REED 



695 



REDRUTHITE. A name given by Brooke and Miller to the vitreous copper of 

 Phillips, from the circumstance that some fine varieties have been found in the mines 

 near Redruth, although much finer are produced by the St. Just mines. It is the 

 chalcosine of Greg and Lettsom, cuivre sulfure of Haiiy, and the Kupferglanz of 

 Haidinger and Naumann. Eedruthite is a disulphicle of copper. See COPPER. 



RED SANDERS WOOD. A hard and heavy wood, which is imported from 

 Calcutta in logs. It is much used as a dye-wood, and occasionally for turning. 



RED-SHdRT. When iron is brittle at a red heat, it is said to be red-short. 



REDUCING AGENTS. The agents used to separate the metal in the smelting 

 processes. See METALLURGY. 



REDUCTION". When the metal is separated from the substances sulphur, 

 oxygen, arsenic, &c. with which it is combined, it is said to be reduced; reduction is 

 the process employed. 



RED WOOD. A wood used by dyers, which is obtained from the Siberian buck- 

 thorn, Rhamnus erythroxylon. 



REED is the well-known implement of the weaver, made of parallel slips of 

 metal or reeds, called dents. A thorough knowledge of the adaptation of yarn of a 

 proper degree of fineness to any given measure of reed, constitutes one of the 

 principal objects of the manufacturer of cloth ; as upon this depends entirely the 

 appearance, and in a great degree the durability, of the cloth when finished. The 

 art of performing this properly is known by the names of examining, setting, or 

 sleying, which are used indiscriminately, and mean exactly the same thing. The 

 reed consists of two parallel pieces of wood, set a few inches apart, and they are of 

 any given length, as a yard, a yard and a quarter, &c. The division of the yard 

 being into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths : the breadth of a web is generally 

 expressed by a vulgar fraction, as |, |, f , I ; and the subdivision by the eighths or six- 

 teenths, or nails, as they are usually called, as |, f , W, &c., or ff, }~, ^f, &c. In Scot- 

 land, the splits of cane which pass between the longitudinal pieces or ribs of the reed 

 are expressed by hundreds, porters, and splits, the porter is 20 splits, or fth of a 

 hundred. 



In Lancashire and Cheshire a different mode is adopted, both as to the measure 

 and divisions of the reed. The Manchester and Bolton reeds are counted by the 

 number of splits, or, as they are there called, dents, contained in 24| inches of the 

 reed. These dents, instead of being arranged in hundreds, porters, and splits, as in 

 Scotland, are calculated by what is there termed hares or bears, each containing 

 20 dents, or the same number as the porter in the Scotch reeds. The Cheshire or 

 Stockport reeds, again, receive their designation from the number of ends or threads 

 contained in one inch, two ends being allowed for every dent, that being the almost 

 universal number in every species and description of plain cloth, according to the 

 modern practice of weaving, and also for a great proportion of fanciful articles. 



Comparative Table of 37-inch reeds, being the standard used throughout Europe, for 

 inens, with the Lancashire and Cheshire reeds, and the foreign reeds used for holland 

 and cambric. 



In the above table, the 37-inch is placed first. It is called Scotch, not because it 

 either originated or is exclusively used in that country; it is the general linen reed 



