On Claussens Flax- Cotton. 



245 



Georgia cotton, spun into 30's, will yield 25,200 yards ; while 

 1 lb. of flax, spun into " line " of a number about equal to that 

 of the cotton-yarn, would produce but 21,000 yards, givinp: an 

 advantasfe of 4000 yards in the pound to cotton over flax. In addi- 

 tion to this, the yarn would be produced from the raw cotton by 

 cotton machinery at an expense of less than 3c?., while that of 

 the flax would be more than double that sum when prepared by 

 the flax machinery. This is a difficulty which has hitherto lain 

 at the root of every attempt to spin flax successfully and profitably 

 upon cotton machinery, and the solution of which constitutes the 

 g:reat difference between the process of Chevalier Claussen and 

 all other attempts previously made to spin flax upon cotton or 

 woollen machinery. 



A minute attention to the structure of the flax fibre, combined 

 with his knowledge of the properties of cotton, suggested to the 

 inventor a mode by which this difficulty might be overcome. 

 The long fibres of the flax-plant are arranged around each 

 other in small bundles, presenting, under the microscope, some- 

 what the appearance of a bundle of rods, or the Roman fasces. 

 It became obvious that, if by any process these minute hair- 

 like substances could be further subdivided, the required increase 

 in length and proportionate diminution in bulk or coarseness 

 would be obtained. But how was this separation to be obtained ? 

 Ordinary mechanical means were useless for such a purpose. 

 Hair-splitting, even upon a small scale, has always been con- 

 sidered as partaking somewhat of the impracticable ; and to 

 accomplish this process upon a large scale — to split or divide this 

 fine hair-like substance by hundredweights at a time, and to do 

 it at a trifling cost — would appear to be beyond the bounds of 

 possibility. The feat has, however, been accomplished by the 

 Chevalier Claussen — and what is more, it is eff'ected instan- 

 taneously. What ordinary mechanical powers failed to accomplish 

 has been not only successfully, but instantaneously performed, 

 by the mechanical action of chemical forces applied to the inter- 

 stices of the fibres. 



The means by which this is accomplished are simple and 

 beautiful, and they form an exceedingly interesting illustration 

 of chemical powers long known and universally recognised. We 

 have already stated that in one of the processes — that employed 

 by the Chevalier Claussen in the preparation of the flax for the 

 linen manufacture — the fibre was boiled in a solution of caustic 

 soda. In preparing the article for the cotton-spinner the flax 

 also undergoes a similar boiling and cleansing process, after 

 which it is taken out of the vat containing the solution of caustic 

 soda, washed, and placed in another containing a solution of 

 carbonate of soda, in which it remains till fully saturated with 



