The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-01-20

feet long through which air, at tenn
pcratuic Of from l2O to 30 degrees, l.,
circulated. The material IS carried
through the compartments on an end
less wire apron and the dust is fan
ned out during the progress. Ooce
more the material is busted in box
like machine containing heavy pad
| dies and coarse wire screen through
which the short, light fbrcs, which
are useless, arc carried off.
This is a very dirty part of the
work, and the men employed at it are
usually covered with coating of fine
fbres. Some Of them wear clothes
over their mouths and nostrils to avoid
inhaling the fine stuff as it ills the
room about the machine.
Again the substance is sorted into
inc and coarse grades After that
it is saturated with olive oil, 70 re-
store the animation which the wool
has lost through the washing and heat
ing processes.
The picking Of the rapidly dissol.
vlEg material is the next proceeding,
and it Is one Of the most Interesting
Of the many. The picker is machine
not unllkc big printing press, with
large cylinders and sets Of rolls. \
steel cylinder is covered with teeth,
which pick out the heavier parts of
the material as it passes under il,
while the lighter material, that is the
much desired wool fbres, is caught
by the corrugated rolls and automati-
cally passed through the feed rolls.
In this process all semblance of the
original rags is lost. The shoddy is
now mass Of flimsy stuff with the
wool predominating; and here and
there shreds of cotton that have not
been entirely cradicatcd in the pre-
ceding operations. A man stands by
to take out the cotton weave and leave
the yarn.
All is now ready for the carder,
which does the final work prior TO
packing it in bales for shipment to the
cloth manufacturers. The stock is
fed into iron baskets on the cardiDg
machines, and these baskets operate
automatically and feed it into rollers.
The stock is passed from one roller to
another, until it finally comes out at
the end Of the machine in the form of
batting, as it is rolled around the
last cylinder. All the short brittle
threads Of wool have been taken out,
and what remain are the longer threads
ss they have been extracted from
the fabrics which came into the shop
as rags or the waste ends of mill ma
torial.
There are 200 grades Of rags, and
all these arc carefully sorted into tn.
right classes before they reach the
picker machine. Italian women are
employed In the sorting, and while it
may not seem much of an achieve
ment to distinguish one kind of rags
from another, some OF the sorters are
very expert. Some rags contain more
wool than others and are valuable in
that respect, while others have wool
of finer quality, aud it is desirable
in the making of the different grades
OF shoddy to obtain all she fine wool
possible.
The Newark shop turns out from
5000 to 10000 pounds Of shoddy
daily, and it is estimated that Of the
millions Of pounds of rags gathered
here every year goodly proportion
comes back again in the form of cloth
ing for men, women and children.
Flock is variation of shoddy under
another commercial name, and its
manufacture has been taken up recent :
ly by the local firm. Flock is mado
from "shesrings" or small PARTICLES of
woolen cloth shorn from the cloth ia
the mills that make fine faced WOODEN
goods. The flock is out and ground
Tito fine PARTICLES and is used again in
the making Of heavyweight material,
the kind used for better quality over,
coatings.
Some idea of tho rsmifcations of tho
industry may be gathered from the
fact that the frm manufactures over
800 different kinds Of shoddy varying
in color and quality. Some Of the
higher grades of the shoddy cost more
than the lower grades Of virgin wool.
The first shoddy was made in Bat,
ley England, in 1913, and for years
was looked upon with intense disfavor,
but the improvements made in ma
chinery for its manufacture duriog
the last two decades tended to i'm.