Chapter M: D’Arcet states the analysis of Marseilles soap at (17)

These objects may be effected in several ways; that is, the machinery may be variously constructed, and still embrace the principles proposed. _Fig._ 1211. shows one mode:--_a_, is the friction wheel; _b_, the front drawing roller, placed in the drawing frame in the same way as usual; the larger wheel _a_, constituting the lower roller of the pair of front drawing rollers; _c_, and _d_, are the pair of back drawing rollers, which are actuated by geer connected to the front rollers, as in the ordinary construction of drawing machines, the front rollers moving very considerably faster than the back rollers, and, consequently, drawing or extending the fibres of the sliver of wool, as it passes through between them; _e_, is a guide roller, bearing upon the periphery of the large wheel; _f_, is a tension roller, which presses the fibres of the wool down upon the wheel _a_.

Now, supposing the back rollers _c_ and _d_ to be turned with a given velocity, and the front roller _b_ to be driven much faster, the effect would be, that the fibres of wool constituting the sliver, passing through the machine, would be considerably extended between _b_ and _d_, which is precisely the effect accomplished in the ordinary drawing frame; but the wheel _a_, introduced into the machine in place of the lower front drawing roller, being made to revolve much faster than _b_, the sliver of wool extended over the upper part of its periphery from _b_, to the tension roller _f_, will be subjected to very considerable friction from the contact; and, consequently, the natural curl of the wool will be taken out, and its elasticity destroyed, which will enable the wool to proceed in a connected roving down to the spindle or flyer _h_, where it becomes twisted or spun into a worsted thread.

In order to increase or diminish the extent to which the fibres of wool are spread over the periphery of the wheel _a_, a regulating roller is adapted to the machine, as shown at _g_, in place of the tension roller _f_. This regulating roller _g_, is mounted by its pivots in bearings on the circular arms _h_, shown by dots. These circular arms turn loosely upon the axle of the wheel _a_, and are raised or depressed by a rack and a winch, not shown in the figure; the rack taking into teeth on the periphery of the circular arms. It will hence be perceived, that by raising the circular arms, the roller _g_, will be carried backward, and the fibres of wool pressed upon the periphery of the wheel to a greater extent. On the contrary, the depression of the circular arms will draw the roller _g_, forward, and cause the wool to be acted upon by a smaller portion of the periphery of the wheel _a_, and consequently subject it to less friction.

When it is desired to employ steam for the purpose of heating the wool, the wheel _a_, is formed as a hollow drum, and steam from a boiler, in any convenient situation, is conveyed through the hollow axle to the interior of the drum, which, becoming heated by that means, communicates heat also to the wool, and thereby destroys its curl and elasticity.

_Breaking-frame._--Here the slivers are _planked_, or spliced together, the long end of one to the short end of another; after which they are drawn out and extended by the rollers of the breaking-frame. A sketch of this machine is given in _fig._ 1212. It consists of four pairs of rollers A, B, C, D. The first pair A, receives the wool from the inclined trough E, which is the planking-table. The slivers are unrolled, parted, and hung loosely over a pin, in reach of the attendant, who takes a sliver, and lays it flat in the trough, and the end is presented to the rollers A, which being in motion, will draw the wool in; the sliver is then conducted through the other rollers, as shown in the figure: when the sliver has passed half through, the end of another sliver is placed upon the middle of the first, and they pass through together; when this second is passed half through, the end of a third is applied upon the middle of it, and in this way the short slivers produced by the combing are joined into one regular and even sliver.

The lower roller C receives its motion from the mill, by means of a pulley upon the end of its axis, and an endless strap. The roller which is immediately over it, is borne down by a heavy weight, suspended from hooks, which are over the pivots of the upper roller. The fourth pair of rollers D, moves with the same velocity as C, being turned by means of a small wheel upon the end of the axis of the roller C, which turns a wheel of the same size upon the axis of the roller D, by means of an intermediate wheel _d_, which makes both rollers turn the same way round. The first and second pairs of rollers, A and B, move only one-third as quick as C and D, in order to draw out the sliver between B and C to three times the length it was when put on the planking-table. The slow motion of the rollers A, is given by a large wheel _a_, fixed upon the axis of the roller A, and turned by the intermediate cog-wheels _b_, _c_, and _d_; the latter communicates between the rollers C and D. The pinions on the rollers C and D being only one-third the size of the wheel _a_, C and D turn three times as fast as A, for _b_, _c_, and _d_, are only intermediate wheels. The rollers B turn at the same rate as A. The upper roller C is loaded with a heavy weight, similar to the rollers A; but the other rollers, B and D, are no further loaded than the weight of the rollers.

The two pairs of rollers A, B, and C, D, are mounted in separate frames; and that frame which contains the third and fourth pairs C, D, slides upon the cast-iron frame F, which supports the machine, in order to increase or diminish the distance between the rollers B and C. There is a screw _f_, by which the frame of the rollers is moved, so as to adjust the machine according to the length of the fibres of the wool. The space between B and C should be rather more than the length of the fibres of the wool. The intermediate wheels _b_ and _c_, are supported upon pieces of iron, which are movable on centres; the centre for the piece which supports the wheel _b_ is concentric with the axis of the roller A; and the supporting piece for the wheel _c_ is fitted on the centre of the wheel _d_. By moving these pieces the intermediate wheels _b_ and _c_ can be always kept in contact, although the distance between the rollers is varied at times. By means of this breaking-frame, the perpetual sliver, which is made up by planking the sliver together, is equalized, and drawn out three times in length, and delivered into the can G.

