Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-12
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BY Thomas r. Henri.

And Study
BY Thomas r. Henry.
Chicken feathers-100, 100000 pounds
OF which were essentially waste product
IN the past-are being turned into .
synthetic wool and into down for
lining coats Of aviators and soldiers in
the Far North. The work has been
stimulated by Department Of Agriculture
chemists.
Hitherto the United States has used
relatively little down. The feather COM
forter Of grandmas day has become =
museum exhibit and the feather bed has
disappeared. Once 1t was priced in
heritance from mother to daughter and
remained in a family for generations
The little down used in recent years
has been imported from Russia, but
now imports are cut OF. Russia's large
supply nearly every peasant raises
geese and ducks-has been a significant
factor in the Soviet resistance The
Russian soldier at the front has had a
down sleeping bag into which to crawl
At night while the German has had, at
the best, a shoddy blanket.
This may have meant the whole
difference between defeat and victory"
says Department Of Agriculture scien-
fist.
The United States raises relatively few
geese or ducks. Their feathers have a
natural curl which gives a pillow or
sleeping bag q soft, springy feeling
They are natures best insulators of the
heat Of the body. Best Of all are the
elder ducks whose down is imported from
Iceland. Hundreds of American soldiers
are sending elder quilts to their parents
as Christmas presents, although more
than year ago Reykjavik elder dealers
were raising prices as their supplies
diminished, from demands Of the first
United States troops in Iceland.
On the other hand, this country is
the worlds largest producer OF chickens
Chicken feathers, in their natural state,
are fiat and~soon before compacted into
. hard mass which has little capacity
for holding heat. Besides, they have a
hard quill and central stem which must
be eliminated.
Workers at the Department of Agri-
culture experiment station at Beltsville,
Nd, 1t is announced, have devised a
method OF removing the quilts and stems
and grinding up the feathers in a mac
Grating machine with resulting product
that compares quite favorably with the
waterfowl down imported in the past.
They do not claim, they say, that it is
quite equal. But it will be invaluable
for lining the coats of aviators and pro-
viding sleeping bags for soldiers on
Arctic service. The essential they ex-
plain, is to get thickness without weight.
Perhaps even more revolutionary work
is under way at the Department of
Agnculture's regional laboratory at Al
bany, Calf. Hitherto Ill efforts to make
q satisfactory substitute for wool have
failed. In Italy-and to 4 very small
extent in the United States product
has been synthesized out Of milk which
has some Of the appearance Of wool.
Now wool and feathers have essentially
the same constituents. The chemists at
the California laboratory have worked
out q method OF dissolving the chicken
feathers into . liquid and then blowing
the liquid through tiny apertures into
fine threads-the same system by which
rayon, nylon and glass cloth are made.
The resulting threads have many Of the
properties Of wool fibers. The work,
however is in preliminary stage and
the nature of the fabric produced is diff
1icult to describe at present. It Is not
WOOL 1t promises to be lighter and finer.
1t Is essentially q new kind of cloth,
hitherto unknown in the world.
The general public, the Department
Of Agriculture scientists declare, must
put up with chicken feathers for the
duration Of the war, and by that time
the products probably will be so supe-
rior that they will hold their own
against any competition. Duck, goose
and swan feathers are war essentials.
They are used not only for sleeping bags
and hospital pillows but for camouf,age
and for various sound PROBING military
operations.
The United States now has the largest
supply Of chickens in its history. Large
poultry dressing plants are getting
feather-processing machinery in shape
and anticipate big season of feather
cleaning and processing.
After the feathers are pulled from
the chickens back they are dumped
into special washing machines and
cleaned. They then are sorted and,
IN the past, the best of the lot have been
artificially curled to substitute for goose
feathers in pillows. A poorer lot Is used
for upholstery. The remainder in the
past either has been thrown away or
sold to fertilizer companies. Feathers
make good fertilizer, since they are
proteins and contain the nitrogen essen
tial for plant growth. But they account
for an inconsequential part OF the
Nations fertilizer supply. They might
account for very large part Of its
wool supply-if the Department Of Agri-
culture experiments bear out their pres
ent promise.
Germproof, self-sterilizing beer mugs
or coffee cups-or, for that matter, any.
kind Of food or drink containers-may be
possible rs 4 result of new plastics and
m antiseptic paint developed at the Rare
Metals Institute of the California 1nsti-
tute of Technology.
The development may be q long step
forward in public health If the new ma
terials prove As effective in actual use
As in laboratory experiment. according