The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-02-25

the English town u: Accrinrton. where
John Mercer. manager for III. .IrIn or Hir-
sr.iE"'. hii"I'"I CdU$tic soda through 4
cotton ciotH. Mercer. by accident. kent
this cloth hy h!m. happened TO test us
strength, happened to splash il with a dy-.
lie found that il was about twice a. strong
and about twice a. susceptible 10 dy-
liquor a. IL had been before. SlIgnt saw
iucS. in connection with big OUTPUTS, come
III the Ions run g" astonishing totals. Here
WIS "a saving 10y no means slight. Her,
Just 10y rruuiU" 81 cotton thread through .
liquid as cheap almost as water, II would
come To- GC the work Of two threads, and
I'm being 'v.i, 3; wuI.d save half "a, guam
u;y Of Ir- uy. stun.
Mercer g]'J1.gci. Il" refused for his So
Crct AZ offer Of s3I.up from d; French firm.
He E.si The idea Of an immcuSo syndicate.
with himself az the head. rolling up mil
lions OF profits per- auHum.
Ih"u IL VS. found that cotton shruuk H.
tn. lreIceriziuS. y yard OF cloth would
SAVE IN dyestutis and IN raw stock. say =
cents =" its manufacturers but It wou'i
come out % ;he m'rcerizinS bath only
thr'c-quaTj"rs OF "a yard of cloth. Against
the prof, nj . cents a loss Trough shrink
age IF about 10 cents would haze to he set.
That is Why Mercer "a vrr formed his syn
dictate. why mcrceriziug Vas Of no COM
mcrci9l Importance until latteTly.
For the remaining twenty years Of his
liz IN, man tuilrd Intellectually on. az. a.
died dishcartcucd. RUt his name lives. That
j. because. some - here around l>s'. Horace
Lowe. in England. and Thomas and Prov
ust. in Germany. began TO try 20 see II it
might not be possible &" merccrizc - cotton
thread ana to prevent IL" thread from
shrinking IN the process. They more than
srrc..4'i.
Mercer hal taken his cotton. STEPPED it
for about three h.!r= In ,HuStiC soda. th...
washed IL. That j. mercerizing in is sim
pi-St terms. To the EnEii: hman. Lowe.
and to IA" t;cTnaTs. Thomas and Provost.
came Simultaneously the idea of keeping
IN" cotton stretched while stepping it in the
CaustiC soda bath. They tied the ends of
their cotton threads to sticks and then mer-
Cor.z.d them. The sticks did not break.
thu threads ill not even SHOW signs Of
shriUktg". - easy was il 10 do what
Mercer had been failing at for years ami
years.
Bat more than this. they found that cot
ton mcyccrizsd under tension c.rlC ont
glossy. soft and r~ustIinc. TO their amizc-
msut .h,y fO;.IrI that they had transformer
cotton into sin. Md ever since the Eng
lishmen and the Germans hav" been fight
Ing over the patents on this wonderful dis !
covcTy.
The explanation of the Iuster that cotton.
being mcrcerizcd, takes on, is simr' TIL"
soda and the tension together change tn
n1ture Of the cotton fibre. The natural
fiber is Hat. ShrINc.y1, In" meTCcrIzri nb.r
iiis cat. becomes round and smooth. And
just as q Hat, dried raisin has no iusjcr,
whereas the iuiI ripe srlpc catches and
throws back IN" iIsht. So there * no lUst"r /
20 the il@t fiber II the natural cotton. hut
on the naerc,Iiz,d s"rt the iicnt SHINES AMI
j. reflected JuSt as on the .Iape.
Til. success attending tho opening "f
ladies tailoring department and the !
OF orders which have been placed
l. very gratifying. The latest designs and
are now shown. see oar oxford. !
brown. blue and black chcvipts. Our line Of
is very complete. consisting 81 |
blacks. blues. browns. gTdys. tauS. modes |
nd many other shades in various qualities. |
&" order into gowns Of the latest |
fashion by worku.n. who are artists IN |
..ri- line Mills A Ayeril EroaJuav auH |