1158 



WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE 



2119 



the two-row toothed combs ; the second or finishing combing, with the three-row 

 toothed. 



In the workshops a post, fa, 2119, is planted upright, for 

 resting the combs occasionally upon, during the operation. 

 An iron stem g, projects from it horizontally, haying its 

 end turned up, so as to pass through a hole in the handle 

 of the comb. Near its point of insertion into the post, there 

 is another staple point, ft, which enters into the hollow end 

 of the handle ; which, between these two catches, is firmly 

 secured to the post. The stove is a very simple affair, con- 

 sisting merely of a flat iron plate, heated by fire or steam, 

 and surmounted with a similar plate, at an interval sufficient 

 to allow the teeth to be inserted between them at one side, 

 which is left open, while the space between their edges, on 

 the other side, is closed to confine the heat. 



In combing the wool, the workman takes it up in tresses 

 of about four ounces each, sprinkles it with oil, and rolls 

 it about in his hands, to render all the filaments equally 

 unctuous. Some harsh dry wools require one-sixteenth of 

 their weight of oil, others no more than a fortieth. He 

 next attaches a heated comb to the post, with its teeth 

 pointed upwards, seizes one-half the tress of wool in his 

 hands, throws it over the teeth, then draws it through them, 

 and thus repeatedly: leaving a few straight filaments each time upon the comb. 

 When the comb has in this way collected all the wool, it is placed with its points 

 inserted into the cell of the stove, with the wool hanging down outside, exposed 

 to the influence of the heat. The other comb, just removed in a heated state from 

 the stove, is planted upon the post, and furnished in its turn with the remain- 

 ing two-ounce tress of wool ; after which it supplants the preceding at the stove. 

 Having both combs now hot, he holds one of them with his left hand over his knee, 

 being seated upon a low stool, and seizing the other with his right hand, he tombs 

 the wool upon the first, by introducing the teeth of one comb into the wool stuck in 

 the other, and drawing them through it. This manipulation is skilfully repeated, till 

 the fibres are laid truly parallel like a flat tress of hair. It is proper to begin by comb- 

 ing the tips of the tress, and to advance progressively, from the one end towards the 

 other, till at length the combs are worked with their teeth as closely together as is 

 possible, without bringing them into collision. If the workman proceeded otherwise, 

 he would be apt to rupture the filaments, or tear their ends entirely out of one of the 

 combs. The flocks left at the end of the process, because they are too short for the 

 comber to grasp them in his hand, are called noyls. They are unfit for the worsted 

 spinner, and are reserved for the coarse cloth manufacturer. 



The wool finally drawn off from the comb, though it may form a uniform tress of 

 straight filaments, must yet be combed again at a somewhat lower temperature, to 

 prepare it perfectly for the spinning operation. From ten to twelve slivers are then 

 arranged in one parcel. 



To relieve the workman from this laborious and not very salubrious task has been 

 the object of many mechanical inventions. One of these, considerably employed in 

 this country and in France, is the invention of the late Mr. John Collier, of Paris, 

 for which a patent was obtained in England, under the name of John Platt, of Sal- 

 ford, in November 1827. It consists of two comb-wheels about ten feet in diameter, 

 having hollow iron spokes filled with steam, in order to keep the whole apparatus at 

 a proper combing heat. The comb forms a circle, made fast to the periphery of the 

 wheel, the teeth being at right angles to the plane of the wheel. The shafts of the 

 two wheels are mounted in a strong frame of cast iron ; not, however, in horizontal 

 positions, but inclined at acute angles to the horizon, and in planes crossing each 

 other, so that the teeth of one circular comb sweep with a steady obliquity over the 

 teeth of the other, in a most ingenious manner, with the effect of combing the tresses 

 of wool hung upon them. The proper quantity of long wool, in its ordinary state, 

 is stuck in handfuls upon the wheel, revolving slowly, by a boy, seated upon the 

 ground at one side of the machine. Whenever the wheel is dressed, the machine is 

 made to revolve more rapidly, by shifting its driving-band on another pulley ; and it 

 is beautiful to observe the delicacy and precision with which it smooths the tangled 

 tresa. When the wools are set in rapid rotation, the loose ends of the fleece, by the 

 centrifugal force, are thrown out, in the direction of radii, upon the teeth of the 

 other revolving comb-wheel, so as to be drawn out and made truly straight. The 

 operation commences upon the tips of the tresses, where the wheels, by the oblique 

 posture of their shafts, are at the greatest distance apart ; but as the planes siowiy 