_Drawing-frame._--Three of these cans are removed to the drawing-frame, which is similar to the breaking-frame, except that there is no planking-table E. There are five sets of rollers, all fixed upon one common frame F, the breaking-frame, which we have described, being the first. As fast as the sliver comes through one set of rollers, it is received into a can, and then three of these cans are put together, and passed again through another set of rollers. In the whole, the wool must pass through the breaker and four drawing-frames before the roving is begun. The draught being usually four times at each operation of drawing, and three times in the breaking, the whole will be 3 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 768; but to suit different sorts of wool, the three last drawing-frames are capable of making a greater draught, even to five times, by changing the pinions; accordingly the draught will be 3 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 1500 times.

The size of the sliver is diminished by these repeated drawings, because only three slivers are put together, and they are drawn out four times; so that, in the whole, the sliver is reduced to a fourth or a ninth of its original bulk.

The breaking-frame and drawing-frame which are used when the slivers are prepared by the combing-machines, are differently constructed; they have no planking-table, but receive three of the perpetual slivers of the combing-machine from as many tin cans, and draw them out from ten to twelve times. In this case, all the four rollers contribute to the operation of drawing: thus the second rollers B, move 2-1/2 times as fast as the rollers A; the third rollers C, move 8 times as fast as A; and the fourth rollers E, move 10-1/2 times as fast as A. In this case, the motion is given to the different rollers by means of bevelled wheels, and a horizontal axis, which extends across the ends of all the four rollers, to communicate motion from one pair of rollers to another.

There are three of these systems of rollers, which are all mounted on the same frame; and the first one through which the wool passes, is called the breaking-frame; but it does not differ from the others, which are called drawing-frames. The slivers which have passed through one system of rollers, are collected four or five together, and put through the drawing-rollers. In all, the slivers pass through three drawings, and the whole extension is seldom less than 1000 times, and for some kinds of wool much greater.

After the drawing of the slivers is finished, a pound weight is taken, and is measured by means of a cylinder, in order to ascertain if the drawing has been properly conducted; if the sliver does not prove of the length proposed, according to the size of worsted which is intended to be spun, the pinions of some of the drawing-frames are changed, to make the draught more or less, until it is found by experiment that one pound of the sliver measures the required length.

_Roving-frame._--This is provided with rollers, the same as the drawing-frames: it takes in one or two slivers together, and draws them out four times. By this extension, the sliver becomes so small, that it would break with the slightest force, and it is therefore necessary to give some twist; this is done by a spindle and flyer. See _Roving_, under COTTON MANUFACTURE.

_Spinning-frame._--This is so much like the roving-frame, that a short description will be sufficient. The spindles are more delicate, and there are three pairs of rollers, instead of two; the bobbins, which are taken off from the spindles of the roving-frame, when they are quite full, are stuck upon skewers, and the roving which proceeds from them is conducted between the rollers. The back pair turns round slowly; the middle pair turns about twice for once of the back rollers; and the front pair makes from twelve to seventeen turns for one turn of the back roller, according to the degree of extension which is required.

The spindles must revolve very quickly in the spinning-frame, in order to give the requisite degree of twist to the worsted. The hardest twisted worsted is called tammy warp; and when the size of this worsted is such as to be 20 or 24 hanks to the pound weight, the twist is about 10 turns in each inch of length. The least twist is given to the worsted for fine hosiery, which is from 18 to 24 hanks to the pound. The twist is from 5 to 6 turns per inch. The degree of twist is regulated by the size of the whirls or pulleys upon the spindle, and by the wheel-work which communicates the motion to the front rollers from the band-wheel, which turns the spindles.

It is needless to enter more minutely into the description of the spinning machinery, because the fluted roller construction, invented by Sir Richard Arkwright, fully described under COTTON MANUFACTURE, is equally applicable to worsted. The difference between the two, is chiefly in the distance between the rollers, which, in the worsted-frame, is capable of being increased or diminished at pleasure, according to the length of the fibres of the wool; and the draught or extension of the roving is far greater than in the cotton.

_Reeling._--The bobbins of the spinning-frame are placed in a row upon wires before a long horizontal reel, and the threads from 20 bobbins are wound off together. The reel is exactly a yard in circumference, and when it has wound off 80 turns, it rings a bell; the motion of the reel is then stopped, and a thread is passed round the 80 turns or folds which each thread has made. The reeling is then continued till another 80 yards is wound off, which is also separated by interweaving the same thread; each of these separate parcels is called a ley, and when 7 such leys are reeled, it is called a hank, which contains 560 yards. When this quantity is reeled off, the ends of the binding thread are tied together, to bind each hank fast, and one of the rails of the reel is struck to loosen the hanks, and they are drawn off at the end of the reel. These hanks are next hung upon a hook, and twisted up hard by a stick; then doubled, and the two parts twisted together to make a firm bundle. In this state, the hanks are weighed by a small index-machine, which denotes what number of the hanks will weigh a pound, and they are sorted accordingly into different parcels. It is by this means that the number of the worsted is ascertained as the denomination for its fineness: thus No. 24. means, that 24 hanks, each containing 560 yards, will weigh a pound, and so on.

