WORLD RAG BAG

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 74, 6 July 1942, Page 6

WORLD RAG BAG

BECOMES THOUSANDS OF NEW ARMY BLANKETS The grey blue blankets now going out in their thousands, sol't warm and Huffy, from the West Riding of Yorkshire to the British Army may well have sailed the seven seas in a previous existence. Not an ounce of new wool goes into them. They emerge from rags collected from all over the world— worn-out uniforms, pullovers, old socks. Sorting out these rags is a highly specialised industry. The women and girls who do it can tell by a touch if the rags contain cotton: should there be any in them It is dissolved by a special process leaving the avool fibres intact. Dirt and dust arc removed by a vigorous shaking and oil is poured over the rags to lubricate their fibres. A fast revolving cylinder covered Avith sharp locked teeth, tears the rag's into a ayogllv fibrous mass. From then on the fibres are turned into cloth in the same way as new wool is carded, spun and woven on the machinery which in peace time makes tAveeds, coating, blazers and flannels. It is hard to believe that the stiff, thin piece of cloth Avhich appears will ever become a blanket Avith a soft, thick pile. It is first scoured in a soda solution and then it is milled and felted until it is just the width required. After a thorough washing in warm Avatcr the cloth is passed through a wringing machine and dried. At this stage the cloth looks more like a blanket. It next passes through the brushing up or raising machine AA'hich has hundreds of tiny wire hooks that cIaAV at the fibres and pull them up to g'iA r e the "blankety" feel. Scarcely anything is lost in the whole process of manufacture: during the last hundred years it has become almost a fine art. The loose fibres removed by friction in the shrinking or milling process go to make flocks for mattresses. The waste left oA r er from the finishing processes is no use as textile material: it is however full of nitrogen and goes off to manure the hop gardens of Kent and the orchards of Somerset. Even the oil) and soap are recovered and utilised.