WOOL-SCOURING 137 



Some of the English scouring machines have the rollers right in 

 the tank, the nip being just under the level of the liquor. The 

 advantage of this is that the dirt is squeezed out of the wool, not 

 into it, as is the case when the wool is allowed to lie for a moment 

 or so out of the liquor before going through the rollers, because 

 the sodden fibres cling or bunch together immediately they leave 

 the liquor. In case I am riot understood, take a staple of wool 

 and place it in a cup of warm water and note how it spreads each 

 fibre is separated from the other. Now lift it out of the water 



[Photo by Author. 



SHOWING FORKS WHICH PROPEL WOOL SLOWLY FORWARD TO THE ROLLERS 

 ON END OF SCOURING TANKS. 



and the fibres will bunch or hang together immediately. The 

 McNaught machine does not have its rollers under the liquor in 

 the tank, but they are so arranged that there is a wash right up 

 to the rollers, which keeps the fibres separated and open. In 

 these machines the liquor and dirt that the rollers squeeze from 

 the wool does not run back into the tank, but falls into a bowl or 

 small tank right under the bottom roller ; from this small tank it 

 goes into the settling tank. Each scouring tank has a small-mesh 

 sieve about 18 inches from the bottom, and all the dirt and small 



