8 THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER CLOTH. 



It will be evident that an article intended to resemble leather should 

 be pliant, supple, and not liable to peel off or crack. These excellencies 

 are to be attained by the peculiar ingredients of the composition with 

 which the cloth is covered, and the method of applying it. On entering 

 the factory our attention was first directed to the boiling room, in which 

 there are 12 furnaces, with a large cauldron over each for boiling linseed 

 oil. This process is attended with considerable danger from the liability 

 of the boiling oil to generate gas and explode ; hence, a man is stationed 

 at each cauldron stirring gently the boiling mass and watching a thermo- 

 meter inserted in it, and which at the time of bur visit stood at 580°. 

 The oil is supplied to the boiling house by pipes from an adjoining 

 building, where there is a huge tank with nine compartments containing 

 3,200 gallons each, or 28,800 altogether, amounting to 122 tons of oil. 

 The boiling oil being allowed to cool is conveyed on a tramway to the 

 mixing-house, where, in a puddling machine, it receives several other 

 ingredients, the principal ones being lampblack and turpentine, which 

 being mixed into a composition is ready for use. 



The cloth to which this composition is applied is known by the name 

 of " grey," or unbleached cotton. It is of a peculiar manufacture, and 

 made expressly for the company. The store room is a spacious building 

 and will contain an immense stock ; at present it has 25,000 pieces, or 

 300,000 yards. Here the cloth is calendered, and cut into lengths of 

 twelve yards. The two ends of each length are sewn together to make 

 it endless ; two sewing machines are in constant operation at this work. 

 The pieces are then removed to the " milling" rooms, so called because 

 they contain the mills in which the cloth receives the composition. 

 These mills are rough looking wooden structures, having a drum at one 

 end and a roller at the other, over which the cloth is passed, and then 

 tightened by a crank and wheel at one end. A large frame knife or 

 scraper, is then dropped down close to the cloth, a measured quantity 

 of composition being laid on the cloth along the edge of the knife, the 

 mill revolves, and the cloth receives as much of the composition as can 

 pass under the edge of the knife. The piece is then carried to the heat- 

 ing room adjoining, and hung up on the rack to dry till next morning. 



There are on the premises six milling rooms, with three mills in each, 

 and having three men attendant upon each mill. The adjoining rooms 

 for drying are heated by three rows of pipes laid along the wall. These 

 pipes during the clay are at a temperature of about 130°. The tem- 

 perature is then increased towards the evening, and during the night to 

 160°, and it is the duty of the watchman to open the doors for ventila- 

 tion and coolyrg, preparatory to the men resuming their work for the 

 next coating. 



Of course, in a budding so greatly heated, and having so much in- 

 flammable material within it, the danger of fire is imminent, but every 

 precaution has been taken which prudence could dictate. The building 



