The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-10-28
JUfE.
Interesting Letter From Prof. Wa
terhOuSe.
Washington University.
st. Louis. Sept. Il, lSS2.

this city on the 18th of September.
The mechanical conditions under
which the experiment was tried
was imperfect. The machine was
was operated by an engine that
was AT the same time driving all
the machinery of a large workshop.
Hence, ii was impossible to deter
mine the amount of power required
20 actuate the iute machine.
The jute was homegrown. 1t
was raised near Brookhaven, Miss,
on the plantation of Mr.. G. Meme
las. AS the jute was cut before il
was mature the stalks were rather
small and short. Their length
ranged from five to seven feet.
The stalks were entirely green and
untrimmed. They were put into
the machine with all their branch.
es and leaves on, just as they came
from the plantation. The jute
stalks weighed 81 pounds. They
were run through the machine in
thirty minutes. The available pull.
leys of the machine shop were so
adjusted as to afford insufficient
power. 1t was deemed unwise for
the sake of one experiment to in-
cur the expense of alterations.
Not more than one-third of the
feeding platform was at any time
filed. Ii the power had been ade-
quate the time consumed in pass
ing the stalks through the machine
would not have exceeded ten min.
utes. After the operation the
blades of the machine were found
to be free from gum. An ingenious
and effective application of water
jets obviated a difficulty that has
heretofore been very embarrass.
ing. The separation of the fibre
from the ligueous stem was com
plete. Hardly a silver of wood
remained among the ribbons of
fibre; and wherever u piece was
found It was wholly detached and
easily shaken out. The machine
delivered the fibre straight and
untangled, while travelling belts
carried away the woody fragments
and loft them in a heap by them
selves. The cighty.seven pounds
of stalks yielded twenty-seven
pounds of green fibre. A pound
and a half of green fibre were
found in the refuse, but this waste
consisted almost entirely of the
fibre of the branches. These were
so short that the fibre was MOI
long enough to reach from th,
crushing to the separating rollers
and therefore was carried through
and deposited with the refuse
The machine, of course, only re
moves the wood from the fibre
The process of retting is still nee
essary before the fibre Is read,
for commercial use. Three exper
iments IN retting were tried. Tive
of them were conducted in the Ia
boratory of Washington Univer
sity. Fourteen and one.forutl
pounds of green fibre stepped in ;
boiling bath of chemicals yielded
two and one-fourth pounds of dir,
fibre. Ten aud half pounds o
green fibre, treated by the sam'
method, produced one pound ant
a half of dry fibre. The time spen
in this process was exactly sil
hours. A specimen Of the fibr'
prepared in this way is herewith
enclosed. The fibres are stronl
and thoroughly separated, bu
somewhat darker than those ret
ted in water. Two and one-fourtl
pounds of green fibre were place.
in water, but the process of ret
ting is not yet finished. All of til,
steps described in these variou
tests were taken under my per
, sonal supervision. These fact
will enable you to judge for your
selves of the commercial value o
Mr.. Smiths machine. 1t is yer,
, gratifying to me, after ten year
of urgent appeal to inventors, tha
one of my own townsmen has dc
,, vised a machine that is an import
ant advance towards the solution
! of a great industrial problem.
Mr.. Smiths invention simplitie
the process ofpreparation. Hereto
; fore water-retting required pond
and rivers for the submersion 0
> the unwieldy mass of stalks. Blu
, Mr.. Smiths machine SO greatly rt
duces the bulk that the fibre SCI
arated from the wood can easil
, be treated in watts. Water seem
: to be the most economical solven
of the gum which holds the iut
fibres together. But water wi
do its work as cheaply in the I'm
ted States as in India. Thong
, chemistry may yet invent more e
q n \ Al