SYNTHETIC TEXTILE FIBERS — MAUERSBERGER 217 



According to an announcement last week the National Dairy 

 Products Corporation has a new casein fiber known as R-53 - (finer 

 than Aralac), which is furnished to the Hat Corporation's three 

 plants in long continuous strands of 15,000 filaments each. These 

 are cut to %-inch staple lengths and blended with natural fur in 

 proportions of 10-15 percent casein fiber to 90-85 percent rabbit hair. 

 They claim men's hats made from this blend are the equal of ortho- 

 dox felt hats in appearance, feel, resistance to wear and crushing, 

 and superior in color fastness, 



SOYBEAN FILAMENTS AND FIBERS 



Wliile the major part of research work in soybean has been in 

 connection with the preparation of plastics, foods, paints, oils, and so 

 forth, some work has been done to utilize the protein meal or pulp 

 after the oil has been extracted. The work on the casein pulp has 

 been a side study, rather than a direct study on the part of chemists, 



Heberlein & Co,, back in 1929, submitted the extracted protein 

 from soybean to a swelling operation with water under pressure and 

 heat or a dilute acid with simultaneous treatment with phenols, after 

 which the filaments are formed by extrusion in the usual manner. 



In this country, the first announcement of research work on the 

 production of a synthetic textile fiber from soybean pulp came with 

 the opening of the World's Fair in 1939, A part of the Ford exhibit 

 was devoted to its manufacture. The Dearborn Laboratories of the 

 Ford Motor Co, had been working since 1937 on the idea of producing 

 a synthetic textile fiber that would simulate wool very closely. From 

 20,000 acres of soybeans under cultivation, they had been using the 

 soybean oil for paints and the meal for plastics. 



The process used is about as follows : After the soybean is crushed 

 under pressure and the oil extracted with hexane it is passed through 

 a weakly alkaline solvent, which extracts the protein. The soybean 

 meal is exceptionally rich in protein value — as high as 50 percent. 

 The protein is then combined with various chemicals and/or dyestuffs 

 in a secret process and made into a viscous solution. It is then forced 

 through a spinnerette and coagulated into filaments in a bath con- 

 taining sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, and sodium chloride or alumi- 

 num sulfate. A formaldehyde solution is used to set the filaments 

 during the winding process. They are bleached and dyed, if desired. 



' R-53 is the laboratory name used for this new fiber by the Hat Corporation of America 

 during the present experimental state of its use. The R stands for research, and the 

 number indicates that this was the fifty-third fiber tested by the company in the course 

 Of a 20-year search for a fiber that could be used in making top-quality felt hats. R-53, 

 as used by the Hat Corporation, cannot be regarded as the same as Aialac, because while 

 Aralac rovings are the original raw material from which the company produces R-53, 

 much additional processing is necessary before the fiber is ready for hat making. It must 

 be specially combed to remove noils and knots, and it must be cut to the proper staple 

 length for blending with rabbit fur. 



