CLOTH. 
water, wherein a fuitable quantity of foap has been dif- 
folved; after fulling, it is taken out'to be i'moothed or 
pulled by the lilts lengthwile, to take out the wrinkles, 
crevices,&c. The fmoothing.is repeated every two hours, 
till the fulling be finiffled, and the cloth brought to its 
proper breadth : after which it is waffled in clear water, 
to purge it of the loap, and given wet to the carders to 
raife the nap on the right fide with the thiltle or teazle. 
After this preparation the cloth-worker takes the cloth, 
and gives it its firft cut or (hearing : then the carders 
refume it, and after wetting, give it as many more 
Courfes with the teazle as the quality of the fluff requires, 
always olden ing to begin againfi the grain of the nap, 
and to end with it; as alfoto begin with a fmoother thifile, 
proceeding ftill u’ith one fharperand fhafper as far as the 
lixth degree. After thefe operations, the cloth, being 
dried, is returned to the cloth-worker, who fhears it a fe- 
cond time, and returns it to the carders, who repeat their 
operation as before, till the nap be well ranged on the 
j'urface of the cloth, from one end of the piece to the 
other. 
The cloth thus wove, fcoured, napped, and fhorn, is 
fent to the dyer ; when dyed, it is waflied in water, and 
the worker takes it again wet as it is, lays the nap, with 
a brufh on the table, and hangs it on the tenters, where 
it is ftretched both in length and breadth fufficiently to 
fmooth it, fet it fquare, and bring it to its proper dimen¬ 
sions, without ftraining it too much j obferving to brufli 
it afreffl, the way of the nap, while a little moilt, on the 
tenters. When quite dry, the cloth is taken off the ten¬ 
ters, and brufhed again on the table, to finifh the laying 
of the nap : after which it is folded, and laid cold under 
a prefs, to make it perfeblly fmooth and even, and give 
it a glofs. Laftly, the cloth being taken out of the prefs, 
and the papers, &c. for gioffmg it removed, it is in a con¬ 
dition for fale. No cloth made beyond fea fhall be brought 
into the king’s dominions, on pain of forfeiting the fame, 
and the importers to be farther punifhed. Stat, i z Edw. IIT. 
The injuries to which cloth is ever more or lefs expofed, 
from accidental fpots of greafe, fruit, wine, tar, Sec. have 
for many ages baffled the endeavours of chemical men, in 
their attempts to remove them. M. Chaptal, however, 
among the modern chemills, appears to have acquired 
this art in an eminent degree, and has publilhed the fol¬ 
lowing directions for cleaning cloth, and removing fpots 
and Itains of every kind. 
The art of cleaning cloths fuppofes, firft, a knowledge 
of the various fubftances which can occalion fpots upon 
them. Secondly, That of the fubftances to which we 
muft have recourfe in order to remove thofe fubftances, 
when depoiited upon the cloth. Thirdly, That of the 
manner in which the colours of the cloths will be affefled, 
by the re-agents meant to be employed for the removal 
of the fpots. Fourthly, That of the manner in which the 
cloth itfelf will be affected by the above re-agents. Fifthly, 
We fhould know how to reftore the colour of the cloth, 
when it is changed or rendered faint. 
Of the fubftances which occafion fpots upon cloths, 
fome are eafily known by their appearance ; for inftance, 
greafe of every kind. Others produce more complicated 
effeils, fuch are, acids, alkalies, perfpiration, fruits, and 
urine. The effe&s of acids upon blacks, purples, blues, 
(except thofe produced by indigo or by Pruflian blue,) 
and fome other colours, and upon all thofe fnades of co¬ 
lour which are produced by means of iron, archil, and 
aftringent fubftances, is to turn them red. They render 
yellows more pale, except that produced by arnatto, which 
they turn to an orange colour. Alkalies turn fcarlet, and 
all reds produced by brazil or logwood, to a violet colour; 
they turn green (upon woollen cloths) to yellow ; and 
they give a reddiffl call to the yellow produced by arnatto. 
The eft'eCt of perfpiration is the fame, as that of alkalies. 
Spots which are produced upon cloths by limple fub- 
Atances are eafily rerpeved by well-known means. Greafy 
Vol. IV. No. 27.9. 
