Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-10-15
THE TRADE In HAIR.
PREPARING HORSE, OK AND HOG
HAIR FOR UpHOLSTERlNG.

sorting the Raw Mater1ni-Sent 70 INC
Dye Room-Mixing-The Process OF
Curling - Manufacture Of Brushes
| and Fishing Lines. tfEt bs
| The trade in hair is of no inconsiderab1e
magnitude It's length, strength and elass
| ITCHY renders it useful for many purposes,
VARYING according to its nature and origin
Since the beginning Of the present century,
hair, as distinguished from wool, has been
largely manufactured The chief sources of
supply of this class Of fiber are the group Of
animals represented by the alpaca, the cap
| rine tribe, the cam.l, the horse the OK and
| the hog. But it is only necessary to notice
tha6o Of the horse, Cx and the hog. which are
manufactured in Brooklyn, N Y The bulk
of hair obtained from these sources is used for
upholstery purposes, being manufactured into
curlcd hair for stufiing or hair cloth for seat
inc
The raw material is divided into several
qualities, according TO the purpose for which
it is destined The best is that denominated
"hard hair" chiefly obtained from ostlers and
stablenen being tail hair procured in comb
ing. That similarly got from the name is of
a different quality, being termed soft.
| knacker's hair, OF that obtained from dead
animals, is much inferior, "dead' hard hair
not being more than equal to alive" soft hair
| The depreciation which hair undergoes on the
death of an animal is such that when worn
out horses are sent to be slaughtered the
knacker always cuts off the name and tail
precious to the operation.
| FOR UPHOLSTERY PURPOSES.
| Horse hair makes by far the best curled
hair, but is not the only sort employed Cow
and hog hair constitute a large portion Of
that which is manufactured into the curled
article for upholstery purposes. These are
chiefly procured from home sources Hogs
which have high feeding 10 not yield hair
either in quantity or quality sufficient to rem
| der its collection worth the cost. That
| yielded by lean animals is always the
strongest aud most elastic.
The raw material, having been supplied to
the workers, is first separated into long and
short hair, the former being carefully re-
served for the manufacture of hair seating,
fishing lines, brushes, etc, and the latter for
| curling or stufing The sorting is next re
peated for the purpose of separating the
enIors White hair is esteemed the most
valuable, being used for special purposes and
cess takes place this last being for assortment
IN two qualities This is very important and
| requires nice discrimination and sensitiveness
# touch IN the sor:er, in order to perform the
Ico"eSs efficiently. Each quality of hair is
rext subjected to thorough washing in cold
water to remove dirt, dust, etc. 1t is then
sent to the dye room and immersed for
several hours in dye bath chiefly composed
of decoction of logwood. When removed
it is of 1t dull black color. Further washing
and cleansing then take place, the hair being
put into large watts containing agitators,
through which flows a stream Of hot water.
This treatment removes the superfluous dye
and further purifies the hair
Following the short hair, we find that the
next process is miXing-making a blend of
certain proportions Of horse, COW and pig
hair, according TO the quality Of the article
intended to b" produced When the blends
have been properly laid down, the material is
passed through series Of Willows" by
which the different sorts are thoroughly incor-
porated, becoming homogeneous as far as
mechanical admiyture can produce such
state.
-G.aU