Fire Proof Paint.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 119, 15 April 1884, Page 2

Fire Proof Paint.

United Asbestos Company (Limited), London, manufacture a paint which tKey believe to be thoroughly fire-proof, and which, when applied' to wood as •rdihary piint is applied, pro Ves a means of protecting such wood from the influence of heat ..or. .flame. ( The peculiar constituent of this paint is asbestos — a mineral found at its best m the Italian Alps ; and one of the .characteristics, of this mineral. is that itiesists, sfclji th.c influence/ of fire 5 ) j The asbestos is ground with chemijealai' vybiph a^e selected; with 2 a. '^view of'preserving wood from common deoay ; and when thoroughly pnlverised,it is niixed with the constituents of paints-oil, however, and sueh 1 conductors" of flanfe being entirely excluded. It has the appearance of ordinary paint, but there is no oil m it, or anything 1 that can feed fire ; while on the other hand, tjicre %a-,large quantity of i>k r e asbestos which is a 'fire-resisting agency^ j The paint is-iapplie*! m tb:s usual way. A I public experiment made with the paint is i >thus ■ V— f i /The'rte iwere erected two wooden tents. One was painted wftivf his "asbestos preparation, four coats having Jbeeir applied. The other "was of plain" Vo'od. " A largo quantity; of shavings,,-, pieces of dry, wood, &c, were placed m (he interior iO.t',£ach,.qar<3 being; taken that /even a larger quantity was placed m; the painted ;fcen'fc f than m the o|ther. Fire was applied, the effect of which ; wlaß watclieti- 1 with much interest. Fanned by a strong breexej the tiames rapidly rose m great volume. In, .the, ,couwe. of a. couple of minutes the fire hid* enveloped tnVnon-pain,te,d£ tent, and in..ano.fcher minute the wood had caught. Ac the expiry of six 'ihinutuA fchis tenA Mis Tf«ii«lJ£ fire, and soon thereafter it fell to the ground a clrarred ' ruin. The painted j , r tent,, however, resisted the heat- and I tiamev Tlie ike ; was^^poin ' time • ~ta \ Lime, fed ; with shaving.s and wood, but tne^tteni/Was intj*restr-,-featw'e of the. experiment was| that "while there' was irifenso heat insid£, tEel wood oulside.presented to" tße touch a wondfirfttlly lb»v degree of heat, "^hen the.ilre was extinguished after the; noapain ted tent had^faM'en^-it was found that - little ()f,- the, painted wood had been iouchedt?by fl^nrte: The paiiSti here^and there, had' Ij^en forced out from tne-wood^by the' steam that came fjroyv^b e '}£ate 4 plaiiks^^and^ ..the ; sides 'ot'tlie mterinr of tne^^el^werie iq -^somany unbroken blisters formed of the h©yt|t||tjit resetted appearance and touch ttTin shale. Tue wood, was ' 'bjackcnediliufc'the' bToadf^clß \yas^ that while," the; :f non-painted < paiiitions of lstrge J buildings do burn'^horald > a fi re occur, it is believed that the n*ames. dould not pass ; suclv i painte i ni pstf titions, which m thisway %ould become agen-' : ctes .for isolating the, fire, and. gitiug a 'ifire 11 bril^de a : chancei r; .i^'-it wks ex'pVessed, ;''6f extinguisTied'it; ' ! - !! I