Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/290

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274

��Popular Science Monthly

���The paper strip is corrugated in uniform lines and is then grasped firmly and twisted into a string

��CUTTING KNIVES

���INTO STRIPS

Cutting the web into long narrow strips after it has been compressed into duplex form, preparatory to twisting

��ROLLED PAPER IN FORM OF DISK

��the elongated helix so formed is further hand-twisted into a very thin tube. This tube is then further collapsed and twisted until a strong tightly-wound string is ob- tained.

For making the thread that is used in clothing, another prelimi- nary process must be used. In this, ' a wide sheet of moistened wood pulp is fed into a compression-roller under another sheet of either cotton or woolen fleece of the same width. Both sheets are quite soft, so that after they have been forced through the heavy rollers, they will come out with their fibers interen- gaged and in the form of one solid web. The duplex web so formed is then placed in a cutting ma- chine and divided into long narrow strips. These may then be hand-twnsted and spun in a manner similar to that used in making the finer t\vines described above.

The finished thread is then woven into cloth in any of the ways in which ordinary thread is woven. But because of its

��COLLAPSED AND TWISTED

��different nature, the cloth that is made from spun paper may be beneficently treated in ways which can not be used with the ordinary cotton or woolen cloths. Thus, the first treatment consists in im-

1 mersing the paper-spun

cloth in great vats contain- ing solutions of emulsions of fat. The cloth will grad- ually absorb the grease until it has become well saturated with it. The re- sult is that the cloth is made water-proof and its former stiffness is removed. The cloth is then still further improved by treat- ing it in antiseptic solu- tions. These will make the cloth both air-tight and sanitary. Being now both 'moisture and air- proof, the cloth is ex- ceedingly warm since the radiation of the heat from the body is pre- vented by this treatment to a very large extent. By processes which are based upon the ones that

���Method of strengthening paper twine having a fibrous core. The paper rib- bon is first curled around the core

��SECTION OF TWISTEC THREAD

���ELING SCREEN

���COMPLETED THREAD

��Rolling the pulp to compress it into a duplex web, which is the first stage in the preparation of the paper strips

��This thread has a surrounding covering of fleece securely united to the paper por- tion. It is twisted into a felt-like fabric

�� �