A BIRMINGHAM ENTERPRISE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LIII, Issue 167, 11 June 1919, Page 6

A BIRMINGHAM ENTERPRISE.

Birmingham has developed an extensive trade in articles made from casein, which is a by-product of dairy, ing. Casein is obtained in the form of^powder from the Irish dairies, chemically -iireated a>nd solidified, and is sold for working, up into all sorts of articles from buttons to artificial limbs. Tt issues from ths factory in sheets -and rods of varying •Uhiioknoss. The development of our dye industry has made it- possible to impart a. rich diversity of colors to the; mate-dul, and as British manufaetrers have after patient experiment mastered the secret of polishing it to a fine gleaming surface, its adaptability for conversion into' ineknacks is aimos;; unlimited.. The output runs into hundreds of tons a week, and manufacturers who began by tentatively buying haJf a .hundred-weight now order in four or five ton lots, it is n'ou-innaimnable, and. weight foi' weighs, is stronger than wood. Though less tractable than vulcanite, it ea.rri.cG a much finer polish. The utilisation of casein is a new industry iii Britain. Before the war it was almost entirely in German, hands. With .supplies of raw material assured, British manufacturers went to work with, such goodwill to overcome the technical difficulties tihat they are now .sanding forth in. large quantities a grent variety of fancy-goods. Casein is also bong used for carnage, and motor-car fittings, and is proving very useful a.s my insulator m aeroplane construction. The goodis [ Birmingham is making are claimed to be superior to anything Germany has produced. It took two years to jnaJce a business proposition of casein, the mosb difficult part of the problem being tlu> development of the polisning plant.