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HOSIERY MANUFACTURE. 



HOSIERY MANUFACTURE. 



> pru of Europe, wiled Cochlearia Annoraci(Linn.)or Armoracin 

 roaticana ( Wettereau). The root ia the officinal part, and u always 

 obtained from cultivated pUnU, at it it enjoined to be uied in a freih 

 state. The root U solid, fleshy, tapering, from one to tiro feet long, 

 and when bruised or (craped into ahreds, emits a highly acrid penetra- 

 ting odour, which causes a secretion of tears when received by the 

 eyes : put in contact with the akin, it speedily causes rubefaction. The 

 taste U more or less acrid, according to the season of the year or the age 

 of the pluit ; young plauU possess much mucilaginous starchy and 

 saccharine matter, by which the pungency is lessened. 

 ' The analysis by Outlet shows its composition to be acrid an<l \ . iy 

 volatile oil, bitter resin, extractive, sugar, gum, starch, woody hi >i .-, 

 vegetable albumen, acetic acid, with acetate and sulphate of lime. A 

 little sulphur also exists in it The volatile oil is the active principle. 

 This is of a pale yellow colour, heavier than water, and so volatile that 

 a single drop of it can fill a large room with a penetrating odour of 

 hone-radish. In this respect it resembles the volatile oil of mustard. 

 The taste is t first sweetish, afterwards burning and acrid. It has a 

 sensible effect on the brain. When applied to the skin, it causes violent 

 inflammation and rubefaction. It is identical with oil of mustard. 

 [Srxjms, in XAT. HIST. Div.] It is sparingly soluble in water ; freely in 

 alcohol. The outward application of horse-radish causes vesication ; 

 the internal application causes sensible warmth of the stomach, with 

 augmented power of digestion. A warm infusion excites vomiting, in 

 the same way as mustard does. This kind of emetic is useful to rouse 

 the stomach from the insensibility consequent on narcotic poisons 

 being taken, but it must not be forgotten tint violent or even fatal 

 inflammation of the stomach may ensue if vomiting do not occur, 

 and the stomach-pump is a more certain means of emptying that 

 yiscus. 



Horse-radish is well known as a condiment taken with beef, fish, and 

 other kinds of food difficult of digestion. Its powers are heightened 

 by associating it with vinegar, as in the horse-radish sauce. 



The of&cinal preparations are the Infusum Armorocuc Comp. This, 

 when made with warm water as ordered in the Pharmacopoeia, soon 

 spoils, notwithstanding that some compound spirit of horse- radish is 

 added to it. It would be much more advantageous to make it with 

 cold water, especially as its power depends upon a principle of such 

 remarkable volatility. The compound spirit is employed as an adjunct 

 to diuretic and other medicines. Horse-radish scraped down into 

 shreds and digested in red wine forms a Vinum armoracioc, which is 

 eminently useful in warding off a relapse of intermittent fever, when 

 the employment of it is persevered in for some time. Digested for an 

 hour in vinegar, it is an excellent gargle against hoarseness. 



(Dierboch, 1X< Xeuitm EntdecJcungen in drr Materia ileilica, 

 i. p. 81.) 



HOSIERY MANUFACTURE. The principal seat of the hosiery 

 manufacture in England is in the three midland counties of Leicester, 

 Nottingham, and Derby. In the first of these woollen hosiery forms 

 thesprincipol branch of the manufacture, while in Nottinghamshire the 

 material chiefly used is cotton, and in Derbyshire silk goods are mostly 

 made. 



The stocking-frame, by means of which this manufacture is carried 

 on, is, next to the common warp and weft loom, the oldest machine in 

 existence applicable to textile fabrics. It was invented about the close 

 of the sixteenth century by the Rev. William Lea, of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge; but a considerable time elapsed before the 

 produce of this frame took the place of the trunk-hose then worn by 

 all who could afford such an article of dress. For this reason Mr. 

 Lea settled at Rouen in Normandy, where his manufacture wag carried 

 on under the patronage of Henri IV. ; but the assassination of the 

 king and the political troubles brought on by that event caused the 

 abandonment of Mr. Lea's establishment, and that gentleman shortly 

 after died in a state of poverty at Paris. 



From the period of its first invention the stocking-frame received no 

 considerable improvement until quite recent times. Frames, however, 

 with a rotatory action, and worked by steam-power, have been 

 successfully brought into use at Nottingham, and bid fair to supersede 

 altogether the use of the old reciprocating engine. The economy in 

 the process of manufacture thus effected is very great. The working of 

 a rotatory machine impelled by steam-power, in which twelve fashioned 

 stockings are made at the same time, requires the superintendence of 

 only one man and a boy ; whereas iu the old frame but one stocking 

 con be nude at once by a single workman. The substitution of steam- 

 power frames for the old hand frames produced at first some distress 

 among the framework knitters; but the great extension of di-m.-ni.! 

 which U always found to accompany a considerable cheapening of any 

 manufacture, lessened this evil by causing employment for an increased 

 number of hands. The cotton branch of the hosiery manufacture 

 differ" from the woollen and silk branches in the relative prop 

 of the cost of labour as compared with the cost of the matei 

 cotton hosiery the cost of labour constitutes from two-thirds to five- 

 sixths of the value of the goods; while in woollen hosiery the labour 

 due* not exceed two-fiftbs of the value ; and in silk goods the pro- 

 portionate cost of labour is still smaller. 



