RIBBON MAXUFACTfUE. 



RICE ; RICE-MILL. 



ribboa is is said to have dou/Ut or tntle fg*rt, according to the 

 Mrtrr of colours passing through each dent. In some ribbons 

 in naracular-these threads are cut away by the scissors after 

 the ribbon u nude. This U called dipping. A change of colour in 

 hoot is effected by the use of different shuttles ; in brocades the 

 flcur* I* made by smaU additional shuttles, thrown in partially across 

 the ribbon as the pattern may require, the connecting threads of shoot 

 ^gr dipped off. By dawuut is meant the laying of the warp v.>i 

 thTshoM to form the figure, in the manner of satin. The patterns are 

 onetimes geometrical, bat more frequently combinations of leaves, 

 snria, or flowers. In the superior French ribbons, groups and wreaths 

 of towers are executed with the richness and variety of hand-onibroi- 

 dcry. The French are continually introducing novelties in colouring 

 and m texture. Some fancy ribbons are of a plain texture, but varied 

 in colouring ; they are shot or woven in shades, stripes, bars, or 

 .beqoes, catted in the trade } >laid, ; these last, which require the 

 shuttle to be changed very frequently, are still made in the single-hand 

 loom. In sAof ribbons the warp and the shoot are of different col. mr.i. 

 A ptarttJyt is frequently given to all kinds of ribbon except the 

 narrower widths of sarsenet. This U funned by the shoot passing 

 OTW - horse-hairs placed outside the warp ]>arallel with it, and raised 

 in like -~""~- by the Usses ; u the hairs are drawn out, the silk is 

 Ml in loon* at the edge. Many varieties of ornamental edges, as 

 scollop*, fringes, Ac., are produced by draximj in. The shoot in this 

 case stops short of the edge of the ribbon, catching in an additional 

 thread of silk, sometimes of a different colour, which it draws in in its 

 nhfit. and which is delivered from a bobbin at the back of the loom, 

 and is in a manner darned into the ground of the ribbon. Clouding is 

 a p*"" 1 *"- management in the dyeing, by which a change of hue is pro- 

 duced in the same thread of silk. The silk, already warped, is tied up 

 and wound closely round with packthread at regular intervals of more 

 or lacs than an inch, so that the intermediate spaces only are pene- 

 trated by the dye. In one species of fancy ribbon, called Ckinl, the 

 figures are printed or painted on the warp after it U prepared for the 

 loom, and afterwards woven in by the shuttle; others are embossed. 

 Kibbons are wattrtd by passing two pieces together between two cylin- 

 ders, one of which has a beater within it ; the irregular pressure of the 

 inequalities of the two surfaces of silk against each other produces a 

 wavy appearance. To smooth and stiffen satin ribbons, they .ire 

 nlndmd, or pressed between heated steel cylinders, and afterwards 

 dressed, or pissfin* over a small cylinder covered with llannel, -which is 

 ny(rfrt-~i with a size made from buffalo hides, and then over a large 

 one of heated steel. Gauzes also are dressed, and sometimes even lute- 

 strings. The French goods are in general better dressed than the 

 English. The blocking of the finished ribbons, or the winding them 

 on cylindrical pieces of wood, U generally done at the warehouse of the 

 manufacturer. Galloont and doublet are strong thick ribbons, princi- 

 pally black, used for bindings, shoe-strings, &c. The narrow widths 

 are called galloons; the broader, doubles. Italian silk is used in 

 nuking the best qualities only, Bengal for the commoner. Fcrrctt are 

 coarse narrow ribbons shot with cotton, used for similar purposes. 

 ltiUa rrltett are manufactured in Spitalficlds, and at St. Etienne : 

 they are also made at Crefeld, in Rhenish Prussia, which has long been 

 a principal seat of the velvet manufacture. In gold and tilrcr ribbons, 

 a silk thread of jtniUr colour is wound round by a flattened wire of 

 the metal, and afterwards woven. Lyon was at one tune particularly 

 celebrated for its fabrics of this kind. 



In the ribbon manufacture the labour is nearly the same for the 

 richer as for the inferior goods, the difference consisting principally in 

 the silk of which they are made. Cheap ribbons are generally made 

 by reducing the warp silk, which is the most expensive, and making 

 tip the bulk of the ribbon with a larger proportion of thn cheaper 

 - '. 



There are certain small wares which may be briefly noticed here, 

 midway in character between ronlt and ribbon t, and yet more complex 

 than either. These are gimp*, ttriiti, fringrt, chenillo, &c. ; in which the 

 results are produced in some few cases by a kind of weaving, but much 

 more frequently by a twisting or looping process. Complicated ma- 

 chines are needed for the production of such goods ; and many patents 

 liave been obtained for inventions tending to this end. In one con- 

 trivance, a looping-macbine invented by Messrs. Keely and Wilkins, 

 while one arrangement is suitable for the making of stockings and 

 gloves, another is intended for the making of braids, several at a time 

 and of one, or of several patterns. A third modification of the samt 

 Apparatus enables the manufacturers to plait or cover any cheap kind of 

 thread with thread of a better sort. A machine invented by Messrs. 

 Hughes and Denham ia intended equally for the making of fancy 

 ribbon, fringe, chenille, trimmings, and gimps. There is no actua 

 weaving process adopted, but the appearance of the goods is somewhat 

 M if woven. The apparatus is very complex, consisting of many parts 

 spinning round each other. A ground thread ia sometimes formed o 

 wire covered with cloth, or of narrow strips of stiff paper; and the 

 machine will cover these with silken thread. Ornamental trimmings 

 may be made by feeding the machine with strips of tarlatan, muslin 

 ilk, or quilling as a ground, and then winding silk thread round them 

 Wire groundwork may be used for making chenille; and mino 

 adjustments will furnish the means for making an almost endless 

 variety of fancy goods. 



