Cork insulation; a complete illustrated textbook on cork insulation ...

USES OF CORKWOOD AND CORK WASTE 17
on to any great extent in the United States, although prior to
the Civil War there were a few sucfi establishments in Boston,
New York and Philadelphia. In Spain and Portugal, however,
there are to this day many small hand cork manufactories,
although machinery is used by the large and more
modern plants. While Portugal attained rank with Spain as
a cork manufacturing country, it has since come to export a
much- larger proportion of its corkwood in unmanufactured
form than does Spain. Probably three-fourths of the corkwood
grown in Spain is consumed in Spain; that is, is manu-
factured into some cork product, and in addition, Spain im-
ports large c^uantities from Portugal and Algeria. Spain, in a
word, is the cork clearing house of the world, and cork is one
of the principal industries, if not ihe principal industry, of the
Spanish people.
11.— Other Uses.— In addition to "straight'' and "tai)er"
corks, al)out whiJi more will l)c said ])resently. a great \ariety
I li;. 13.—C'OKK WASHERS AND (iASKETS— OXE OF MANY USES J'OI^
CORK.
of disks, washers, floats, ]:)UO}S. life rings, balls, mats, handle
grips, gaskets, bobl^ers, life preservers, as well as shoe insoles,
polishing disks, cork paper, tropical helmets, rafts, bungs,
French lieels for shoes, bedding, sound isolation, heat and cold
<strong>insulation</strong>, tioor tiles, roof tiles, sweat IkukIs, lining for hats,
the basis for ladies' hat and dress trimmings, pulley and
clutch inserts, Spanish black for i)aint. cigarette tips, wadding
for gun cartridges, ])acking for glass and fruits, bulletin
boards, the basis of linoleum manufacture, an important in-
gredient in good stucco i)laster, and probably a hundred or
so additional items of imj^ortance are manufactured from
corkwood and cork waste.