Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-13
FACTS ABOUT THREAD
BY Frederic j. HaSkin

Evw=N HREAD is such a small article
EKrnNl that 1t usually escapes
IW H&H serious consideration, yet 1t
ia WG is surprising how much II
IL takes to supply the needs OF
mankind. At one factory
alone over twelve hundred
| different kinds of thread are made. the
daily output being thirteen thousand
odd miles. This is an average of over
| a thousand miles an hour, or twenty
miles a minute. Nor is that all. Ten
! thousand dozen spools are used daily
| The aggregate engine force amounts TO
| thirty thousand horsepower, and re-
quires four hundred tons of coal daily
! This power drives over half million
spindles. The number of employees is
about ten thousand The factory itself
covers one hundred acres of ground.
The manufacture of cotton thread, as
well as linen, is confined almost en-
tirely to large factories, as the process
in both cases is such an elaborate and
! expensive one as to preclude the posi-
/ bility of its being a profitable business
/ when conducted on a small scale. At
! one time Il was declared that the mois-
ture of Great Britain and of Scotland
especially was essetial to the proper
making of the thread, and that 1t could
not be made i'm this country on that
I
ness surmounted that obstacle. steam
serving not only to furnish the neces-
sary moisture but heat as well, the
latter being another important factor
One of the most interesting features
of thread manufacture Is the number
ing. The heaviest cotton thread Is
called number one, and of this size
eight hundred and forty yards are
needed to make a pound. This size
forms the basis of all tho numbering.
Fifty cotton is fifty times as fine, and
| therefore requires fifty times eight nun
dred and forty yards to weigh pound.
1t is the same way with the larger
numbers, and as the most popular
grades are from sixty to eighty II
really can be imagined how long a
distance would be covered by pound.
The highest number in general use Is
one hundred, although for unusually
fine work two hundred is sometimes
used As far as Is known, the finest
ever made was seven hundred so fine
i'm fact that it was of no value as sew
ing cotton. A pound of this number
would cover four thousand, seven
hundred and seventy miles.
The process of manufacturing the
thread alone Is not the end of the work.
Il Spools have to be made on which TO
wind the cotton, and then stickers are
placed on both ends. Cotton was orig
ina1ly sold in hanks, and afterWard
wound into balls as worsted is today.
| Wishing to be accommodating, a
Scotch manufacturer in the early SOS
wound the thread on spool Tor ms
customers For this service he charged
n halfpenny, to be refunded when the
empty spool was returned. Today the
manufacture of spools requires about
fifteen thousand tons of wood, which
Is converted into about two hundred
and fifty million spools. The wood at
first came from Scotland, but its forests
becoming 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
important item in favor OF the FORMER
Nv n record discovery. however, linen
has been put on an almost even FOOT
ing with cotton. The process of remoV-
ing the woody particles from the nper
has heretofore been long ana TEDIOUS
one. In olden times 1t took tnlrty
weeks between the time OF pulling
the fax and the delivery of the goods
even today 1t takes eleven weeks
where the old process is used in Eu-
rope BY this method linen can be sold
as cheaply as cotton, and with mucil
larger profit to the manufacturer ana
dealer, 49,.
Cotton thread manufacture is closely
connected with the making OF linen
thread so far as it's history is con-
cerned. The beginning of linen thread
in scotland at least, is traced TO
Christian Shaw, who in the early COS
conceived the idea of making sewing
thread out of linen. The necessary
apparatus was brought from Holland
The attempt proved successful ana tne
4 obtained n wide notoriety. Cotton
thread, being made by hand at that
time. was unable to compete with tie