HOPES FROM NEW WOOL PROCESS “Frosting” System Should Eliminate Carbonisation and Reduce Wool Damage.

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 65, 18 March 1936, Page 12

HOPES FROM NEW WOOL PROCESS “Frosting” System Should Eliminate Carbonisation and Reduce Wool Damage.

Burr clover, which has during tho past few years been causing trouble to Hawke’s Bay wool-growers, may not prove to be as serious a pes.t as it has been in the past. Previously such impurities have had to bo removed from the fleece by the costly carbonisation process, which did not leave the woot m such good condition. A new process that has been discovered in the United States promises to do away with carbonisation, and leaves the wool in a natural condition. The term “frosted wool” has been adopted as the name of the new process of' removing certain natural impurities found in grease wool, including vegetable matter of all kinds. For wool growers where clips are often heavily infested with buffs, the process gives promise of very great benefit.

. Tho events leading up to the discovery of frosted woof read like a fairy story : A Los Angeles mechanic was working on a new siioddy machine, a device to tear up rags and recover Iho fibre. An acquaintance of his, a wool buyer, remarked that ho was wasting his time, that if he wanted to invent something really good he should invent a new way to take the burrs out of wool. The mechanic thought ho might try. A short time later ho went on a picnic with some friends. They spread out a blanket to sit on, which quickly became littered with dirt and trash. At lunch time they served ice cream which had been packed in dry ice (melting point 104 degrees below zero) and the dry ice

vas dumped on the blanket. Later, when the blanket was picked up ana shaken the dry ice fell off and every place where it had been in contact with the blanket was clean. The dry ice had frozen the dirt and vegetable matter on the blanket and fit fell off with the dry ice. To make a long story short the idea was turned over to an, engineering firm. They took it to the Lowell Textile Institute at Lowell Mass. There, with the aid of Professor Edgar H. Barker and others on the staff of the wool department it was gradiially developed over a period of about three years, brought to commercial satisfaction and patented.

Frosted wool has the following chief advantages and many lesser ones over the usual process of burr removal by carbonisation with acids. (i) It is cheaper than carbonising. (2) It has no tendency to make tho fibre harsh. (3) The dyiug properties of the wool are not adversely affected. (4) it removes nearly all paint brands as well as vegetable matter, (5) The process is applicable to wool in the grease and so much dirt and grease are removed that subsequent scouring is done with much less soap and soda. it is earnestly hoped that frosted wool will be found a commercial success. Several mills at the present time will not use Californian wool on account of the danger of cloth damage from the clover burr. The frosted wool process, if successful, will eliminate this discrimination and placu these wools on a parity with others.