Resilitex is a sort of mouldable rubber substitute used in mattresses.

A search of the internet reveals little about its origins but a photocopy of a page from the February-March 1943 edition of a wartime publication, the Journal of the Medical Training Establishment, reveals that it was born in the Bradford laboratories of an unnamed Bradford textile firm.

I'm indebted to Jennifer I Gregory, of Bingley, for sending it along.

The article describes this textile fabric, which was said to be as resilient and springy as sponge rubber, as "one of the most unexpected discoveries of the war period". The big surprise was that "hair growing on the back of an animal is able to replace a product prepared from the sap of a tree."

Wartime restrictions on information rightly being what they were, no further details of the nature of the animal or the process which worked this alchemy on its hair were revealed.

However, readers were told that the fabric was woven on a special type of loom and produced in sheets several yards long, four feet wide and varying in thickness as required.

It was intended for use in armaments to prevent injuries, as crash or shock pads in tanks and planes or in seating. The report added: "There are several other special applications which come under the preventive grouping, such as knee pads for certain troops, but many of these cannot be described at the present time."

Curative applications included ambulance and operating theatre mattresses. It was also useful as packaging for dropping fragile medical supplies from planes.

The durability of Resilitex was said to be excellent. Just how excellent?

"A seat made from it was bumped with a weight equal to that of a heavy man sitting down, 63 times a minute, several hours a day, for ten weeks, or 150,000 bumps in all," said the report. "This was considered the equivalent of 15 years' normal use in a London bus. The seat came out of the testing machine showing no visible signs of damage or wear."

If anyone knows which textile company it was that came up with this remarkable invention, I'd be pleased to hear from them.

*An interesting article on the same page reveals the extent of recycling of medical equipment that took place during the wartime years. It was described as an "economy note" on sharpening hypodermic needles and was written by two corporals who carried out the practice at a unit where 1,000 inoculations a week were common.

Basic equipment was a magnifying glass or low-powered microscope and a sharpening stone lubricated with Xylol or ordinary lamp paraffin on which the needle was rubbed when its end was observed to be round and blunted or turned over "like a fish hook".

The authors concluded: "It may be of interest to know that the needles under the authors' care are, by force of circumstances and pressure of work, subject to extremely gruelling usage. Yet, on average, they each survive well over 1,000 injections before breaking, becoming blocked or to the satisfaction of our professional pride, are condemned as being too short for further use."