UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
% BULLETIN No. 882 
Contribution from the Bureau of Markets 
GEORGE LIVINGSTON, Chief 
Swr't^Lru 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
October 9, 1920 
MANUFACTURING AND LABORATORY TESTS TO 
PRODUCE AN IMPROVED COTTON AIRPLANE 
FABRIC. 
By Feed Taylor, formerly Cotton Technologist, and D. E. Earle, Specialist in 
Cotton Classing. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
Signal Corps specifications for air- 
plane cloth 2 
Mill tests 7 
Varieties of cotton tested 7 
Mechanical conditions at the 
mill 7 
Percentage of waste 9 
Comparative strength and stress 
tests of yarns and fabrics 10 
Variation of twist 11 
Page. 
Mill tests — Continued. 
Variation of weave 13 
Mercerization 14 
Corroboration of certain mill tests 
by Signal Corps and the Bureau 
of Markets 16 
Laboratory tests 27 
Mercerization 27 
Doping 38 
Summarv 47 
INTRODUCTION. 
Improvement of the airplane has been due chiefly to its use in 
warfare. It is said that the first nation to utilize the airplane in 
this way was the United States, in its trouble with Mexico in 1911. 
when a single machine was used for scouting purposes. It remained 
for the demands of the World War to give the needed impetus to 
the rapid development of aircraft. 
In April, 1917, this country entered the World War. By that 
time it was apparent that the nation which maintained the superior 
air force, both in number and efficiency, had a distinct advantage. 
An immense aerial fleet was believed generally to be the most effec- 
tive method of exerting immediate pressure on the enemy. This 
opinion caused Congress to appropriate $640,000,000 for the use 
of the Signal Corps in developing an adequate airplane service. 
The increased production of airplanes, not only by this country 
but also by the other nations involved in the war, had, naturally, 
1S5339°— Bull. 882—20 1 
