Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-09

Thread IL UGH a small article that Il
usually escapes serious consideration. yet Il
Is surprising how much Il takes TO supply
the needs OF mankind. At one factory alone
over 100 different kinds Of thread are
made, the daily output being thirteen thou
sand odd miles. This is an average Of over
Loco miles az hour, or twenty miles a min
ute. Nor is that all Ten thousand dozen
spools are used daily. The aggregate en-
CINE force amounts to 5000 horsepower,
and requires 900 tons OF coal daily. The
power drives over 10000 spindlss. The num-
Der OF employees is about 10000. The fac
tory covers 100 acres Of ground. o.
The manufacture Of cotton thread. as wen
as linen, is confined entirely to large fac
tories, as the process In both cases is such
an elaborate and expensive one as to pre-
clude the possibility Of its being a profit
able business when conducted on a small
scale. At one time 1t was declared that
the moisture Of Great Britain, and Of Scot
land especially, was essential to the proper
making OF the thread. and that It could
MOI be made In this country on that ac-
count However, Yankee -hrewdness sur
mounted that obstacle, steam serving not
only TO furnish the necessary moisture.
but heat as well, the latter being another
important factor.
one OF the most interesting features Of
thread manufacture is the numbering. The
heaviest cotton thread Is called No. l, sad
Of this size $40 yards are needed to make
a pound. This size forms the basis of all
the numbering. Fifty cotton is fifty times
as fine, and therefore requires fifty times
$40 yards to weigh a pound. 1t Is the same
way with the larger numbers. and as the
most popular grades are from sixty TO
eighty, II readily can be IMAGINED how
long a distance would be covered by a
pound. Tit highest number in general use
Is 100. although for unusually fine work 800
Is sometimes used. As far as Is known the
finest ever made was zoe, so fine. In fact.
that 1t was Of no value as sewing cotton.
A pound Of this number would cover A77O
miles.
The process of manufacturing the thread
alone is not the end Of the work. Spools
have to be made on which to wind the
cotton, and then stickers are placed on
both ends. Cotton was originally sold in
hanks, and afterwards wound into balls
as worsted is today. Wishing TO be 40
commodating a Scotch manufactures in the
early eighties wound the thread on a spool
for his customers. For this strvice he
charged a half penny to be refunded when
the empty spool was returned. Today the
manufacture Of spools requires about lB,O0
tons of wood, which is converted into
about $50, spools. The wood at first
came from Scotland, but its forests be-
coming greatly decreased, the supply now
comes from northern Europe and North
America.
The ~cheapness Of cotton as compared
with linen thread has always been an i'm
portant item in favor of the former. BY
a recent discovery, however, linen has beer
put on an almost even footing with cotton
The process OF removing the woody
particles from the fibre has heretofore beer
a long and tedious one. In olden times
1t took thirty weeks between the time OF
pulling" the flax and the delivery Of tht
g~oods-even today it takes eleven weeks
where the old process Is used in Europe
BY the new process It is possible to con.
vert the raw flax into pure white liner
fibre, ready for spinning, in one day. By
this method linen can be sold as cheaply
as cotton, and with a much larger proflI
to the manufacturer and dealer.
Cotton thread manufacture is closely
connected with the making Of linen threat
so far as its history is concerned. TIL,
beginning Of linen thread, in Scotland a
least, is traced to Christian Shaw, WHIT
in the early seventies conceived the ideG
Of making sewing thread out Of linen. TIL,
necessary apparatus was brought from
Holland. Thu attempt proved successful
and the product, known as BarEarrar
thread. obtained a wide notoriety. Cottor
thread being made by hand at that tim,
was unable to compete with the linen
but in 1868 the Industry was r~evolutionize
by invention. and since then has been IL
the lead.