The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-04


to get at. Dissolved tin is a good thing
also, and there are lin mines in plenty in
the mountain districts of China; soap,
sugar, any kind of grease or oily vege-
table matter will answer and the Orient
ais are versed in a variety of eXpedients
for overwhelming that we are unable to
guess at. The most tactful manufacturer
can not weave rich, plant silk from fila
ments that have been tempered with. The
native sickness is marred by the process
necessary 20 abstract the foreign sub
stance. Those exquisite delicate silk
en- fabrics made on the hand looms Of
Europe and the Orient are made from silk
wound off the. cocoon while the worm is
still alive, instead of its having been kill
ed by roasting. as is the common practice.
The roasted cocoon gives off its silk more
readily. The reeling is facilitated, but the
difference in the texture of silk obtained
from live cocoon and that obtained from
a dead one is plain to an expert. He
can detect it just as a game connoisseur
can tell from the taste of the bird wheth-
er it was scalped in order to make the
feathers come off easily or was picked
dry
THE certain proportion of native gum
existent in the cocoon" said the condi-
toner plays into the tricksters' hands,
and our business is to detect the true from
the false and put the standard of any par
the silk dealers know just what grade Of
raw stuff they have to deal with. the
throwers and dyers have a standard to go
by, and the manufacturers know definite
ly what grade of goods II is possible 10
make from any certain lot of hanks and
won't be trying bfindly. as it were to fash
ion silk purse out ora sow's ear.
Some times we have to make becom-
positions of manufactured silks 40 dis
cover what has interfered with their
perfection. Our professor can tell the
moment he gets the silk in his hands,
pretty nearly, what the trouble was,
but it is assayed accurately in proof.
Dessicalion, boiling. rinsing, drying and
weighing of minute fractional Quanti-
ties is necessary in every case"
In the Sizing Room.
The women conditioners also work in
the sizing room, where the reeled silk
threads are measured and their even
ness ascertained. 49, The test is made on
five skeins taken at random out of
bale. winds very we'll winds well,
Not a good winder," are the three grades
of ce tiiicate. The skeirs are also W Weighed
individually, and there are tests for raw
silk, for thrown silk and for spun silk,
all accomplished by women pos
sessing thee rare finger touch and
accuracy. The winding machines
used are delicate and expensive.
cocoon where the silk is raised is reeled
very unevenly, thick and thin, more fla
ments in one spot than another. This Ia
a drawback TO smoothly woven goods ana
the condHioners tel the manufactures just
what degree of evenness he can depend
on. The silk threads are then tested, both
as to their tenacit:y and elasticity Two
qualifications Inherent in the best silk 10
gauge the tenacity, increasing weights are
hung 10 the single thread until 1t breaks,
the tester registering the weight required
10 break il. The elasticity of silk threat
depends upon the length per cent, 20 WINCH
that thread can stretch without breaking
Ten different tests are made for each SAM
pre- and then the average is taken--a pro-
cess involving exact mathematical prUi-
cheney, so the testers must be good scho'-
aTs.
One other test is made, namely, the mo.
ing of the twist in a given sample oL
thrown silk. Deft fingers and acute slsHt
is requisite for this, much untwlstinS an
counting being necessary, and when IL -
remembered that a thread of common Sc"
ing silk contains about 200 filaments OF inc
silk as the worm spun 1t, some idea OIL 'le
patience and astuteness of these testers
may be arrived at. Olive u. Guhp1'