Introductory article by D. L. Pellatt, the first in a planned series of five, on rayon staple fiber, which is rayon cut or made in cotton- or wool-like lengths and then spun into yarn. It compares rayon with cotton and wool for clothing and furnishing fabrics, covering luster, warmth and cleanliness. It briefly surveys the nitrocellulose, acetate, cuprammonium and viscose processes, explaining why viscose dominates staple production, and discusses cellulose raw materials such as wood pulp and cotton linters. It concludes that cotton spinning machinery, with minor changes, suits spun rayon yarns.

Second article in D. L. Pellatt's series on rayon staple fiber, from The Melliand, May 1930. It reviews the position of spun rayon in Lancashire and Yorkshire, where it is mixed with cotton or wool, and explains why staple fiber can be made more cheaply than continuous filament yarn. It then describes the viscose process step by step: wood cellulose, alkali cellulose, xanthation in churns, dissolving, blending and ripening. Five photographs of factory equipment illustrate the stages.