PERMANENT FIREPROOFING OF COTTON GOODS 399 



teresting to you all, is the problem of the permanent fireproofing of 

 wearing materials and especially of cotton and cotton goods and by 

 permanent fireproofing I mean protection which is not removed when 

 the materials are subjected to the ordinary domestic wash. 



Many disastrous accidents are on record which have been brought 

 about by clothing catching fire: sometimes it is the case of a child 

 whose garments have come in contact with a spark or lighted match 

 and sometimes disasters of much greater magnitude have resulted from 

 the ignition of costumes made of tow or other inflammable material on 

 the occasion of charity entertainments or fancy dress balls. 



It has long been recognized that impregnation with certain salts 

 very much reduces and indeed may entirely destroy the liability of cot- 

 ton goods to inflame and, of these fireproofing agents, I may perhaps 

 be allowed to refer to a few only of the better known and more efficient. 

 If a garment, after washing in the ordinary way, is rinsed in a solution 

 containing alum or is starched with a starch containing a proportion 

 of alum, the material, after drying, shows a marked reluctance to ignite, 

 but this treatment has many draw-backs. In the first place it makes 

 the material very dusty, and secondly, the fireproofing is only of a 

 temporary nature since it is at once removed by contact with water and 

 the process must therefore be repeated every time the ' goods are 

 washed. I can easily demonstrate this and, in these and all my other 

 experiments, I purposely take only very narrow strips in order that any 

 smoke produced may not cause inconvenience in this hall. Another 

 solution which has been strongly recommended for the same purpose is 

 made up with 3 parts of ammonium phosphate, 2 parts of ammonium 

 chloride and 1 part of ammonium sulphate in about 40 parts of water. 

 If the material after washing, is impregnated with this solution and 

 dried, or if it is starched with starch made with the solution instead of 

 with water, the dry material only ignites with difficulty, and, as it does 

 not dust and is not prejudicially affected in any other way, this process 

 has been used with advantage not only in connection with wearing ma- 

 terial but also for the fireproofing of lace curtains and other inflam- 

 mable decorations. But in this case also, the fireproofing agents em- 

 ployed are all soluble in water and one washing is sufficient to remove 

 them entirely, leaving the goods at least as inflammable as before. The 

 process must therefore be repeated every time the goods are washed 

 and this means expense which, in the long run, becomes considerable. 



But a much more serious drawback to processes of this kind is the 

 trouble they entail since, in order to fireproof the garment the washer- 

 woman must have alongside the ordinary wash tub, a second tub con- 

 taining the fireproofing solution and this complication, added to the 

 expense of the salts, has been shown to be so serious that processes of 

 this kind are quite impracticable, especially in the homes of the poor. 



