REPORT OF XATIOXAL MUSEUM, 1920. 119 



nor the oil wore objectionable in the explosive charo'c, shice both 

 were entirely consumed in the flash, and left no ash. 



The silk cartridge cloth was considered so essential that, during 

 the war with Germany, no less than sixty mills were engaged in 

 manufacturing it according to specifications furnished by the War 

 Department. It was made in eleven principal grades and furnished 

 in Hve different weights for guns of differing calibre. At the sign- 

 ing of the Armistice in November, 1918, the Department of Ordnance 

 had on hand a large amount of silk cartridge cloth. After reserving 

 a sufficient amount for the regular needs of the arm}?^, approximately 

 11,<X)0,000 yards were declared surplus and available for salvage. 

 As a textile fabric for ordinarv commercial use, the silk cartrido^e 

 cloth presented a very unattractive appearance, since it was all 

 " woven in the raw "' and of plain weaves; for the principal recjuire- 

 ments which the War Department had demanded of the manufac- 

 turers was a high tensile strength and proof at a glance that the 

 fabric was all silk. In spite of extensive advertising by the Salvage 

 Board, the manufacturers and dry goods trade of the countrj- turned 

 down the 11,000,000 yards of surplus material as undesirable for 

 commercial use. the highest price offered being twelve and one-half 

 cents a yard, about one-fifth of what it had cost the Government. 



In order to demonstrate the worth of silk cartridge cloth and the 

 practicability of its use for other than military purposes, it was 

 decided that samples of this material would be processed and finished 

 according to methods used in the manufacture of regular commerciid 

 fabrics. These consisted in '•' boiling off '' the natural gum and added 

 oil from the fabric, and subjecting the cloth to bleaching, dyeing, 

 printing, napping and other processes. These experiments resulted 

 in a beautiful fa])ric suitable for men's and women's wearing apparel, 

 millinery, draperies, upholstery, and other uses, and in consequence 

 thereof the (hy goods trade and the public were soon convinced that 

 silk cai-tridge cloth was a desirable as well as an attractive fabjir, 

 possessing a durability which rendered it invaluable when consi<ler- 

 iug its wearing qualities. The carrying out of these experiments 

 by the authority of the Judge Advocate General of the Army resulted 

 in tlie Salvage Board disposing of the entire surplus of silk cartri<lge 

 (■l(»th to a commercial firm, wherebv the Government was o-uaranteed 

 the return of the cost price and in addition 50 jjer cent of the net 

 proceeds resulting from its sale to the public. 



The series of samples transferred to the Museum by the Sahage 

 Board shows not only various grades and weights of the unfinished 

 cartridge clotli as used by the I>e])artment of Onhianco for military 

 ])U!-}>oses. l)ut examples of the resiilts obtained in the finishing experi- 

 ments which (lemonstrated its use for ordinary- textile puri)oses. 



