The relationship between the rates of felting and soil removal was investigated when wool fabrics were washed in domestic washing machines under various conditions of agitation, machine load, and foaming. It was shown that this relationship is a direct one for a particular detergent solution used in the machine. At higher loads, the rates of felting and desoiling are retarded, but the linear relationship is still maintained. Efficient soil removal with less felting can be ob tained by the selection of a suitable detergent.
An electrolytic method is described by which proteins such as bovine plasma albumin, lysozyme, wool keratin, ribonuclease, and insulin may be reduced to various extents. It is usually necessary to add small amounts of a thiol compound, which acts as a current carrier. An improved type of "scanning potentiostat" has been employed, which allows the level of reduction to be automatically controlled. The high extent of reduction without the need for denaturants suggests that the difficulties experienced in reducing certain disulfide bonds in proteins are owing to their low reactivity rather than to their molecular inaccessibility.
The birefringence of Corriedale wool fibers was measured at nine different relative humidities. After being corrected for swelling the curve of birefringence against mois ture content showed a minimum at a moisture content of 19% of the dry weight of the wool. At this point the birefringence is probably completely intrinsic, but at other moisture contents there may be a component of environmental birefringence. The curve shape may also be due in part to change of intrinsic birefringence with change of moisture content. Environmental birefringence is not likely to constitute more than approximately 9% of the total birefringence at any moisture content.
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