Litchfield enquirer., 1870-05-26
HEM1NWAY & SONS SILK FACTORY.

Lying in the valley to the right of the main road as you, approach Watertown from this city, near where the terminus of the railroad is located, is the silk maniac tory of Gen. M. Heminwsy & Sons It IS one of the busiest places in this vicini ty, as it is one of the most interesting to visit, and we have to tender our thanks to the courteous proprietors for a most pleas ant afternoon spent in looking over it's at- fractions. Fhe business of the firm is the manufacture of sewing-silk of every varie- ty, for the excellence of which they have gained reputation throughout the entire country. There are other factories in the land where single branches of the business are conducted, but hardly any other where both silk and twist are made in every vari- ety. The raw silk is received direct from the importers, and is principally from Chi na, although no small portion comes from Japan. It is called 'raw silk," although really it has been the occasion of much la- DOT to various pigtailed Orientals. It is in hanks, handsomely put up and weigh ing several pounds each. The color is the natural one, and an ignorant individual would suppose 1t was composed of the sim gle threads, as wound from the cocoons of the silk-worms. Consequently, said indi- vidual would experience some surprise at learning that each diminutive thread is composed of some dozen lesser ones. the work of reeling and twisting which must have been one of the greatest nicety. The hanks, as taken from the original packages at the factory, are smooth, glossy and somewhat stiff, and before being wound, are soaked in water. They are then placed on numberless self acting reels. from which they are wound on bobblns. The next process is re-windiug (perhaps this IS not the technical term), according to tue num- Der of strands to be used. Then follows i the buzzing of the spindles by which the strands are changed to silk or tW1s;,ss m y ! be desired. With a chatter, whlcu IS only equalled ip a rolling-mill, the spindles re-
 volve, stopping themselves if anything goes wrong, and winding of miles of 1 thread almost with the speed of electr1c1- tv. After the work of the spindles is com pleted, the products go to the dye-room,
 where they receive every shade of color, the fifteenth amendment of course being in large majority. These colors are "iast" and warranted. Then comes the winding on spools, sticking on the end labels and packing for market The whole work oc- cupies many hands, and the increasing de-
 mand for the goods keeps the factory rum
 ming at its full capacity. The number of spoos wound off every week is simply i'm.
 mense and numbered by the hundreds ot thousands-we have forgotten the exact figures, which were, however, so large that
 we know we run no risk of overstating
 them. If any of our lady readers are nov.
 ices in the art of buying silk or twist, aud
 want to make sure of receiving full meAs-
 ure and the best quality, they can place implicit confidence in any spool which bears the label of Heminway 6 Sons, Wa
 tertown, Conn. We say this with no ins tention of 'pufiing," but because we be-
 ieve it piece of information worth know ing. and which will benefit some ot our readers at least tue value of 8 subscr1p- tion- Waterbury American.