Then the wool is blended. Do you know that the wool skirt which you are wearing may not be made of all new wool? Wool can be used over and over again. Old wool rags are pulled apart and mixed with new wool. If this did not happen, the manufacturer would have to charge much more than you pay for serge or some woolen materials, as he would have to use all new wool. That is why some wool materials are so expensive. If only new wool were used, there would not be enough raised in the world to clothe everybody. The wool manufacturer, therefore, blends, or mixes, the wool before it is sent to the carding machine. In blending he knows just what color, style, and grade of material he wishes to produce, and he grades accordingly. Cheapness is one of the principal reasons for blending. Sometimes cotton or jute are mixed in, if the manufacturer wishes to produce a very cheap material which is not all wool.
Would you like to know the names of some of the all-wool substitutes which are used in reducing the cost of all-wool materials? Marjorie Allen's grandmother told her, and Marjorie told the League girls. Shoddy is one; it is made from old rags, like woolen stockings, flannels, soft underwear; materials which have not been felted together. Do you know what felted means? The rags are washed, ground up, and prepared to mix with the new wool. Mungo is another queer name which is given to woolen rags which have been felted, as broadcloth or men's suitings. Flocks is nothing but dust or waste from the clipping machines when cloth is sheared or clipped in finishing. This is used to fill in. So you see nothing is wasted.
Courtesy of M. J. Whittall.
Fig. 122.—Wool carding. Notice the round cylinders. The gauzy web is being delivered into the can in front of the carding machine.
The next process after blending is carding. Do you remember how cotton is carded? Long ago, when Marjorie's grandmother was young, wool was carded by hand. Look at the picture on page 77 and see how Grandmother Allen holds the cards. She is preparing rolls of wool for the spinning wheel. The manufacturer must prepare the slivers, or rolls like ropes of wool, for the spinning frames as they are called to-day. The machine which helps to produce these ropes is called the carding machine. It also helps to clean the dirt from the wool. The picture (Fig. 122) will show you how the wool carder looks. There is a center cylinder and around it revolve small cylinders. They are all covered with wire teeth which help to pull the wool apart and to cleanse it. If you were to stand before the machine, you would see a gauzy, filmy sheet of wool the width of the long rollers as it leaves the machine. The wide gauzy mass is pulled together as it is drawn through a hole at the front of the carder and is delivered or wound up in the can, just as we learned the cotton was delivered. This wool roving is then wound on spools and is ready for spinning. Do you remember the story of how cotton is drawn out and twisted and wound on spools? Wool too must be spun and made into yarn, before yarn can be woven into cloth. The manufacturer makes woolen yarn and also worsted yarn. Do you know the difference? We shall study in our next lesson about them.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Ask your grandmother to tell you about sheep raising on the farm, when she was a girl.
2. Tell why the manufacturer must blend old and new wool. What are the names of some old rags of wool used for this purpose?
3. Tell how carding was done in olden times. How is wool carding done to-day? Why is carding an important process in the manufacture of cloth made from wool?