Items of Interest August 25, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

The country wide desire for economy, together with the present high cost of pig tin, says Commerce Reports, has led to many inquiries regarding the possibility of utilizing old tin cans. The following facts are presented for the information of those interested:—

Tin cans may be utilized in several ways. First, they may be "detinned," the products from this process being steel scrap (used in open hearth furnaces), tetrachloride of tin (used in the silk dyeing industry), pig tin (used in making tin plate), Babbitt metal and solder, and solder ashes (refined into solder); second, friction top cans may be cleansed and reused in the household; third, the caps may be removed from used cans, which may then be filled with paints, chemicals, etc., and new caps applied. There are at least two detinning companies in this country that utilize old tin cans. The two companies purchase tin plate scrap from can makers and others and old tin cans from junk dealers and community organizations. From 10 to 25 per cent of their capacity is devoted to old tin cans. The cans are bought by the ton in carload lots at a fixed price, and are ordinarily divided into three classes: unused, empty, and unrusted tin cans not exceeding the one-gallon size; used, empty, and unrusted not exceeding the one-gallon size; used, empty, and unrusted exceeding the one-gallon size, but not exceeding the five-gallon size.

Careful search for ways in which to use profitably the seemingly inexhaustible supply of palmetto in Florida, southern Georgia, and other southern states has resulted in the inauguration of an industry that may make the United States independent of the Mexican sisal industry in the manufacture of binder twine. A machine has been invented that spins the fiber out of the palmetto leaves and twists it into binder twine. It has been found possible to use the palmetto to some extent in broom making and for a number of other products. Carpeting made of it was found not only superior to the wire grass rugs now on the markets but much cheaper, and it affords also a cheap fiber to be used in cotton bagging.

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