Artificial Silk.—In the making of artificial silk, cellulose prepared from wood or cotton is turned into a nitro-cellulose by treatment with nitric acid. This nitro-cellulose is made liquid by dissolving it in ether and alcohol, then forced under pressure through very fine tubes, or forced through holes of about 1/250th of an inch pierced in a platinum plate, in the form of very fine threads, from which the ether and alcohol evaporate readily, leaving the nitro-cellulose as a fine lustrous fibre. Artificial silk is often used in the ornamentation of figured fabrics. It bears a very deceptive resemblance to true silk, but the individual fibres are coarser and burn very quickly, without the typical smell of true silk and without the hard bubble of ash. Its value is about a third of that of the best silk, but as an offset to this must be taken its higher specific gravity. If of equal thickness, the length of thread, weight for weight, is only from half to two-thirds that of real silk.
Astrakhan.—A fabric having a curly, wavy surface resembling Astrakhan fleece. There are three varieties of this kind of fabric, each produced on a different principle: (1) on the weft principle, in which, owing to shrinkage of the ground texture, the pile weft is thrown up and forms a curly loop; (2) on the warp texture principle, in which a thick curly warp yarn is brought over wires to form the necessary loops; and (3) the cheapest form, as a knitted fabric.
Astrakhan varies as regards the size of the loop which goes to make the curl. The lustre yarn that is used is curled before use, the curl being fixed by heat. The ground texture is cotton. Width varies from 48 to 50 inches; weight from 19 to 36 ounces per yard of the 50-inch wide material. The heavier grades run 35 to 40 yards per piece, the lighter grades from 50 to 55 yards. Generally met with in solid black or a grey produced by blending black and white fibres, also in solid white. Astrakhans have generally an uncut pile, but are sometimes finished with part of the loop curls cut, say, 50 per cent., which gives the fabric the appearance of woolly fur with complete curls at intervals.
Back Cloth.—An unbleached, reinforcing, all-cotton cloth, plain woven, used in printing fabrics to support the fabric which is being printed.
Backed Cloth.—To add weight to certain single texture fabrics, extra threads running either in the direction of the warp, i.e., lengthways of the piece, or weftways across the piece, are stitched on to the back of the fabric. Fabrics having such extra threads stitched on to them are called Backed Cloths.
Baffetas.—Plain-woven cloth, bleached or dyed blue.
Baize.—A coarse, harsh, loosely woven woollen fabric of plain weave, having a long nap on both sides like flannel. Baize is generally dyed in bright colours and is known under the name Bayetas. Average width 66 to 67 inches, length 30 to 45 yards per piece.
Balbriggan.—Named after the town of Balbriggan, Ireland. First applied, in 1845, to full-fashioned hosiery made from unbleached cotton. About 1860 the term was applied to knit underwear of the same material. It was originally used only on high-class goods, but now covers everything in light-weight flat underwear made of yarn stained to the shade of Egyptian cotton.
Bale of Cotton.—The standard bale of cotton, according to the usage of the trade in England and America and generally accepted elsewhere, weighs 500 pounds. The following is the average weight and density of cotton bales:—