RICE ; RICE-MILL. In the article ORYZA, in NAT. HIST. Div., an 

 account is given of the botanical character, and under ORYZA in the 

 irosent division the mode of cultivation is described. In order to 

 emove the husk, which adheres very closely, without breaking the 

 [rain itself, several ingenious machines have been recently introduced, 

 if some of which it is proposed to give a brief notice. 



The common mode of performing this operation in India and China, 

 s by beating the grain in a kind of rude mortar of stone or earthen- 

 ware, with a conical stone attached to a lever worked by the hand or 

 bot Sometimes several such levers are moved by arms projecting 

 rom the axis of a water-wheel. This process being uncertain and 

 odious, the preference has been given of late to a kind of mill, in 

 which the stones are placed at such a distance asunder as to detach the 

 shell without crushing the grain ; the stones being enclosed in a case 

 which prevents the dispersion of the rice by the rapid rotation of the 

 machine. The rice is thrown out of the case by an opening in its side, 

 and conducted over a sieve that separates the dust ; after which it is 

 made to fall in a gentle stream exposed to a current of air, produced by 

 revolving fanners, and thereby separated from the husk. Such a 

 sifting and winnowing apparatus is attached to each pair of stones, and 

 one pair of stones will husk from eight to ten bushels an hour. After 

 the removal of the husk, the grain is exposed to the action of a 

 whitening machine, which removes the inner cuticle, or red skin, 

 nrniriining on the surface of the grain. This process is aided by the 

 heat generated by the rapid motion of the grains, causing them to 

 swell and split the red skin, which flies off in dust through per- 

 forations in the revolving case. With such accuracy are these pro- 

 cesses performed, that it is said not more than five per cent, of the 

 grain is broken in the operation. 



The method of cleansing rice just described has been practised in 

 Ceylon with British machinery ; but other plans have been followed in 

 this country, where, owing to the difference between the duties on 

 cleaned rice and paddy, or grain in the rough state, and the better 

 preservation of the flavour of the rice when brought over in the husk, 

 several large rice-cleaning establishments have been gradually brought 

 into operation. The process of Messrs. Lucas and Ewbank consists iii 

 breaking the husk by millstones, and removing the red cuticle by 

 beating or triturating in mortars ; the latter operation being aided by 

 mixing a quantity of the husks, well dried, with the grain, which 

 obviates an inconvenience occasioned by the glutinous character of the 

 red coating. The refuse matter and the broken grains are then sepa- 

 rated by a peculiar kind of screen ; and the rice is finally cleaned and 

 polished by a machine with two concentric cylinders, the outer one 

 remaining stationary, while the inner one, which is covered with sheep- 

 skin with the wool on, is made to revolve with great velocity. The 

 rice, being placed between the two cylinders, ia thoroughly whitened 

 by the friction of the wool. 



In the apparatus patented by Mr. Sliiel, the first operation is per- 

 formed between one millstone and a piece of wood of precisely similar 

 shape ; and the subsequent removal of the dark pellicle is effected by 

 rubbing between flat wooden surfaces covered with sheepskin. Mr. 

 Ewbank places the wool outwards, Mr. Shiel has it next the wood ; its 

 elasticity producing an effect very nearly resembling the rubbing of the 

 grain between the palms of the hands. 



Another ingenious contrivance, first used in the United States, con- 

 sists of a long hollow cylinder of wood, with several bars projecting 

 from its inner surface, and enclosing an axis on which are several other 

 bars capable of revolving between those attached to the cylinder. By 

 suitable toothed wheels the cylinder is made to revolve slowly in one 

 direction, while the axis is turned with great rapidity in the contrary 

 direction. The whole being placed in an inclined position, the paddy 

 is allowed to enter the upper end of the cylinder by a hopper ; aud the 

 mutual attrition of the grains, as they pass between the revolving bars, 

 causes the separation of the husks, which are removed by a current of 

 air as the grain falls into a bin under the lower extremity of the 

 cylinder. The rice passes out of the cylinder by apertures capable of 

 being enlarged or reduced at pleasure by means of sliding doors ; and 

 the action of the machine may be further regulated by varying the 

 inclination of the cylinder, which may be placed vertically or hori- 

 zontally, though an angle of about 45 is preferred. 



Rice is, as is well known, chiefly used as food, but it is also employed 

 to some extent hi the arts. A cement is made from it. Kice-paper is 

 a name commonly, but erroneously, applied to a delicate vegetable 

 film brought from China in small square pieces, tinged with various 

 colours, and used as a substitute for drawing paper in the representa- 

 tion of richly coloured insects or flowers, and also in the manufacture, 

 of artificial flowers and other fancy articles. This substance, a mom- 

 brane of the bread-fruit tree, though much resembling on artificial 

 production, is evidently of natural growth ; for its vegetable organisation 

 is easily seen by the aid of a microscope. Sir P. Brewster, iu the 

 ' Edinburgh Journal of Science,' vol. ii., has shown that the rice-paper 

 consists of long hexagonal cells, whose length is parallel to the surface 

 of the film ; that these cells are filled with air when the film is in its 

 usual state ; and that from this circumstance it derives that peculiar 

 softness which renders it so well adapted for the purpose to which t is 

 ippUed. 



The quantity of rice imported into this country varies very much, 

 owing to tho fluctuations of the crops. During the last fifteen years 



