Fig. 19
A SCRAPER
The yarn, having been printed and scraped, has now to be taken off the drum; a process known as “stripping.” The threads are looped together in hanks, and numbered with a ticket to show which thread each represents in the design. The drum is so constructed that a section of it can be drawn inwards upon a telescopic arm of the drum frame. The yarn is thus released from its tension round the drum face; and the strippers, inserting long sticks under the oilcloth, lift it and the yarn clear of the drum. One side of the frame which carries the drum shaft is made removable to enable the yarn to be taken away.
The long hanks are then ready for steaming. They are placed with as little handling as possible upon latticed frames filled with oat-husks. The frames are then run into an iron-walled steam-chest, which is securely closed, and into which steam is turned at high pressure. The effect of the steam pressure and heat is to fix the colours on the yarn. The operation takes about half an hour. Some makers prefer to put the hanks into net bags for steaming, or to lay them on network frames, without the bran. But the first method described is probably the best, as the bran tends to absorb the superfluous colour, and prevents it from dripping from one hank on to another.
After steaming, the hanks are thoroughly rinsed, preferably by a large rocking arm fitted with a hook, in cold running water. The yarn is then partly dried in a hydro-extractor and finished in a stove. Each hank is then wound on to large bobbins, which are numbered so that the setters know to which part of the design each belongs.
Fig. 20
PRINTED THREADS SET FOR WINDING ON TO THE BEAM
The next process is setting. The object of the operations up to this point has been to make a set of warp threads which contain the pattern of the carpet in an elongated form in such a way that, when woven in the loom, the loops as seen in the carpet will accurately reproduce the design. It is the business of the setters to arrange the threads alongside one another in proper order and dressing so that they form the pattern, and to wind them thus arranged on to the warp beam.