The rags do not come to the mammoth factories of to-day in “bell carts,” but by the carload, in huge bales, gathered from all sections of this great Republic, as well as from lands beyond the eastern and the western oceans. The square, compact, steam-compressed bundles are carried by elevators well up toward the top of the building, where they await the knife of the “opener.” When they have been opened, the “feeder” throws the contents by armfuls into the “thrasher.” The novice or layman, ignorant of the state in which rags come to the mill, will find their condition a most unpleasant surprise, especially disagreeable to his olfactory nerves. Yet the unsavory revelation comes with more force a little farther on, in the “assorting-room.” ♦The thrasher♦ The “thrasher” is a great cylindrical receptacle, revolving rapidly, which is supplied with long wooden beaters or arms, passing through a wooden cylinder, and driven by power. ♦The sorting room♦ When the rags have been tossed in, there ensues a great pounding and thrashing, and the dust is carried off in suction air-tubes, while the whipped rags are discharged and carried to the “sorting” and “shredding” room. Here the rags are assorted as to size, condition, and the presence of buttons, hooks and eyes, or other material that must be removed. Then those that need further attention are passed on to the “shredders,” these as well as the “sorters” being women. The “shredders” stand along a narrow counter; in front of each one there is fastened a long scythe-blade, with its back toward the operator and its point extending upward, the shank being firmly fixed to the table or operating board. Here buttons, hard seams, and all similar intruders are disposed of, and the larger pieces of rags are cut into numerous small ones on the scythe-blades. The rags thus prepared are tossed by the women into receptacles in the tables. The work in this room is the most disagreeable and unwholesome of any in the entire process of manufacture, and this despite the fact that these rags, too, have been thrashed, and freed from an amount of dust and dirt beyond ordinary belief.
♦The higher grades♦
While watching the operations carried on here, it is impossible to repress the wish that rags might be bought otherwise than by the pound, for, unfortunately, filth, dust, and dirt weigh, and to wash rags only reduces the weight. While this is a true reflection of the condition in the average mill, it is pleasant to know, however, there are others of the higher class that are decided exceptions, as far as dust and dirt are concerned. Such are the mills making high-grade ledger and bond papers, as well as the mill manufacturing the paper that is used for the printing of our “greenbacks,” to which further reference will be made later. In these exceptional mills everything is neat and perfectly clean, all the stock used being new and fresh from the cotton or linen mills, or from factories producing cloth goods, like shirt and corset factories, and others of the same sort. The sorting and shredding room is always large and light, with windows on all sides, and is well ventilated, offering a decided contrast in many respects to the less cleanly mills first referred to, where the women must wear bonnets or hoods for the protection of the hair. In either case the process is certainly an improvement over the old plan of leaving the rags to decay in a cellar to expedite the removal of the glutinous matter.
♦The cutter♦
From the “sorting” and “shredding” room the rags are conveyed to the “cutter,” where they are cut and chopped by revolving knives, leaving them in small pieces and much freer from dust and grit. Various ingenious devices are employed for removing metal and other hard and injurious matter, magnetic brushes serving this purpose in some mills. ♦The devil♦ When the “cutter” has finished its work, the still very dirty rags go for a further cleansing to the “devil,” or “whipper,” a hollow cone with spikes projecting within, against which work the spikes of a drum, dashing the rags about at great speed. Human lives are often freed of their baser elements and restored to purity and beauty through the chastening influences of tribulation or adversity; in like manner the “whipper” carries the rags forward a step in the process of purification that is necessary before they can be brought to their highest usefulness. But the cleansing process, which is only a preparation for what is to follow, does not end with the “whipper,” the latter having served merely to loosen, not to dislodge, a great deal of dust and dirt. ♦The duster♦ The final operation in the preliminary cleaning is performed by the “duster” proper, which is a conical revolving sieve. As the mass of rags is tossed and shaken about the loosened dust is carried away by the suction of the air, which draws the dust particles into tubes furnished with suction fans. In most modern mills the rags are carried forward from the “duster” on an endless belt, and a careful watch is kept upon them as they emerge to detect the presence of unchopped pieces, buttons, or other foreign substances. The journey of the rags over this endless belt or conveyor terminates in a receiving-room, in the floor of which there are several openings, and immediately below these the mouths of the “digesters,” which are in a room beneath. ♦The digester♦ The “digesters,” as they are suggestively and appropriately termed, are huge revolving boilers, usually upright, which often have as great a diameter as eight feet, with a height of twenty-two feet, and whose digestive capacity is upward of five tons of rags each.
♦Cooking of rags♦ The rags that are to be “cooked” are fed into the “digesters” through the openings in the floor, and the great movable manhole plates are then put in place and closed, hermetically sealing the openings or mouths through which the boilers have been fed, these having first been charged with a mixed solution of lime and soda, and with live hot steam in lieu of gastric juice as a digesting fluid and force. In some mills the boilers are placed in a horizontal position, while in others they are in the form of a large ball or globe, in either case being operated in the manner described; those of upright form, however, are most commonly in use. The rags are boiled under steam pressure of about forty pounds to the square inch, and the cooking is continued from twelve to fourteen hours.
THE MODERN FOURDRINIER MACHINE—[Page 73]
♦The washers or Hollanders♦
It is here that the process of cleaning begins in earnest; and as the mass of rags is tumbled about in its scalding bath of steam-heated lime-water, or “milk of lime,” the coloring and glutinous matters, as well as all other impurities, are loosened from the fibers, which are in the end so cleansed and purified as to come forth unstained and of virgin purity. Having been sufficiently boiled and digested, the mushy material, still looking dark and forbidding, is emptied onto the floor below or into receptacles placed directly beneath the boilers, where the color and dirt are allowed to drain off. The mass is then conveyed to the “washers,” great tub-like receptacles, which are shown among the [illustrations], and which are known as “Hollanders,” from the fact that these rag engines were invented in Holland, about the year 1750 A. D. They are oval-shaped tubs, about twenty feet long, nine feet wide, and three feet high, varying somewhat according to the conditions. Each tub is divided for two-thirds of its length by an upright partition, or “mid-feather,” as it is called, which makes a narrow course around the vat. On one side of the partition the tub is raised in a half-circle, close to which revolves an iron roll about three or four feet in diameter, and covered with knives; in the bottom of the tub, and directly under the revolving roll, is another set of knives called a “bed-plate,” which is stationary, and against which the roll can be lowered. But not to anticipate. When the emptyings from the boiler have been thrown into the “washer” a continuous stream of water is turned in at one end, the knife-roll having been adjusted so as to open up the rags as they are set in motion. These then begin a lively chase around the edge of the vat, through the racecourse formed by the “mid-feather,” and under the rag-opening knives, where the water is given a chance to wash out all impurities; then on up the incline over the “back fall,” so-called from the elevation in the tub. A cylinder of wire cloth, partly immersed in the moving mass, holds back the now rapidly whitening fibers, while the dirty water escapes into buckets inside the wire cloth drum, and is discharged into and through an escape-spout. The heavy particles of dirt settle into what is termed a “sand-trap” at the bottom of the tub.