MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93 



REWORKING WASTE FIBRE OF CLOTH. 



A patent has recently been secured in England by Mr. S. C. Lister, for 

 reducing hard waste fibre with a twist in it, like cord, or woven cloth of 

 cotton, silk, &c., to be worked over again. The waste is first cut in a 

 machine in short lengths, then it is put into a machine having revolving 

 arms, like a rotary flail, and beat for some time. This loosens the several 

 strands in the same manner that plasterers loosen the hair used to mix with 

 their first coat for walls. After this beating it is placed hi a chamber and 

 exposed to the action of steam, then taken out, dried, and submitted to the 

 action of the common carding engine of a cotton factory. This process is 

 stated to be a great improvement in the way of treating shoddy, or waste 

 cotton twists, to be reworked and put into new fabrics. 



Another foreign invention, applicable to tissues or other fabrics (whether 

 rags or pieces of new goods) composed partly of wool and partly of vegetable 

 fibres, consists in a mode of removing the vegetable from the woollen fibres, 

 and thereby obtaining the latter in a suitable state for manufacturing pur- 

 poses ; the same, consequently, offers an easy mode for removing the threads 

 from rags with which the seams, button holes, or other parts have been sewn. 

 The rags or other goods, after having been cleaned to a certain extent, by 

 any of the known means, are put into an acid bath (whether cold or suitably 

 heated) containing one hundred parts (by measure) of water; from four to 

 five parts of common sulphuric acid of commerce ; and about one part of 

 alcohol ; and in this bath they are left as long as required for disintegrating 

 sufficiently the vegetable fibres. The goods are then removed from the acid 

 bath; after which, the greater part of the liquid is pressed out, and the 

 goods dried by any suitable means care being taken to spread them out as 

 evenly as possible. When dried, they are submitted to a beating engine, or 

 other contrivance, for removing the woollen fibres from the partly decomposed 

 vegetable fibres that may still adhere to them ; after which the wool is 

 thoroughly washed in water, or in a weak alkaline or soap bath, in order to 

 deprive it of acid ; it is then again dried, and in this state is ready to be pre- 

 pared for spinning or other manufacturing purposes. 



The patentee claims the mode of submitting tissues or other fabrics, com- 

 posed partly of woollen and partly of vegetable fibres, to a bath of diluted 

 sulphuric acid, to which a small portion of alcohol is added ; by the action of 

 which bath, and of the processes above described, the vegetable fibres are 

 readily removed from the wool, and leave it in a fit state for being again 

 employed for spinning or other manufacturing purposes. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOE MANUFACTURING TEXTILE 



FABRICS. 



Carding Machinery. "W. Stevenson and "William Crawford, of Lochwinnoch, 

 Scotland, have obtained a patent for improvements in carding machinery, 

 which appear to be novel and good. In its main details their carding engine 

 resembles those in common use, having a feeding in and carding apparatus. 



