ARTIFICIAL SILK

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1927, Page 15

ARTIFICIAL SILK

FABRICS FROM WOOD PULP

NEW FACTORY IN SURREY

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, loth Dec.

Early next year an artificial silk factory, producing about two tons of yarn a day, will be in full running order at Ashstead, Surrey. ■ Its output now is a ton per day. It began its career quite recently with one of the most modern and well-equipped plants. Eighteen months ago, when the Bayon Manufacturing Company was formed, a ready-made factory was found, ideally suited for adaption, in a district which had those two essentials, a clear atmosphere and the right type of water supply. Extensive structural alterations had to be made, and the best machinery installed for making yarns according to the viscose process. The directorate consists of Sir Sydney Skinner (ehair--5' ,Sr lr Wi!liam Kay. Mr. A. Bethel, M.P., Mr; J. G. Cross, and Mr. Mellor. J-he quality of silk aimed at is first quality viscose, the bulk of which will" be 100 to 150 denier; 75 denier will also be produced. Employment will be found when full capacity has been developed for about 400 hands.

Changes that seem almost magical occur from the time the cardboard-like pulp is first put into big vats until the time when, after a series of churnings and mixings, the use of many chemicals, and much reeling and washing, the material emerges in the form of endless delicate silken strands ' of brownish gold, and is at last bleached mto the purest white. Eight spinning machines, each with about a hundred spinning heads, are already in operation, and the number will be doubled as soon as the employees in this branch, most of them women, have become more proficient. A very interesting section is that in which a small staff of girl experts examine the finished skeins, run deft-fingers over them to prove their quality, and quickly classify them into one of three grades or reject them outright. It is not until they have passed judgment that the fabrics are packed into parcels and sent to the merchants or dyers. •■ .

Sir Sydney Skinner declared that it was the aim of his fellow-directors to specialise only in the highest grades. As one who was in close touch with the textile trade, particularly on tlie selling side he was convinced that artificial silk was becoming a more and more important factor in producing other goods. It had a growing field in the admixture with cotton, wool, and silk. Its introduction had produced many new saleable articles for the shopkeeper. Ladies were fascinated by it, and it was always through novelty that a new industry was created and carried on. Undoubtedly there was a big demand for artificial silk fabrics, and that demand would take a great deal to satisfy. The fabrics were durable, exceedingly pleasing to the eye, ani very much in the fashion, and he was certain they would be able to produce there an article of good quality, which they could sell at a price satisfactory to themselves and to the purchasers. In that factory they had machinery of the most up-to-date type, and they believed they were jm .the threshold of a very big success. *

THE PROCESS DESCRIBED.

The pulp, in large sheets like blotting paper, is put into baths of caustic soda for two hours; the excess of the soda is then pressed out; this is the stage when the pulp becomes -cellulose. It is next transferred to a machine which i;rinds it and breaks it up into a mass of crumbs that look like cotton flock. This is made up into boxes and put into store for two or three-days for the chemical reaction resulting in mercerising to take place., It now goes to vast airtight churns where the crumbs are sprayed with carbon bisulphide, which changes them to a honeycoloured gelatinous mass; and next begins its most interesting stage. „. Jt... how;, is; tipppd through, a trapdoor funnel into ■a ■ steel tank, where "it meets

water and weak caustic soda and goes through a series of cleansings, being filtered through tauks connected by tubes ."■fitted with frames covered with cotton of varying finenesses, which remove all impurities, air bubbles being removed by vacuum treatment. Then the viscose ripens for four days underground, and when ripe is forced ud by pumps into the spinning machine, where the nozzles of the pipes are put into sulphuric acid, from which the viscose issues in a fine stream and is transformed into filaments. These appear to leap upwards, and presently are put into a cylindrical box revolving at tremendous, speed, which transforms them into a cake of thread.* This goes through further processes of reeling, washing, storing, bleaching, and centrifugal drying, all the acid being removed, and then a final drying. When finally dried the nanks have the glistening look one associates with artificial silk. Men are engaged in all the heavy chemical processes, some of which entail night work and women and girls unwind the silk from the reels and do the final sorting and testing for flaws. All the rooms are airy and light, and the objectionable nature of the chemical fumes is minimised as far as possible by the system of ventilation In the rooms where the women work the chemical odours are absent. 85, Fleet street.