10 MR. TOPPAN'S NEW PROCESS 



" The buck fleece, from its superior whiteness and in every 

 way handsomer appearance, was in every case superior to 

 the soda-scoured product, and in most cases so much so that 

 it seemed incredible that it should have come from the same 

 fleece." 



While practice may or may not prove these percentages to 

 be exact, it can be said that they were obtained by the most 

 careful experiment, and to-day they represent our very best 

 knowledge upon the subject. They point without doubt to a 

 saving of some value in the weight of the scoured wool. 



Wool product of the world in 1871 was. .. .2,000,000,000 Ibs. 



Australian product in 1883 400,000,000 Ibs. 



United States in 1885 100,000,000 Ibs. 



Imports into United States in 1885 100,000,000 Ibs. 



This will give some idea of the enormous amount of wool 

 employed in our manufactures ; and the process which can 

 save to the consumer 10 per cent, or even 5 per cent, is of 

 the highest value. 



To show the power of Mr. Toppan's compound as a solvent, 

 I have here one extreme example : At Hall's Mills, Hallville, 

 Conn., some experimental scourings had been made with 

 good result ; more as a joke, perhaps, than in sober earnest, 

 the superintendent said, "Well, I can give you something that 

 you cannot scour," and he picked up a quantity of wool waste. 

 This is torn from the wool in the different processes through 

 which it goes, and is considered to be of absolutely no value. 

 It is soaked with oil from the machines and the floor, and in 

 practice is used as waste for wiping the machinery and is then 

 burned. This was the material which was produced. I have 

 some of it in this test tube, and I think that you can all see it 

 or at least its color. 



Mr. Toppan tried it by way of experiment, giving it a 

 scour of three minutes' duration. The result I have here 

 in this other test tube, and I think you can all see a difference. 

 This cannot be cleansed by the old scour at all, yet it has a 

 fairly long staple, and is an article of some commercial value. 

 It is much better than shoddy for purposes for which shoddy 

 is used, and is literally a production of something from noth- 

 ing. As a test of the solvent power of the compound, it 

 is striking in the extreme. 



The opinion of an expert, with reference to comparative 

 color and value, should not be passed over without comment, 

 and the statement that the yellow tinge of the yellow buck 

 fleece was removed, shows that the Toppan process is capable 

 of better results in difficult cases than is the soda process. 



