The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1851-09-11


The state in which it leaves the growers
hands, with its bulk partially reduced by
mechanical means,) for two or three hours
in a weak solutions of caustic soda. The
action of the soda dissolves completely the
resnOus and other substances of the plant
while, by its combination with the olesgiri-
Ous matters that it contains, it produces a
soapy kind Of liquid, which removes at the
: same time all the coioring matter from the
pIaDt--leaving it, unlike flax stepped in the
ordinary mode, perfectly free from all stain
and impdrify, aud thereby facilitating great
!y the after processes of bleaching or dye
ing. whether in the yarn or in the finished
cloth. .e1..
Passing from the spec,nens illustrative
OF The processes OF preparing the flax for
the linen manufacture, we next come To the
interesting series of samples showing the
mode by which the flax is prepared for the
cotton spinner. The first step necessary in
this process is the reduction OF the fax fiber
TO length adapted for spinning on cotton
mae hinery. These required lengths are OBJ
taiued !y very nicely adjusted piece of
mechanism, sI,nilar Ia its principle to the
ordinary chatf-cuItiug machines. II is here
that the greatest accuracy is required, as, il
any of the tibers exceed the required length,
the yarn produced will ''bite' in the rollers
and present the appearance of being "over-
wOrked,n and will also be unequal IN
strength. The flax may be cut for this pur-
pose either in the straw as il comes from
The field, with its bulk partially reduced, or
after it has undergone lhe boiling process.
But in order to spin fax successfully upon
cotton machinery, something more is re-
qulred than the mere reduction Of the length
of the fiber. After having undergone the
boiling or sleeping process, and when The
glutinous matter which binds them together
is removed, the fbers, however fine, are
still harsh, coarse, and unelastc when COM
pared with cotton; and the quantity in
length of ynrn obtained from equal weights
of flax and cotton would he so greatly in
favor of the latter, as completely TO pre-
clude the possibility of the former being
substituted for il. For instance, one pound
Of fair bowed Georgia cotton, spun into
SO'S, will yield 25, 200 yards while one
pound OF flax spun into ''line'' of n number
about eqn,l to that of the cotton yarn would
produce but 81 900 yards, giving an advan-
tage Of 4 1000 yards in the pound to cotton
over flax. ln addition to this, the warn
would he produced from the raw cotton by
cotton machinery at an expense Of less than
+, three pence, while that of the fax would be
about ten-pence the pound when prepared
by the fax machinery. This is a difficult,
which has hitherto LAIN at the root OF every
attempt to spin flax successfully and profit
ably upon cotton machinery. minutes
attention, however, to the structure of the
flax fiber suggested To the Chevalier Claus
sen, mode by which it might be success
fully overcome. The fiber of the flax js
cellular, and is formed by the union of
bundles Of smaller fibers which may be com
pared to the Roman fasces. If by any pro-
cess the character of the fiber could ka al
tered-if the minute, hsir-ike, cellular
substance could be further divided il is
obvious that the required increase in leug,h
and diminution of bulk could be obtained.
Blu, how WAS this feat TO he accomplished? !?
Hair-sphtting, even upon small scale, has
always been considered as partakng some
what of the impracticablr; and to accom-
plish this process upon large srale-to
split this fine hair-lIke substance by hun
dred-weights at a time, and TO do it at
trifIng cost-would appear to he beyond
the bounds of possibility. The feat has,
however, been accomplished by the Cheva-
iier Ciau~sen-and what is more, the result
is effected instantaneously. We have al
ready stated that in the processes required
for the preparation Of the flax for the fax
spinner, il was boiled in n weak solution Of
caustic soda. We will now suppose that,
instead of staying the process at this stage
for the fiax-spinner, it should be required to
carry it further, and to prepare the fiber for
the cOtton-splnner. The flax would be tn
ken ont of The vat containing the solution of
causlic soda, washed, and placed in anoth-
er containing a solution of carbonatcsS of
snIn t.,1 4, 4,
ward put luto bath containing a weak So
luton of sulphurc or other acid. The hol-
low cylinders OF the fibers will, by the laws
of capillary attraction, speedily become
changed with the acidulated solution in
which they were placed. The ncid, com
ing in contact with the soda which The f.
bers had taken up in The first and second So
lutOns, will generate carboUic gas, the ex-
pansive force Of which will split or divide
the 6bers into q vast number of ribbon like
filamsnts, which, examined under The mi
croscope, will present all the appearance Of
raw cotton. w hen carried and spun, il will
he found that The produce Of yarn Of the
pound OF flax, thus treated, instead Of be-
ing less in quantity than that of cotton, will
he considerably more-the difference vary
ing according to the character of the fiber
operated upon, and the strength of the ma
terials employed. At meeting of the
Council of the Royal Agricultural Society,
held in February last, Professor Way, the
consulting chemist, of the society, showed
this very beautiful and simple process
L be following is the account given of it by
Mr.. Hudson, the Secretary of the Society.
in his report Of the proceedings of the meet
ing:
Although we have long been practically fa-
miiar with the expansive effects Of aeriior,n
fluids suddenly diseng gagged chemically from
an apparently solid aud inert substance like
gunpowder, either IN firearms or the blast
ing of rocks, and with their elastic recoil
when released from the pressure of cOnden-
sa,ion, as in the air-gun or the liquid gases
of DR.. Faraday, we were not prepared for
SO beautiful an instance Of the application
of this principle as the one Chevaiier Claus
sen has given us in the splitting Of vegeta-
bic finer, by conveying into its interstices
the carbonic acid gas concealed in conden-
sation and chemical alliance with soda, and
then setting it free by the addition of acid,
which brenks off that alliance by its own SUI
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