The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1868-09-26

an eye to business, he takes up mindful Of
the greasy, dirty wool, reeking with the flavor.
of ship hold, and applying it to his nose, Ell.
claims with an air Of inexplicable satisfaction,
"that smells old, and thus we learn that age
is desirable quality. We see the wool passed
to the washer, aud watch him while he souses
armstul of it, into vat of hot suds. Then he
takes it out, and puts it into another vat Of
cold water, where BY the motion of tho liquid,
as it rushes into the vat, the wool tosts and
tumbles, until the greasy and dirty mess of
Australian clay and wool combined, becoIies
nearly as white az snow. and what waste.
Of every three pounds thus washed, only one
pound is saved two pounds is dirt shipped
from Australia, several thousand miles, for no
earthly use but to be washed out, and foated
down Still River. BY the side of the wool
tub, is crate waiting to receive the wool
Into this it is now placed, and passed up to
tho very top story where it is thinly spread
and frequently shaken up, until it is dry.
From here it is taken to the picking room,
where it undergoes thorough picking, by
being run under cylinder filled with steel
fingers or pickcrs, which clcverly seperate the
knots and twists which may have remained in
the material since it was pulled from the dead
sheep in Australia. Remember, this is pulled
wool, requiring the daily slaughter of thou.
sands of the innocents, to supply the demand
for what our forefathers called "pug hats" I"
While specializing upon the probable cheap
ness Of mutton in Australia, the wool is re-
moved to another apartment called the carding
room, where it undergoes another process that
Of being transformed into the finest Heccy
down. 1t isa noisy room. The machinery
makes whirling, buzzing sound as it
rapidly takes in the material fed to it.
There is feed table ut one ond of the
forming machine, and here boy stands to
spread out the wool, and give it in proper
quantities to the jaws of iron and steel. You
see it disappear; you see the whirling Of the
workers and shippers, but you know nothing
more of the wool, until you pass to the uppo.
site end Of the machine aud then you bshold Il
winding out in a fine gossamer webb, more
airy and more wonderful than the Rnust web
you may have soon spun in the grass oh nn
Autumn morning. You watch with conside-
rablc interest a mere lad, as he guides this
delicate sheet over large cone. Over it's STIR
face the web winds its way tapping here and
changing there rs the huge cone rolls over and
over, and yibrateB to and fro, in urder TO re-
ceive the delicate mass in oqual proportion on
every side until the surface is completely en-
closed with layers of it, when the lad quickly
sewers the link, at the base of the double cone.
One half of the material is then slipped over
one end of the cone, and then, in twinkling,
he slips the remaining half over the other end,
even while the web is commencing to wind
anew for tho formation of the layer to the next
two hats The hats thus formed are laid into
a scale, and the exact balance juatifes his
Judgment. 1t requires considerable precision
in the operator. Every style of hat requires
certain weight, aud this must be uniform.
The weight varies from three to Eve ounces,
according to the quality Of hat. Our wool
has now assumed soft downy form. II is 80
frail aud delicate, that the touch of novice
would mar its beauty and impair its usefulness;
and yet how seemingly careless the Morkmen
handle it, os they pile up the hats twelve
dcep-just oiAe dozon--and from this time they
keep other company, dozen together, by the
hundreds and thousands OF doxens. How
rapidly these hots in embryo come from the
machines. One after another they follow ia
pairs in rapid succession, at the rats Of fifteen
to tweenty dozen per day, from each machine,
or from ohc hundred to ono hundred and twen-
ty dozen daily, from the factory. The next
operation VIC witness is that of hardening or
Fastening. TO do this piece of cotton cloth,
similar shape to an apron, is placed inside the
hat, on'l acts asa preventive to the two sides
adhefihg to each other. Then it is placed un-
der board called "iiggcr," which is pressed
down upon the hat body To this board is
given very rapid short motion, by the appli-
cation Of machinery, by which motion tho ma.
tcrial is felted together, until it is brought to
the consistency of coarse flannel, still preserv-
ing the conical form it assumed at the forming
machine, with a surface of two or three feet.
What singular looking thing for hat, is tho
exclamation Of tho sight seer. Place il upon
your head, and the things falls droopingly
dOwDWards beyond yo,,r khould.yu apa .r,o..