The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-05-27
Tub-WaAhed Wool.

Tub-washed wool IS wool that has been
washed in the fleece after 1t has lett the sleeps
back. 1t is practiCed to some extent, but not
very much in the West. No machinery is EN-.
.ployed, SO far as we have learned, except at
wooden mills. There all wool Is secured, (how.
ever well 1t may have been washed previously
facilities being provided and experts employed
to perform the work IN the best possible
manner.
When growing IN Its natural state, wool Is
fabricated and preserved by nature with a
sticky substance generally called grease"
This grease forms very considerable part of
the weight of unwashed wool, the lowest pro.
portion being about 80 per cent, and the high
est about 70 per cent. 1t consists of kind OF
fatty soap, composed largely of potash, no soda
being present. When wool Is washed, either
on the sleeps back or IN tub, portion of
this grease Is removed; and more, of course,
Is taken out when the washing is fairly done
IN tub than IN stream or tank, and thus the
wool should bring higher price.
But as rule manufacturers prefer to buy
wool not tubwashed, for reasons that will pres
entity appear Before wool can be used for
spinning the grease must be removed, and in
order not tie injure the fiber, as well as to pre-
serve its natural bright color, methods are en-
ployed with which people generally are not
familiar Sometimes the delicate fiber and
being washed with soap utterly unadapted to
the purpose, and by persons who are not IN.
formed how the washing should be done. Soda
soap is unsulted to it, for wool washed with it
is inclined to be harsh and brittle with yell
low tinge or color. A good potash soap is best
adapted to the purpose. Nature points out
what is best in preserving the wool with fatty
potash substance; and In such matters man
finds that nature is always correct. A suitable
potash soap must, therefore, be preferable to
soda soap for removing the natural preserving
substance We may reasonably conclude,
then, that strong alkali, such as soda ash,
soda crystal, or still worse than either of them,
lime, should by no means be used.
Seen under the microscope, wool Is found to
be a most delicate fiber, each HAIR or tlament
being composed of concentric rings surround
ing and overlapping each other similar to
scales on the back of a fish. A strong alkall,
used alone, removes every trace OF lubrlcatlon
from beneath the covering of these minute
scales, completely destroying the luster besides
unnecessarily diminishing the weight of the
wool. But the effect OF a neutral potash soap
"a soap containing neither free or uncom-
bined alkall nor an excess of tallow-Is only
to remove supertuous greasy matter from the
wool adherlng to the outside OF the fiber, while
the internal condition remains undisturl ed.
This will explain why the mills generally
prefer wool that has not been tub-washed.
With well constructed machines, the use of
suitable soap, and with experts in washing,
grease" wool is thoroughly cleansed with a
minimum amount of labor, and the wool is
not damaged either N fiber or color Tho suN
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other tlmo.-Prairte turmer