Weaving
The sley is attached to the batten, or fly, and as in the cotton loom performs the additional function of driving home each weft thread after the shuttle has passed.
The Power Loom
Once these processes have been completed the remainder is almost entirely automatic. The shuttle flies back and forth without aid. The proper warp threads are raised and lowered to let it pass, and after each traverse, or pick, the batten automatically drives home the weft thread, into the growing stretch of cloth that is winding itself up on to the beam at one end, while the beam at the other end delivers the parallel warp threads. The average worsted loom makes about 100 picks per minute, which is only about half as fast as the calico loom, the reason being the lower tensile strength of the yarn.
8. Worsted Finishing
While, as we shall see, finishing in the woolen industry is a very important stage of manufacture, worsted materials are practically unchanged after they come out of the loom. There is sometimes a certain amount of fulling and raising and cropping, but the net result does not in any way alter the cloth, except perhaps to impart a little smoother finish. We shall discuss finishing in a little more detail when we come to the last stage of woolen manufacture.
Our worsted cloth is now finished, and we have traced its origin, somewhat sketchily, from the back of the sheep up to the point where it takes only a tailor to put it on the back of a man.
CHAPTER III
WOOLEN MANUFACTURE
1. The Manufacture of Woolen Yarn
We have taken the worsted industry first, not because it is necessarily any more important than woolen manufacture, but because its processes are more complicated, and therefor, if we have gained a certain amount of familiarity with them, we are able to take up the sister industry in a more abbreviated manner. Although, at the present time, the demand for worsted materials is a great deal heavier than the demand for woolens, the woolen industry is by far the older of the two, and may rightfully claim that the worsted branch is really an off-shoot of its tree. Moreover, while broadcloth and similar material no longer enjoy their erstwhile popularity, there is still a tremendous demand for other products of the woolen industry such as blankets, flannels, overcoatings, etc. And we must bear in mind that most of the cheaper clothing materials are woolens.