Science: Mr. Ford's Necktie

Besides having acquired a considerable reputation as a motormaker and collector of antiques, Henry Ford looms very large in the U. S. "chemurgic" movement, which explores and promotes industrial use of agricultural products. Example: use of casein, a compound which occurs in milk, to make plastics and fabrics. Another of Mr. Ford's preoccupations is soybeans, which can be grown cheaply almost anywhere, yield oil for automobile lacquers, meal for plastic parts like horn buttons. Incidentally, soybeans are nutritious and soybean preparations figure prominently in Mr. Ford's present diet.

Last week the Ford chemurgic laboratory at Dearborn displayed pride in a promising new fabric from soybean meal —said to be the first textile made from a vegetable protein.* Mr. Ford was presented with a tasteful necktie one-third of which was woven from the soybean fabric, the rest of silk and wool. Protein is extracted from soybean meal in saline solution, then mixed with other chemicals to make a viscous liquid, which is squirted into hair-sized filaments. The spun thread has a pleasant feel, fairly good tensile strength, takes dyes readily. Its intended use: automobile upholstery.