The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1897-04-13
FROM WOOD FIBER.
A NEW PROCESS OF MAKING
ARTIFICIAL SILK.
The Product Is by No Means an
Inferior Article - The silk
Worms Methods Are
Closely Copied.
HE year 1897 will be a BILE to
boast of an innovation II otably


manufacture into the United States.
Wood-common or garden timber =
will be the material from which thu
| new silk is to come. and our sisters.
uunts and cousins, our mothers, wive,
and daughters, will no longer have IL
depend for their bost gowns upon the
health of the mulberry eating silk;
worm. In point OF fact, the fashiot
prophets are already limiting that tn
cheapness and widespread use of tn
artificial fabric may have the effect o.
attiring tho masculine element, thu
handles and gallants, in the silken
garments of their far-away forebears.
Artificial silk making in this country
during the year 1897 lie, apparently, az
assured fact. Already in France anil
Engls nd the process is being tried
with success. For years, however,
what is now an accomplished fact wat
looked upon as the modern inventors
| philosophers stone. Scientists by the
hundred spent fruitless years in efforts
| to manufacture wood silk. At last,
| where so many other and greater men
had failed, Count Hilliare do Chardon.
| net discovered the secret The story
of M. de O. ardonnet's invention is al
most romance. The worthy count,
born in the silk-growing districts of
the Rhone, became graduate of the
Partisan Ecole Polytechnique, and
eventually n knight of the Legion OF
Honor. This accomplished, he retired
bn his laurels to his native Lyonnais,
where he spent many days in philo.
.ophical medi.ations, On a certain
| sullry afternoon, while sitting in his
bark and carelessly munching strip
Of bark from one of the trees, he
noticed the tibrous character of tho
crap of white rind. From this, n
rapid train of thought brought him to
| The crude idea of the subsequent great
invention. Thereafter the count shook
off his habits of slotb. abandoned his
woodland sicstas, and devoted his life
TO the procuring OF silk from wood.
| Obstacles in shoals barred his way, but
| The count was q man of courage aud
perseverance. After years OF labor
he succeeded in perfecting an inven-
lion which is really mechanical and
chemical marvel.
The process by which wood is con-
verted into silk fibre is q very inter-
esting one. \ number of different.
kinds OF wood may be used, white pine
or spruce being best adapted to tho
purpose, but it is also said that the
cottonwood, so common in the middle
| West, win make excellent silk. The
wood is first ground TO n pulp in the
usual manner, and the pulp is macer-
nted in solution of nitric and sui
phuric acid. The acids are then
squeezed out, and the pulp Is i'm.
mersed in watts of water, where it is
left until thoroughly cleansed. After
the water is drawn off and the muss
has partially dried, it is put into a
huge revolving cylinder containing al
cohol aud ether, and is LETT to the in
finence of these substances for some
hours. From L ere it is passed through
filter, ahd comes ont as sort of
heavy gum which closely resembles
colodion.
1t is from this gum like substance
that the silk is directly produced. and
the spinning process, which comes
next, is perhaps the most interesting
of all. because in it the silk worm hai
been closely copied. The gum or col:
lodion is forced into pipes which run
along beside the spinning machines.
From these pipes are suspended n
number of small glass tubes, the aper-
lures in which are not moro than half
or quarter as large as that in tho
tube of an ordinary house thermome!
ter. The pneumatic pressure forces tho
semi-liquid substance into these glass
tubes, which are the artificial substi.
tute for the silk worm. The spinner
touches her finger to the opening in
the lower end of the glass tubes, the
substance adheres to it, and she draws
out filament as fine as that which is
spun by the silk worm. Contact with
the air hardens the filaments at once,
and they are guided directly into the
bobbin and spun off In the same man
ner as the natural product. 1t takes
from six to ten OF the small flame nts,
according to thoir fineness, 10 make G
single strand Of silk fibre. This is
done by simply guiding tho necessary
number of flaments to the came bob
bin, and then pressing them together
ut point between the tubes aud tn
bobbin. Not only do the strands al
here at that point, but they oontinu,
TO join there rs the reel moves on. Tin.
thread is kept of the uniform thick
ness by the openings in the gla.
tubes, which are all of one size.
As the thread is reeled of from th,
glass tubes it is Of light straw color
and looks exactly as silk fiber does a
this stage Of its manufacture. Blu
there are certain pcoaliarities abou
this wood pulp silk which require still
further processes before it is finished
In the first place, the fiber is rendered
very inhammablc by the chemica
changes 1t has undergone aud must bt
denitrrfied before it can DO sa'ely
handled. Then comes the final anC
important process OF imparting thc
luster, which IS done by ironing. Tn,
thread is passed over revolving rollers
which stretch and iron it in much til,
same way that the big machines in
steam laundry iron your collars ant
cuffs. The artificial silk takes on the
colors of the dye rs easily and bril-
liantly ms the natural kind. and il
bundle OF the artificial fber is place,
beside the product of the silk worm j
is impossible TO distinguish one from
the other. When woven into fabrlc
it IS, Of course, equally impossible {,
tell the difference. Artificial silk i'm
| fOrtod from ENGLAND hoe oIroo.1,, t,oo,