Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 220, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1915 — LIFEBOAT MADE OF PAPER [ARTICLE]

LIFEBOAT MADE OF PAPER

Invention of Japanese That Should Be of Great Value in the Event of Shipwreck. A paper lifeboat that can be packed away in the space of about one cubic foot, but that, when inflated, is seaworthy and durable, is the invention of a retired admiral of the Japanese navy, says Tit-Bits. The boat is constructed from the Japanese paper called hasikirazu, which is treated chemically to make it waterproof. The paper comes from the mulberry tree. It is unusually durable and possesses great strength when the stresses are in the direction of the fiber.

A thin sheet of paper that is strong wheh stressed in any direction is made by pasting together two sheets with the fibers crossing at right angles. The first boat that the admiral madu was merely a kind of large pillow with a depression in the center, the whole being inflated with air. Because of the ease with which paper can be punctured, it was necessary to change the method of construction, so several pipe-like bags were made and placed side by side in the form of a raft, and that raft finally modified to a cbaft something like a boat in shape. The result is a life-saving craft almost immune to wreck, for even if one or two of the pipes are punctured or broken, the boat is still buoyant enough to be seaworthy. Owing to its strength and lightness, and its waterproof qualities, the hashikirazu paper is evidently adapted to a wide range of uses, among which are .the making of coverings for aeroplane wings and for dirigible balloons. — Youth’s Companion.