[Footnote 3: For a full description of all finishing processes, see The Finishing of Jute and Linen Fabrics, by T. Woodhouse. (Published by Messrs. Emmott & Co., Ltd., Manchester.)]
The cropped cloth is now taken to the clamping machine, and placed on the floor on the left of the machine illustrated in Fig. 43, which represents the type made by Messrs. Charles Parker, Sons &, Co., Dundee. The cloth is passed below a roller near to the floor, then upwards and over the middle roller, backwards to be passed under and over the roller on the left, and then forwards to the nip of the pulling rollers, the bottom one of which is driven positively by means of a belt on the pulleys shown. While the cloth is pulled rapidly through this machine, two lines of fine jets spray water on to the two sides of the fabric to prepare it for subsequent processes in which heat is generated by the nature of the finishing process. At other times, or rather in other machines, the water is distributed on the two sides of the cloth by means of two rapidly rotating brushes which flick the water from two rollers rotating in a tank of water at a fixed level. In both cases, both sides of the fabric are "damped," as it is termed, simultaneously. The damped fabric is then allowed to lie for several hours to condition, that is, to enable the moisture to spread, and then it is taken to the calender.
FIG. 43 DAMPING MACHINE
By permission of Messrs. Charles Parker, Sons & Co., Ltd.
The calenders for jute almost invariably contain five different rollers, or "bowls," as they are usually termed; one of these bowls, the smallest diameter one, is often heated with steam. A five-bowl calender is shown on the extreme right in Fig. 41, and in the background, while a complete illustration of a modern 5-bowl calender, with full equipment, and made by Messrs. Urquhart, Lindsay & Co., Ltd., Dundee, appears in Fig. 44.
FIG. 44 CALENDAR
The cloth is placed on the floor between the two distinct parts of the calender, threaded amongst the tension rails near the bottom roller or bowl, and then passed over two or more of the bowls according to the type of finish desired. For calender finish, the bowls flatten the cloth by pressing out the threads and picks, so that all the interstices which appear in most cloths as they leave the loom, and which are exaggerated in the plan view in Fig. 34, are eliminated by this calendering action. The cloth is then delivered at the far side of the machine in Fig. 44. If necessary, the surface speed of the middle or steam-heated roller may differ from the others so that a glazed effect--somewhat resembling that obtained by ordinary ironing--is imparted to the surface of the fabric. The faster moving roller is the steam-heated one. For ordinary calender finish, the surface speed of all the rollers is the same.