cow milk fedora

[thunderw21]

From the August 1941 issue of Popular Science in an article about 'Chemurgy' as a weapon for defense.

Nothing else is mentioned in the article. I would have loved to see it up close and personal.

Has anyone ever encountered such a hat? No doubt they didn't go to far with this idea.

 

[kiltie]

"And if I'm wrong...

...I will eat my hat!"

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Casein dates back many centuries when it was used as a binder for paints -- paint with casein applied to 14th and 15th century churches still appears bright and unfaded.

Proteins are obtained from skim milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk. There are about three pounds of casein in every 100 pounds of milk.

When cut to staple-length fiber casein many properties of wool. Fibers are white, fluffy, springy and have a pleasant odor. When blended with other fibers casein added a soft draping quality and resiliency to fabrics. Fiber was blended with wool for creating felt and with spun rayon, wool, mohair and cotton for attractive woven and knitted fabrics in a variety of weaves, textures and prints.

Even through casein fiber lacks certain desirable qualities of wool it was a way to replace wool at a lower cost. When mixed with rayon and wool, casein helped in the conservation effort during WWII as a wool substitute.

Casein fibers cannot be distinguished from wool fibers by chemical or burning tests, only by microscope. Because chemical composition is so similar, casein burns like wool with odor of burning hair, has no surface scales like wool but is smooth and round when viewed under a microscope, is damaged readily by alkalies and mildews easily.

Though caseins can be laundered with care the same as wool, they lose strength when wet and must be handled gently. They cannot be kept damp for any length of time due to quick mildewing. Three successful brandnames were Aralac in America and Lanital and Merinova in Italy.

Montgomery Ward's S/S 1942 catalog featured classic felt styles of
94% new wool and 6% casein fiber. Colors choices were black, flag red, navy, dusty rose,
dusty blue and beige. $2.48 and $3.98 respectively. -

 

[thunderw21]

fascinating...

Thanks for the info, Dixon.

 

[Chuck Bobuck]

Got hat?

 

[Lefty]

Great stuff!

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Do they come in chocolate and strawberry too?

 

[Brad Bowers]

Hat Corporation of America patented a casein fiber hat-making process that could use anywhere from 25% to 95% fur felt (any combination of coney/hare/beaver/muskrat/nutria) and 5% to 75% of the inexpensive casein fibers. They filed in 1940, and were granted the patent in 1943. Stetson may have patented something similar, but I don't remember.

I don't think the hats were terribly successful, but I suppose they helped get the company through the war shortage. The most common customer complaint was that the hats smelled like sour milk when they got wet. I doubt many survive because of this.

Brad

 

[animator]

I'm always amazed at the interesting and strange stuff I learn here.

Great thread! Thanks!

 

[Lefty]

The top one is a current BIN that I'm considering purchasing just to handle it.

 

[Lefty]

 

[The Good]

Amazing, I've never heard of this before. Those hats in the examples look nice, too.

 

[TomS]

Interesting...