Peat as a filler for aqueous phenolic adhesive compositions

Claim 1

AN AQUEOUS ADHESIVE COMPOSITION HAVING A VISCOSITY OF FROM ABOUT 50 TO 1000 MACMICHAEL #26D UNITS AT 70* F. AND COMPRISING A PHENOL-FORMALDEHYDE RESIN IN INITMATE COMBINATION WITH A FILLER COMPRISED AT LEAST PARTIALLY OF ALKALI DIGESTED PEAT IN A PROPORTION OF FROM ABOUT 10 TO 110 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF FILLER PER 100 PARTS OF SAID PHENOL-FORMALDEHYDE RESIN SOLIDS AND SUFFICIENT WATER TO PROVIDE SAID VISCOSITY TOGETHER WITH A PHENOL-FORMALDEHYDE RESIN SOLIDS CONTENT OF FROM ABOUT 5 TO 70% BY WEIGHT BASED UPON THE TOTAL WEIGHT OF THE AQUEOUS ADHESIVE COMPOSITION; SAID ALKALI DIGESTED PEAT HAVING BEEN OBTAINED BY DIGESTING 100 PARTS OF PARTICULATE PEAT WITH FROM ABOUT 10 TO 45 PARTS OF AN ALKALINE WATER-SOLUBLE DIGESTING AGENT TAKEN FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ALKALI METAL SALTS WHOSE 0.1 N AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS HAVE A PH OF GREATER THAN 9.5, ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDES AND MIXTURES THEREOF; SAID PHENOL-FORMALDEHYDE RESIN COMPRISING THE REACTION PRODUCT OF 1 MOLAR PROPORTION OF PHENOL WITH FROM 1.75 TO 3.5 MOLAR PROPORTIONS OF FORMALDEHYDE AND FROM 0.15 TO 2.5 MOLAR PROPORTIONS OF AN ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE, THE ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE BEING CHARGED IN AT LEAST 2 INCREMENTS.