This denomination is different from that used for cotton, because the hank of cotton contains 840 yards, instead of 560; but in some places the worsted hank is made of the same length as the cotton.

To pack up the worsted for market, the proper number of hanks is collected to make a pound, according to the number which has been ascertained; these are weighed as a proof of the correctness of the sorting, then tied up in bundles of one pound each, and four of these bundles are again tied together. Then 60 such bundles are packed up in a sheet, making a bale of 240 pounds, ready for market.

_Of the treatment of short wool for the cloth manufacture._--Short wool resembles cotton, not a little in the structure of its filaments, and is cleaned by the _willy_, as cotton is by the _willow_, which opens up the matted fleece of the wool-stapler, and cleans it from accidental impurities. Sheep’s wool for working into coarse goods, must be passed repeatedly through this machine, both before and after it is dyed; the second last time for the purpose of blending the different sorts together, and the last for imbuing the fibres intimately with oil. The oiled wool is next subjected to a first carding operation called _scribbling_, whereby it is converted into a broad thin fleece or lap, as cotton is by the breaker-cards of a cotton mill. The woollen lap is then worked by the cards proper, which deliver it in a narrow band or sliver. By this process the wool expands greatly in all its dimensions; while the broken or short filaments get entangled by crossing in every possible direction, which prepares them for the fulling operation. See _Carding_, under COTTON MANUFACTURE.

The _slubbing machine_, or _billy_, reduces the separate rolls of _cardings_ into a continuous slightly twisted spongy cord, which is sometimes called a roving. _Fig._ 1213. is a perspective representation of the slubbing machine in most common use. A, A, is the wooden frame; within which is the movable carriage D, D, which runs upon the lower side rails at _a_, _a_, on friction wheels at 1, 2, to make it move easily backwards and forwards from one end of the frame to the other. The carriage contains a series of steel spindles, marked 3, 3, which receive rapid rotation from a long tin drum F, by means of a series of cords passing round the pulley or whorl of each spindle. This drum, 6 inches in diameter, is covered with paper, and extends across the whole breadth of the carriage. The spindles are set nearly upright in a frame, and about 4 inches apart; their under ends being pointed conically, turn in brass sockets called steps, and are retained in their position by a small brass collet, which embraces each spindle at about the middle of its length. The upper half of each spindle projects above the top of the frame. The drum revolves horizontally before the spindles, having its axis a little below the line of the whorls; and receives motion, by a pulley at one of its ends, from an endless band which passes round a wheel E, like the large domestic wheel formerly used in spinning wool by hand, and of similar dimensions. This wheel is placed upon the outside of the main frame of the machine, and has its shafts supported by upright standards upon the carriage D. It is turned by the spinner placed at Q, with his right hand applied to a winch R, which gives motion to the drum, and thereby causes the spindles to revolve with great velocity.

Each spindle receives a soft cylinder or carding of wool, which comes through beneath a wooden roller C, C, at the one end of the frame. This is the _billy roller_, so much talked of in the controversies between the operatives and masters in the cotton factories, as an instrument of cruel punishment to children, though no such machine has been used in cotton mills for half a century at least. These woollen rolls proceed to the series of spindles, standing in the carriage, in nearly a horizontal plane. By the alternate advance and retreat of the carriage upon its railway, the spindles are made to approach to, and recede from, the roller C, with the effect of drawing out a given length of the soft cord, with any desired degree of twist, in the following manner:--

The carding rolls are laid down straight, side by side, upon the endless cloth, strained in an inclined direction between two rollers, one of which is seen at B, and the other lies behind C. One carding is allotted to a spindle; the total number of each in one machine being from 50 to 100. The roller C, of light wood, presses gently with its weight upon the cardings, while they move onwards over the endless cloth, with the running out of the spindle carriage. Immediately in front of the said roller, there is a horizontal wooden rail or bar G, with another beneath it, placed across the frame. The carding is conducted through between these two bars, the movable upper one being raised to let any aliquot portion of the roll pass freely. When this bar is again let down, it pinches the spongy carding fast; whence this mechanism is called the clasp. It is in fact the _clove_, originally used by Hargreaves in his cotton-jenny. The movable upper rail G, is guided between sliders, and a wire 7, descends from it to a lever C. When the spindle carriage D, D, is wheeled close home to the billy roller, a wheel 5, lifts the end 6 of the lever, which, by the wire 7, raises the upper bar or rail G, so as to open the clasp, and release all the card rolls. Should the carriage be now drawn a little way from the clasp bars, it would tend to pull a corresponding length of the cardings forward from the inclined plane B, C. There is a small catch, which lays hold of the upper bar of the clasp G, and hinders it from falling till the carriage has receded to a certain distance, and has thereby allowed from 7 to 8 inches of the cardings to be taken out. A stop upon the carriage then comes against the catch, and withdraws it; thus allowing the upper rail to fall and pinch the carding, while the carriage, continuing to recede, draws out or stretches that portion of the roll which is between the clasp and the spindle points. But during this time the wheel has been turned to keep the spindles revolving, communicating the proper degree of twist to the cardings in proportion to their extension, so as to prevent them from breaking.

