GERMAN ENTERPRISE

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 6 February 1923, Page 1

GERMAN ENTERPRISE

FABRICS FROM TREES. I German enterprise has displayed it- ' self in a form which offers a serious challenge to several important industries in this country (says an English paper). Our cotton and wool spinning, silk and linen, carpet and weaving, floorcloth and linoleum industries are presented with a rival which may have a serious influence on the markets of the world which are at present supplied with British goods. In these industries manufacturers are dependent on raw materials drawn from many sources, more especially from America for cotton and Australia for wool. The German discovery makes her a producer of her own supplies of raw material, for it is largely drawn from wood of which she has unlimited reserves in her many forests. British ingenuity may put us abreast with Gerbattles which began with the British many in regard to the discovery, but we are hopelessly handicapped through the excessive depletion of our timber supply during the years of the war. In short, Germany has discovered the means of turning wood into a great variety of soft material which can be woven into fabrics resembling silk, cotton, linen and woollen and other goods, and at the Munich Trade Exhibition, in which specimens were shown, there were delicately knitted silk sweaters, materials for wear m many forms. Gobelin tapestries, Symrna rugs, which only an expert could say were imitations, flexible linoleum, and a hard horn-like substance which is used for buttons, walking-stick handles, and other purposes. The production of artificial silk from a form of cellulose is not new. Artificial' silk is produced in our own country, but the importance of the German discovery lies in the fact that it does not depend on cotton as the basis of the new fibre. The origin of the new fibre is wood, and' it is claimed that it can be manufactured more cheaply than from any other matetrial. The cellulose from which the vistra fibre is made fe the discovery of the Koeln Rottweil Company, who were active munition-makers during the war. and the discovery will enable many to retain the munition factories as important assets in time of peace, a striking contrast to the experience in this country, where such extensive concerns as the Gretna factory have become a white elephant. The Koeln Rottweil powder- factory, the Rhentish Westphalian explosive works, and the Nobel dynamite works are all now actively running in consequence of the discovery, which is the result of three years Of experiment by Max Duttenhofer, the general director of the Rottweil! factory. Proxylene or tri-nitro celluolse (gun cotton) formed the starting point in the experiments, but in its developed state Germany is independent of imported material, and the fibre which is produced is handed over to the ordinary spinning and weaving mills. Another form of the material, used for linoleum, is known as trioline, and is perhaps, superior to the corky product, with which we are familiar, in its softness and flexibility, whereas its cost is said to be only about one-third. Still another form of the cellulose is known as zellon, which is a fireproof product for insulation purposes, whilst a harder kind, known as trolir. is regarded as a substitute for such things as ivory and the, hardest woods are generally used for. Germany also is developing her dye industries, and in these two directions is showing enterprise, which may easily prove her financial salvation.