xiri, A, 6 King: Philippine Coir and Coir Cordage 327 



described. The test pieces in Table XIV were exposed to usual 

 weather conditions for ninety days (from April 26 to July 25, 

 1918), on the black-painted, galvanized-iron, laboratory roof, 

 before being subjected to the tensile-strength test. The detailed 

 character of the weather is given by the Weather Bureau. ■*•' 

 During the first month of exposure the weather was clear. In 

 the second month there were frequent light rains in the after- 

 noon, but during the morning the weather was usually so clear 

 that the test specimens quickly dried. This alternate wetting 

 and diying subjected the fiber to a severe test. The third month 

 of exposure was characterized by two periods of stormy weather 

 and heavy precipitation. 



Although the number of experiments conducted is small and 

 the relative duration of the exposure was short, nevertheless, 

 the tensile-strength tests of coir and abaca recorded in Tables 

 XI, XII, XIII, and XIV show that rope made from coir is more 

 susceptible to the destructive influences of fresh or salt water 

 as well as of atmospheric agencies than rope made from either 

 "F" or "G" grade abaca fiber. 



The low tensile strength per unit area, the high elongation, 

 and the small breaking length of the coir specimens are evident 

 from Table XI. The rope made from the weaker retted fiber 

 gives a slightly higher ultimate resistance per square centi- 

 meter than that made from the sti'onger m.achine-cleaned fiber. 

 However, the difference in their comparative strengths is so 

 small as to be of little significance. The results in all three 

 tests emphasize the extreme weakness of coir rope. Abaca rope 

 is, roughly, five times as strong per unit area as coir rope and 

 has a breaking length approximately three times as great. 



Table XII shows that submergence in fresh water for twenty- 

 four hours slightly increased the elongation and decreased the 

 tensile strength of coir rope. The decrease was greater in the 

 rope made of retted fiber than in that made of machine-cleaned 

 fiber. The loss in strength of the rope made of machine-cleaned 

 fiber is not much more after immersion for twenty-one days in 

 stagnant tap water than after twenty-four hours. There is 

 little change in the strength of the abaca-rope specimens tested. 



Salt water seems to decrease the tensile strength of both coir 

 and abaca ropes slightly more than does fresh water, as shown 

 in Table XIII. 



Table XIV indicates that coir rope loses in tensile strength 



''Ann. Rep. P. I. Weather Bureau (1918). 



