Part 1

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CORK: Its Origin and Industrial Uses

BY GILBERT E. STECHER

Illustrated

NEW YORK D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY 25 PARK PLACE 1914

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY

PREFACE

This monograph is not an attempt to put before the reading public a scientific exposition of the merits and qualities of the Quercus Suber or Quercus Liber (Linnæus), and carry it up into the heights of learning where none but the learned may go; but to set forth in as concise a manner as possible, the plain story of the corkwood stopper so well known to all. The corkwood as seen in the stopper and in many other articles of trade, has long been of service to man, and remained unnoticed in journals of science, but for a word here and there—and in trying to acquaint myself with its generalities, found it most difficult to get even these. This rather impressed me as being singular, a material so largely used and so little to its credit, in literature, that I pressed my investigations only to find that the farther I searched the less I found.

The few facts gleaned were of interest, and it occurred to me to put them together in some readable form, for future reference. But as I reflected upon the unsuccessful attempt to get information, which was made in behalf of my studies, I promptly decided to go into the subject deep enough to cover all the facts and the result is this monograph—Quercus Suber—

It is presented with the hope that it will help others who seek a knowledge of corkwood and is only intended as a résumé of a very interesting subject. I have endeavored to give credit to those to whom it is due and offer my results as a tribute to a material that stands in a class worthy of the scientists’ as well as the commercialists’ esteem.

G. E. STECHER. June 15, 1914.

CONTENTS

PAGE Quercus Suber (Cork) 3

Quercus Liber (Linnæus) 5

Cork 7

Origin 9 Including the territory of growth and attempts to transplant the seed.

The Tree and Growth 12

Diseases 16

Stripping 17

Botany and Chemistry 22 Including compression diagram.

Uses and Application 39

Substitutes 53

Manufacture 55 Raw stock. Sorting. Stopper making. Cork Disc making. Waste utilization.

Extent of the Manufacturing Industry 71

Appendix 76

CORK: Its Origin and Industrial Uses

QUERCUS SUBER—

“CORK”