The New Student's Reference Work/Story of Wool
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Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | |||
SORTING RAW WOOL INTO GRADES. We now follow the wool into the factory. There are two grading processes through which the raw wool passes before being spun into yarn. The first is the sorting of the wool as shown in the picture. This may be termed a grading for quality. The second process is the combing, which may be termed a grading for fiber length. Wool comes to market in fleeces, just as it is sheared from the sheep. | CARDING MACHINE. Carding the wool, formerly done by hand, is now accomplished by machinery, the carding machine consisting of a series of rollers which are covered with teeth. The rollers are of different sizes, set at different distances and revolving at different speeds. The raw wool is fed into the machine at one end, and by action of the rollers the fiber is combed and straightened and finally delivered in the form of a fluffy woolen rope, which you see coming out of the front end of the machine. | |||
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Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | |||
SPINNER. Here we have a view of a spinning room. The carded rolls are here spun into threads, which are later woven into cloth or twisted into yarn, as desired. In the various improvements of spinning machinery, the object has been to invent devices for working a large group of spindles together and running them at a very high speed. | TWISTER. This machine is called a twister and here the threads are drawn from the carded rolls and are twisted into yarn. Twisting is a part of the spinning process proper, which, in making worsteds, consists in first drawing out or drafting; second, twisting the drawn-out fibers; and third, winding the fibers, now called yarn, on the bobbin. |
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Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | |||
SLASHING MACHINE. This is a machine for sizing the threads. In a slasher, the threads from a number of warping beams are first combined into one sheet and then plunged into a trough filled with size which is kept at a boiling temperature, and next squeezed between two pairs of rollers The sheet of yarn almost encircles two steam-heated cylinders. This quickly dries the yarn. The yarn is next measured, passed above and below rods which separate the threads which are wound upon a loom beam. | THE LOOM. The first loom was set up in Dantzig in 1661. To prevent such a machine from injuring the poor people the authorities in Poland suppressed it and privately strangled or drowned the inventor. In 1733 John Kay, of England, invented a fly shuttle. Before Kay's time, the shuttle was shot by hand across and through the warp threads from side to side. Kay's loom forms the basis of all modern power looms. The above picture presents the marvelously ingenious power loom of the present day. | |||
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Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | Copyright by Underwood & Underwood | |||
TEASELING MACHINE. This machine takes its name from the teasel, a plant which has a large flower-head covered with a stiff, prickly bur. This is used for raising the nap on woolen cloth. In the center of the machine is a large cylinder, as we see here, which carries little hooks like a teasel bur, for raising the nap on woolen cloth. As we see here, the cloth is passed over this cylinder and descends in folds. | SHEARING MACHINE. This is a machine for cutting off the nap that is too long, making it smooth and even. |
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Courtesy of National Museum | Courtesy of National Museum | |||
SPINNING WHEEL. This is the old spinning wheel, once in use in nearly every farmhouse, where they raised their own wool, spun their own yarn and made their own cloth with a hand loom. With the pin shown lying on the frame, the spinner whirls the wheel with her right hand and with her left feeds onto the spindle the loose rolls of wool, as they come from the cards. The spindle revolves at a high rate of speed, twisting the loose rolls into a hard yarn. | WEAVING A NAVAJO BLANKET. Here we see Navajo Indian women weaving the famous Navajo blankets. They are woven in a simple loom, shown above, and formerly were colored in most pleasing and intricate designs of various colors by native dyes of delicate tones. Recently the Navajo women have learned to use the bright aniline colors of the white man, which makes a far less beautiful and artistic product. | |||
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