xin.A, 6 King: Philippine Coir and Coir Cordage 299 



square centimeter. Still higher values for abaca are frequently 

 obtained. 



These tensile strengths of Philippine coir filaments agree with 

 the results published by M. H. Lecomte. This work is quoted 

 by Prudhomme '^ as follows: 



"* * * Un filament de huit centimetres de long et de 250 i^*' de 

 diametre a supporte 650 grammes avant de se rompre. * * *" (A 

 filament eight centimeters long and 0.250 millimeter in diameter broke 

 under a load of 650 grams.) 



Since a diameter for the filament is given it must be presumed 

 that the filament section is circular and, therefore, its area 

 would be 



u.^ou\ X 3.1416=0.0490 square millimeter, 



(4^7 



which is equivalent to 0.000490 square centimeter. The ulti- 

 mate unit breaking stress is 



1 

 0.650 X A nooZQn^"'^'^^'^ kilograms per square centimeter. 



This value agrees closely with the average values given in 

 Tables III and IV. It is slightly greater than the tensile 

 strength of the retted fiber, 1,208 kilograms per square centi- 

 meter; less than the ultimate resistance of the machine-cleaned 

 fiber, 1,526 kilograms per square centimeter; and practically 

 equal to the mean of the two values, 1,367 kilograms per square 

 centimeter. 



Extensive comments occur in existing literature to the effect 

 not only that the filaments obtained from husks of overripe nuts 

 are characterized by dark color, stiffness, coarseness, weakness, 

 and brittleness, and that nuts having an age of between 9 

 and 10 months yield a finer and lighter-colored fiber, but also 

 that the varying strengths of coir depend upon a slight difference 

 in the age of the nuts. No authoritative data have been col- 

 lected as to the effect age has on the tensile strength of coir. In 

 as much as the tensile strength of coir is very low, were the 

 age of the nuts to determine its strength it is improbable that 

 this factor would be sufficient materially to increase its value 

 as a cordage material. I doubt if there is much difference be- 



"Loc. cit. 



•"1 M=0.001 millimeter. 



