The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-22

because the concessions which have been
secured specially stipulate that Continon-
tai makers OF the artificial SILK are not 10
send their yarn to England. while the In
ternational patent laws WILL now that the
rights for Great Britain have been bought
up, secure that henceforth neither the
yarn nor the goods manufactured there
from shall be imported here. Thus, al
though the original idea comes from
France the industry, so far as this coun-
try Is concerned, will be essentially Brit
ish. and viii be carried on without FEAR
of foreign competition on our own shores.
A the present time our imports or art
icles manufactured from silk are so extern
sive that last year they amounted TO to-
$1,000 and those of raw and thrown silk
TO Al, $4,000 or a total of I'll, 10000; but now
that industrial ingenuity has shown that
the silkworm can be supplanted by any
sort of timber, there Is thought to be
good prospect of distributing a good deal
OF the money among our own workers IN
stead of sending II abroad.
The way in which wood pulp can be con-
verted into SILK yarn viii be best explain
ed by "a brief account of the process as II is
already al work at Besancon. a certain
economy of labor Is practiced by obtain
ing the wood when II is in its paper or
Cardboard condition, Enough waste cot
ton may also be used, and the first opera
ton Is to maserate IL in a solution Of nitric
and sulphuric acid. After this the acids
are squeezed out by a hydraulic press, and
the stuff Is thoroughly cleansed in large
watts OF water. II IS then partially dfled,
and afterward left for some hours in re-
volving cylinder containing alcohol and
ether.
After this II Is passed through a filter,
which II leaves looking very much like
thick gum, and IS next put into cylinders,
from which IL Is forced by pneumatic pres
sure into pipes passing into the spinning
department Here the machinery looks
like that employed in Lancashire spinning
sheds, except that one of the pipes referred
to runs along each set of machines These
pipes are supplied with, small taps, fixed
close together and each zap has a glass
tube about the size of a gas burner, at
the extreme point OF which is an aperture
so minute that the flaments passing
through no fewer than ten of them would
be required TO make up the thickness of
human hair. These glass tubes are known
as glass silk-worms," and some 1900 of
them are in use in the factory.
The effect of the pneumatic pressure in
the cylinders referred to above Is TO force
the liquid matter not only along the iron
tubes, but Also when the small taps are
turned on, through each OF the glass SILK
worms. II appears there Is a scarcely per-
ceptible glObule. This a girl touches with
her thumb, to which ii adheres, and she
draws out an almost invisible hlament,
which she passes through the guides and
onto the bobbn. Then, one by one, she
takes eight, ten or twelve other such fla
ments. according TO the thickness of the
thread to be made, and passes them
through the same guides and onto the
same bObbin. This done, she presses them
together with her thumb and forefinger
at a certain point between the glass silk
worms ana the guides. Not emily do they
adhere, but rhenceforward the nlaments
VIII continue to meet and adhere at that
point, however long the machinery may be
kept running. In this way the whole
frame will soon be set at work, the
threads not breaking until the bobbin is
full, when they break automatically,
while they are all OF a uniform thickness.
The remaining processes are the same
as in the case OF ordinary silk, except in
two respects. In the first place, the arti-
fetal silk has to be denitrifed, so as TO
render II non-infiammable after the chem
ical processes 1t has undergone; and, in
the next place, the hanks are placed on
two revolving rollers, which stretch and
also iron" them, producing that high
degrees of lustre which IS one of the chief
characteristics of the artificial silk. The
new product Is said TO take dye much
more readily than the natural silk and
certainly the colors and the extreme rich
ness OF some specimens that have been
on view in London seemed to leave nothing
to be desired In this respect.
The chief difference In appearance be-
tween the natural and the artificial silk is
in the greater ulster of the latter; though
il Will be found also that II a single thread
of each Is taken the artificial win break"
differently from the natural, and has only
about 50 per cent. of its strength.
The success already secured by the new
process in France is such that the intro
duction of the industry into Lancashire
is expected TO produce something like
a revolution in the conditions of trade
there, not only by bringing into existence
a new occupation, but also by finding more
work for a good deal Of the weaving ma
chinery that is now only partially en-
ployed, while the wearing OF silk" or
what only experts will be able to distin-
guish from silk, will be rendered possible
in the case of a vast number Of people
to whom the product of the slkworm is
more or less prohibitiVe luxury.
All the same. there will probably be some
sentimental regret that the silkwOrm it.
self, which has played so important part
in the clothing of the peoples of the west
ern world since the middle of the sixth
century, should thus run the danger of
being supplanted by liquefied timber
though the discovery that clothing can be
made out of wood pulp is, after all, no
more remarkable than that which has
made by the Persian missionaries who
visited China 1900 years ago and learned
to their surprise, that garments could be
made from the cocoons of a caterpillar.