It might be imagined that the slubbing cords would be apt to coil round the spindles; but as they proceed in a somewhat inclined direction to the clasp, they receive merely a twisting motion, continually slipping over the points of the spindles, without getting wound upon them. Whenever the operative or slubber has given a due degree of twist to the rovings, he sets about winding them upon the spindles into a conical shape, for which purpose he presses down the faller-wire 8, with his left hand, so as to bear it down from the points of the spindles, and place it opposite to their middle part. He next makes the spindles revolve, while he pushes in the carriage slowly, so as to coil the slubbing upon the spindle into a conical cop. The wire 8, regulates the winding-on of the whole series of slubbings at once, and receives its proper angle of depression for this purpose from the horizontal rail 4, which turns upon pivots in its ends, in brasses fixed on the standards, which rise from the carriage D. By turning this rail on its pivots, the wire 8 may be raised or lowered in any degree. The slubber seizes the rail 4 in his left hand, to draw the carriage out; but in returning it, he depresses the faller-wire, at the same time that he pushes the carriage before him.

The cardings are so exceedingly tender, that they would readily draw out, or even break, if they were dragged with friction upon the endless cloth of the inclined plane. To save this injurious traction, a contrivance is introduced for moving the apron. A cord is applied round the groove in the middle part of the upper roller, and after passing over pulleys, as shown in the figure, it has a heavy weight hung at the one end, and a light weight at the other, to keep it constantly extended, while the heavy weight tends to turn the rollers with their endless cloth round in such a direction as to bring forward the rovings, without putting any strain upon them. Every time that the carriage is pushed home, the larger weight gets wound up; and when the carriage is drawn out, the greater weight turns the roller, and advances the endless apron, so as to deliver the carding at the same rate as the carriage runs out; but when the proper quantity is delivered, a knot in the rope arrives at a fixed stop, which does not permit it to move any further; while at the same instant the roller 5 quits the lever 6, and allows the upper rail G, of the clasp to fall, and pinch the carding fast; the wheel E, being then set in motion, makes the spindles revolve; and the carriage being simultaneously drawn out, extends the slubbings while under the influence of twisting. In winding up the slubbings, the operative must take care to push in the carriage, and to turn the wheel round at such rates that the spindles will not take up faster than the carriage moves on its railway, or he would injure the slubbings. The machine requires the attendance of a child, to bring the cardings from the card-engine, to place them upon the sloping feed-cloth, and to join the ends of the fresh ones carefully to the ends of the others newly drawn under the roller. Slubbings intended for warp-yarn must be more twisted than those for weft; but each must receive a degree of torsion relative to the quality of the wool and of the cloth intended to be made. In general, however, no more twist should be given to the slubbings than is indispensable for enabling them to be drawn out to the requisite slenderness without breaking. This twist forms no part of the twist of the finished yarn, for the slubbing will be twisted in the contrary direction, when spun afterwards in the jenny or mule.

I may here remark, that various machines have been constructed of late years for making continuous card-ends, and slubbings, in imitation of the carding and roving of the COTTON MANUFACTURE; to which article I therefore refer my readers. The wool slubbings are now spun into yarn, in many factories, by means of the mule. Indeed, I have seen in France the finest yarn, for the _mousseline-de-laine_ fabrics, beautifully spun upon the self-actor mule of Sharp and Roberts.[72]

[72] See this admirable machine fully described and delineated in my
_Cotton Manufacture of Great Britain_, vol. ii.

_Tentering._--When the cloth is returned from the fulling-mill (which see), it is stretched upon the tenter-frame, and left in the open air till dry.

In the woollen manufacture, as the cloth suffers, by the operation of the fulling-mill, a shrinkage of its breadth to well nigh one-half, it must at first be woven of nearly double its intended width when finished. Superfine six-quarter broad cloths must therefore be turned out of the loom twelve-quarters wide.

_Burling_ is the name of a process, in which the dried cloth is examined minutely in every part, freed from knots or uneven threads, and repaired by sewing any little rents, or inserting sound yarns in the place of defective ones.

_Teasling._--The object of this operation is to raise up the loose filaments of the woollen yarn into a nap upon one of the surfaces of the cloth, by scratching it either with thistle-heads, called teasels, or with teasling-cards or brushes, made of wire. The natural teasels are the balls which contain the seeds of the plant called _Dipsacus fullorum_; the scales which form the balls, project on all sides, and end in sharp elastic points, that turn downwards like hooks. In teasling by hand, a number of these balls are put into a small wooden frame, having crossed handles, eight or ten inches long; and when thus filled, form an implement not unlike a curry-comb, which is used by two men, who seize the teasel-frame by the handles, and scrub the face of the cloth, hung in a vertical position from two horizontal rails, made fast to the ceiling of the workshop. First, they wet the cloth, and work three times over, by strokes in the direction of the warp, and next of that of the weft, so as to raise all the loose fibres from the felt, and to prepare it for shearing. In large manufactories, this dressing operation is performed by a machine called a gig-mill, which originally consisted, and in most places still consists, of a cylinder bristled all over with the thistle-heads, and made to revolve rapidly while the cloth is drawn over it in a variety of directions. If the thistle be drawn in the line of the warp, the points act more efficaciously upon the weft, being perpendicular to its softer spun yarns. Inventors who have tried to give the points a circular or oblique action between the warp and the weft, proceed apparently upon a false principle, as if the cloth were like a plate of metal, whose substance could be pushed in any direction. Teasling really consists in drawing out one end of the filaments, and leaving the body of them entangled in the cloth; and it should seize and pull them perpendicularly to their length, because in this way it acts upon the ends, which being least implicated, may be most readily disengaged.

