterprising firms which have taken up new branches 

 "f the industry. We mav note especially the remark- 

 able range of glass apparatus for chemical and bac- 

 teriological work, of which the manufacturers' asso- 

 ciations have combined to make a most creditable 

 display. These are practically all productions under- 

 taken during the war, in the face of very adverse and 

 discouraging conditions, and they bear evidence of 

 steady improvement in both quality and technique. In 

 optical glass Messrs. Chance Bros., Ltd., who have, 

 most fortunately for us, kept the industry alive 

 in the country for seventy years, present a striking 

 exhibit of interesting specimens; while the Dertn 

 Crown Glass Co. has also entered the field in this 

 essential "key" industry, and shows samples for 

 various purposes. In a separate room the members 

 of the British Lampblown Scientific Glassware Manu- 

 facturers' Association exhibit nicelv finished thermo- 

 meters of manv kinds, as well as other graduated 

 scientific apparatus. Messrs. Ackroyd and Best and 

 Messrs. Moncrieff show miners' safety-lamp glasses, 

 and the latter firm also gauge-glasses and other 

 important requirements for acid-plant and munition 

 purposes. We must not omit to mention the ex- 

 hibits of "Vitreosil" plant of the Thermal Syndi- 

 cate, and the models of transparent quartz-glass 

 apparatus shown bv the Silica Syndicate, both 

 excellent examples of industry thoroughly British 

 from their inception. 



In connection with the revival of the British glass 

 industry represented in the exhibition, the following 

 quaintly worded passage from a little volume on 



'The Arts and Manufactures," by William Enfield, 

 "assisted by eminent professional gentlemen" 

 (London: Printed for Thomas Tegg, No. ill, oppo- 

 site Bow Church, Cheapside, 1S09), * s °f interest: — 



" It is to be greatly regretted, that the very im- 

 portant manufacture of glass, should not be so culti- 

 vated and encourag d in Great Britain as to prevent 

 totally the importation of foreign; whereas, from the 

 production of sand, lead, and coals, in our own 

 country, we may make the best sorts of glass much 

 cheaper thai. done elsewhere ; we yet, however, 



take looking tss plates of France, to the amount of 



t very 1 ble sum; some window-glass of the 



Dutch; and the German drinking-glasses for v. 

 with gilt edges and ornaments, are now coming 



l\ into fashion. The causes land 



1 reign commodities, which are, or mighl be 



, and cheaper manufactured hi ous; 



and the displaying of them not being a proper part 



of our business at present, we shall wave [sic] it, and 



intimate, that the tax laid upon glass (against all 



the principles of good policy) has gre tli corroborated 



