WOOL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 156, 3 June 1937, Page 12

WOOL.

TALK TO BUSINESS GIRLS. The speaker at the fortnightly luncheon of the Business Girls’ Club, which was held at the Jade tearooms yesterday, was Mr E. A. Clarke, of Massey College, and his subject was “Wool.” The talk was most informative and interesting, and the various samples he passed round were closely examined. Fibres very similar to those of wool from sheep were produced by other animals, said Mr Clarke, but they shed the hairs after they had grown to a normal length. Sheep, because man had bred them over such a long period, continued to grow their coat of wool for ever, and the wool would drag on the ground after some years if the sheep were not shorn. Wool could be utijised ill the making of numerous articles, and

that from sheep had superior physical properties which made it good for clothing, weaving, and felting. AVool absorbed 33 per cent, of water before it became saturated—more moisture than any other fibre —and was thus valuable for clothing purposes. It had a power of giving out heat when wet, 4.01 b. of wool, absolutely dry, when wetted to saturation point giving out sufficient heat to boil a gallon of i water The elasticity (which was not the ability to stretch but to recover after having been stretched) of wool was a valuable property, and certain fibres could be stretched 30 or 40 per cent, and resume Iheir normal proportions. Among other qualities Mr Clarke mentioned was the durability of wool, which was reduced by half when exposed for 1200 hours as compared with 900 hours for the same effect to be made on cotton. AVool irritated certain people because of the scales projecting from it; it was also greatly damaged by heat and alkalis; and because of the scales mentioned shrinkage took place, but this' property made it useful for felting. A particularly valnable property was its transparency to ultra-violet light. Miss J. O'Neil, who presided, thanked the speaker. Among those present were Mrs A. J 3. Mansford (patroness) and Mrs M. H. Oram (president).