Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-06-13
STORY OF AN INDUSTRY.
How Pine Bagging Came to Be Brough
Into General Use.

How Pine Bagging Came to Be Brought
Into General Use.
When the pine bagging syndicate
gave out its prospectus for the conflict
with the jute trust, pine bagging was
spoken of as the happiest and timei-
est kind of an invention. But it was
merely an adaptation. the lettering Of
an already. manufactured article, a
change of its form in response to a
demand of trade. The patents under
which the mills of the syndicate are to
work are patents for the Improvement
of a process in use for several years.
Pine straw has had a commercial
value for ten years or thereabout
What is spoken of as straw" is moth
ing more nor less than needles of the
pine tree. 1t was in the latter part of
1879 that it was first made use of COM
mercially. The earliest product was a
long fiber made by a patent process,
and upholsterers used it for carriage
cushions principally. Perhaps there
is faint survival Of this use in the
dainty pine pillows of to-day. The
straw was profitable to its manufact-
urers, as at its market price of six
cents per pound it sold readily in a
small way.
But in its course through the mill.
from needle to fiber. the pine straw lost
nearly seventy-fvep per cent in weight.
This very soon resulted in the building
of factory on the Neuse river at
Riverdale, n. c., in the heart of the
pine forests. The company how
ever, was interested in the man.
ufacture of other articles and
retained its Northern factory. But
very soon there came business troubles
at this Northern end. The Clare
Fiber Company failed. The little fac
tory on the Neuse river was shut
down, and then there was a complete
stoppage in the manufacture of pine
straw products. During the period of
manufacture at Riverdale it had been
found that another article might be
produced. 1t was discovered that the
oil of the needle-pinoleum, or oil OF
pine, as it was carled-was of use in
the treatment of infammatory rheuma-
tism. Some of it was bottled at the
time of discovery for private use. but
publicly it has never been pushed.
Thrown out of employment by the
shutting down of the Riverdale fac
tory the superintendent. Mr.. Scott,
began a series of experiments for the
improvement of the process. In these
experiments he interested capitalist
of Wilmington, n. c., Mr.. William
Latimer, now one of the proprietors
of the Acme Manufacturing Company.
and hence one of the five members oil
the present syndicate. For a long
time the experiments came to no re.
suit, but finally, however, was patent.
ed a much improved process. Then
the Acme Company was established in
1885. This was composed of Mr..
William Gilchrist. Mr.. G. Ii. Smith
and Mr.. Latimer. The fiber was again
produced and put upon the Northern
market The factory was rlaced at g
little settlement on the Cape Fear
river. not far from Wilmington, and
known as Cronly.
About eighteen months ago it was
discovered that the fiber might be spun
into threads and the threads might be
woven into fabric. BY this process
kind of mating was produced, which,
though of rough surface and loosely
woven, was well received in this city.
The mating proved of use when laid
in such places as hotel halls, stair.
cases, and the aisles of cars. When,
within the last year. the jute combina.
ton raised the price of bagging and
the cotton planters called out for
for the invention of some equally
available fabric the step was an easy
one from mating to bagging. 1t was
simply to weave the fabric closer and
thinner. As soon as the possibility oil
such an outlet for the product was
seen the making of mating was prac-
tically laid aside.
Something like 400, 900 yards of bag
ging were produced last year. But
the real discovery, the invention. was
that the tangled hair-like mass of fiber
might be spun into thread and then
woven into fabric. And this has been
done for a year and half.
The old plant is still standing al
Riverdale, but is not in use at present.
The original Cronly factory was burned
to the ground last fall. A new one
with capacity of 100000 yards a
year has recently been completed