As yet the seats of manufacture are exceedingly few, principally owing to the fact that almost all the details of tbe manufacture are the subjects of patents, which are the property of only one or two individuals. All the celluloid produced in the United States, where the manufacture and application of the substance have received the greatest impulse, is turned out by one firm at Nein ark, in Ncw Jersey. There is one works in Fiance, at Staines, on the Seine, but beyond that there is none in Europe. A company instituted in England failed through constitutional defects, and a works started by a Hanover firm was abandoned because of the explosive nature of the material. If greater energy be not soon displayed in England, we shall probably become irnporters of the substance, first discovered and manufactured in our own country, by A. Parkes, so long ago as 1855. Though the invention is thus of no recent date, the manufacture has only been developed within the last few years.
The commercial price of the article in France is 8 francs per kilo. (about 2s. 10d. per lb.) for the raw product, and variable for coloured sorts. In America it sells at 2 dollars (8s. 4d.) per lb. for making umbrella handles, &c., while the same substance is charged at 4 to 5 dollars to jewellers, the price being adjusted according to the competition experienced from the various substitutes.
The American firm is concerned only with the manufacture of the raw material, which it supplies in blocks to the consumers, who have to prepare it according to their special needs. It is
said to be exported largely to Cuba and South America.
Vulcanized the name of " Vulcanized Fibre," an American firm, wbose works are at Wilmington, are producing a material much resembling celluloid in its origin and applications. It is prepared from a thick, spongy, reddish-brown paper, specially made for the purpose, which, when acted upon by certain chemicals, loses its original character, and is trans formed into a homogeneous mass of almost metallic hardness. The material emerges from the process of manufacture in large flat sheets, which are made up into a long list of articles, principally for railway use, as fish-bolt washers, oil-box covers, " dust-guards," &c., &c. The company, it is said, sells nearly a quarter of a million track-bolt washers a month. An inaportant application of the substance is for the manufacture of condense-pipes for steamers; exposure to the action of salt water, and alterations of temperature, do not seem to affect it in any way. From the scraps left in cutting large articles, carriage-washers are made. Roving-cans, used in cotton-mills, and formerly made of tin, are now made of this material. As yet, it has not been largely applied to making ornamental articles ; but its finish makes it well suited to such purposes. It cannot be moulded, but may be sawn, cut, or turned ; is capable of receiving various colours, and is used in both the polished and unpolished state.
(See Brushes ; Buttons; Ivory ; Nuts.)