Extract Wool. This is obtained from union cloths, that is, from cloths having a wool weft and warp of cotton, etc., also from cloths having the same material for warp, but possessing a woolen or mungo warp or filling, etc. It is the wool fiber that is required. Therefore the vegetable matter (cotton) must be extracted from it by the process of carbonizing. To effect this, the tissue or rags are steeped in a solution of sulphuric acid and water and then subjected to heat in an enclosed room. The water is evaporated, leaving the acid in a concentrated form, which acts upon the cotton, converting it into powder. The powder readily becomes separated, and thus the cotton is eliminated. The material that is left is well washed to remove all acid, dried, and then passed through a miniature carder, to impart to it the appearance of a woolly and a softer fabric.
Flocks. These are of three kinds, and are waste products of the milling, cropping, and raising operations. The most valuable are those derived from the fulling mill, being clean and of a bright color. They are chiefly used by sail spinners, and in the manufacture of low grade cloths of a cheviot class. White flocks are suitable for blending with wool, and as a rule command a fair price. Raising flocks are those obtained from the dressing or raising gigs, and are applied to purposes similar to those for which fulling flocks are used. Cutting or cropping flocks are the short fibers which are removed from the cloths in this operation. They are practically of no value to the textile manufacturer, being unfit for yarn production, but are used chiefly by wall-paper manufacturers in producing “flock-papers,” which are papers with raised figures resembling cloth, made of poor wool, and attached with a gluey varnish.
CARD ROOM
1. Automatic Feed.
2. Bur Guards.
3. Bur Tray.
4. 1st Top Divider.
5. 2d Top Divider.
6. Workers.
7. Strippers.
8. Doffer Cylinder.
9. Main Cylinders.
10. Main Card Drive on 2d Main Cylinder Shaft.
11. 1st Lickerin.
12. 2d Lickerin.
13. 3d Lickerin.
14. 4th Lickerin.
15. Fancy Hood.
CHAPTER IV
WORSTED YARNS
Carding. After the wool is washed it undergoes a number of operations before it is finished into worsted or woolen yarn.[12] The first step in the manufacturing of worsted yarn is to pass the washed wool through a worsted card which consists of a number of cylinders covered with fine wire teeth mounted on a frame. The effect of these cylinders on the wool is to disengage the wool fibers, make them straight, and form a “sliver” or strand. It is now ready for the combing machine.