HEARTH AND HOME.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18364, 23 April 1925, Page 5

HEARTH AND HOME.

GLUE MANUFACTURE.

NEW PROCESS EVOLVED. The extensive employment of glue in the building and furnishing industries invests with considerable interest the processes of its manufacture to the particular trades in those industries concerned with its uses.

During recent rears quite a number of important developments hare taken place in the methods of glue manufacture.

There are lour principal stages followed in the .process of glue manufacture. First, the extraction of the glue from bones, hides, etc., by boiling; secondly, the elarirying of the scmi-iiquid and "the removal therefrom of all insoluble matter; thirdly, the concentration of the glue solution so as to attain the necessary strength; and, lastly, the process of drying, which consists primarily in cooling the solution in shallow trays and aftei wards drying the glue in the form cf slabs or sheets.

Glue Pearls. A writer in the London "Times" recently drew attention to the fact that while up-to-date methods and modem equipment have been introduced in connexion with the earlier stages of glue manufacture, the final process of drying is Still accomplished in much the same manner as in the early days, with the result that much, time is occupied and a considerable amount of canita! is represented by the large quantities of incompleted productions;. The drying of the stlue .jelly, by means of which process the contained moisture is reduced to just a_ sufficient, degree, is a very important- operation in the manufacture and necessitates the utmost care and exactitude in the repSilatinn of humidity and temperature. The ultimate qualitv of the cine is re;y largely influenced by the drying, and for this reason it involves no little risk in experimenting with the methods employed. Efforts have from time to time beet? made to evolve more rapid means of drying the glue jelly, but no great success lias in the past been attained in this direction-

The author of the "Times" article, previously referred to. however, describes, a new method that has been introduced by a. large firm of glue manufacturers, after seme years cf scientific* research work and experiments.

He states that this new process consists in'spraying the concentrated solution in its heated state through a neutral heated gas medium, with the result that immediate hardening of tlio glue takes place, forming small droplets or "pearls." which are subsequently subjected to a further treatment that completes the ' drying ■ without affectma their shape in any way. It is stated that this new process, occupies only eight hours or so, as against three ■weeks required by tho old methods.

It has been found that the system is quito independent of atmospheric conditions, and is capable of the exact control and regulation essential to the manufacture of a standard quality of glue, •while it enables tho exact variation of different grades to he made to meet the requirements of various trades. Another claim made on behalf of this; new process of drying is that the resultant slue "pearls" expose a surface about eight times as great as that of. tho equivalent amount of glue in slali form.

RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS. FACTORIES COMPLETELY 1 BANNED. i .i.i, ! LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM ; IN N.S.W, ! (ieoh ou» oto coM^SrOKnsHT.) i SYDNEY, April IG. [ The reform introduced under tho I Local Government Act, enabling coun- | oils to protect their residential districts from invasion by trades and Industrial undertakinge, and to create purely resi- | deutial suburbs where tho drab ugliness ; and noise of factories ar(s not allowed ' to enter, has proved so useful and wcli conic that- an clahoratibn of it is being ; urged. Tho Act at prosont s relates only to the use 6f buildihjfs for certain trades. If, for e.vamplo, a trado can ■ bO carried on without erecting a building, the Act cannot affect it. Olio of tlio amendments now sought is that the reform* Bftbuld relato also to land, ao that, in defined areas, tho Act would be made a bar to quarries and lirickpits, for instance, as woll as to factories. Tho reform has had tho definite tendency to confine factories and other form of industry to certain prescribed areas, and is a guarantee to people who aro paying big prices for building blocks "in tlio best up to £2O a foot, and sometimes more —that they wilt ndt find themselves ehoek by jowl with structures and an atmosphere inconsistent with their natural surroundings and a good typo of architecture. Residential districts, however, aro proclaimed only after very caroful enquiry. Of SO applications last year, for example, only nine were successful; one was refused, and the balance aire still being investigated. Judging by tho number of residential districts created since the Act became law in 1919, and by the applications still pouring in, tho reform is ono of tha most popular of all the change* made in local gpvernment in New South "Wales.