INDUSTRIAL BULLETIN OF Mrtur 3B. Little, Inc.

for dissolving pulp and are still by far the domi-
nant material used for acetate rayon, cellulose
nitrate and acetate plastics, lacquers and smokeless
powder. The viscose rayon and cellophane indus-
try, consuming the bulk of the dissolving pulp,
has, however, found it possible within the past
i5 years to replace cotton linters almost entirely
with a highly purified wood cellulose. There are
now indications that, through improved pulping
and bleaching processes, satisfactory and inexpen-
sive wood cellulose may become available to the
other industries now depending on linters.
Within the wood-pulping industry there have
been basic geographical and technical changes
tending always to render useful the more plentiful
and less expensive types of wood. Fifteen years
ago the small production of dissolving pulp from
wood in the United States was confined to mills
using spruce in the northeastern states. Today the
bulk of the dissolving pulp is obtained from west-
ern hemlock in the Pacific Northwest. Development
of processes three years ago for pulping and
bleaching hardwoods, such as maple and birch,
which are plentiful in sections of the northeastern
states where the conifers have been depleted, is
permitting a partial reversal of this trend. Al-
though logging and collection of the hardwoods is
often more expensive than that of the conifers, the
stands of hardwoods currently being worked are
much closer to the rayon and other cellulose-using
plants than is the western hemlock area. The more
rapid replenishment of hardwood forests by sec-
ond growth also favors use of hardwood over
that of the more slowly growing spruce.
A second shift has been toward the southeastern
United States, where a plant successfully produc-
ing dissolving pulp from the highly resinous south-
ern pine has been opened during the past year by
one of the largest western dissolving-pulp com-
panies. This development makes available to the
higher grade markets the vast quantities of south-
ern pine, which is cheap, fast-growing and situated
close to many of the rayon mills. A product of this
plant is said to be suitable for production of ace-
tate rayon and other cellulose products currently
relying for raw material on cotton linters, which
will bear the brunt of the munitions demand. Be-
cause of the low cost of wood dissolving pulp as
compared with cotton linters, the availability of a
grade satisfactory for acetylation and nitration
is of substantial importance to producers of plas-
tics, lacquers and acetate rayon.
Another possible low-cost source of high-grade
cellulose is opened by recent investigations of pulp-
ing of bagasse, or sugar-cane fiber, indicating that
use of a continuous nitric acid pulping process, now
possible because of the availability of cheap acid
and satisfactory corrosion-resisting equipment,

might permit economic use of this agricultural
by-product as an additional cellulose source.
The supply of cotton linters, a by-product of the
cottonseed oil industry, is strictly limited, but the
amount of raw linters available is apparently
greater than any immediately foreseeable demand,
even for munitions use. The capacity of bleaching
and purifying plants, two of which are planned for
construction in the defense program, seems to be a
more immediate limitation. In an emergency, how-
ever, both wood dissolving pulp and the large
stocks of staple cotton which have been held off
the market will be available to the smokeless
powder plants, the first of which will operate in
early 1941. Wood has long been used in Europe
in smokeless powder manufacture. Thus, as
pointed out in a recent statement of the National
Defense Advisory Commission, the raw materials
of the cellulose-using industries show little pros-
pect of an emergency shortage.
AUDIENCE OR OSMIENCE?
IN the search for more realism in motion pictures,
various additions have been made, such as sound,
color, third dimension, and now, odor. Odor-
ated or osmic talking pictures (" 0. T. P.") are
the invention of two Swiss engineers, Hans E.
Laube and Robert Barth. The closing days of the
New York World's Fair saw the first demonstra-
tion of the osmic film in this country, personally
supervised by the inventors.
The film shown was a talking picture of 35
minutes' duration, accompanied by "passages" of
odor each lasting a few seconds, occurring once a
minute or oftener and covering a wide range of
subjects. The fine scent of a lilac bush in full bloom
as it appeared on the film brought realization of
the deep and powerful approach to memory and
emotion of the sense of smell. Then followed the
odor of lilies as a large flower bed claimed the
screen, and then iris and roses and other flowers
in turn, and pine woods. These odors were true
and convincing and far superior in quality to the
sound of the first talking pictures. There was
good, but not perfect, synchronism. Once lemons
could be smelled plainly before the cocktail set-up
appeared and the lemon-squeezing began. Odors
of many kinds accompanied the film, varying from
flowers and personal perfumes through fruits to
the odors of a delicatessen, a carpenter shop, a
paint shop, and a truck spraying asphalt on the
street. The odor of honey was true to life as a bee-
hive was pictured. New-mown hay smelled mar-
velously out in the fields. For some reason, the
featured odor of bacon did not register, nor did
the odor of cigars or cigarettes, though church in-
cense was quite convincing. It was an impressive

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