WOOL RESEARCH

Hokitika Guardian, 29 January 1932, Page 2

WOOL RESEARCH

NEW USES DISCOVERED.. WALL-PAPER. AND MOTOR-CAR BODIES'. LONDON, December 23. A.greatly increased use of wool as a raw material will follow the advances of science. We are only beginning to understand how wool can be exploited, arid the Australian and New Zealand grower will see an expanding market for his product. The-se are views held by one of Britain’s foremost authorities on wool, Dr. S. G. Barker, the author of text-book on “Wool Quality,” published this week by the Empire Marketing. Board (H.M. Stationery Office, London, one guinea). Dr. Barker j ; s director of research at the Wool Industries Research Association at Torridon, near Leeds, England. He has collected all the scientific knowledge available about wool quality in a- book of 330 highly technical pages, many of which deal with the '-outstanding scientific work now being done by the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial

Research in Australia, The work of the New Zealand Department of

Scientific and Industrial Research which bears oh wool production is al&o .reviewed. ‘‘Commercial conditions day are such that, in competition with artificial fibres, there is no room for,/ignorance even of filie- minutest details of wop},” he suya.

; NEW USE FOR WOOL. Dr. Barker’s latest discovery at the i Torridon laboratories- is a secret process ' for making artificial leather out df wool.' r . * _ * When I visited . Torridon this week I was shown a dozen different “leathers,” each of. them soft, strong, -and beautifully finished. “Here,” said Dr. Barker, handling j a thick brown sheet of material, “is a leather suitable for . fishing boots or suit-cases. - Tests' have shown it to be exceedingly durable and strong. “Het-e. is another, in all shades, for making, info ladies’ golfing coats or ■gloves.. This. one,” he produced another roll, “is, a-s you see, a patent I leather:. But it is absolutely un-crackabl-e.” He crumpled it up in his hands and, sure enough, nocracks could be seen when it was smoothed out. - These ‘-‘leathers” are being made by a firm near Leeds. Already one of the railway. companies and one of the biggest .motor-car manufacturers in the country have agreed to try out the wool “leather upholstery” and some is -undergoing practical testsAnother wool material ‘ suitable for covering “fabric bodies” for motorcars has been r ~im«de. Experiments with oither wool fabrics for wallpapers are nearing completion,