The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1897-07-03
SILK FROM WOOD.
WORMS SUPERSEDED BY A PRO-
CESS OF USING SPRUCE FIBRE.
Cost of the Fabric Only One-Fifth
Of Real SILK, Yet Is as Dura-
ble-Old Papers May
Be Used.
XIX you see this necktie which I
" am wearing. said promi-
nent physician yesterday to
friend. "What do YOU

" am wearing. said a promi-
nent physician yesterday to
o friend. "What do you
suppose it is?'
''Why, silk, of course" was the re-
ply:
eyes. it is silk, but not made from
the cocoon of q silk worm"
"What is it, then!'
''This necktie was made from a
spruce tree, and I leave it to you if it
be not the equal of anything of SINH
lar texture you ever saw"
The tie was apparently of black silk,
with the softness of that fabric, and
with body as heavy as any silk from
the Lyons looms. 1t had sheen to it
which made it especially lustrous.
"What do you suppose the value of
this necktie ISL" asked the physician.
Then, upon his friend pressing his
inability to estimate it, the physician
replied
"Three cents"
It seems that about eighteen months
ago French experimenter succeeded
after nearly twenty years study, in
perfecting process of making silk
from vegetable fiber, somewhat after
the Kramer that paper is made from
wood pulp. He argued that the silk
worm, in eating and assimilating the
leaf of the mulberry tree, obtained the
foundation of the silk from vegetable
fiber.
He made experiments and en-
deavored for long time to find the
particular chemical process that the
original fiber went through before it
was spun as silk by the loom. He dis
covered that after the fiber had been
separated it needed the chemical action
of certain form of glucose, and this
having been discovered by him, he
used epruce trees as the ones which
most readily lent themselves 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 q
disk, somewhat like the end of a steam
piston. This disk is forced down upon
the glucose and wood fiber by hy-
draulic power until it is compressed
into very heavy gum. About the
bottom of the cylinders or tubs there
are tubes, at the end of which are tiny
glass nipples, with exceedingly small
apertures, to permit the combination
within the tubs to be forced out. Un-
der the weight of the ALPHABETICALLY
forced head the mixture is sont out of
these glass nipples in fibers resembling
silk, SO fine thai the girls who are en-
ployed to attend this portion of the
process are Obliged to wear highly
magnifying glasses in order to distin-
guish when any OF the fibers break.
The material then is strong, but it
is carried over electrically heated
drums, where the ether and the alcohol
are dried out of it. Then it is plunged
into iced water. The fibre then is
taken out and dried and sent to the
looms on q spool such as are 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
Waldorf, with the intention of estab-
fishing a similar plant near Paterson,
n. j.
The inventor asserts that the cost of
making silk by this process is one
fifth that of the spinning from the
silk worm cocoon. The fibre takes
dye as readily as the other and can be
woven as securely 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
declares that old newspapers, after
they have been cleansed of the print
er's ink, may be made into silk as
readily as spruce trees.-New York