SILK STOCKINGS
PRACTICALLY UNLADDERABLE. Silk stockings made from coal and castor oil, and practically “unladderable,” are the New Year gift of science to fashion. They are not yet being produced commercially, but patents have been granted in the United States. Dr Mayo Calvert, a research chemist of New York, who has been visiting England for the first time, gave details of the process. From coal and castor oil, chemists have produced a viscous fluid out of which are drawn fibres said to be stronger than natural silk, and more elastic. Dr Calvert said: “That extra elasticity means that our silk stockings will be practically unladderable.” The secret is cadaverine, made from the black tar produced when coal is distilled. An acid obtained by heating castor oil with a mineral salt reacts on the cadaverine to form the viscous stocking fluid. Dr Calvert said: “Developing this discovery looks like being one of the big things of 1939.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19390206.2.87.4
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1939, Page 8
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156SILK STOCKINGS Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1939, Page 8
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