6Si 
fubftances are removed by alkalies, by foap, by ; yolk of 
egg, or by fat earth?. Oxyds of iron, by nitric or oxalic 
acid. Spots occafioned by acids are removed by alkalies, 
and <vice c verfa. Spots caufed by fruit, upon white 
cloth, are removed by fulphureous acid, or, what is ftill 
better,by oxygenated muriatic'acid. But when the (pots 
are of a complicated nature, various means mull be employ¬ 
ed, fucceffively ; thus, to remove a fpot occafionediby the 
coom of carriage-wheels, we muft firft diffolve the alkali 
by fome of the means above mentioned, and then take 
away the oxyd of iron by oxalic acid. 
The colours of the cloths are often injured by the re¬ 
agents made ufe of3 in order to reftore them, we mull, 
thoroughly underhand the art of dying, and know how¬ 
to modify the means according to circumflances. This 
is'fometimes difficult, bee a ufe it is neceffary to produce a 
colour limilar to that of the reft of the cloth, and to ap¬ 
ply that colour to a particular part only; fornetimes alio, 
the, mordant which fixed the colour, or the balls which 
heightened it, has alio been dellroyed, and muft bere- 
ltored. It is evident that, in this cafe, the means to be 
employed depend noon the nature of the colour, and that 
of the ingredients which produced it; for it is well 
known that the fame colour may obtained from very dif¬ 
ferent fubftances. Thus, when after having made ufe 
of an alkali, to remove an acid fpot upon brown, violet, 
or blue, cloth, &c. there remains a yellow fpot, the origi¬ 
nal colour is again produced by means of a folution of 
tin. A folution of the fulphat of iron reftores the co¬ 
lour to thole brown cloths which have been dyed with 
galls. Acids give to yellow cloths, which have been ren¬ 
dered dull or brown by alkalies, their original brightnefs. 
When black cloths, dyed with logwood, have any yeddifh 
fpots occafioned by acids, alkalies turn iuch fpots to a 
yellow colour, and a little of the aftringent principle 
makes them black again. A folution of one part of in¬ 
digo in four parts of fulphuric acid, properly diluted with 
water, may be fuccefsfully employed to reftore a faded 
blue colour upon wool or cotton. Red or fcarlet colours 
may be reftored by nleans of cochineal, and a folution of 
muriat of tin, &c. 
The choice of re-agents is not a matter of indifference ; 
vegetable acids are generally preferable to mineral ones. 
The fulphureous acid, however, may be ufed for fpots 
from fruit: it does not injure blue upon filk, or the co¬ 
lours produced by aftringents ; nor does it affect yellow 
upon cotton. The volatile alkali fucceeds better than 
fixed alkalies in removing fpots produced by acids : it is 
ul'ually madeufe of in the form of vapour, and a£ls quickly, 
feldom injuring the colour of the cloth. The means of 
removing fpots of greafe are well known ; namely, alka¬ 
lies, fullers earth, effential oils diffolved in alcohol, a fuf- 
ficient degree of heat to render the greafe volatile, See. 
Spots of ink, or any other occafioned by yellow oxyd of 
iron, may be removed by oxalicacid : the colour may be re¬ 
ftored by alkalies, or by a folution of muriat of tin. Suck 
fpots may alfo be taken away by oxygenated muriatic 
acid, when they are upon white cloth, or upon paper. 
The effect of alkalies and that of perfpiration is the fame ; 
their fpots may be removed by acids, or even by a dilute 
folution of muriat of tin. 
When the fpots are owing to various unknown caufes, 
we muft have recourfe to competitions poffeiling various 
powers ; of which the following may be coniidered as 
one of the moft efficacious. Diffolve fome white foap in 
alcohol fmix with this folution four or five yolks of eggs ; 
add gradually fome fpirit of turpentine, and then ftir into 
the mixture luch a quantity of fullers earth as will enable 
it to be formed into balls. The manner of uling tl^efe 
balls, is to rub the lpots, previoufly wetted with water, 
with them ; after which, the cloth is to be well rubbed 
and waffled. By thefe means, all kinds of lpots, except 
thofe occafioned by ink, or any other folution of iron, 
will be removed. The waffling of the cloth takes off its 
8 L * glofs. 
