The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-06-22
A FEATHER BEATS
The WEATHER
Science Comes Up With
The Down So Tanks In
Arctic Can Keep Warm
BY JOHN GROVER
AP Features Writer


Science has almost succeeded in
getting birds Of different feathers
to flock together. at least for mill
tary purposes.
They've made the wrong kind
of feathers look and feel like the
right kind. That's mighty inn
portant, because from the Army's
point of view there's an acute
shortage of the right kind and a
plentiful supply of the wrong.
And what does an Army need
feathers for? Alaska, the Yukon,
Iceland and Greenland happen to
be quartet of key strategic areas.
They also happen to be colder
than mother-in-law's kiss.
Feather-insulated sleeping bags
are must for northern troops.
Eiderdown Best
Down from elder ducks is best
and scarcest. 1t happens that the
ducks nest in those same strategic
areas from which the Eskimo
down gathers have been evacuat-
ed. IS III
Down and feathers from domes-
tic geese and ducks can be used,
and the military has grabbed the
whole supply. There's even pre-
MUM ceiling price for ducks ship
ped to market with their feathers
on, instead of plucked.
That exhausts the normal
sources of right" feathers. That's
where science grabbed the ball, in
the person of j. l. Hardy, fibers
expert with the U. S. Department
of Agriculture experimental farm
here.
BY far the largest number of
fowl sent to U. S. markets are
chickens. 1t happens that chickens
have the poorest feathers for in
sulation and warmth. Chicken
feathers sell for about a nickel a
pound, while down markets for
about S., which gives you an idea
of relative value).
There are a few right" feath-
ers on the average chicken, but
they are so outnumbered bv the
wrong" feathers that chicken
dealers don't bother to separate
them. Chicken feathers were sold
in pre-war days for the cheapest
kind of upholstery and mattress
stuffing.
Hardy had two problems: Cd
Separating the fright" chicken
feathers from the wrong" ones;
~ making the wrong" ones
good.
Fright" feathers are downlike
and fluffy. Most chicken feathers
have a heavy central rib and not
much fluff. Hardy uses a "poof''
principle to separate the good from
the bad. It's like a kid keeping a
feather in the air by Ruffing at it.
The scientist built his "poofer-
separator from vacuum clean
er and four big pasteboard car
tons. The vacuum cleaner air cur
rent pools the feathers through
the four boxes, connected by big
pipes at different levels. Only the
fluffiest feathers are waited into
the fourth box.
Poof Test
The wrong" feathers that funk
the poof test go into macera-
ton machine. This is like ham,
mer mill for chopping stock feed
1t gives the feathers an awful
beating, breaking up the spiny
central rib and freeing the feather
fluff and down. Fed through the
poofer again, the chicken down is
collected and the rib remnants
discarded.
This processed chicken down is
only slightly inferior to duck OF
goose feathers. Natural duck and
goose feathers for a sleeping bag
weigh three pounds, chicken dowr
only quarter pound more.
While developed primarily to
pinch hit for unavailable duck
and goose down for military pur-
poses, the new technique for pro-
cessing chicken feathers opens ur
possibilities for added revenue for
chicken farmers. Both the macera-
ton and poof-separating can east
~ be done on the farm, and the
processed down can be widely
utilized.
/