The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-08-29
MANUFACTURE OF BRoADCLOTH.

] broadcloth. The wool being shorn. goes to
the stapler's. and by him is sorted. 1t is nei-
Their long nor short, for the cloth manufac.
\ ture, If wool be not moderately short it must
be shortened artifcially It is next well
oiled and spun into thread or yarn, then wo-
:. ven into tissue that will be cloth by and
by, though long distance from cloth when
1t leaves the weaver. The tissue, if exam
ined at this stage of manufacture, would dis
play It's threads just as madam's stuff gown
sdoes. coat of this material would be
threadbare all ever, despite it's newness. Be-
fore this material can become commercial
cloth, five chief things will have to be done
80 it. Its texture must be closed, that is to
say, 1t must be shrunk it must be cleansed
a nap must be put upon it. superfuous nap
must be shorn off +; finally, it must be hot
pressed. First, as to the closing or shrink
ing. LIS we bear in mind what has already
been stated about the quality of felting pos
sessed by wool due to the presence of certain
saW-llke teeth, the reason of shrnkage will
be understood. TIE accom- plish this is the
fuiler's task, and he goes 30 work as follows
| IL.
soaps it, and submits it to the fulling-mil
for considerable time-seven or eight hours
under which operation the shrinkage is eff
fected. The fulling machine is an engine SO
| contrlVed that certain heavy piles or ham
mers are brought to bear upon the texture,
already soaped, wetted, and laid in a trough
The hammers are SO fixed in the machine
that not only do they fall upon the texture
with heavy thuds, but, at the same time,
turn it about, ca ch stroke being delivered on
fresh portion
Now, bearing in mind the saw-like teeth,
and the quantity Of telling, what happens
will be easily understood. The wool fbers
are we'll soapsd, as we already know, and,
but for THAR serrations, all looking one way,
they would slide upon each other in various
irregular directions. Practically, they can
only slide one way-namely, with the roots
foremost. The result is that the saw-like
teeth catch among each other, at every catch
making the wool fibers shorter, whereby the
entire texture is shrunk, and, Of course, pre-
portionately closed up and thickened. This
result being accomplished, the workman
clears away the soap by means of fuller's
earth and water the fabric still remaining in
the trough, and still wrought upon by the
falling hammers or piles.
Being taken from tAe fulling mill. the
shrunken material has next to be dried.
This is done By hanging it on tenter- hooks
stuck into the margin of the texture at con-
venient distances. Obviously, this is an OPP
Grafton that admits of considerable deceit in
dishonest hands. The wet fabric might be
injuriously strctched-made broader and
longer, to the prejudice of the material
Formerly the exact amount OF stretching
to be used, was regulated by act of Parlia-
ment, so important did the matter seem.
Well, our material, woven, fulled and dried,
is not cloth yet-theugh considerably adj
vanced on its way to cloth. It has no nap;
so the next process will be impartiug a nap
to it.
Let us suppose, now, by way of introdu
cling the nap-imparting process, that piece
of our material having been laid fiat on
board, cat gets on it and scratches it. Puss
would get sort of nap on our material,
though she wonll deal with it somewhat
roughly. If the scratching effect of a cats
claws were such as the eloth-worker re-
quired, he might initiate the operation by
some sort of wire-tooth machinery. Alto
gether too violent il would be; for, although
nap is really scratched up out of threads. it
is effected by little hooks incomparably finer
than the claws of any cat; finer than any
hooks mans ingenuity has enabled him to-
devise-the agents used by clothiers of to-
day, as by the Romans, being the hook-like
growths of the DipsGcus. ttSzlorstna, or fuller's
teasel This plant, in growth, is something
like thistle. It bears round heads, each
about, the size of small apple, and studded
all over with fine hooked protuberances.
Many Of the teasel heads being packed TO-
gether, and bound up tight on a fiat surface,
make o sort of comb, or curry comb, and
this was the invariable way of packing tea
sells for cloth manufacture once. They may
also be packed on cylinder, but, however
arranged, their use in getting up nap out oil
threads will be obvious. Caused to rub
against the incipient cloth, they scratch out
little odds and ends of wool. and produce al
hairy surface.
One stage further-then our woven mate
rial has advanced on the road to perfect
cloth !; but it is not cloth yet. The nap just
scratched up by the teasel-hooks is of all
lengths, within certain limitf. The manu-
facturer wants an even length, which he &C
complishes by shearing. Next follows hot
pressing, and tn is being done, we regard the
cloth as made-.AorgGn's British Trade
Journal.