Samples of the artificial silk were
exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1889 and two years later he started
a factory at Basancon. In 1892, Cross and Bevan, English chemists,
discovered the viscose or xanthate process, and later the acetate
process. But although all four of these processes were invented
in France and England, Germany reaped most benefit from the new
industry, which was bringing into that country $6,000,000 a year
before the war. The largest producer in the world was the Vereinigte
Glanzstoff-Fabriken of Elberfeld, which was paying annual dividends of
34 per cent. in 1914.
The raw materials, as may be seen, are cheap and abundant, merely
cellulose, salt, sulfur, carbon, air and water. Any kind of cellulose
can be used, cotton waste, rags, paper, or even wood pulp. The processes
are various, the names of the products are numerous and the uses are
innumerable. Even the most inattentive must have noticed the widespread
employment of these new forms of cellulose. We can buy from a street
barrow for fifteen cents near-silk neckties that look as well as those
sold for seventy-five.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192