MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILES 



Whether the natural teasel or an artificial substi- 

 tute bearing the same name is employed, the proc- 

 ess constitutes essentially, as already noted, a repeated 

 scratching of the surface of the cloth; but the final 

 result is determined partly by the extent to which the 

 teasing process is carried out, and partly by the original 

 quality of the woolen thread itself. The difference 

 between worsted threads and woolens proper has al- 

 ready been pointed out; and the different appearance 

 of goods that have been subjected to the action of the 

 teasing mill from those not so treated is familiar to 

 every one, though the method that accounts for the 

 diversity may not be so commonly understood. 



LACE MAKING AND KINTTING MACHINERY 



It remains to say a few words about a class of textiles 

 of an entirely different type from those hitherto con- 

 sidered, those, namely, produced from the continuous 

 inter-looping of a single thread, without the employ- 

 ment of weft or warp threads. The familiar examples 

 of this process are nets, laces, and garments produced 

 by crocheting and knitting. A well-known pecu- 

 liarity of a knitted garment is that the cloth, being 

 free from warp threads, is extensible in any direction, 

 adapting itself to the contour of the body in a way 

 not to be expected of a woven fabric. 



Although net-making and various types of lace- 

 making have been practised from antiquity, it is a rather 

 curious fact that the simple processes of crocheting 

 and knitting are of modern origin, having originated, 



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