No Shrink, No Shine, No Runs

Monsanto Chemical Co. last week turned up with some new chemical processes which produce: P: Silk and nylon stockings that do not run.

P: Wool that does not shrink.

P: Blue serge suits that do not get shiny.

P: Wool pants that keep a sharp crease, even in the rain.

Monsanto Chemical Co.'s Donald Howard Powers, the 43-year-old Princeton graduate who achieved these homely miracles, shrugged them off as only a beginning. He has already developed other chemicals which double the wear of wool and cotton, make textiles mildew-proof.

He is also working on a method of water proofing and flame-proofing circus tents.

Powers' chemicals have no effect on the appearance of the materials treated. To prevent runs in stockings, he devised a treatment with a colloidal chemical called silica sol. Very fine grains of silica (in visible to the naked eye), deposited on the threads, make snagged threads cling to their neighbors instead of unraveling. The same chemical is used to put a lusterless coating (which must be renewed from time to time) on blue serge and to impregnate wool so that it achieves a durable crease when pressed under heat. To make wool shrink-proof, Powers first wets it to open the fibers, then injects a resin inside the hollowed fibers. This stiffens the tiny, fuzzy barbs that stick out of the side of a woolen fiber and prevents the barbs from interlocking -- the cause of shrinkage.

Monsanto promises that eventually the bottled chemicals will be available for home application.

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