WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



fuch broad and heavy cloth. The fly-fhuttle, invented by 

 John Kay in 1737, h now in general ufe ; it enables one 

 weaver to do the work, which formerly employed two men at 

 oppofite fides of the piece, to throw the (buttle from one to 

 the other, the width being greater than a man can reach. 

 The warp is wound on the yarn-beam, which is placed 

 in the loom, and the threads being drawn through the 

 heddles and the reed, and faftened to the cloth-beam, the 

 loom is ready for working, in the ufual manner of weaving 

 plain cloth. At each edge of the warp a few threads 

 of ftrong and coarfe yarn are placed ; thefe form what 

 are called the lifts when the cloth is woven, and ferve to 

 give ftrength to the cloth, and receive the hooks by which 

 the piece is ftretched in the tenters after milling. 



The width of the cloth is meafured between the lifts and 

 the number of yarns, which we have fpecified will make 1 00 

 inches in width for the double drab-cloth, or for common 

 cloth 3000 threads will make a piece 103A inches wide. 

 The quantity of weft ufed for thefe cloths is upon an average 

 one pound weight to a yard in length. The length of the 

 warp contraas a little in the weaving, fo that the fixty-five 

 yards of yarns will make only fixty-two yards of cloth. 



Scouring. The piece of cloth muft be cleanfed from the 



greafinefs of the oil before it can be felted ; for this pur- 

 pofe, it is firft foaked three hours in a mixture of urine and 

 pig's dung, it is then fcoured in the mill for two hours, and 

 Mly, for half an hour with fair water. The fcouring is 

 performed at the fulling-mill by a pair of ftocks. (See 

 TvLLiVG-Mill. ) The pair of ftocks are two large wooden 

 hammers, fufpended with the helves or handles in an inclined 

 pofition, and the heads are lifted in fucceffion by cogs or 

 tappets, fixed on the axis of a water-wheel. When the cogs 

 quit the hammers, they fall by their own weight, and ftrike 

 the piece of cloth, which is contained in a wooden ciftern or 

 trough, in which the hammers work. The aftion of the 

 hammers is to beat and comprefs the folds of cloth, and to 

 turn the piece continually round in the trough or ciftern in 

 which it is placed. The form of the trough is fuch, that 

 the weight of the piece of cloth caufes it to occupy the 

 lower part of the trough, and each hammer when it de- 

 fcends drives the cloth ont from this loweft part, and forces 

 it up a curved fweep. When the hammer is lifted up, the 

 cloth falls again into the fpace wliich it before occupied, 

 and at the fubfequent defcent of the hammer it is again 

 driven out ; the heap of cloth is of a confiderable bulk, 

 and this aftion of the hammers is chiefly on the lower part of 

 the heap ; the beaks of the hammers ftrike nearly hori- 

 zontally under it, as it were to undermine the heap, fo 

 that the top part falls over when the hammers retreat. 

 This aftion caufes a continual circulation or turning round 

 of the piece of cloth within the trough, and effefts the 

 fcouring, by continually bending and folding the cloth in a 

 frefti direftion ; and as the ftrokes aft upon a great number 

 of folds 'o.t once, the different furfaces of the cloth are caufed 

 to rub a^ainft each other, with a very ilmilar aftion to 

 waftiing cloth by hand. 



When the fcouring is finiftied, the piece of cloth is taken 

 out, and extended in a vertical plane, in a frame called the 

 tenter, where it remains till dry. 



The tenter confifts of a number of vertical pofts fixed in 

 the ground with a continued horizontal rail, which is fixed on 

 the top of them, and is as long as the piece of cloth ; there 

 is alfo another line of horizontal rails, which are fitted be- 

 tween tlie upright pofts, fo as to Aide freely up and down ; 

 and tliey ean be fixed at any diftance beneath the upper 

 rails by means of pins in the pofts, according to the width 

 of the piece of cloth. Both the upper and lower horizon- 



3 



tal rails are driven full of tenter-hooks, which are fmall iron 

 rails ftiarpened at both ends, and bent at right angles, like an 

 L ; on thefe hooks the lifts of the cloth are faftened, and 

 the lower or moveable rails are fixed at the proper diftance 

 beneath the upper rails, in order to extend the cloth to its 

 full width. 



Burling. — The cloth being dried is burled, that is, 

 examined minutely in every part, and all knots and uneven 

 threads or ftraws, or extraneous matters, removed ; any rents 

 or defefts which can be found are repaired, by introducing 

 frefti threads. This being done before the milling or felt- 

 ing, the fibres of the new threads will become fo entangled 

 as to render fuch defefts nearly imperceptible in the finilhed 

 cloth. 



Fulling- Mill for felting the Cloth. — There is another kind of 

 ftocks in a fulling-mill ; but the ftiape of the trough in which 

 the ftocks or hammers work on the cloth is different from that 

 defcribed in the article FvhLliiG-Mill, which is only proper 

 for fcouring. In order to fubjeft the cloth to the blows 

 of the hammers, the trough for milhng is formed in fuch a 

 manner that the cloth cannot efcape from them, becaufe 

 that part of the trough which is oppofed to the bgaks of 

 the hammers is nearly a flat furface, and perpendicular to 

 the direftion in which the hammers ftrike, fo that the cloth 

 is aftually beaten between the beaks of the hammers and 

 the flat bottom or rather fide of the trough. 



The hammers are made to ftrike very heavy blows ; but 

 they do not bruife or injure the cloth, becaufe there is 

 always a great number of folds of cloth on which they 

 ftrike. The helves or handles of the hammers are placed 

 in a different pofition from the fcouring-ftocks, in order to 

 make the hammer-heads fall in a more perpendicular direftion 

 when they make their ftroke, and hence they ftrike with 

 more force. On this account they are called falling-ftoeks, 

 whilft thofe ufed for fcouring are called hanging-ftocks, 

 in which the helves of the hammers being nearer to the per- 

 pendicular, the heads move in a more horizontal direftion, 

 in the manner of a pendulum, and exert lefs force on the cloth ; 

 the other difference is, that the hammers of the fcouring- 

 ftocks only drive the heap of cloth round in the trough, 

 there being no part direftly oppofed to the beaks of the 

 hammers but a fair curve, which is fo much inclined to the 

 direftion in which the hammers move, that the cloth mounts 

 up the inclined curve when the hammer ftrikes, and evades 

 the direft force of the blow. 



There is another kind of fuUing-ftocks, in which the 

 trough and hammer are conftrufted with a view to mill or 

 felt the cloth ; but the hammers are put in motion in a 

 different manner : thus the helves are fufpended in a vertical 

 pofition, like pendulums, and the force of the cogs on the 

 horizontal Ihaft, which is turned by the water-wheel, is 

 applied to drive the hammers forwards againft the cloth, and 

 produce the felting. To return or draw back the hammers, 

 a chain is attached to each, and thefe chains are hnked to 

 the oppofite ends of an horizontal lever, hke a fcale-beam, 

 which is fixed in front of the ftocks. This lever and chains 

 draw back one hammer when the other is pufhed forwards ; 

 and as the hammers are aftuated alternately by the cogs, 

 a conftant aftion is kept up. 



The moft fimple fulling-mill by a water-wheel has no other 

 wheels, but the tappets or cogs which lift the hammers are 

 fixed immediately into the axis of the water-wheel, and it 

 ufually gives motion to two pair, one at each fide of the 

 wheel. It rarely happens that this conftruftion of a mill 

 allows the water to be uled to the greateft advantage, be- 

 caufe the circumference of a water-wheel fhould not move 

 with a greater velocity than between 180 and 240 feet per 



minute ; 