When the hooks of the thistles become clogged with flocks of wool, they must be taken out of the frame or cylinder, and cleaned by children with a small comb. Moisture, moreover, softens their points, and impairs their teasling powers; an effect which needs to be counterbalanced, by taking them out, and drying them from time to time. Many contrivances have, therefore, been proposed, in which metallic teasels of an unchangeable nature, mounted in rotatory machines, driven by power, have been substituted for the vegetable, which being required in prodigious quantities, become sometimes excessively scarce and dear in the clothing districts. In 1818, several schemes of that kind were patented in France, of which those of M. Arnold-Merick, and of MM. Taurin frères, of Elbœuf, are described in the 16th volume of _Brevets d’Invention expirés_. Mr. Daniell, cloth manufacturer in Wilts, renewed this invention under another form, by making his rotatory cards with two kinds of metallic wires, of unequal lengths; the one set, long, thin, and delicate, representing the points of the thistle; the other, shorter, stiffer, and blunter, being intended to stay the cloth, and to hinder the former from entering too far into it. But none of these processes have succeeded in discarding the natural teasel from the most eminent manufactories.

The French government purchased, in 1807, the patent of Douglas, an English mechanist, who had, in 1802, imported into France, the best system of gig-mills then used in the west of England. A working set of his machines having been placed in the _Conservatoire des Arts_, for public inspection, they were soon introduced into most of the French establishments, so as generally to supersede teasling (_lainage_) by hand. A description of them was published in the third volume of the _Brevets d’Invention_. The following is an outline of some subsequent improvements:--

1. As it was imagined that the seesaw action of the hand operative was in some respects more effectual than the uniform rotation of a gig-mill, this was attempted to be imitated by an alternating movement.

2. Others conceived that the seesaw motion was not essential, but that it was advantageous to make the teasels or cards act in a rectilinear direction, as in working by hand; this action was attempted by placing the two ends of the teasel-frame in grooves formed like the letter D, so that the teasel should act on the cloth only when it came into the rectilinear part. Mr. Wells, machine-maker, of Manchester, obtained a patent, in 1832, for this construction.

3. It was supposed that the teasels should not act perpendicularly to the weft, but obliquely or circularly upon the face of the cloth. Mr. Ferrabee, of Gloucester, patented, in 1830, a scheme of this kind, in which the teasels are mounted upon two endless chains, which traverse from the middle of the web to the selvage or list, one to the right, and another to the left hand, while the cloth itself passes under them with such a velocity, that the effect, or _resultant_, is a diagonal action, dividing into two equal parts the rectangle formed by the weft and warp yarns. Three patent machines of Mr. George Oldland--the first in 1830, the second and third in 1832--all proceed upon this principle. In the first, the teasels are mounted upon discs made to turn flat upon the surface of the cloth; in the second, the rotating discs are pressed by corkscrew spiral springs against the cloth, which is supported by an elastic cushion, also pressed against the discs by springs; and in the third machine, the revolving discs have a larger diameter, and they turn, not in a horizontal, but a vertical plane.

4. Others fancied that it would be beneficial to support the reverse side of the cloth by flat hard surfaces, while acting upon its face with cards or teasels. Mr. Joseph Cliseld Daniell, having stretched the cloth upon smooth level stones, teasels them by hand. 5. Messrs. Charlesworth and Mellor obtained a patent, in 1829, for supporting the back of the cloth with elastic surfaces, while the part was exposed to the teasling action. 6. Elasticity has also been imparted to the teasels, in the three patent inventions of Mr. Sevill, Mr. J. C. Daniell, and Mr. R. Atkinson. 7. It has been thought useful to separate the teasel-frames upon the drum of the gig-mill, by simple rollers, or by rollers heated with steam, in order to obtain the combined effect of calendering and teasling. Mr. J. C. Daniell, Mr. G. Haden, and Mr. J. Rayner, have obtained patents for contrivances of this kind. 8. Several French schemes have been mounted for making the gig-drum act upon the two sides of the cloth, or even to mount two drums on the same machine.

Mr. Jones, of Leeds, contrived a very excellent method of stretching the cloth, so as to prevent the formation of folds or wrinkles. (See Newton’s Journal, vol. viii., 2nd series, page 126.) Mr. Collier, of Paris, obtained a patent, in 1830, for a greatly improved gig-mill, upon Douglas’s plan, which is now much esteemed by the French clothiers. The following figures and description exhibit one of the latest and best teasling machines. It is the invention of M. Dubois and Co., of Louviers, and is now doing excellent work in that celebrated seat of the cloth manufacture.

