Cork
Cork names 5 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Cork the spongy outer bark of an evergreen oak
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the spongy outer bark of an evergreen oak. The cork oak grows along the coast of southern Europe and North Africa, but chiefly in Algeria, Spain, and Portugal, to which countries the cork industry is worth several million dollars a year. It is a low, spreading tree with chestnut-like acorns. When the trees are about ten or fifteen years old, the first stripping is made. It is coarse and uneven, and is used chiefly for fishing net floats and similar purposes. The second stripping is better. The quality improves with the age of the tree. Cork harvest comes in July and August. Only the outer bark is removed. Cuts are made around the tree and up and down , dividing the bark into suitable sections. The greatest care is taken not to injure the inner bark by cutting too deeply. The sections are then removed by inserting the flattened handle of the cutter's knife carefully. After scraping the outer surface the sheets are heated and slightly charred to close the pores. They are then flattened in a press and baled for market. Owing to its toughness, lightness, and elasticity, and the fact that no liquid can pass through it, cork is in demand for bungs of casks, bottle stoppers, bicycle handles, shoe insoles, artificial legs, linings for insect cases, etc. Cork weighs a trifle less than a fourth as much as water. "As light as cork," is a proverbial expression. It is, therefore, an ideal substance for life preservers , buoys, and jackets. The inner bark of the cork tree, like all oak barks, is valuable for tanning. Cork has a peculiar way of dulling a knife edge. Workmen who cut corks by hand whet for each cork. This difficulty is greatly in the way of contriving successful cork-cutting machines; yet but little of the work is now done by hand. Cork chippings and parings ground up with boiled linseed oil make a material which is applied to a coarse canvas in the manufacture of linoleum. Scrap cork is pressed also in damp-proof and insulating boards. Consul-General Frank D. Hill, of Barcelona, states that exports of cork from Spain during the years 1905, 1906, and 1907 were $6,835,624, $7,626,494, and $8,805,614 respectively. The total importations of cork and manufactures of cork into the United States amounts to about $4,000,000 annually, one-half of which is the bark free of duty; the other half consists chiefly of corks, which pay 15 cents per pound duty. American statistics show yearly imports of about $500,000 worth of cork bark from Spain and over $1,000,000 worth from Portugal, while about $1,500,000 worth of manufactured cork comes from Spain. See Life Preserver ; Bottle
Cork a city in the S
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city in the S. of Ireland, capital of the county of Cork, situated on the river Lee. It is 15 miles from the sea, and besides an upper harbor at the city itself, and quays extending over 4 miles in length, there is a lower harbor at Queenstown, 11 miles below. Cork is the third city in Ireland, and exports great quantities of grain, butter, bacon, eggs, and live stock. The principal industries are tanning, distilling, brewing, and the making of tweeds and friezes. There are also iron foundries and yards for the building of iron ships. The principal buildings are the Protestant and Roman Catholic cathedrals, exchange, custom house, chamber of commerce, court house, Queen's College, etc. There is a naval dockyard at Haulbow line, an island within Cork harbor. The city was the scene of disorders during the Sinn Fein uprising of 1920. The Lord Mayor, Terence McSwiney, was found guilty of treason, and, rerusing to eat while in prison, died of starvation. Pop. about 100,000.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the third city of Ireland. It is situated in the southern part of the island, about fifteen miles above the mouth of the river Lee. It is at the head of navigation and has extensive wharves, but Queenstown at the mouth of the harbor is the port of call for ocean-going steamers. The city exports butter, eggs, bacon, grain, and live stock. Irish friezes and whiskey are made here. The population of the city and suburbs is not far from 100,000. Dublin is largely English. Belfast is practically Scotch, but Cork, the seat of the County Cork, is considered a genuinely Irish city. See Ireland
Cork the outer layer of bark of the cork oak
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the outer layer of bark of the cork oak. It is a very elastic tissue consisting of thin-walled nearly cubical cells. It does not peel off, but often contains long clefts. It forms a protection to the subjacent cells from injurious influences.
Cork FOSSIL, a kind of mineral
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FOSSIL, a kind of mineral, a species of asbestos.
Cork EARL OF. Real name
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
EARL OF. Real name, R. Doyle, an English artist.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's noted in 1921 that Cork city had seen "disorders during the Sinn Fein uprising of 1920" and that Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney had died on hunger strike; within weeks of that account the city centre was burned by British forces in December 1920, and Cork became part of the Irish Free State in 1922. Queenstown, the ocean liner port described by both accounts, reverted to its Irish name Cobh, the Haulbowline naval dockyard is now the base of the Irish Naval Service, and Queen's College is University College Cork; the population, put at about 100,000 in both entries, is now over 220,000. On the material, Aiton's 1910 picture of hand-cut bungs and linoleum has narrowed: Portugal alone now supplies roughly half the world harvest, machine punching is universal, and cork stoppers have lost ground to screwcaps and plastic closures while gaining uses in gaskets, flooring and spacecraft heat shielding. Collier's "cork fossil, a species of asbestos" is a reminder of how differently asbestos was regarded before it was identified as a carcinogen and banned across the EU in 2005.
Written for this edition, 2026.