The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1886-04-27
china Grn,. OF Rhea Fibre.

At meeting of the Society of Chemi-
cal Industry, held in Manchester. Eng.
on the 2nd inst. Mr.. A. Sansome, Director
OF the School of Dyeing in the Manches-
ter Technical School, read paper on
China grass or rhea fibre. He said that
after giving the matter considerable atten-
ton. and after experimenting for several
months both on green and dry stems, he
thought that if the fibre were used at all
it must be produced at price as low, if
not lower, than that of cotton therefore
the methods of treatment must not be
expensive. Division of labor would have
to be resorted to in order to accomplish
that end successfully In large planta-
tons it would be difficult to obtain the
number of persons necessary for peeling
off the bark by hand when they were
needed, while if machines were employed
large number would be required which
would mean a large outlay. he had.
therefore, devised methods for doing work
all the year round. One method he pro
poses is very simple one. The stems,
either green or half dry, or even dry. are
simply boiled with solution of carbonate
or caustic soda: the bark can then be
green stems five to ten minutes boiling
would, he said, be found necessary, while
the drier they were the longer they re-
quired to be boiled He stated that he
had on many occasions peeled many OF
the stems in his laboratory without the
least difficulty Even dry stems of several
months standing had been peeled off in
the laboratory at the School of Dyeing
after being boiled in the model boiling
her possessed by the school Specimens
were shown in the different stages, finish
ing with the bleached fibre which Mr..
Sansome had extracted, with the help OF
some of his pupils, by chemical process.
With regard to countries like India, where
the drying of the stems are impossible in
the rainy seasons, he proposed that the
stems when freshly cut should be placed
in pits or cisterns with solution of sui
phurous acid or bisulphite of soda or lime,
which could be readily and cheaply pro
duced on the spot This would prevent
fermentation. and would keep the stems
fresh until they could be treated by any
suitable process of decorGcation. Green
stems obtained by him from Kew Gardens
last summer were kept for several weeks
in the laboratory, and were at the end
found perfectly sweet. They were after
wards treated without difficulty for the
extraction of the fibre He had noticed
also that the fibre was even bleached to a
certain extent by that treatment He sug
gested method of ungumming and par
tial bleaching of the fibre at the same
time by successive boilings with alkalies,
and afterward immerslng the material in a
cold sulphurous acid or bisulphite solu
ton, this treatment to be repeated once or
twice according to the state of fibre re
CURED The bleach of China grass was,
he said, very similar to that of linen and
cotton, and the same precautions should
be taken in employing hypochlorites
bleaching, however, of China grass was
very easily effected, IN fact more easily
than in the case of flax. In all cases the
hypochlorite of lime should be avoided,
and soda or magnesia salts used instead
For securing the fibre or ungumming the
bark such agents as lime, resin, soap and
mineral acids could be used Just as well
as for other vegetable fibres. The dyeing
and printing processes offered no great
difficulties, but by dyeing the fibre before
spinning brighter colors were produced
and the fibre was more lustrous. Some
colors, however, deprived the fibre of its
luster, In conclusion, he recommended
the utilization of the wood residues of the
stems for industrial purposes. He had
made great many experiments, and con
sidered the material very suitable for
manufacture into a kind of wood-pulp
suitable for paper making and for other
purposes. By that means two products
would be obtained at the same time from
the same plant.