Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-03-27
MAKING OILCLOTH.
The Interesting Story Of its
Manufacture.
What May be Seen at the Eas
Winthrop Mills.
OiIcloth is Made Of Burlap Brough
from Scotland.

which comes from Scotland, is brought
to the factory in bales containing
twelve to fifteen bolts Of one hundred
and fifty-two yards each. Burlap used
is made in six widths. 3S, AZ, sc, "A, rs
and SO inches wide, though for special
use it is made narrower, as for stair oil
cloth. The bolts of burlap are sewed
together by women in the basement OF
| one of the buildings in order that a
large roll may be obtained to be sized
and dried.
The object of the sizing is to stiffen
and give surface which will take the
paint. and in the cheaper and lighter
varieties of oil cloth the back is not
painted. therefore in this case the size
| is dyed The size is made on the floor
above, and is allowed to flow while hot
in the vat. through a spout. The bur-
lap passes under a roll in the bottom
Of the vat. then put under bar known
as knife" around the pair of rollers,
and is finally wound on a great bobbin.
Five of the bolts of cloth form a sim
gle roll. Beyond the sizing machine is
a blower and air heater which furnish
es an enormous volume of hot air to be
used in drying the sized burlap.
The wet rolls are taken to a room on
the floor above, which Immediately ad-
joins the drying room. Here they are
pulled forward by pins which are at
| tached to endless chains, and pass un-
derneath a sash of a window and out
| on an iron framework, which is boxed
| in, and which receives the heated air
from below. The burlap makes three
| turns of this drying arrangement,
which is GO feet long. AS the tempera-
| ture in the room is 220 degrees Fahren-
heit no men work in it, but the course
of the cloth may be watched through
windows at either end. The calender
ing rolls and the endless chains are
| operated by a two cylinder engine. AS
the burlap emerges from under the
window sash, it is automatically
marked into lengths and then passes
over three calender rolls which are
heated by steam, which press and iron
it. The burlap is then drawn from the
calenders by tension rollers and is cut
off into lengths and rolled up.
These pieces of cloth are then taken
| to the buildings where the body color
| is put on. There are three of these
buildings. each very large, being usual
ly five stories in height, and wide
| enough to permit of a considerable
number of racks on each floor. All
the paint used is ground and prepared
on the premises, the linseed oil being
| kept in two large iron tanks in the
yard. holding 250,00O gallons. The paint
| is brought to each floor in tubs, which
are wheeled to the painting machines.
These painting machines are of the
| utmost simplicity and are very effec-
tive. They move across the width of
the building on a track, in order that
they may be brought in front of each
row of racks, for after the burlap is
painted it must be allowed to dry in
rack by itself out of contact with other
pieces. The racks are built of yellow
pine and considerable portion of the
floors of the buildings are likewise
Slated to allow of a free circulation of
air. At night steam is turned on to as
sist the drying, and sometimes in cold
weather steam is used in daytime.
The roll of sized and dry burlap is put
on reel and it then passes over two
pads and under two knives.
The paint is thrown onto the burlap
by dipperfuls, the knife distributing it
evenly. The piece of cloth, after being
painted. is pulled onto one of the racks
which are each rs feet long, and there
are "a tiers of them on each floor. and
the buildings have generally seven
ranges. In all there are $3.50 drying
frames. aggregating 276,OO0 square
yards of space. The end Of the oil cloth
is secured by a clamp. A rope is at
tached to this and threaded through
nrnnar 10 inf fha
workman who walks through a mar
row hallway between each pair Of
racks.
The end of the rope is brought out and
three or four turns taken around the
winch-head. The speed is adjusted by
ii,riction, SO that the cloth is pulled stead
proper speed. When the entire u njeces
OF cloth have been painted The m:ichine
Is moved sideways until the next r;Eck is
reached: Considerable frictionaI cleo
| tricity is generated at the painting ma
| the ground.
The paint on the cloth dries in the space
Oh a day or So and the cloth is chen
chine. II consists of a pair of parallel
bars, which are actuated in opposite Gi-
Tections with the aid of gears and cranks.
Each bar carries a number of pumice-
stone blocks, which serve to smooth the
surface as the painted burlap is drawn
through it. Sand is also thrown upon the
cloth to assist the action of the rubbing
blocks. The painted burlap is rubbed
after each coat, and the number of coats
depends upon the grade In the most
expensive oilcloth four coats are given
on the face and two to the back, and as
II requires day or so between each step.
1t will be seen that a considerable period
must elapse before the oil cloth is ready
for printing. In the cheapest oilcloth
one coat is given to the face and none to
the back. The edges are trimmed before
printing.
Oilcloth may be printed both by hand
and machine, hand work being used for
the heaviest and best grades and for
samples, but the machine work is fault
less. The printing blocks are of three
varieties, pin or line blocks, depending on
whether the pattern is produced by in
cised lines or by separate wooden pins
and metal blocks. Pin blocks are made
by taking piece of maple and saving il
both longitudinally and transverseiy with
series of fine saw cuts which form
small square pins; the ones not needed in
| the pattern are chipped out. In the line
blocks parts of the continuous lines not
needed are cut away. Blocks are re-
quired for each color. and some patterns
require as many as six or 10 colors.
The machines are over 80 feet long and
the oilcloth is fed in at the rear and is
pulled forward Is inches each time the
blocks descend. AS was the case with
the printing machine, this entire printing
machine moves up and down the room. in
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