A NEW KIND OF WOOL.

North Otago Times, Volume 1944, Issue XXVI, 20 July 1878, Page 5 (Supplement)

A NEW KIND OF WOOL.

Ironmasters, says a writer in " Cassell's Magazine," are beginning to discern merits hitherto unsuspected in the slag or refuse of their blast furnaces. Till yesterday the heaps of rough cindery material which encumbered the ground overshadowed by tall chimneys, flame-topped, wore regarded as rubbish of the worst sort. But now, as mineral wool in America, as slag wool in Yorkshire, and as cotton silicate in Germany, this humbler Cinderella among products finds itself prized at last. Silica, or flint, as the manufacturer knows too well, is sure to be present in iron ore, and has to bo got rid of, and for this reason he flings into the

roaring furnace those cart-loads of broken limestone, the lime of which unites with the silica, and runs off, a lava stream, leaving behind it the saleable '• pigs " of molten iron. Quito rocently it was discovered that this lava stream, till now sheer lumber, could bo manipulated into a fibrouo substance, light, pliant, and bearing a remarkable similarity to wool, and still more so to the fine strong hair of the Himalayan shawl-poat. The hat.slag, by ingonious contrivances, is made while yet in a fluid state to dovelope, as it trickles forth, into vitreous threads. Of this slag-yarn there are three numbers, or qualities. Lot us take the finest, No. 3, a cubic foot of which is but 81bs. in weight, while a cubic foot of the parent slag weighs no less tban 1921b5. It is difficult, when surveying the huge bundles of woolly fibres first, to boliovo in the mineral origin of what looks so very liko the carded fleece of sheep, and tliou to realise that the countless threads were drawn from a compact little slab of slug of equal weight from the imposing fibrous heap. Sometimes tho wool is white, often grey, occasionally pink or rod, and now and then green, or greenish colored, as whon it contains manganese. And' now for its uses. In A.meric>i it is chiofly valued because it is a non-conductor of heat, and in this capacity it far surpasses abestos, felt, and every other substance employed in the arts. It enwraps boilers, it packs steam cylinders, and forms a fireproof jacket for hot-water piping; while, iv virtue of tho samo quality, ifc is invaluable as a liuiug to the wwlls of an icehouse. ' It does duty also as a filter, and can readily be workod up into matting more durable than oven tho cocoa palm yiolds. Clearly, however, higher destinies await this child of the blast furnace. "Wool that is cheaply produced in any quantity, wool that defiles moth and mildew, that is fire-proof and almost indestructiblo, aud which can keep out heat and cold, must bo availablo for carpets, tents, sails, pucking-clothes, and even overclothing. Improvements in what is after all an infant industry will probably suggest, other uses for this mineral textile fabric, and if loss ,romantio than tho Golden Fleece of Jason, the iron Fleoco may one day bocomo a standard and profitable staple of modern manufacturing skill.