CAMPHOR SHORTAGE
SERIOUS THE CUTLERY
Tho application of. celluloid to tahlo cutlerv manufacture in Sheffield has-do-velope'd tenfold during the last ftttcui: years, says the "Daily Mail. I Ills fact alone servies to emphasise tlie seriousness of the position that must aripe 111 the Steel City's most ancient industry from the present world-shortage (it camphor,' colluloid's basic essential. In the common cutlery- trade, -which represents pjobfibly fhroo-iourths of Sheffield's export business, celluloid, owing to its flexibility and ductility, has largely replaced ivory, horn, bono, and by-product substitutes for the mnniUacture of handles for table knives an<) cheese knives, scales for pocket knives, and razor hafts. . Sheffield's yearly requirements ot tnis comparatively modern material are between 400 and 500 tons. ' At the .average market price of ,£IOOO per ton, this represents an expenditure of someth>ng approaching half a million sterling. ' To-day millions of dozens of celluloid handles and scales are on order in Shoffield to provide for the ensuing six ti, twelve months' cutlery output. Will the material be forthcoming in the required quantities? T'ormosa, with its camphor tree for-, ests, has a virtual monopoly of the world's production, • but owing to the fact that a decline in output has been accompanied bv a tremendous expansion in the demnnd, chiefly from the l\ited States, the United Kingdom, and France, the producers find themselves unable t(, provide anything like the quantitien required for consumption over the. current twelve month#. , . ; So great is the deficiency that if British manufacturers get tho whole of their allotment, based on an optimielic (Siiiiui-e nf Vie total yield, they will receive little more, than one-sixth of their actual requirements. , "Whether a.substitute-can be found re. mains to be seen. Tho results of current experiments in their most advanced stapfe do not offer much hope in this direction. Synthetic camphor is rejected for the manufacture of cclljiloid for use in the cutlery trade.-bp account; of the brittlcncss of the material and its sen-sittveneoS'-to-changes ,jn-tne atmosphere.
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Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 42, 13 November 1920, Page 14
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325CAMPHOR SHORTAGE Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 42, 13 November 1920, Page 14
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