210 TEXTILE FIBRES. 



from that of cotton carding. In the latter process the cotton, as it passes 

 through the card, has its fibres laid straight or parallel in relation one to 

 another. In woollen carding the object is to open the fibres so that they 

 will present a loose and open condition, and cause them to have a kind of 

 crossing and recrossing effect, which in some machines exceeds 50 or even 

 60 crossings of the fibres by the time that the carded wool is doffed or 

 divided by the patent Bolette condensers. 



Oils for Wool Spinning. These are used as lubricants in order to 

 make the wool fibres more slicken in passing through the processes. It 

 also prevents their breaking and becoming fluzzy or flying out of the 

 machine as droppings. The general application of oil is to make up for 

 the natural oil or yolk with which the fibres were charged in their natural 



Fig. 136. Wool and cottou mixed alter vvillowing. 



state. Several oils are used in this trade, such as neats foot oil, olive oil, 

 and the oils obtained from tallow or animal fats. The supply of oil to 

 the fibres ought to be very evenly spread. 



Wool Extracting. The removal of the burs and other spinose members 

 of plants that are found in the wool staples is sometimes done by women, 

 who are employed to pick out the burry and other foreign impurities. 



The burring machine is sometimes avoided, and a chemical process is 

 substituted, which is known as carbonising or extracting. 



In process of extracting these vegetable impurities are destroyed by 

 chemical agents. The wool is first steeped in dilute sulphuric acid, and 

 then dried, so that the vegetable material may be thoroughly killed. The 

 wool is afterwards steeped in a solution of soda, so that the acid may be 

 neutralised, and it is then washed in the ordinary way. The carbonising 



