BETTER WOOL-PACKS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 68, 18 August 1947, Page 8

BETTER WOOL-PACKS

NEW INVENTION FOR WEAVING

MACHINES MAY BE SENT TO NEW ZEALAND

British ingenuity has produced a new invention, which it is believed may markedly expand production of woven fabrics and will possibly have an important bearing on the supply of woolpacks to the Dominions. This invention, information concerning which was received by the New Zealand Wool Board at its monthly meeting in Wellington, is the Baddeley shuttleless loom. According to the International Wool Secretariat, it can produce fabrics that cannot be successfully made on any previously known power loom. The Baddeley loom owns a big advantage over other kinds when dealing with heavy fabrics and it is of great use in mass production work. Its widening of the range of possibilities is shown by the fact that it has made materials from paper and twine, asbestos, jute, seaweed and glass. From the point of view of supplying woolpacks, the new invention is most interesting. The New Zealand Wool Board has been informed by the International Wool Secretariat that while Mr Baddeley has only two looms operating, it is believed that given production licenses, a number could be produced within a time quite short by modern standards, perhaps under six months. It is believed he would be willing to sell the looms to the Dominions though the advantages of the new invention may make the British Government anxious to retain them to augment the export trade. Before the war some 150 packs woven by the loom, were sent as samples to the Dominions and those shipped back to England received favourable comment. Paper and wool yarns are twisted together in both warp and weft and the pack therefore retains a fair strength when wet. In this respect it is claimed that it may be better than the cotton and paper woven pack now being made in South Africa, in' which the fabric is of paper one way and of cotton the other and which, it is understood, cannot be safely moved while still wet.

A sample of this wool-and-paper woven woolpack material, recently received by the New Zealand Wool Board, has a flexible but well bound weave. The paper threads, tightly twisted and reinforced with woollen ones, combine in resembling a hardwearing type of canvas matting.