Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1897-04-16
FINDS SILK IN SPRUCE.
Tree Takes the worms Place.


New YORK, March 27.-"You see this
necktie which l am wearing" said Q
prominent physician today to friend
what do you suppose it lisp"
"Why, silk, of course" was the an
swer.
"Yes, it is silk, but not made from
the cocoon of a silk worm"
What is it, then?"
This necStie was made from q
spruce tree, and l leave it to you If ii
be not the equal of anything of similar
texture you ever saw"
The tie was apparently black silk
with the softness of that fabric ano
with body as heavy as any silk from
the Lyons looms. 1t had sheen to il
which made it especially lustrous.
what do you suppose the value Of
this necktie is?' asked the physician.
Then, upon his friend admitting his
inability to estimate, the physician re-
piled:
Three cents"
Eighteen months ago a French eX'
perimerter succeeded, after nearly
twenty years study, in perfecting a
process of making silk from vegetable
fiber, somewhat after the manner that
paper is made from wood pulp. He
argued that the silkworm in eating and
assimilating the leaf of the mul berry
tree, obtained the foundation Of the
silk from vegetable fiber
He made experiments and endeavor-
ed for long time to 6nd the particu-
lar chemical process that the original
fiber went through before it was spun
as silk through the loom. He discover.
ed that after the silk had been sepa.
rated it needed the chemical action OF
a certain form of glucose, and this
having been discovered by him, he
used the spruce tree as the one which
most readily lent itself to the
treatment.
The tree is crushed, and the result.
ing fiber is mixed with the glucose
and then placed in deep metal tubs.
On the top of the mixture is placed a
disk, somewhat like the end of steam
piston. This disk is forced down upon
the glucose and wood fiber by hydraul-
ic power, until it is compressed into a
very neavy gum. About the bottom of
the cylinders, or tubs, there are tubes,
at the end of which are tiny glass nip
piles, with exceedingly small apertures
to permit the combination within the
tubes to be forced out. Under the
weight of the hYdraulicly forced head
the mixture is sent out of these glass
nipples in fibers resem bling silk, so fine
that the girls who are employed to at
terd this portion of the process are OBJ
liged to wear highly magnifying glasses
in order to distinguish when any of the
fbers break.
The material then is strong, but it is
carried oyer electrically heated drums,
where the ether and the alcohol are
dried out of it. Then it is plunged in
to iced water. The fiber then is taken
out and dried and sent to the looms on
a spool, such as is used in the ordinary
process of making silk.
Extensive works have already been
established in Lyons and in England.
and week ago some English capital
lists arrived here and are now at the
with the intention of estab-
fishing a plant near Paterson, n. j.
The inventor asserts that the cost of
making silk by this process is one-hfth
that Of the spinning from the silk worm
cocoon. The fibre takes dye as readily
as the other and can be woven as Sc
curely and as rapidly. 1t is claimed
also that the tensile strength of the
fabric is as great, if not greater, than
the real silk. The inventor also de-
clares that old newspapers, after they
have been cleansed of the printers
ink, may be made into silk as readily
as spruce tree.