On Claussens Flax Cotton. 



243 



a substitute or auxiliary in the cotton and woollen manufactures 

 of the country. 



The machine above referred to, as we have said, removes the 

 stra^Y only, and but partially disinteg-rates or separates the fibres, 

 which are held together by an adhesive substance. Hence the 

 coarseness of the fibres and their suitability for coarse and strong 

 fabrics only. In order to adapt it for the linen manufacture, as 

 also to carry it one stage further in the process of preparation for 

 the cotton or wool spinner, it is necessary to obtain a more com- 

 plete separation of the fibres. This object is to be accomplished 

 by the removal of the resinous and glutinous substance which 

 binds them together ; and as it does not appear that mechanical 

 powder will completely effect this, recourse is had to chemical 

 means. These substances are therefore dissolved by the chemical 

 action of fermentation, which takes place under the ordinary 

 modes of steeping, whether in hot or cold w^ater ; and the appli- 

 cation of mechanical power in the process of scutching after- 

 wards separates the fibres, and leaves them in a fit state for the 

 various manipulations required previous to flax-spinning. 



The existing processes of steeping resorted to for the purpose 

 of obtaining this separation are found not only to occupy a very 

 large portion of time, but they are also not sufficiently uniform 

 in their action to produce that complete separation required in 

 the flax for spinning on the ordinary cotton machinery, and 

 even in the preparation of the fibre for the ordinary branches of 

 linen manufacture, they possess many disadvantages Avhich it 

 would be desirable to see removed alike for the interests of the 

 grower, who may have the convenience and facility for thus pre- 

 paring his flax, as for the manufacturer himself. In order to 

 obtain this more complete separation of the fibre, desirable alike 

 for the flax as for the cotton spinner, the Chevalier Claussen 

 adopts the plan of boiling the flax (either in the straw, as it 

 comes from the field, or in the state in which it leaves the 

 grower's hands, wdth its bulk partially reduced by the removal of 

 the straw) for two or three hours in a w^eak solution of caustic 

 soda. The action of the soda dissolves completely these resinous 

 and other substances, while, by its combination with the oleaginous 

 matters of the plant, it produces a soapy kind of liquid, which 

 removes at the same time all the colouring matter — leaving it, 

 unlike flax steeped upon the ordinary mode, perfectly free from 

 all stain and impurity, and thereby facilitating greatly the after 

 processes of bleaching or dyeing, whether in the yarn or in the 

 finished cloth. 



The advantages resulting from this mode of treating the flax 

 may be stated to be, — that the preparation of long fibre for 

 scutching is effected in less than one dav, and it is aiwavs 



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