NICKEL FOR PAPER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1324, 30 December 1911, Page 12

NICKEL FOR PAPER.

EDISON'S LATEST DISCOVERY. N"ic!;c! as a substilnto for iiapcr is lliorhas A. Kilison's solution of tho nrol). loin ol ilistippcariiiß foists, and tliu conscriiionl incroa«. uf tho piicn of the raw ljiittornil ol books. his latcsl. flistovory (ho 01-hor day. tho inventor of tho phonograph said:— "Bv an clrclroehomirul piwcw I win inako shoots of' stool, copper, or nickol that will absorb Pi inters ink. Of Iho throo mobls ToonMdcr nirkel to be Iho best .substitute for paper. It is iwisiblo to produce a sheet of (his nick! one twenty-thousandth of an iuoh in thickness, and nrako it cheaper; toucher, and more llcxiblo than ordinary book paper." FAR-KEACHII\G EFFECTS. Tho full force of this discovery can hardly be appreciated. At. present tho finest India paper runs 1500 pages to (ho inch, while ordinary book paper runs 350 pages Io tho inch. NMckel sheets, again, oatr be niado so amazingly thin a.s to take 20,000 of them to equal tho thickness of an inch. Going on to describe his process, Xlr. Edison said that tho nicket sheets "will absorb ink tho same as paper. Tho ink would possibly liave to be of somewhat different ingredients than that in use at the present, although tho latter makes a perfectly good impression on nickel, but that would bo only n minor problem, which the ink manufacturers could easily solve. Tho nickel sheets can absorb any' colour, and it would bring out the same shades as half-tones do on fiae calendered paper.'. So -whatever is printed on paper, bo it type, illustration, or colour work, c:tn bo "printed on nickel." "The cost of tho manufacture on a small scale is 7s. a pound, but I bclicvo that this could be reduced to is. a pound were the nickel sheets to be manufactured in rolls in largo quantities." • The electrical current deposits on a prepared base one twenty-thousandth of an inch of nickel in a minute and a half.

A BOON' TO LIBRARIANS. It seems certain Hint if the experiments carried on by Mr. Edison load to tho manufacture of metal substitutes for paper on a largo scale, it will bo a comfort to librarians who for years have complained of tho poor paper product of to-day: They say that the paper on which volumes are at present printed is so poor that it will critmblo to dust wilhiii a hundred years. Think of tho fortunes spent in the printing of tho millions of volumes contained in tho many thousands of libraries iu England alone, and of the certainty that if all thoso records are to be preserved indefinitely, tlio books will havo to be republished with the pawing of every century. Think also of tho number of valuable boftks which havo been destroyed by fro! Nickel leaves would bo impervious to moderate heat. Thoy would melt, of course, under extreme heat, but they are not combustiblo themselves. And a nickel book could be soaked with water for an indefinite period and after a brief drying process bo just as good as new.

A LIBRARY ON ONE SHELF. Motal books would havo other advantages. Imagine n singlo volume, con'taining forty thousand pages. It would be about one inch thick, but would bo equivalent in printing snaco to two hundred paper-leaved books of two hundred pages each. These weuld make a pile nine feet six inches high. Between two steel covers one might find a complete library of history or scienco or fiction or poetry. Two hundred books in tho present bulk of omo book.

Tho possibility of inserting twenty thousand nickel leaves in a book with, (ho thickness of only an inch would give persons who had extensive libraries a.nd wlio live in small and crowded houses in our largo cities moro room to spare. Again, many of Lord Rosebery's objections to ponderous collodions of books would lose their force.

Mr. Edison Spoko of the oonveiyenco that wc would find in tho small sizo of nickel books. He said:—

A Bible of this metal could be made the size of a matchbox, and carried easily in tho vest pocket. Webster's standard or complete dictionary, which It-is a thickness of about six inches, could be condensed into a book smaller than a brick and be carried, with plenty of room to ffi ro, 'T ii coat v "' ""' viilumc ad nickel leaves. A. lawyer could slip he law records of a hundred rears inmer }'l!;,»? r,ll -.? IKl^' lIT y luc,m te "nd from Court without inconvenience."..