Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-10-29
SILK THREAD MAKING.
A California Industry Which is Assumin
Important Proportions.

A California Industry Which is Assuming
Important Proportions.
The process of making silk thread is
exceedingly interesting. The work.
room at the factory is about twice as
long as it is wide. and it is full of buzz
ing and whirling machines. On one
side beautiful masses of raw silk are
seen piled up ON low counter; in q
corner hundreds of boxes of the spoiled
thread as varied in color as Joseph's
coat, and ranged in orderly fashion
upon narrow shelves. The raw silk
arrives in bales of from one hundred to
one hundred and forty pounds each,
and worth from $500 to 500, according
to its quality. Each bale consists of
bundles called ''books," and they in
turn consist of skeins. There are two
hundred or more skelns in bale,
and every one contains about
a thousand yards of cocoon thread.
The raw silk has little gloss,
but is sort of dull white. 1t is first
soaked in a preparation of water and
special kind of soap. About five per
cent. of the animal gum is thus re-
moved. 1t is then put in press and
the liquid is squeezed out of it. After
that it Is wound for the first time on
bobbin. the cocoon threads being gem
orally run quintupie. The machine.
however, can manage them if octuple.
The thread is now well started upon its
journey toward perfection. 1t passes
from bobbin and from machine to ma
chine in each receiving more strength
and tighter twist. A technical de-
scription of the details of the process
would fill great deal of space. The
sizes of the completed threads are final
ly classified by means of a weighing
machine, which indicates the most deli
cate, differences not distinguished by
the eye. The threads consist of from
forty five to three hundred and fifty
original fibers. A stretching machine
makes the weight, size. and strength as
nearly uniform as possible. After this
the remaining gun, about seventy
five per cent. is boiled out.
The thread then goes to the dye
house, which is situated in another part
of the city. A hundred or more of
shades, tints and colors are here ap-
piled, according to the demands OF the
trade, which is supposed to BIZ an index
of the public fancy. No new hue is pro-
duced in France for dress goods. but is
reproduced here in threads designed to
be used in making up those fabrics.
After returning from the dye-house the
thread has still to undergo another proc
ess. 1t passes through a machine
which divests it of all fluff or ragged
particles, leaving it the bright and
glossy article which is found in shops.
The cleaning machine finishes about
three hundred pounds of thread day.
AS yet no use has been found for the
soft and downy fluff which falls from
its miniature wheels. Some one who
can discover some way OF making it
valuable might make a fortune.
The spooling is the last act in the
preparation of the thread for the mar
ket, and it requires greater skill and
experience than any other duty not per-
formed by the Superintendent of the
factory himself. A very ingenious con-
trivance attached to the machines gives
the length of thread as the winding
progresses. and enables the oper-
ator to cut it at the right place. With
the quickness of thought and what
seems supernatural deftness little slit
is made in the fange of the spool and
the end of the thread is caught in it.
Some kinds of thread are weighed as
we'll as measured, the operator having
at her right hand small set of scales.
The Superintendent tests a certain pro-
portion of the spoiled thread every day,
to see that the average quantity on each
spool is what it should be, it being
guaranteed on the label. The differ
ence in the appearance of the thread at
various stages of its manufacture is
quite remarkable. After the twisting
has been finished. and before it has |
been boiled. it is hard ard even harsh |
to the touch. and resembles more than
else fine fishing Irvine. One
would not imagine it to be silk. When
it leaves the dyer's hands nothing could
be softer or glossier.-Sa's francisco
Call.