Evening star., 1897-02-06
FROM WOOD FIBER
A New Method Of Making Arti-
fetal Silk.
IT is said TO Be A SUCCESS
The Product by No Means an
Inferior Article.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE

w IL AT II AS BEEN DON Il
Written for The Evening Star.
The year just launched from the slips of
Time will be able to boast of an innova-
ton notably interesting to the feminine
section of the communicate wit, the in
PRODUCTION of artificial silk manufacture
into the United States. Wood-common or
garden timber-will be the material from
which the new silk is to come, and our
sisters, aunts and cousins. our mothers,
wives and daughters, will no longer have
to depend for their best gowns upon the
health of the mulberry-eating sflkworm
In point of fact the fashion prophets are
already limiting that the cheapness and
widespread use of the artificial fabric may
have the effect Of attiring the masculine
element. the dandies and gallants, in the
siiken garments Of their far-away forbears
The Discovery of the Secret. -.
Artificial silk making in this country dur
ing the year 1897 Is. apparently. an assured
fact. Already in France and England the
process is being tried with success. For
years. however, what is now an accom-
plished fact was looked upon as the mod,
ern inventors philosophers stone,TdSeiAp1
tlsts by the hundred spent fruitleSs, Years.
IN enorts to manufacture wood SILK At last.
Where 50 many other and greateripep,h had:
Ialled, Count Hilliare de ChardonReto = dis
covered the secret. The story Of M.-de
Chardonnets invention is almost a. ro-
nance The worthy count, born in the
slik-growing districts of the Rhone, became
graduate OF the Partisan Ecole Polytech-
n1que, and eventually a knight of the
Legion Of Honor. This accomplished. he
retired on his laurels to his native Lyon
nals, where he spent many days in philo-
M ifof innc A.,
afternoon. while sitting In his park and
careiessly munching a strip of bark from
one of the trees he noticed the fbrous
character of the scrap of white rind. From
to the crude idea of the subsequent great
invention. Thereafter the count shook Off
his habits of sloth, abandoned his wood
land siestas. and devoted his life to the
shoals barred his way, but the count was
man of courage and perseverance. After
years of labor he succeeded in perfecting
an invention which is really a mechanical
and chemical marvel.
A Certain Method.
The product of NJ. de Chardonnets ma
chinery is pronounced by the experts to be
"a beautiful silk. equaling In brilliancy,
fneness and softness of texture that of the
silkworm." In 1891 the count founded a l
company to work his scheme, and already
d
success. Great opposition naturally came
from the millions of silkworm cultivators
In central France, who viewed the new in
novation much as the hand-loom spinners
OF England looked upon the spinning jenny.
But the silk buyers were in Chardonnet's
favor. For centuries they had been depen-
dent upon the grub and its state Of health
generally precarious. for their silk crop.
Now, when one remembers that the silk
worm suffers from five principal and at
least twenty minor diseases. any one or all
OF which may ravage 1t every season, the
notorious Irish potato harvest would seem
surety itself in comparison with the natur-
at industry. Under NJ. de Chardonnet's pro-
cess there Is no fear of attacks of muscar-
dine, pebrine, flacherie. outline gras-
serie (the five leading ailments of the
grub.( The amount Of the product depends
solely upon the capacity of the machinery.
Accordingly the dealers enthusiastically
aided Chardonnet, the big works at Besan-
con were erected the silk growers Of Lyon
nais and the Rhone valley will probably
have to shut up shop and the overworked
grub gets well-earned holiday.
1t would seem as though, If there was
one thing beyond another which 1t would
be impossible to produce from wood, that
thing would be the lustrous and simmer
Ing fabric known as silk. And yet 1t Is
claimed that in this field mans art can sur
pass nature. and that he can produce silk
which is brighter. cheaper and more en-
during than that spun from the cocoon.
The process by which wood Is converted
Into silk fiber Is a very interesting OF e. A
number Of different kinds of wood may be
used, white pine or spruce being best
adapted to the purpose. but 1t is also said
that the cottonwood so common in the
middle west. will MAKE excellent silk. The
W ood Is first ground to pulp in the usual
manner. and the pulp Is macerated in a So
luton of nitric and sulphuric acid. The
acids are then squeezed out, and the pulp
Is Immersed in vats Of water, where it is
left until thoroughly cleansed. After the
water Is drawn of and the mass has par
TALLY dried, 1t is put into a huge revolving
cylinder containing alcohol and ether, and
Is left to the influence of these substances
Tor some hours. From here it Is passed
through filter, and comes out as a sort Of
heavy gum which closely resembles COL
lodion.
The Process.
1t Is from this gum-like substance that
the silk is directly produced. and the spin
ming process. which comes next, Is perhaps
the most interesting of all, because in 1t
the silk worm has been closely copied. The
gum or collodion Is forced into pipes which
run along beside the spinning machines.
From these pipes are suspended a number
OF small glass tubes, the apertures in which
are not more than a half or a quarter as
large as that in the tube of an ordinary
hCuse Thermometer. The pneumatic pres
sure forces the semi-liquid substance into
these glass tubes which are the artificial
substitute 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 tie sf1ktf
worm. Contact with the air hardens thesl
at once, and they are guided dr..
rectly into the bobbin and spun off in the
same manner as the natural product 1t
takes from six to ten Of the small fila
ments. according to their fineness, to make
a single strand Of silk fiber. This is done
ey simply guiding the necessary number of
hlaments to the same bobbin, and then
pl essing them together at a point between
the tubes and the bobbin Not only do the