Lyons however has made the greatest progress in the manufacture of shawls. It excels particularly in the texture of its Thibet shawls, the weft of which is yarn spun with a mixture of wool and spun silk.
Nimes is remarkable for the low price of its shawls, in which spun silk, Thibet down, and cotton, are all worked up together.
The value of shawls exported from France in the following years was:—
| 1831. | 1832. | 1833. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francs. | Francs. | Francs. | |
| Woollen | 1,863,147 | 2,070,926 | 4,319,601 |
| Cachemere down | 433,410 | 655,200 | 609,900 |
| Spun silk | 401,856 | 351,152 | 408,824 |
It appears that M. J. Girard at Sèvres, near Paris, has succeeded best in producing Cachemere shawls equal in stuff and style of work to the oriental, and at a lower price. They have this advantage over the Indian shawls, that they are woven without seams, in a single piece, and exhibit all the variety and the raised effect of the eastern colours. Women and children alone are employed in his factory.
CASK, (Tonneau, Fr.; Fass, Germ.) manufacture of by mechanical power. Mr. Samuel Brown obtained a patent in Nov., 1825, for certain improvements in machinery for making casks, which seems to be ingenious and worthy of record. His mechanism consists in the first place of a circular saw attached to a bench, with a sliding rest, upon which rest each piece of wood intended to form a stave of a cask is fixed; and the rest being then slidden forward in a curved direction, by the assistance of an adjustable guide, brings the piece of wood against the edge of the rotatory saw, and causes it to be cut into the curved shape required for the edge of the stave. The second feature is an apparatus with cutters attached to a standard, and traversing round with their carrier upon a centre, by means of which the upper and lower edges of the cask are cut round and grooved, called chining, for the purpose of receiving the heads. Thirdly, an apparatus not very dissimilar to the last, by which the straight pieces of wood designed for the heads of the cask are held together, and cut to the circular figure required, and also the bevelled edges produced. And fourthly, a machine in which the cask is made to revolve upon an axis, and a cutting tool to traverse for the purpose of shaving the external part of the cask, and bringing it to a smooth surface.
The pieces of wood intended to form the staves of the cask, having been cut to their required length and breadth, are placed upon the slide-rest of the first mentioned machine, and confined by cramps; and the guide, which is a flexible bar, having been previously bent to the intended curve of the stave and fixed in that form, the rest is then slidden forward upon the bench by the hand of the workman, which as it advances (moving in a curved direction) brings the piece of wood against the edge of the revolving circular saw, by which it is cut to the curved shape desired.
The guide is a long bar held by a series of movable blocks fitted to the bench by screws, and is bent to any desired curve by shifting the screws: the edge of the slide-rests which holds the piece of wood about to be cut, runs against the long guide bar, and of consequence is conducted in a corresponding curved course. The circular saw receives a rapid rotatory motion by means of a band or rigger from any first mover; and the piece of wood may be shifted laterally by means of racks and pinions on the side-rest, by the workman turning a handle, which is occasionally necessary in order to bring the piece of wood up to, or away from, the saw.
The necessary number of staves being provided, they are then set round within a confining hoop at bottom, and brought into the form of a cask in the usual way, and braced by temporary hoops. The barrel part of the cask being thus prepared, in order to effect the chining, it is placed in a frame upon a platform, which is raised up by a treddle lever, that the end of the barrel may meet the cutters in a sort of lathe above: the cutters are then made to traverse round within the head of the barrel, and, as they proceed, occasionally to expand, by which means the bevels and grooves are cut on the upper edge of the barrel, which is called chining. The barrel being now reversed, the same apparatus is brought to act against the other end, which becomes chined in like manner.
The pieces of wood intended to form the heads of the cask are now to be cut straight by a circular saw in a machine, similar to the first described; but in the present instance the slide-rest is to move forward in a straight course. After their straight edges are thus produced, they are to be placed side by side, and confined, when a scribing cutter is made to traverse round, and cut the pieces collectively into the circular form desired for heading the cask.