WOOL AND ITS USES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1930, Page 11

WOOL AND ITS USES

»l NO NEED FOR DEPRESSION FIBRE FROM HORSE HOOFS (From "The Post's" Representative.) ~ LONDON, 20th February. A lecture, entitled "Some Reflections on Wool and Its Uses," was, given by Mr. "William Hunter (a director of Francis Willed and Co., Ltd., Bradford) to the Bradford Textile Society. j Mr. Hunter said, in his opinion, tlio steps which the growers and pastoralists in Australia had taken to stabilise values —by a slight extension of the season and the ■ withdrawal of any wool which did not realise prices equal to those ruling during the second half of January—constituted an excellent corrective, and would be an assurance to all wool buyers, yarn buyers, and cloth merchants that they could buy with tho feeling that they were not likely to lose money. This would have tho effect of allowing buyers to anticipate their j requirements over a longer period, and should assist in creating more machinery activity. , Mr. Hunter went on. to refer to the work of the British Research Association for the woollen and worsted industries at Leeds, and said he was convinced of its utility for tho industry. "The work which was undertaken by Dr.' Dry at the Leeds University to establish a pure white Wcnsleydale flock has almost passed unnoticed by wool users," continued Mr.. Hunter, "but his experiments extended over four or five years, and to-day at Catterick there is the first white "Wensleydale flock of sheep which has ever existed in this country. IMPROVING CROSSBEED. "At Torridon I have seen' a wool fibre made from dyers' croppings by a similar system to that obtaining for the production of artificial silk. There are great possibilities in the future in this direction. Expcrments arc being made to improve the handle of crossbred wool; to find a means of washing wool; to find a means of dyeing lcemps; and physicists have already evolved a machine which will produco woollen yarn at half the present cost, and draft wool on worsted frames to an extent which all previous technological experts have doclared to be impossible. "When discussing the new method of producing wool fibres long enougli for spinning on worsted machinery from dyers' croppings and shoddy, a gentleman very well known in Germany informed me that they are now using horses' hoofs for the same purpose. They can dissolve them in liquid and force this dissolved tissue through apertures by the same method as artificial silk, and can now produce wonderful wool fibres out of any animal tissues, so that the future holds all kinds of possibilities in store." ' , Dealing with, the uses of wool, Mr. Hunter said he had made a rough calculation to ascertain what proportion of the world's wool production is used for purposes other than clothing, and he was amazed to find that of tho 10,000,000 bales of wool which the whole of the sheep of the world produce, about 3,000,000 of them are used for floor covering of various descriptions, and about 2,000,000 for other incidental purposes., As long therefore as tho Westernising influence of the East continues, and the extensive building operations which, have been undertaken by tho civilised races continue, this demand for floor coverings will continue. MULTITUDE OF USES. Very largo quantities of wool are used annually for crushing seeds, beans, etc., for making vegetable oils of various types; large quantities of wools, in addition to goat hair and camel hair, are used to substitute leather in the production of belts for driving machinery; in the production of wood pulp largo quantities of wool are used in the I preparation of the pulp; tho output of newspapers also demands largo quantities in the preparation of the paper; cigarette papers cannot be produced without also passing through wool; that the motor-car industry, particularly in America, but also in this country, absorbs very largo quantities for tho upholstery of the cars; tho furnishing trades in the form of curtaining, moquettes, and velours, also require large quantities of wool. These are purposes . entirely apart from the wools which are used in the production of suitings, overcoatings socks, stockings, and underclothing' and with the march of civilisation tho demand for wool for these purposes is bound to increase. Why should they, therefore; despair when there arc- demands which are so persistent and regular for these materials, independent of the. market value ruling afc any given moment? It was very unfortunate that so many should become so depressed and anxious regarding the future, because the lack of confidence in the value of a raw" material for <i temporary period intervenes like a cloud to obscure their vision of the .future.