Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1874 — The Treatment of Hair or Fur. [ARTICLE]

The Treatment of Hair or Fur.

.Reference lias already been made to a method of utilizing feathers of barnyard poultry, wild fowl, etc., in the preparation of a loose fiber to be worked up into a felt cloth, blankets, etc. The following describes a somewhat cognate industry having reference to a new"mode of treating fur. This forms the subject of a communication by Mr. Joseph Tussaud, who is Sent one of the proprietors of the’ celebrated wax-work establishment in Baker street, London, founded by Madame Tussaud. The attention of Mr. Tussaud was first called to the subject by his desire to transfer the hairs of fur-bearing or other animals to wax figures without including the skin in Which they were inserted. After numerous ex' pertinents he succeeded in accomplishing this and developing, as already remarked, a (new industry. The great object which Mr. Tussaud aimed to secure was the removal of hair or fur from the skin and then attaching this to an artificial skin, obtaining .thus a more perfect degree of preservation for any purpose whatever, While retaining the hairs in their qriginal and natural relationship. For this purpose the piece of fur to be treated may be soaked in lime-water -or other suitable liquid, as practiced by tanners, for the purpose of loosening the adhesionof the hair. It is then to be washed

in water, to free it from the superabundant lime or other substance, and hungup for a time to dry off the excess of moisture. It is then laid on a board, with the hair side up, and a solution of gluo applied by means of a brush or otherwise, taking care not to disturb the natural position and relation of the hair. The size or glue is then allowed to harden, when it will hold the fibers very firmly. The natural skin may then be pulled entirely off from the hhirs, leaving their ends exposed, which may then be washed by some - substance to free them entirely from adherent fat, bulbs, etc., and properly poisoned. An artificial skin is next to he affixed by applying india-rubber, gutta-percha, boiled drying oils, or other water-proof substances, over the roots of the hairs and allowed to dry, so as to form a continuous membrane; after which all that is necessary is again to soak the skins in warm water for a time to dissolve out all the glue, and the new fabric is produced in all its completed condition. To render the rubber or gutta-percha more lasting it may be combined with sulphur so as to vulcanize it, for which purpose a solution of chloride or hypochloride of sulphur in bisulphurct of carbon may be employed. In using bisulphurct of carbon forty parts of the same are to he added to one part of chloride or hypochloride of sulphur, prepared as neutral as possible, and the solution is then allowed to remain in contact with the artificial skin of rubber or gutta-percha a longer or a shorter time, a minute being sufficient for a thin sheet. This operation must be completed, of course, before immersing in warm water to remove the glue which produces the adhesion of the hairs. One great advantage of this process consists in the fact that fabrics thus prepared are moth-proof, and it is suggested that for many purposes, such as the construction of rugs, mats, etc., they must be superior to the natural skin. In the case of heavy skins the artificial preparation is much lighter, more pliable, and better in every respect, Several of these artificial skins may he combined so as to form one, or they may he modified in any manner desirable. When properly made the preparation is entirely free from any smell, and especially the animal odor, which is so offensive to many furs.— New York Tribune.