In the fulling-mill, the woollen web acquires body and thickness, at the expense of its other dimensions; for being thereby reduced about one-third in length, and one-half in breadth, its surface is diminished to one-third of its size as it comes out of the loom; and it has, of course, increased threefold in thickness. As the filaments drawn forth by teasling, are of very unequal lengths, they must be shorn to make them level, and with different degrees of closeness, according to the quality of the stuff, and the appearance it is desired to have. But, in general, a single operation of each kind is insufficient; whence, after having passed the cloth once through the gig-mill, and once through the shearing-machine (_tondeuse_), it is ready to receive a second teasling, deeper than the first, and then to suffer a second shearing. Thus, by the alternate repetition of these processes, as often as is deemed proper, the cloth finally acquires its wished-for appearance. Both of these operations are very delicate, especially the first; and if they be ill conducted, the cloth is weakened, so as to tear or wear most readily. On the other hand, if they be skilfully executed, the fabric becomes not only more sightly, but it acquires strength and durability, because its face is changed into a species of fur, which protects it from friction and humidity.

_Figs._ 1214, 1215., represent the gig-mill in section, and in front elevation. A, B, C, D, A´, B´, C´, D´, being the strong frame of iron, cast in one piece, having its feet enlarged a little more to the inside than to the outside, and bolted to large blocks in the stone pavement. The two uprights are bound together below by two cross-beams A´´, being fastened with screw-bolts at the ears _a´´_, _a´´_; and at top, by the wrought-iron stretcher-rod D, whose ends are secured by screw-nuts at D, D´. The drum is mounted upon a wrought-iron shaft F, which bears at its right end (_fig._ 1215.), exterior to the frame, the usual riggers, or fast and loose pulley, _ff´´_, _f´_, which give motion to the machine by a band from the main shaft of the mill. On its right end, within the frame, the shaft F, has a bevel wheel F´, for transmitting movement to the cloth, as shall be afterwards explained. Three crown wheels G, of which one is shown in the section, _fig._ 1214., are, as usual, keyed by a wedge to the shaft F. Their contour is a sinuous band, with six semi-cylindrical hollows, separated alternately by as many portions of the periphery. One of these three wheels is placed in the middle of the shaft F, and the other two, towards its extremities. Their size may be judged of, from inspection of _fig._ 1214. After having set them so that all their spokes or radii correspond exactly, the 16 sides H, are made fast to the 16 portions of the periphery, which correspond in the three wheels. These sides are made of sheet iron, curved into a gutter form, _fig._ 1214., but rounded off at the end, _fig._ 1215., and each of them is fixed to the three felloes of the wheels by three bolts _h_. The elastic part of the plate iron allows of their being sufficiently well adjusted, so that their flat portions furthest from the centre may lie pretty truly on a cylindrical surface, whose axis would coincide with that of the shaft F.

Between the 16 sides there are 16 intervals, which correspond to the 16 hollowings of each of the wheels. Into these intervals are adjusted, with proper precautions, 16 frames bearing the teasels which are to act upon the cloth. These are fitted in as follows:--Each has the shape of a rectangle, of a length equal to that of the drum, but their breadth only large enough to contain two thistle-heads set end to end, thus making two rows of parallel teasels throughout the entire length, (see the contour in _fig._ 1214.) A portion of the frame is represented in _fig._ 1216. The large side I, against which the tops of the teasels rest, is hollowed out into a semi-cylinder, and its opposite side is cleft throughout its whole length, to receive the tails of the teasels, which are seated and compressed in it. There are, moreover, cross-bars _i_, which serve to maintain the sides of the frame I, at an invariable distance, and to form short compartments for keeping the thistles compact. The ends are fortified by stronger bars _k_, _k_, with projecting bolts to fasten the frames between the ribs. The distance of the sides of the frame I, I´, ought to be such, that if a frame be laid upon the drum, in the interval of two ribs, the side I will rest upon the inclined plane of one of the ribs, and the side I´ upon the inclined plane of the other, (see _fig._ 1214.); while at the same time the bars _k_, of the two ends of the frame, rest upon the flat parts of the ribs themselves. This point being secured, it is obvious, that if the ends of the bars _k_ be stopped, the frame will be made fast. But they need not be fixed in a permanent manner, because they must be frequently removed and replaced. They are fastened by the clamp, (_figs._ 1217, 1218.), which is shut at the one end, and furnished at the other with a spring, which can be opened or shut at pleasure. 2 and 4, in _fig._ 1215. (near the right end of the shaft F), shows the place of the clamp, _figs._ 1217, 1218. The bar of the right hand is first set in the clamp, by holding up its other end; the frame is then let down into the left-hand clamp.

