The many different grades of granulated cork, made by grinding up cork waste, find a wide sphere of usefulness for packing and heat insulating purposes. In this last mentioned field, in fact, cork now ranks preeminent. Its peculiar structure, which may be seen under the microscope--myriads of sealed air cells, impervious to air and water--renders it not only a splendid nonconductor of heat, but also nonabsorbent of moisture. For loose filling between the walls of ice boxes, water coolers, and cold storage rooms, and about the sides of freezing tanks in ice factories, hundreds of tons of granulated cork are employed every year. Comparatively recently, however, an insulating material possessing permanency of form has been found desirable for many reasons. To meet this demand granulated cork is transformed into corkboard at the Company’s plants at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Using the pure cork, either with or without an asphaltic binder, three grades of this material are made, known as Nonpareil, Impregnated, and Acme Corkboard, respectively. The sheets measure twelve by thirty-six inches, of various thicknesses, and, as they possess ample structural strength, may be nailed into place in buildings or rooms of frame construction, or put up with Portland cement against brick, stone, or concrete walls and ceilings. A plaster finish is readily applied. Owing to its freedom from progressive deterioration, its constant efficiency, its slow burning and fire retarding properties, and its sanitary qualities, corkboard insulation is now recognized as the standard throughout the land, and may be found installed almost everywhere refrigeration is employed. Hundreds of cold storage warehouses, abattoirs, fur storage vaults, breweries, ice plants, dairies, creameries, candy factories, and bakeries are insulated with it, not to mention refrigerated rooms in hotels, clubs, private residences, and aboard the ships of the United States, British, and Italian navies. [Illustration: Cork Floor Tiling] Another by-product, and the last one of importance, is cork pipe covering for insulating cold pipe lines. Made of pure granulated cork, slightly compressed and molded in sectional form to fit the many different sizes of pipe and kinds of fittings, it is a thoroughly durable covering for brine and ammonia piping in refrigerating plants, and for ice water lines in office buildings, hotels, and industrial establishments. In this rôle the cork bark, after its devious career in American factories, performs a service similar to that of its early days in Spain, when, sheathing trunk and branches, it prevented the sun’s rays and the parching winds from heating and drying up the cool, life-giving sap of its parent tree. [Illustration: Nonpareil Corkboard] [Illustration: Cork Pipe Covering] [Illustration] Rogers & Company Chicago and New York * * * * * Transcriber’s note