BLEACHING 



383 



to operate with a heated calender, the undermost hollow cylinder may bo filled with 

 hot steam, admitted through a stuffing-box at one end, and discharged through a 

 stuffing-box at the other, or by a red-hot iron roller. 



Before passing through the press they are slightly damped ; this is done by a roller 

 of brushes, which dips into the water, and throws it regularly on the cloth. They are 

 then subjected to the powerful pressure of the calender rollers. The calendered 

 piecos, by the powerful pressure of the rollers, are smooth and somewhat shining. 

 There can be no doubt that cloth in this state looks to the best advantage. The pieces 

 must, however, be put into a compact form. This is done by folding them into par- 

 cels, which are pressed by hydraulic power into firm and solid masses. Each parcel 

 has the mark of the manufacturer, or any device that he may choose to have, stamped 

 upon it, or bound round it. 



Finishing. Pure starch is not always used for the purpose of finishing. Fine clay, 

 gypsum, or Spanish white is mixed with the cloth ; and if weight is desired to be given, 

 sulphate of baryta is employed. Silicate of soda was patented for this purpose, but 

 its use has not been attended with success. Freedom from colour is of course a re- 

 quisite property in whatever be added, or the excellency of the bleach is impaired. 

 There can, however, be no doubt, that too much attention is given to this finish for 

 home goods, or for all purposes which require the goods to be washed : they assume 

 a solidity of appearance which they do not possess when the finishing material is 

 removed from the pores, and the cloth appears without disguise. In some instances, 

 however, this finish is a peculiarity of the goods, and is almost as important as the 

 cloth itself. For example : in the case of muslins, when they are dried at perfect 

 rest, they have a rigid inelastic feeling, somewhat allied to that of thin laths of wood, 

 and feel very rough to the touch. They are therefore dried by stretching the cloth, 

 and moving the lines of selvage backward and forward, so as to cause the threads of 

 weft to rub against each other and so as to prevent them becoming united as one 

 piece. Goods dried in this manner have a peculiar spring, and such thick muslins 

 are for a time possessed of great elasticity. Several pieces folded up in a parcel 

 spring lip from pressure like caoutchouc. 



Mr. Kidgeway Bridson invented an apparatus for giving this peculiar finish to 

 muslins. Formerly it was done entirely by the hand, and in Scotland only. Since 

 the invention of this machine, this trade has become a very important one in the 

 Manchester district. 



Sometimes goods are finished by the beetle, which acts by repeated hammering. 

 This peculiar action has been transferred to a roller by T. K. Bridson, and called 

 the ' Eotatory Beetle.' It consists of a cylinder having alternately raised and de- 

 pressed surfaces, and two other cylinders which press upon it, and alternately press 

 the cloth and give a freedom as it passes between the rollers. This is similar to the 

 rise and fall of the hammers or mallets in the beetling process. 



Sometimes a stiff finish is wanted ; then muslins are dried in the usual way. 



Drifing. Figs. 133 and 134 represent a drying machine, with eleven cylinders, 

 each 22 inches in diameter, capable of drying 1,000 pieces of bleached calico in a day. 

 a, represents cylinders heated with steam ; v, vacuum-valves in ditto ; /, frame for 

 carrying cylinders ; c, folding apparatus ; s, steam-pipe ; g, gearing. 



133 





When goods are dried having a raised pattern, such as brocades, or any other, 

 such as striped white shirting, only one side of the cloth is to be exposed ; the pattern 

 rises up from the heated surface on which the cloth is dried, For this reason, cylin- 



