FUNCTIONAL BEAUTY

Cork is an energy-efficient insulator

From page 20
co-efficient and low thermal con-
ductivity, being easy to work with,
cost-effective, natural and self-
replenishing, it's no wonder that
cork can be found in everything
from baseballs to the space shuttle,
from shoes to hydroelectric dams,
and from gaskets to floors.

Beyond cork's most recognized
uses in wine bottle stup, crs and
bulletin boards, few people are
aware of the importance cork plays
in their daily routines and, even
less so, where it comes from.

Some will fervently tell you that
cork comes from the bottom of the
ocean, that its origins can be trac-
ed to gardens of petrified mosses
and lichens, or that it is not a nat-
ural substance at all, but, indeed,
man-made,

These wild conjectures miss the
mark to be sure. In reality, today’s
$300,006,000 cork industry derives
from a tiny acorn. A variety of
oak tree native to the Iberian
Peninsula generates and
regenerates the world’s supply of
cork.

The Quercus Suber is a forest
tree whose trunk bark can be
stripped every nine years, after the
tree is 20-25 years old.

These special oaks live more
than 150 years, and when
harvested, yield the unique cork
bark that can be transformed into
innumerable shapes, sizes and
uses,

Cork's extraordinary versatility
comes from its unique cellular
structure of 150-200 million, 14-
sided cells per cubic inch.

More than 5! per cent of the
volume of this non-fibrous struc-
ture is air, forming a network of
densely-packed air-filled cells that
act like a cushion and give cork its
buoyant and compressible
qualities.

Most of the world’s cork is
grown in Portugal and Spain, and
imported by manufacturers to be
processed into a wide variety of
products.

Yet no one application seems to
take full advantage of cork’s many
attributes. For example, cork is
lightweight, having 2 specific grav-
ity of only 0.25, which is a
tremendous asset to users of in-
dustrial floatation devices that
measure liquid levels.

Yet this buoyancy means little to
the builder who is interested in
cork's compressibility for expan-
sion joint filler that is specified in
the construction of bridges, tun-
nels, dams, airports, and sewage
disposal plants.

Cork’s resilience is highlighted
in flooring applications. Whether
you choose tiles or an underlay-
ment, cork floors are softer under-

foot than hardwood and long-
lasting.

Another one of cork's redeem-
ing traits is its rich brown hue and
the nubby texture that Jend a natu-
ral warmth to any room.

Interior decorators have long
recognized the distinctive elegance
that cork ceiling tile and wallcover-
ings bring to a home or office.

Cork’s beauty is not only deco-
rative but extremely functional, as
it is a thermal and acoustical in-
sulator. Cork is so effective as an
acoustical insulator that, in
France, building codes require a
layer of cork under all apartment
house floors to absorb noise and
shock transmission.

Myriads of Canadian homes are
also discovering the acoustical
value of cork in dampening family
or ‘rec’? room racket, while New
York’s Lincoln Center, already
well familiar with this benefit, uses
cork in the lobby walls to subdue
intermission chatter.

industrialists appreciate cork’s
vibration control feature, using it
around machines and also in
gaskets that can withstand the high
temperatures and high perfor-

mance oils used in today’s ma-
chinery.

Because cork is chemically inert
and compresses and expands to
adjust to temperature and pressure
changes, it resists leaks and is ideal
as a closure for laboratory
glassware.

In construction, cork brings
energy-efficiency to office towers
by trapping layers of still air and
thus maintaining a temperature
equilibrium that minimizes H/
V/A/C costs.

It also offers a safety factoy that
rubbers and plastics cannot, with
its low thermal conductivity. With
a K factor as tow as 0.26, cork is
also fire-retardant. Only the sur-
face will char, giving off no cya-
nides, chlorides or other toxic
gases.

And certainly, the world of wine
connoisseurs would be unpalatable
without cork closures. For cen-
turies, wine and champagne have
matured in bottles with airtight
seals — yes, corks are moisture
resistant, will not deteriorate
through oxidation, and are imper-
vious to chemical! interaction.

French archeologists recently

LUXURY —____
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Pacific Western Industries Ltd.
1547 Welch St. N. Vancouver

25 - Friday, duly 34, 1987 - North Shore News

unearthed a cork stopper from the
third century AD firmly capped on
a bottle of wine. The cork was in
perfect condition and the wine
drinkable.

And besides, without cork stop
pers, what would happen to the art

of wine tasting and the ritual of
smelling the cork?

Not only is cork a success story
in its own right, it also wins rave
reviews when used with other ma-
terials.

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