Textiles and Clothing Part 4

[Sidenote: Hackling]

Hackling or combing still further separates the fibers into their finest filaments--"line" and "tow." The "flax line" is the long and valuable fiber; the tow, the short coa.r.s.e tangled fiber which is spun and used for weaving coa.r.s.e linen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLAX

A, Unthrashed Straw; B, Retted; C, Cleaned or Scutched; D, Hackled or Dressed.

(Photograph of C. R. Dodge).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HACKLING FLAX BY HAND

The "Tow" Is Seen at the Left and a Bunch of "Flax line" on the Bench.

(Photograph of C. R. Dodge, Special Agent U. S. Department of Agriculture.)]

[Sidenote: Characteristics of Linen]

When freed from all impurities the chief physical characteristics of flax are its snowy whiteness, silky l.u.s.ter and great tenacity. The individual fibers may be from ten to twelve inches in length; they are much greater in diameter than cotton. It is less pliant and elastic than cotton and bleaches and dyes less readily. Linen cloth is a better conductor of heat than cotton and clothing made from it is cooler. When pure, it is, like cotton, nearly pure cellulose.

[Sidenote: Ramie]

Besides the linen, there is a great number of bast fibers fit for textile purposes, some superior, some inferior. India alone has over three hundred plants that are fiber yielding. One-third of these furnish useful fibers for cordage and fabrics. The next in importance to linen is ramie or rhea, and China gra.s.s. China gra.s.s comes from a different plant but is about the same as ramie. The staple is longer and finer than linen. The great strength of yarn made from it is due to length of the staple.

The variety and great value of the ramie fibers has long been recognized, but difficulties attending the separation and degumming of the fibers have prevented its employment in the manufactures to any great extent. The native Chinese split and sc.r.a.pe the plant stems, steeping them in water. The common retting process used for flax is not effective on account of the large amount of gummy matter, and although easy to bleach it is difficult to dye in full bright shades without injuring the l.u.s.ter of the fibers.

[Sidenote: Jute and Hemp]

Jute and hemp belong to the lower order of bast fibers. The fiber is large and is unfit for any but the coa.r.s.est kind of fabrics. Jute is mainly cultivated in Bengal. The fiber is separated from the plant by retting, beating, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JUTE GROWING IN LOUISIANA.

From Culture of Hemp and Jute, Report of U. S. Department of Agriculture.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRYING HEMP IN KENTUCKY

From "Culture of Hemp and Jute."]

[Sidenote: Olona]

Olona, the textile fiber of Hawaii, is found to have promising qualities. This plant resembles ramie and belongs to the nettle family also, but it is without the troublesome resin of the ramie. The fiber is fine, light, strong, and durable.

The Philippines are rich in fiber producing plants. The manila hemp is the most prominent, of which coa.r.s.e cloth is woven, besides the valuable cordage. The sisal hemp, pineapple, yucca, and a number of fiber plants growing in the southern part of the United States are worthy of note.

These fiber industries are conducted in a rude way, the fiber being cleaned by hand, except the pineapple.

SILK

The silk fiber is the most perfect as well as the most beautiful of all fibers. It is nearly faultless, fine and continuous, often measuring from 1000 to 4000 feet long, without a scale, joint, or a blemish, though not of the same diameter or fineness throughout its entire length, as it becomes finer as the interior of the coc.o.o.n is approached.

Silk differs from all other vegetable or animal fibers by being devoid of all cellular structure.

[Sidenote: Where Produced]

Southern Europe leads in the silk worm culture--Italy, southern France, and Turkey, with China and India. Several species of moths, natives of India, China, and j.a.pan, produce the wild silk. The most important of the "wild silks" are the Tussah. Silk plush and the coa.r.s.er varieties of buff colored fabrics are made of this silk. While manufacturers do not favor the wild silk, the coa.r.s.e uneven weave and softness make it a favorite with artists and it is being used for interior decoration as well as for clothing.

[Sidenote: Silk Worm]

The silk of commerce begins with an egg no bigger than a mustard seed, out of which comes a diminutive caterpillar, which is kept in a frame and fed upon mulberry leaves. When the caterpillars are full grown, they climb upon twigs placed for them and begin to spin or make the coc.o.o.n.

The silk comes from two little orifices in the head in the form of a glutinous gum which hardens into a fine elastic fiber. With a motion of the head somewhat like the figure eight, the silk worm throws this thread around the body from head to tail until at last it is entirely enveloped. The body grows smaller and the thread grows finer until at last it has spun out most of the substance of the body and the task is done.

If left to itself, when the time came, the moth would eat its way out of the coc.o.o.n and ruin the fiber. A few of the best coc.o.o.ns are saved for a new supply of caterpillars; the remainder are baked at a low heat which destroys the worm but preserves the silk. This now becomes the coc.o.o.n of commerce.

[Sidenote: Reeling Silk]

Next the coc.o.o.ns go to the reelers who wind the filaments into the silk yarn that makes the raw material of our mills. The coc.o.o.ns are thrown into warm water mixed with soap in order to dissolve the gum. The outer or coa.r.s.er covering is brushed off down to the real silk and the end of the thread found. Four or five coc.o.o.ns are wound together, the sticky fibers clinging to each other as they pa.s.s through the various guides and are wound as a single thread on the reels. The silk is dried and tied into hanks or skeins. As the thread unwinds from the coc.o.o.n, it becomes smaller, so other threads must be added.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SILK:--CATERPILLAR, COc.o.o.n, CHRYSALIS, MOTH]

[Sidenote: Organize and Tram]

At the mill the raw silk goes to the "throwster" who twists the silk threads ready for the loom. These threads are of two kinds--"organize"

or warp and "tram" or filling. The warp runs the long way of woven fabric or parallel with the selvage and it must be strong, elastic, and not easily parted by rubbing. To prepare the warp, two threads of raw silk are slightly twisted. Twist is always put into yarn of any kind to increase its strength. These threads are united and twisted together and this makes a strong thread capable of withstanding any reasonable strain in the loom and it will not roughen. For the woof or tram which is carried across the woven cloth on the shuttle, the thread should be as loose and fluffy as possible. Several threads are put together, subjected to only a very slight twist--just enough to hold the threads together so they will lie evenly in the finished fabric.

[Sidenote: Boiling Off]

After the yarn leaves the spinners it is again run off on reels to be taken to the dye house. First the yarn is boiled off in soapy water to remove the remaining gum. Now the silk takes on its l.u.s.ter. Before it was dull like cotton. The silk is now finer and harder and is known as "souple."

[Sidenote: Loading Silk]

The silk fiber has a remarkable property of absorbing certain metallic salts, still retaining much of its l.u.s.ter. This process is known as "loading" or "weighting," and gives increased body and weight to the silk. Silk without weighting is known as "pure dye," of which there is little made, as such goods take too much silk.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REELING SILK]

For the weighting of white or light colored silk goods, tin crystals (stanous chloride) are used and for dark shades and black, iron salts and tannin. By this means the original weight of the fiber may be increased three or four hundred per cent. This result is not attained, however, except through the weakening of the fiber.

[Sidenote: Action of Common Salt]

Common salt has a very curious action on weighted silk. It slowly weakens the fiber. A silk dress may be ruined by being splashed with salt water at the seash.o.r.e. Most often holes appear after a dress comes back from the cleaners; these he may not be to blame for, as salt is abundant in nearly all the bodily secretions,--tears, perspiration, urine.