Wool from Cows

Dino Grandi. Italian Ambassador to Great Britain, two years ago appeared in London wearing a suit made from 48 pints of skimmed milk. Secretary Achille Starace of the Fascist Party decreed that all party flags must be made from "this product of Italian ingenuity" a textile fabric called Lanital, invented in 1935 and introduced in the U. S. last winter (TIME, Dec. 6). Basis of Lanital is casein, the thick substance in sour, skimmed milk from which cottage cheese is made. Last week the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Dairy Industry applied for a public-service patent on a somewhat similar process for turning casein into synthetic wool.

Years ago dairies used to dump their surplus casein, later discovered their dumping grounds had become fertile fields. In 1898, Casein Co. of America started making casein commercially. Manufacturing process is relatively simple: after skim milk, which has a 3% casein content, has soured, the curd (crude casein) is separated from the whey; the curd is then washed, dried and ground into the finished product. Since 1921 U. S. production of casein has risen from 8,000,000 to 40,000,000 Ib. annually. Biggest consumers are paper makers (who use 70% of the yearly output for coating book, magazine and wall paper), paint and glue manufacturers (12% each) and the plastic industry.

Inventors of the new synthetic wool are two Government chemists named Stephen P. Gould and Earl O. Whittier. They produced the fiber by a method similar to that used in making rayon from cellulose. The finished product is straw-colored, resembles the best grade, washed and carded Merino wool, but will not shrink so much and is mothproof. By varying the acids used in curdling the milk they claim they can make a soft, silky grade or a hard, stronger type of yarn. Although Messrs. Gould and Whittier do not know exactly what it will cost to produce synthetic wool commercially, they are certain it can be sold about as cheaply as rayon (50-c- a Ib.). As soon as the Bureau of Dairy Industry gets its patents, it will probably release them to the general public without restrictions.

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