The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-01-02
MAKING COTTON CLOTH.

An Interesting Process That IL More Conn
plicated Than Generally Supposed.
l wonder how many boys and girls
have any idea Of how cloth is made; or
how many ever went into big factory
where it is woven?
Take the print or cambria, for in
stance, from which your shirt-wai or
dresses are made. 1t has to 20 through
q multitude of processes before 1t gets
from the cotton, as 1t is picked and
bought by the great cotton factories, to
be the pretty printed cloth you see:
The first thing they do, in great cot
ton factory, is to spin the cotton into
thread for warp and wool, or ''filling''
as the latter is someti mes called. Pos
sibly some Of you may have seen your
grandmother spin wool, or even weave
the yarn into cloth. II 50, you will un-
derstand better what has to be done.
In factory the cotton is passed
through several machines, which pick 1t
to pieces and throw out the seeds and
other foreign substances. From each
one of these machines 1t comes out 8
little finer than before, until, at last, it
is fine enough to spin. The spinning is
done in another room, on q machine
called mule" or Jenny" Then
this fine thread is taken to another floor
and woven in the brisk and busy looms
into unbleached cotton cloth. But this
is not then ready for market. Even If
it is to be sold as unbleached cloth, IL
has to 20 through the process Of SINCE
ing. That is, it is passed over . big
cylinder, close to row of gas-jets,
which scorch of the fuzzy lint which
makes the cloth rough. This, Of course,
is delicate operation, and, after it, il
the cloth is to be sold as brown sheet
ing, it is ready to be done up in great
bales for the stores. II it is to becom Q
bleached cloth, however, it has to be
passed through solution of chloride of
lime and other ingredients and take
several baths. This takes some time,
but is very necessary process, just the
same. When it Is over, the cloth is
ready to be sold and made up into un-
derclothing, sheets and pillow-cases.
The most interesting thing about .
big cotton-mill is the printing depart
ment Every mill has its own design
ers. They have pleasant room at the
top of the building, with plenty Of light,
and they make their designs with
water-colors. OF course one must be
something of an artist to be successful
designer. One must also have very
careful and exact training, IS the de-
signs have to fit perfectly the cylinders
upon which the cloth is printed. The
variation of design one hairs breadth
from the requirements OF the cylinder
renders it useless. Colors must be pre-
pared from dye-stuffs in immense watts,
to color prints which do not have light
background. Then dyes must be pre-
pared to match every tint in the de-
sign. Copper sheets are also stamped
with the design and fastened upon great
cylinders in such q way that, when the
cloth is pulled through, the figures are
printed upon the cloth like the original
designs. Some times the cloth has to
go through this process many times, in
order to receive all the colors necessary
to the pattern.
After it is printed, the cloth is ready
to be measured OF into ''cuts" of forty
or fifty yards, and packed into boxes for
the wholesale dealers. Even then it
has to pass through several hands be-
fore you ever see it. What should you
say il / were to tell you that it has prob
ably taken over . hundred people to
make your shirt-waist, my boy; or that
all those hundred people worked for
days to make your print apron, my girl?
II ever you get an opportunity to 90
through great cotton-mill, from the
engine up through to the designers
room where, by the way, very few PEG.
pie are ADMITTEDLY, don't refuse it,
Helen NJ. Winslow, in Interior.