WOOL INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 13

WOOL INDUSTRY

NEW ADVANCES

PROGRESS OF RESEARCH

WORK AT TORRIDON

(From "The Post's" Representative.)... .■'.■;■ LONDON, March 31. 1 Ou March 29, Lord Barnby presided over the.annual meeting',of the Woo] Industries .Research Association, at Torridon, Leeds, on which occasion visitors woro shown over the laboratories of the association, seeing something of the valuable work which is being carried out for the benefit of the industry. A new process to vest wool fabrics with unshrinkable properties, efforts to perfect the juto woolpack, and the production of a wool process oil removable without the use of alkalis, are only a few directions in which scientific progress is being mado at Torridon, under Dr. S. G. Barker. lv a special article, the '' Yorkshire Post" gives'its readers the accompanying information:— Much has recently been heard of the paper-canvas woolpack, the raw material for which comes from Continental pine forests, and which is represented in some quarters- as a coming competitor of • tliejute pack now in universal use. The view held at Torridon is that cost is likely to be an obstacle in the way of the paper pack, and the Research Association is directing its efforts to perfection of the jute pack. In this, the association has been encouraged by tho Government, and jute trade interests in India, and progress on the lines of impregnating tho jute pack with cellulose or. rubber latex—in order that jute fibres may not mix with tho wool —is regarded as very promising. Sample packs sent to Australia for trial purposes have stood the test very well in keeping out jute fibres, but according to. Dr. S. G. Barker certain other details have yet to be dealt with. The method of sewing the packs, for instance, may call for alteration. Further packs are to lie sent overseas in tho near future,, and it is believed they will survive tho next test in such a manner as to make the idea ready for commercial development. The additional cost of treating the jute pack, to remove tho risk of jute fibres entering the wool, is estimated at not more than a few pence per pack. HABMLEBS OILS. Extensive claims are made for two new: oils evolved in tho laboratories at Torridon. One of them, intended for oiling wool before carding and spinning, has been subjected to a secret process as a result of which it mixes with water, and; if need bo, can be removed without alkalh Visitors, invited to put their fingers into such oil, could remove all traces of it by the use of water,'without soap. Another oil,1 intended for lubrication of machinery, is declared to be incapable of permanently staining material which may be passing through the machine. This, though not yet commercially available, is undergoing bulk tests in a Yorkshire factory.In co-operation with similar research in tho Lancashire cotton industry, experiments are in progress to produce a twistless yarn, and a considerable mensure of success is claimed. Such .1 worsted yiirn is stfited to be already :i commercial proposition, nml work is proceeding on a similar woollen yarn. Tho practical advantages of twistless yarn in the wool textile industry have yet to be tested, but softer handle and improved lustre through the absence of twist are expected to accrue, and it is j suggested that such a yarn would fit lea*t add to the variety of effect for. which tlio industry is always striving. UNSHRINKABLE GOODS; Tho association attaches no small importance to the discovery of ;i new process for rendering wool fabrics unshrinkable —a matter of special importance to the hosiery and knitted goods trades. The method is not disclosed, though one understands that whilst most processes with this end in view'are applied to tho finished fabric, this one is a new method of treating the wool at an early stage of processing. The method imparts additional lustre and an improved, "handle" to the final product, combining softness with a silken sheen. "There are some who would like to produce artificial wool,", says Dr. Barker, "and others who would like to see a silk finish on woc^ which is unshrinkable. AVc are among the* latter, and this process, which is to that end, is no more costly than its counterpart now in use." Passing reference must suffice for a large number of other scientific investigations calculated to aid the industry at many stages of manufacture. Tho successful production of sheep marking and dipping fluids which leave no permanent stain on tho wool is well known, and, at tho other end of production, progress is reported in setting up standards of fastness for dyestuffs. Between the two extremes, a hundred and one aids for tho trade are being devised by scientific research applied to every stage of production. Photography is being employed to reveal whether certain dyed fabrics will absorb or reflect infra-red rays—in "other words, whether,a fabric will be warm or cold in wear. Special apparatuses also in use to test the air-permeability of fabrics—the extent to which they are windproof—and the heat-retaining powers of .various types of cloth. New methods of imparting the softest possible finish to cloths, made from crossbred wools have already .reached tho- state of factory trial. Not ; least interesting of the machine experiments is the attachment of a cotton card to a woollen scribbler —a mechanical, combination which, from a wool -noil, produces a roving which the French drawing process makes into a worsted typo yarn, albeit from specially short fibres. This, it is believed, possesses distinct possibilities for the production of inexpensive sockß and sim.ilrtr goods.