572 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



be specially treated and prepared by passing 

 it over a " milling " machine (see p. 57 1). This 

 machine cleans and clears the fibres by placing 

 them parallel to each other, thus enabling the 

 spinner to form a good yarn. All the best 

 yarns made from coir are spun by hand. No 

 machine, we are told, has yet been devised to 

 spin with anything like success owing to its 

 peculiar nature, the fibre being coarse, of short 

 staple, and easily broken under friction, as is 

 the case when trying to spin it on a machine. 

 This being so the most beneficial results are 

 obtained by spinning this material into yarn 

 by hand, as the human hand adapts itself to 

 the peculiarities named and so produces a very 

 even yarn. The yarns after being spun are 

 then twisted together in couples ready for the 

 weaver to make into mats and the rope-maker 

 into ropes, and for many other purposes. 



If these two-ply cords have to be shipped, 

 they will require to be wound on to a winding 

 frame, so as to make them into hanks. They 

 are then formed into ballots by a press, and are 

 ready for shipment either as ballots or in bales. 



As just stated, there are many industries 

 where coir fibre can be or might be used ; of 

 the latter there is one in particular, viz., for 

 insulating cables, judging from a paper read 

 by Mr. E. Kilburn Scott before the London 

 Branch of the Association of Mining Electrical 

 Engineers, 1 in which he dealt with the use of 



1 Extracted from The Rubber World, London. 