The cloth is wound upon the lower beam Q, _fig._ 1214.; thence it passes in contact with a wooden cylinder T, turning upon an axis, and proceeds to the upper beam P, on to which it is wound: by a contrary movement, the cloth returns from the beam P to Q, over the cylinder T; and may thus go from the one to the other as many times as shall be requisite. In these successive circuits it is presented to the action of the teasels, under certain conditions. In order to be properly teasled, it must have an equal tension throughout its whole breadth during its traverse; it must be brought into more or less close contact with the drum, according to the nature of the cloth, and the stage of the operations; sometimes being a tangent to the surface, and sometimes embracing a greater or smaller portion of its contour, it must travel with a determinate speed, dependent upon the velocity of the drum, and calculated so as to produce the best result: the machine itself must make the stuff pass alternately from one winding beam to the other.

In _fig._ 1215., before the front end of the machine, there is a vertical shaft L, as high as the framework, which revolves with great facility, in the bottom step _l_, the middle collet _l´_, and top collet _l´´_, in the prolongation of the stretcher D. Upon this upright shaft are mounted--1. a bevel wheel L´; 2. an upper bevel pinion M, with its boss M´; 3. a lower bevel pinion N, with its boss N´. The bevel wheel L´ is keyed upon the shaft L, and communicates to it the movement of rotation which it receives from the pinion _f_, with which it is in geer; but the pinion _f_, which is mounted upon the shaft F of the drum, participates in the rotation which this shaft receives from the prime mover, by means of the fast rigger-pulley _f´_. The upper pinion M is independent upon the shaft L; that is to say, it may be slidden along it, up and down, without being driven by it; but it may be turned in an indirect manner by means of six curved teeth, projecting from its bottom, and which may be rendered active or not, at pleasure; these curved teeth, and their intervals, correspond to similar teeth and intervals upon the top of the boss M´, which is dependent, by feathered indentations, upon the rotation of L, though it can slide freely up and down upon it. When it is raised, therefore, it comes into geer with M. The pinion N, and its boss, have a similar mode of being thrown into and out of geer with each other. The bosses M´ and N´, ought always to be moved simultaneously, in order to throw one of them into geer, and the other out of geer. The shaft L serves to put the cloth in motion, by means of the bevel wheels P´´ and Q´´, upon the ends of the beams P, Q, which take into the pinions M and N.

The mechanism destined to stretch the cloth is placed at the other end of the machine, where the shafts of the beams P, Q, are prolonged beyond the frame, and bear at their extremities P´ and Q´, armed each with a brake. The beam P (_fig._ 1214.), turns in an opposite direction to the drum; consequently the cloth is wound upon P, and unwound from Q. If, at the same time as this is going on, the handle R´, of the brake-shaft, be turned so as to clasp the brake of the pulley Q´, and release that of the pulley P´, it is obvious that a greater or smaller resistance will be occasioned in the beam Q, and the cloth which pulls it in unwinding, will be able to make it turn only when it has acquired the requisite tension; hence it will be necessary, in order to increase or diminish the tension, to turn the handle R´ a little more or a little less in the direction which clasps the brake of the pulley Q´; and as the brake acts in a very equable manner, a very equable tension will take place all the time that the cloth takes to pass. Besides, should the diminution of the diameter of the beam Q, render the tension less efficacious in any considerable degree, the brake would need to be unclamped a very little, to restore the primitive tension.

When the cloth is to be returned from the beam P, to the beam Q, Z must be lowered, to put the shaft L out of geer above, and in geer below; then the cloth-beam Q, being driven by that vertical shaft, it will turn in the same direction as the drum, and will wind the cloth round its surface. In order that it may do so, with a suitable tension, the pulley Q´ must be left free, by clasping the brake of the pulley P´, so as to oppose an adequate resistance.

The cloth is brought into more or less close contact with the drum as follows:--There is for this purpose a wooden roller T, against which it presses in passing from the one winding beam to the other, and which may have its position changed relatively to the drum. It is obvious, for example, that in departing from the position represented in _fig._ 1214., where the cloth is nearly a tangent to the drum, if the roller T´ be raised, the cloth will cease to touch it; and if it be lowered, the cloth will, on the contrary, embrace the drum over a greater or less portion of its periphery. For it to produce these effects, the roller is borne at each end, by iron gudgeons, upon the heads of an arched rack T´´ (_fig._ 1214.), where it is held merely by pins. These racks have the same curvature as the circle of the frame, against which they are adjusted by two bolts; and by means of slits, which these bolts traverse, they may be slidden upwards or downwards, and consequently raise or depress the roller T. But to graduate the movements, and to render them equal in the two racks, there is a shaft U, supported by the uprights of the frame, and which carries, at each end, pinions U´, U´´, which work into the two racks T´, T´´: this shaft is extended in front of the frame, upon the side of the head of the machine (_fig._ 1215.), and there it carries a ratchet wheel _u_, and a handle _u´_. The workman, therefore, requires merely to lay hold of the handle, and turn it in the direction of the ratchet wheel, to raise the racks, and the roller T, which they carry; or to lift the click or catch, and turn the handle in the opposite direction, when he wishes to lower the roller, so as to apply the cloth to a larger portion of the drum.

CLOTH CROPPING.

Of machines for cropping or shearing woollen cloths, those of Lewis and Davis have been very generally used.

