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Show V A ' V. - I r--r 4 ' - V 'J:' ' J&f& ' 4 : . .1 - ' , -y I h - t tK : ; " -ft , . t" . ' z- ; . - f t ' ' - " " t ' r 'VW-L .. -.--m,. - - -...,..-.. .. v By JOSEPH W. LaBINE When you pick up that fountain pen to write a letter tonight, to-night, you'll probably touch casein. If you're a billiards enthusiast, the little ball you play with is probably casein. Moreover, casein is responsible for the slick finish of the paper in your favorite magazine. Amazing casein really isn't an amazing thing. To the rank and file American it's simply milk curd, a by-product of milk which men have often discarded as valueless. Eut a few years ago smart scientists began seeking commercial applications for it: their ac- complishments to date make an amazing story. If you look up casein in the dictionary it will probably tell you it's an organic compound com-pound allied to albumin, found in milks of all kinds. The proportion pro-portion is 3 per cent and it separates sep-arates from the milk as curd, which is usually used for I makin:; cheese. And chee se made from skimmed milk, well pressed, is nearly pure coagulated casein. ; It's hard to believe that man ' can make cheese and foun- . ta.n Til b.irrels out of the same product. j i'.ut that's (inly part of t.he story. I.'n.iK.r.c making woo! clo'.ll out of it. too!!! j This latest conquest in the com-' com-' mercial appl icatuui of casein hails 1 from Italy, where the production of , artilk-ial wool from cow's milk has gone far beyond the experimental I stage: so far, in fact, that the Kreat Snia Viscosa rayon plant nt Milan , is building a huge nddition to its ' factory for the production of tins ' new artificial fabric on a commor-: commor-: cinl scalr. Man C'oplr Nature. I It's incredible that Artificial wool and a very fine Rrade of wool, ot that can be made from milk. But we have only to rcllect that the newly new-ly born lamb that depends for suste- i nance entirely upon its mother owe. ' is constantly producing the wool upon its little body from its mother's moth-er's milk. ! So the scientists who perfected i I this process have only been attempting attempt-ing to simulate it process which na-i na-i ture has been carrying on for millions mil-lions of years. They've found tli.it i cow's 111 ilk. goat's milk, sheep's 1 milk, and no doubt other milks, arc i satisfactory for making wool fabrics. fab-rics. And the process has been per-1 per-1 fi-eted to such an extent that the tin- j ! ished product gives a result very 1 close to the actual natural wool, chemically and to the touch, j This development is remarkably Interesting, but it need not cause ; American sheep raisers to quake in their boots. A!l!iou;:!i science has found a way to speed up the wool Crowing process, the method will always be complicated. Yet its success suc-cess may equal that of rayon, an artificial fabric which has assumed nn important position during the fiast 10 years. The new wool cloth made from milk casein comes in nil colors and patterns, In diUVrent weights, nnd is much less expensive than ordinary ordi-nary wool. It has nn advantage over natural wool In that it dues not Shrink and for this reason Italy Is mnking It Into soldier's uniforms, underwear mid hosiery. Fashion models in Italy show the very latest styles In this new cloth. To see 11 shop window tilled with models clad In gay outing sweaters nnd sport suits, nil made from cow's milk, Is to be convinced ngainst one's own convictions that such a thing Is possible. ;mh1 l the I.nst Drop. The modern dairyman wastes very little from each nallon of milk his fanners deliver to the dooi At the Italian wool plant, lor example, milk is separated from the I, idler fat, so butler Is o if M, ,v. products of wool manufacture. I':''li !''! r.allons of milk pi,i,luees nl'oul III pounds i f hulter and 7, pounds or ( 1 1 y casein. In wool inanlllaclui c, dry casein ptoducos iipproximately lis own weii;ht In artificial wool. American milk is not used mi thor-oui thor-oui h'v. et f. (V nt;ons can hoast higher milk production than the United States. Thus the possibilities possibili-ties for American adoption cf the artificial wool process are tremendous. tremen-dous. Recent department of agriculture agri-culture figures show that milk surpluses sur-pluses this year hit a new Jur.e 1 high, caut'.ng dairy rr.ces to drop to the lowest level in f ur years. Resulted Frcm Necessity. The discov. ry of rr.ilk wc .1 is cr.ly two years o!d. Inves t: . i s v. i.ich had not passed beyond the laboratory sta-e had been :r.;.rie bef re that tin e, but the c'oject had been to produce artificially a product replacing re-placing si!k. the most h;;hly cor.-s.dered cor.-s.dered fabric cf an.n :.l ( r..n. Experience Ex-perience has shown. I'-acmt. that I ar:.f.cial si'k is best pre iaced cf cellul' so. a material of p!.,r.t cir.i;.n. The process i'.st'.f t.,i:es place in a hint closely resembling a creamery. cream-ery. M,!k is weighed and passed through a heater into a sk.ir.m.r.g machine. Here the cream is separated sepa-rated from die milk and by means of a stenli.-.ing and refrigerating apparatus ap-paratus is immersed in an acid.fica-tion acid.fica-tion vat, after which it is put into a mixing churn and moulded into pats of butter. The skimmed mi!k then passes into a curdling boiler where it is treated by special chemical products prod-ucts so that there is a coagulation of the casein which is found in suspension sus-pension in the milk. The casein thus collected is sent into the press filter where the whey is eliminated. The masses of casein are ser.t to the curdling boiler to be washed, the product is then dried and ground. In the mixer the casein undergoes a d .living process with I - '-- i .; i I - -..yr- :Tf r. ,si - I ' . : i i ' 1 :i - . 1 . . I : , !', ' h ,- " - 1, - - - A few days ago the above Ir " looked very much like 63 quarti - cow 's milk; in fact, it was just tl Today it's a complete knitted dress in plain brown color. V eliie, what? ' 1 : i chemical reagents and is ser.t ci t' the maturing and filtering tar V Through the spinning machine ; casein now takes ca the cor.sis'.e " of filaments which arc firs! ' (A, then washed, then dr.cd. Tr.e f material is then finished ar.d re fi-r that first transformation l is common to all fibers. v t IVtsifrn NrasMwr t'm;a it i i ' H : . If! r 7 la... (. 1 '.A v.. 1 t s: , . l C u . V -i f I , i, . I" . ' :! -l .-. 1. ,- ' V 1 - . ... . ! Ten ntlcr t f ,., ,,,,. k ,.,.,,.,! ,,:1iiv M deep '' l-'(" :l plant , ,, , , , , ,, iy , ,, , , ,, l aililic' I l"'li,- "'.in rcr .,tlr, . V cew . miiiio. ,,, ! 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