Evening star., 1945-04-20
Law 10 Control
Textiles Urged
Members Of Congress
Amazed at Speed Will
Which Goods Burn

interstate sale and shipment OF
textiles not meeting some minimum
standard as to inf1ammability were
advanced on Capitol Hill after tech
nical experts staged laboratory
demonstrations of the speed with
which various materials will burn.
Representative Priest, Democrat,
of Tennessee, who had been dele
gated by Chairman Lea of the
House Interstate and Foreign Com
merce Committee to gather infor-
nation on the question, declared he
was convinced Congress should act
to protect the buying public.
While an investigation of the need
was begun after the committee re-
ceived reports of children being
burned to death in fires igniting
the chaps of cowboy play suits.
spokesmen for manufacturers and
retailers testified many other mate
rials also had a high degree of
inf1ammability.
Held in JohnsOn's Office.
The demonstrations were staged
in the Office of Representative
johnson, Republican, of California,
who some weeks ago introduced a
bill to ban interstate trade in mate
rials found to be more inflammable
than cotton cloth.
Mr.. Priest, who was startled with
the speed with which many of the
clothing and other materials were
consumed in flames in a portable
testing device, said he would make a
prompt report to the Interstate
Commerce Committee, and recon-
mend early public hearings.
Spokesmen for industry were re-
quested by Mr.. johnson and Mr..
Priest to begin the drafting of
proposed legislation based on scien-
tif1c tests now under way as to the
point of infiammability of vari-
Gus materials.
Used In the testing oven in the
demonstrations were strips of cloth
2 inches wide and inches long. The
speed with which a flame ran from
the lower end of the material to the
top was measured by a stop watch.
Tests were conducted by C. H. Baker
of the United States Testing Co.,
New York.
A piece of the chaps cut from one
of the cowboy playsuits, bought in a
retail store, was fully enveloped in
flames in l second from the time
the fame was applied, the expert
Another test showed IL
seconds timing for a strip of ordi-
nary cotton sheeting. A piece of
fame-proofed cotton material did
not burn at all. On this point, how
ever, experts testified that fame
proofing will not remain effective
permanently.
Button Burns Quickly.
One of the most startling DEM
was of the inflamma-
bilty of an ornamental button,
made Of q synthetic material, such
as Is worn on women's clothing.
When the test flame was applied
to 1t. the button blazed up in
stantly and flames f1ared a full IL
inches high. Whistles of amaze
ment came from Mr.. Priest and
other witnesses.
Recommendations that a stand
ard of safety be adopted. under
which a ban would be placed on
materials which proved to be above
a certain measure of inflamma-
bility were given by several spokes-
men for industry. These included
Charles Dorm, of the C. Penney
who is chairman of
the Technical Committee of the
National Retail Drygoods Associa-
ton; DR.. Frederic Bonnet, of the
Viscose Corp. Samuel
Pope, president of the National As
ISOLATION of Fire Chiefs, and Charles
Simon, of Industrial Byproducts
and Research Inc. of Philadelphia,
who also represented the American
of Textile Chemists and
Colorists.
Support for proposed legislation
also came from Capt. r. A. War
field, deputy fire marshal of the
District.