_Fig._ 1219. is an end view, and _fig._ 1220. is a side view, of Lewis’s machine, for shearing cloth from list to list. _Fig._ 1221. is an end view of the carriage, with the rotatory cutter detached from the frame of the machine, and upon a larger scale: _a_, is a cylinder of metal, on which is fixed a triangular steel wire; this wire is previously bent round the cylinder in the form of a screw, as represented at _a_, _a_, in _fig._ 1219., and, being hardened, is intended to constitute one edge of the shear or cutter.

The axis of the cylindrical cutter _a_, turns in the frame _b_, which, having proper adjustments, is mounted upon pivots _c_, in the standard of the travelling carriage _d_, _d_; and _e_, is the fixed or ledger blade, attached to a bar _f_, which constitutes the other edge of the cutter; that is, the stationary blade, against which the edges of the rotatory cutter act; _f_ and _g_, are flat springs, intended to keep the cloth (shown by dots) up against the cutting edges. The form of these flat springs _f_, _g_, is shown at _figs._ 1222. and 1223., as consisting of plates of thin metal cut into narrow slips (_fig._ 1222.), or perforated with long holes, (_fig._ 1223.) Their object is to support the cloth, which is intended to pass between them, and operate as a spring bed, bearing the surface of the cloth against the cutters, so that its pile or nap may be cropped off or shorn as the carriage _d_ is drawn along the top rails of the standard or frame of the machine _h_, _h_, by means of cords.

The piece of cloth to be shorn, is wound upon the beam _k_, and its end is then conducted through the machine, between the flat springs _f_ and _g_ (as shown in _fig._ 1221.), to the other beam _l_, and is then made fast; the sides or lists of the cloth being held and stretched by small hooks, called habiting hooks. The cloth being thus placed in the machine, and drawn tight, is held distended by means of ratchets on the ends of the beams _k_ and _l_, and palls. In commencing the operation of shearing, the carriage _d_, must be brought back, as in _fig._ 1221., so that the cutters shall be close to the list; the frame of the cutters is raised up on its pivots as it recedes, in order to keep the cloth from injury, but is lowered again previously to being put in action. A band or winch is applied to the rigger or pulley _m_, which, by means of an endless cord passed round the pulley _n_, at the reverse end of the axle of _m_, and round the other pulleys _o_ and _p_, and the small pulley _q_, on the axle of the cylindrical cutter, gives the cylindrical cutter a very rapid rotatory motion; at the same time a worm, or endless screw, on the axle of _m_ and _n_, taking into the teeth of the large wheel _r_, causes that wheel to revolve, and a small drum _s_, upon its axle, to coil up the cord, by which the carriage _d_, with the cutters _a_ and _e_, and the spring bed _f_ and _g_, are slowly, but progressively, made to advance, and to carry the cutters over the face of the cloth, from list to list; the rapid rotation of the cutting cylinder _a_, producing the operation of cropping or shearing the pile.

Upon the cutting cylinder, between the spiral blades, it is proposed to place stripes of plush, to answer the purpose of brushes, to raise the nap or pile as the cylinder goes around, and thereby assist in bringing the points of the wool up to the cutters.

The same contrivance is adapted to a machine for shearing the cloth lengthwise.

_Fig._ 1224. is a geometrical elevation of one side of Mr. Davis’s machine. _Fig._ 1225. a plan or horizontal representation of the same, as seen in the top; and _fig._ 1226. a section taken vertically across the machine near the middle, for the purpose of displaying the working parts more perfectly than in the two preceding figures. These three figures represent a complete machine in working condition, the cutters being worked by a rotatory motion, and the cloth so placed in the carriage as to be cut from list to list. _a_, _a_, _a_, is a frame or standard, of wood or iron, firmly bolted together by cross braces at the ends and in the middle. In the upper side-rails of the standard, there is a series of axles carrying anti-friction wheels _b_, _b_, _b_, upon which the side-rails _c_, _c_, of the carriage or frame that bears the cloth runs, when it is passing under the cutters in the operation of shearing. The side-rails _c_, _c_, are straight bars of iron, formed with edges _v_, on their under sides, which run smoothly in the grooves of the rollers _b_, _b_, _b_. These side-rails are firmly held together by the end stretchers _d_, _d_. The sliding frame has attached to it the two lower rollers _e_, _e_, upon which the cloth intended to be shorn is wound; the two upper lateral rollers _f_, _f_, over which the cloth is conducted and held up; and the two end rollers _g_, _g_, by which the habiting rails _h_, _h_, are drawn tight.

In preparing to shear a piece of cloth, the whole length of the piece is, in the first place, tightly rolled upon one of the lower rollers _e_, which must be something longer than the breadth of the cloth from list to list. The end of the piece is then raised, and passed over the top of the lateral rollers _f_, _f_, whence it is carried down to the other roller _e_, and its end or farral is made fast to that roller. The hooks of the habiting rails _h_, _h_, are then put into the lists, and the two lower rollers _e_, _e_, with the two end rollers _g_, _g_, are then turned, for the purpose of drawing up the cloth, and straining it tight, which tension is preserved by ratchet wheels attached to the ends of the respective rollers, with palls dropping into their teeth. The frame carrying the cloth, is now slidden along upon the top standard rails by hand, so that the list shall be brought nearly up to the cutter _i_, _i_, ready to commence the shearing operation; the bed is then raised, which brings the cloth up against the edges of the shears.