The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-11

the volatile solvents This mother solution
IS kept In large. tightly closed steel tank,
from which II IS conveyed through pipes 10
tho artificial silk worms. The latter con-
sist OF a number of fine tubes having in-
Vulnerable taps, capped With glass tubes,
each provided with capillary bore not
larger than the eye OF this finest needle
Hydraulic pressure forces the fluid or jelly
in q fine stream from each tiny nozzle THIS
stream, after rising TO the height OF about
one inch from the tap becomes solid Ma
ment or silken thread owing to evapora-
ton. The flament is then caught by an at
tendant and wound dpon bobbin.
A machine with a hundred noZzles, each
spinning its thread, does the work OF one
hundred silk worms. and occupies quite
small space. AS long as the tank is kept
supplied with the cellulose, gummy solu-
ton, and the reels or bobbins keep reyolv-
ing, so long the mechanical works continue
10 spin the ARTIFICIAL silk. The threads may
be made so exceedingly fine that they can
scarcely be seen BY the naked eye, and IN
actual practice the filaments are not quite
as coarse as those of natural silk. The arti-
fetal raw silk is dyed and woven precisely
as in the natural silk; ii has soft silk
texture, and shows fine gloss. The wear
ing quality of the fabric has not been fully
tested as yet, but 1t has already been
proved 10 be far more durable than the
weighted silks so commonly worn at the
present day.
One advantage of the artificial silk pro-
cess assuming that the manufacture shall
prove commercially successfully Will be 10
discourage the adultsration of the silk thus
made with salts of tin, earths, ETC., in order
10 dQQ weight. another economic duNdH-
tage will be that thousands of acres OF
land now devoted only to raising mulberry
trees to feed the silk worms, which have an
unlimited appetite for this food, can be put
to better use in growing food products in
China, Japan, India, etc.
This brief description Of the manufacture
of artificial silk shows that it is a delicate
process; but this does not necessarily con-
denim ii. There are many commercially sue
cessful industries which are quite as intri-
cate and delicate as this. 1t is easy enough
to initiate in a way the production of an
artificial silk thread by touching the sur
face of q pot of glue with the finger and
quickly Withdrawing it. A long, fine fla
ment of hardened glue will quickly be
formed which will finally break away from
tremely thin and light. Should the manu-
facture of artificial silke prove financially
successful on large scale IN England it
would undoubtedly be introduced into this
country and it would probably soon there
after cut a large hole in the customs re-
ceipts from imported silk, Various attempts
have been made from time to time to start
the industry of raising silk worms in this
country on an extensive scale, and about
a silk worm culture craze developed in this
vicinity. The mulberry tree flourishes in
this climate and it was once thought that
fortunes might easily be made in this par
ticular industry. There is still standing
near Chestnut hill long. rambling build
ing and group of houses known as the
'Cocoonery," where an enthusiastic pioneer
in the business established himself and at
tracted great attention about forty years
ago; but the enterprise failed. The indus
trial conditions in this country are not fa-
vorable to the production of silk from silk
worms; but we have the raw material in
unlimited quantity suitable for the produce
ton of artificial silk by chemical treatment.
We also have the mechanical ingenuity
which will doubtless quickly improve upon
the original methods of manufacture.
From the authentic reports of progress all
ready made in Europe in the commercial
development of this very ingenious and
novel process of artifcially making silk we
do not think that it is at all outside of the
region of possibilities that the United States
will a few years hence become an exporter
of such fabrics to Europe, just we are
now exporting steel rails to England and
tin plate to Wales.