AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS. 455 



more than two thousand years, its original colors scarcely dimmed. 

 Modern dyeing must stand abashed in the presence of such evi- 

 dence of a permanency it does not pretend to imitate. But it 

 has made some wonderful advances, all within the last quarter of 

 a century, in the successful application of the aniline dyes to 

 fabrics ; and the new combinations which are constantly evolved 

 and applied, are all of them possessed of this great advantage, 

 that they are brought within the reach of the millions. 



Wool has an affinity for dye surpassing that of any other fiber, 

 and there is no new discovery in dyeing material to which it does 

 not instantly declare kinship. It is dyed to equal advantage 

 either in the fleece (after scouring), the sliver, the yarn, or the 

 piece, according to the use to which it is to be put. The dyeing 

 department of a great wool-factory is one of the most critical 

 points of its administration. Here again art touches manufacture 

 closely. The designer and the dyer are the two agencies through 

 which the manufacturer keeps in touch with the world. 



The finishing of 

 woolen goods is a se- 

 ries of operations no 

 less important than 

 those which have 

 preceded, for they 

 determine the final 

 appearance of the 

 textures. These pro- 

 cesses are numerous 

 and delicate. They 

 have been vastly sim 

 plified and expedited 

 by machinery, and 

 chiefly in the last 

 half - century. The 

 most important of 

 the finishing opera- 

 tions is that of full- 

 ing or milling. In 

 this operation the 

 cloth will lose by shrinkage from one quarter to one third of the 

 length and breadth to which it is woven. The serrations of the 

 wool, which have been left intact throughout the multitudinous 

 manipulation to which the fiber has been subjected, fit into each 

 other in the process of milling, and lock fast under pressure. 

 Thus a piece of woolen cloth, originally a series of threads loosely 

 woven, becomes apparently one solid mass, which can be pulled 

 apart with difficulty. Fulling can only be accomplished when the 



Fig. 27. Rotary Fulling-Mill. 