It is difficult to describe the processes of this manufacture without the 

 use of many wood-cuU; and even then the routine is not well understood 

 without seeing the machines actually at work. The hosiery or frame- 



work manufacture U a peculiar kind of interlacing. Instead of being 

 a series of cross threads woven in a loom, it U a series of loops or links, 

 so connected as to poweas both strength and elasticity in a remarkable 

 degree. It in a continuous thread which is thus linked amuud itoelf ; 

 in a way which bears a good deal of resemblance to many kinds of 

 ladies' netting and crochet work. The article made in the stocking 

 frame is not a stocking, but a piece of knitwork cloth, which is after- 

 wards sewn up into the form of a stocking by needle and thread. 

 Hence, there are three kinds of operatives engaged ; the wixdcrt, who 

 put the thread into or on the machine ; the frame-wort htitltn, who 

 work the thread up into a knitted fabric ; and the teamtri, who make 

 the stockings out of the pieces thus produced. The winders are 

 Iy c-liildren, who can each wind thread enough for half a dozen 

 machines ; the knitters are men, women, and youths, who hire both 

 the winders and the seamers ; and the (earners are women. Some of 

 the stocking-frames are owned by the frame-work knitters ; some are 

 let out to the men by the owners, at so much per week for each frame ; 

 while other persons are the renters of what is termed a ' shop of 

 frames,' containing eight or ten frames ; these, with standing-room to 

 work in, they let to the workmen, at so much per frame per week. 

 The master manufacturer gives out his thread, and the workman 

 returns this thread in the form of stockings, the work being paid for 

 at so much per dozen pair. 



\V, have spoken only of hosiery, but many other articles besides 

 stockings are made of this linked fabric. Gloves, waistcoat-pieces, 

 mitts, pantaloons, drawers, braces, webs, comforters, caps, jackets, 

 leggings, and various other articles are made nearly in the same way, 

 and of the same material. The processes for worsted, cotton, and silk 

 are nearly analogous ; those for silk requiring, however, the greatest 

 core. Some progress, aa has been remarked above, has been made 

 towards the manufacture of hosiery by means of steam-power. 



Ireland is gradually advancing in this as in many other branches 

 of industry. At Balbriggan there is a hosiery manufacture, from 

 which specimens of cotton hosiery are issued, of a degree of fineness 

 such as has never perhaps been equalled ; one dozen pairs of ladies' 

 full size stockings weigh only nine ounces. Cotton stockings of a 

 peculiar kind of open work are also manufactured in the some town. 



Among various inventions relating to the manufacture of looped and 

 other hosiery fabrics, is one by Messrs. Keeley and Wilkinson. S 

 threads are here used instead of one, differing in materials and possibly 

 in colour ; these are so looped that any one or more threads may be 

 completely enveloped by the other ; and the mode of interlacing is 

 such that, in the event of failure of a loop, it does not necessarily 

 cause the general running or failure observed in most hosiery goods 

 under similar circumstances. By this system, glov.es or stockings may 

 be composed of three threads, one of cotton and two of silk ; the silk 

 being shown both on the outside and the inside, and the cotton hidden 

 between them. The cotton stratum may consist of two threads 

 instead of one. A substitute for expensive silk stockings or gl> 

 thus produced. Many improvements have also been made in the 

 manufacture of looped fabrics required to be narrow at one end, like 

 braces ; the usual way is to sew the material transversely, and then 

 draw the thread so as to give a closer texture to the narrower part ; 

 but the frames are sometimes so adjusted as to weave the wide part, 

 and then produce the narrow part with the same number of threads 

 by a change in the action of the mechanism. Another novelty consists 

 in the making of gloves or mitts, in such a way that the inner surface 

 of the knitted fabric shall exhibit a pile or velvet texture. India- 

 rubber is now very ingeniously employed in gloves and other knitted 

 fabrics, to give elasticity and closeness of fit to particular parts. The 

 circular knitting, or hosiery machines, are efficient contrivances for 

 producing garments without a seam ; the construction is very intricate ; 

 and some are so contrived as to produce a pattern or device as well as 

 to produce the fabric itself. 



The hosiery manufacturers of this country, at least those engaged in 

 making cotton stockings, ore much interfered with in the foreign trade 

 by the competition of Saxony. At Chemnitz the manufacture of 

 cotton stockings is carried on very extensively. There are largo 

 establishments in which circular frames are worked by steam power, 

 with steam presses and steam irons to finish the goods. The women 

 who tend these machines receive little more than 2*. per week on an 

 average ; but this sum will go as far as fit. in England, as a means of 

 support. The Chemnitz hosiery is exported largely to the United 

 States, where it proves a formidable competitor to English produce. 



It has been stated in a former paragraph that the stockingers of the 

 midland counties follow a peculiar system in hiring the frames with 

 which they work. Hence arises a condition of things against whi'-li 

 they orn always complaining. With the exception of the S|.ii;illi<'Ms 

 silk weavers, few artisans in England have more frequently solicited 

 the protection of the legislature than the stockingers or frame-work 

 knitters, especially those engaged in the worsted trade of Leicester- 

 shire. The men and their families are always poor, let the state of 

 trade be brisk or slack; they seem bound to their employers by 

 hackles whirh they cannot throw off; and there is a general I 

 .1. -p -M.I. -n. -y iii all their communications on the subject. They state 

 that, whatever be the nominal wage for making a dozen pairs of stock- 

 ings, the stoppages are so great, for frame-rent and other items, that 

 their net earnings, even for adult men, do not exceed 8. or 10. 



