As will be seen in the photographs, the bundles of leaves are taken up on an elevator and along a carrier, which feeds them into the machine. The grip chains of the carrier hold the leaves, while the scraping wheels clean the pulp from the fiber, first one end of the leaves being cleaned and then, as they are carried farther along, the second wheel cleans the other end. This leaves the bundles of the fiber still in the grip of the carrier, which takes it out of the machine as shown in the picture. It is then carefully hung in the sun to dry. When thoroughly dry the fiber is taken to the press and made into bales weighing about 370 pounds each.
We have already mentioned the fact that Manila rope is frequently adulterated with cheaper and inferior fibers, and so Sisal in its turn has its inferior imitators, the most common of which is known as Istle, a fiber which also grows in Mexico as well as in other parts of the world. A recent government publication, speaking of the use of Istle in cordage, states, “this fiber has been regarded heretofore as suitable only for use in the manufacture of brushes.”
1. WAITING FOR THE PILOT
2. APPROACHING PLYMOUTH CORDAGE CO. PIER
3. COATED WITH ICE FROM THE STORM
4. LYING ALONGSIDE PIER
5. FIRST BALES COMING FROM HOLD
6. UNLOADING INTO WAREHOUSE
SISAL STEAMER FROM YUCATAN ARRIVING AND DISCHARGING AT PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY’S PIER
CHAPTER III
The Hemps—American, Russian, Italian. Other Fibers
While the fibers we have already discussed—Manila and Sisal—comprise by far the greater part of the raw material of cordage, we wish to mention in this chapter a fiber which, while now of comparatively slight importance, has the interesting feature of being a home product, and the cultivation of which at one time formed an industry of considerable magnitude in this country. This is the American or Kentucky hemp.
Most of the cordage fibers are commonly known as hemp, but strictly speaking this name applies only to the fiber of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), of which the American hemp is an example. This hemp plant, while a native of Asia, has for many years been grown in the different countries of Europe as well as in America. Its fiber in commerce takes the name of the country from which it comes, as Russian hemp, Italian hemp, etc.