The Afro-American advance., 1900-04-07
MERcERIzEp COTTON.
Discovery of the Proces. which csa.
veFts the Cheap Material Into
Fine silk.


John Mercer, an English dyer, fl
tered caustic soda through square
of cotton cloth. Thence a new verb
TO mercerize-in the language. new
fabric on the market, and new busi-
ness, engaging millions Of capital. TO
cheer the unemployed.
The story of the boy, John Watt, Is
old, but Mercer's story Is new and in
teresting. Mercerized cotton, either
cotton yarn or cotton cloth, resem-
bles silk absolutely II has the lusteT
OF silk; IL will take on. like silk. the
richest and most brilliant dyes, and IL
has the Zunmistaknble soft-harsh,
nesting feel which nothing but silk
ever had. says the Brooklyn Eagle.
Also cotton. under this process.
does not weaken, as might have been
feared, but IL acquires strength. a
skein of cotton yarn in the natural
state that will carry 10 ounces with
out breaking will carry. after mer-
cerizing. 10 ounces. And II you take
three coats and line the first with a
plain cotton lining, the second with
mercerized cotton and the third with
silk, the cotton and the silk will wear
out, about together. but the mercer
ized lining will outlast them two or
three times over.
Mercerized cotton Is used In Innings.
in underwear. In spindle banding, in
stockings. In dress goods, in negligee
shirts. There is profit in merceriz-
ing Of from 100 TO 200 per cent. In
the last year or two many public dy-
ers have added merccrizing machines
TO their plants, and n good number
Of mercerizing mills have been estab-
Iished.
But there is room for more. Here
is the proof of the demand for mcr-
cerized goods; Bradford, the ingeni-
Gus and alert manufacturing town OF
England, ran night and day making
cloths for us in the time Of the low
tarlff. Bradford is still running night
and day, but she is making for us
now only mercerized things.
Mercerizlng began as far back as
1916 In the English town of Accring
ton. where John Mercer, manager for
the firm Of Hargreayes. filtered caustic
soda through cotton cloth Mercer,
by accident, kept this cloth by him,
happened To test its strength hap.
pened To splash IL with n dye. lie
found that II was about twice as
strong and about twice ms susceptible
To dye liquor as 10 had been before.
Slight savings, In connection with
big outputs. come in the long run 10
astonishing totals. Here was saw
ing by no means slight Here. just
by running a cotton thread through
liquid as cheap as water, IL would
come 10 do the work of two threads.
and in being dyed il would save half
the quantity Of the dye stun.
Mercer rejoIced. He refused for his
secret an offer of 5000 600 from
French firm lie had the idea of an
immense syndicate, with himself at
the head, rolling up millions of profits
per Rnnum.
Then II was found that cotton
ahrunk In the mcrcerizlnR A yard
of cloth would save In dyestuifs aud
In raw stock. say five cents 10 it's
manufacturers, but IL would come out
OF the mercerizinR bath only three
quarters of yard of cloth. Against
the profit of Ave cents loss through
shrinkage OF about ten cents would
have 10 be set, This Is why Mercer
never formed his syndicate. why mer-
ccrlzing was OF no commercial impor-
tanee until latterly.
For the remaining 90 years OF his
life the man toilcd Intellectually on. aud
he died dlsheartencd. But his name
lives. That IL because. somewhere
around 1900, Horace Lowe. In England,
aud Thomas and Provost, in Germany.
began 20 try TO see n u might not
be possible 20 mercerlxe cotton
thread and 10 prevent the thread from
shrinking In the process They more
than succeeded.
Mercer had takcn his cotton, stepped
II for about three hours In caustlc
soda, then washed a. That Is mer-
cerisinR In its simplest terms To the
Englishmnn, Lowe. and the Germans,
Thomas and Provost. came simulta-
neously the idea of keeping the cot.
ton stretched while sleeping II in the
eaustlc soda bath. They tied the ends
Of their cotton threads TO sticks and
then mercerised them, The sticks did
not break, the thread did not even
show signs OF shrinkagr. So easy was
Il To do what Mercer had been failing
at for years and years.
hut. more than this, they found that
cotton mereeriyes under tension came
out glossy. soft and rustling, To
their amasemcnt they found that they
had transformed cotton into silk. Aud
ever since the Englishmcn and Ger
mans have been hghting over the pat.
ents on this wonderful discovery.
The explanation of the luster that
cotton. being merceriEcd takes on. is
simple, The soda end the tension to-
Fether change the nature Of the cot.
ton hher The natural fiber is fiat,
shrivrlcd; the mereeriscd fiber fills
out. becomes round and smooth And
just as q fiat, dried raisin has no
luster, whereas the full ripe grape
catches and throws back the light. 50
there IL no uster 10 the fiat fiber of
the natural cotton. hut ON the mercer.
iHed sort the light shines and Is re-
aeeted just as on the grape
------=azs=----
Taken Literally.
II was only playfully that she re.
ferFcd 10 her husband as "a regular