INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



tially that employed in ordinary printing processes 

 for the production of books or newspapers. 



Woolen goods are usually made from yarns dyed 

 before weaving, and the finishing process applied to 

 the cloth is altogether different from that used in the 

 case of cotton fabrics. Here it is often desired to ob- 

 tain a finish that hides the individual threads of the 

 warp and weft. This effect is produced by the stray 

 ends projecting from woolen threads, these ends in 

 the woven material when brushed or treated with hot 

 water matting together and forming a nap that conceals 

 the individual threads. The surface of any ordinary 

 piece of new woolen goods shows this effect; and 

 equally familiar is the fact that when the nap wears 

 off the threads reappear, the cloth becoming literally 

 threadbare. 



The process employed from an early date for thus 

 finishing the surface of woolen goods is a simple but 

 peculiar one. It is dubbed "teasing" because the 

 essential apparatus employed in the process consisted 

 of the prickly seed balls of the teasel plant, which are 

 covered with minute hooks and hence are admirably 

 adapted to open and loosen the uppermost fibers of 

 the wool when drawn over the cloth. Originally the 

 teasels were set in a frame which was rubbed over 

 the cloth by two men, but subsequently the more con- 

 venient method was devised of arranging the teasels 

 on a cylindrical drum, so constructed in connection 

 with other cylinders that the cloth could be passed and 

 repassed over it by the action of a belt or other gearing. 

 This apparatus constitutes a teasing or gig mill. 



[54] 



