The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-11-11
THE CULTIVATION OF JUTE.
\ successful Separating Machine ut
Last Invented.

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY,
ST. LOUIS, Sept. Is, 1882.
Messrs. G. Nfenelas and Jas. NJ. Putnam:
Dear Sirs-The jute machine Of Mr..
Il. Albee Smith was tested in this city
on the 18th of September. The me-
chanical conditions under which the
experiment was tried were imperfect.
The machine was operated by an en-
gine that was at the same time driving
all the machinery ofa large workshop.
Hence it was impossible to determine
the amount of power required to actu-
ate the jute machine.
The jute was homegrown. 1t was
raised in BrookhaveD, Miss, on the
plantation of c. Menelas. As the jute
was cut before it was matured, 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 branches and
leaves out, just as they came from the
plantation. The jute stalks weighed
eighty-seven pounds. They We're run
through the machine in thirty min
utes. The available pulleys of the ma
SLlh0 SAOP "SAO 81 " gu
ford insufficient power. 1t was deem
ed unwise, for the sake of a single ex-
pertinent, to incur the expense of alter
ations. Not more than one.third of the
feeding platform was at any time fill
ed. If the power had been adequate,
the time consumed in passing the
stalks through the machine would not
have exceeded ten minutes. After the
operation, the blades of the machine
were found to be free from gum. An
ingenious and effective application Of
water,jets obviates a difficulty that has
heretofore been very embarrassing.
The separation Of the fibre from the
ligneous stem was complete. Hardly
a silver of wood remained among the
ribbons of fibre, and whenever a piece
was found it was wholly detached and
easily shaken out. The machine de-
livered the fibre straight and untan-
gled, while travelling belts carried
them in a heap by themselves.
The 81 pounds of stalks yielded q
pounds of green fibre. A pound and
one-half of green fibre were found in
the refuse, but this waste consisted al
most entirely of the fibre Of tho bran
ches. These branches were so short
that the fibre was not long enough 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 necessary be-
fore the fibre is ready for commercial
use.
Three experiments in retting were
;ried. Two of them were conducted in
the laboratory of Washington Univer-
sity. Fourteen and one-fourth pounds
of green fibre, STEPPED in a boiling
bath of chemicals, yielded two and
onc-fourth younds os dry fibre. Ten
and one-half pounds of green fibre,
one pound and one-ha'f of dry fibre.
The time spent in this process was ex.
actiy six hours. A specimen of the
fibre prepared in this way is herewith
inclosed. The fbres are strong and
thoroughly separated, but somewhat
darker than those rettcd in water.
Two and one fourth pounds of green
fibre were placed in water, but the pro-
cess Of retting is not yet finished. All
of the steps described in th"se various
tests were taken under my personal
supervision. These fac's will enable
you to judge for yourselves of the COM
mercia1 value of Mr.. Smiths machine.
1t is very gratifying to me, after 10
years of urgent appeal to inventors,
that one of my own townsmen has de-
vised 4 machine that is an important
advance toward the solution of 4 great
industrial problem. Mr.. Smiths in
vention simplifies the processes of pre-
paratiOn.
Heretofore ater-retting required
ponds and rivers for the submersion OF
the unwieldy moss of stalks. But Mr..
Smiths machine SO greatly reduces the
bulk that the fibre separated from the
wood can easily be treated in vats.
Water seems to be the most economi-
cal solvent of the gum which holds the
jute tibres together.
But water will do its work as cheap
ly in the United States as in India.
Though chemistry may yet invent
more effective methods, at present the
cheapest way of separating the fibres
is an immersion Of the jute in watts Of
hot water. This process, impractica-
BILE when the whole stalks are handled
is readily feasible when only the fibre
is treated. Ponds and rivers cannot be
heated, but va's can be, and an equa-
BILE temperature of any required de-
gree can be maintained.
Mr.. Smiths machine obviatcs Il seri-
l