Popular Technology Volume I Part 6

22. Common domestic fabrics are taken from the loom, and, without further preparation, are folded up into pieces for sale. Finer articles are usually whitened and calendered, before they pa.s.s from the hand of the manufacturer. Stuffs of all kinds, made of vegetable fibres, are now whitened by immersing them in a solution of oxymuriate of lime. Cotton and linen goods, with a view of making them smooth and glossy, are calendered, or pressed, between steel rollers.

23. Many of the fine cottons are converted into calicoes, by transferring to them various colors. The process by which this is done, is called calico-printing, which will be described in a separate article.

24. The texture of the fabrics made of worsted, or long wool, is completed, when issued from the loom. The pieces are subsequently dyed, and then pressed between heated metallic plates, to communicate to them the required gloss. But weaving does not always complete the texture of the stuffs made of the short wools. When taken from the loom, the web is too loose and open, to answer the purposes to which such cloths are usually applied. It is, therefore, submitted to another process, called _fulling_.

25. _Fulling_, in common with almost every other operation pertaining to the manufacture of cloth, const.i.tutes a separate trade. The art is only applied to stuffs composed of wool, or hair, as these only possess the properties which render it applicable. The practicability of fulling cloth depends on a certain roughness of the fibres, which admits of motion in one way, and r.e.t.a.r.ds it in another. This may be more fully understood by consulting the article on making hats.

26. The cloth, having been prepared by a proper cleansing, is deposited in a strong box, with a quant.i.ty of water and fuller's earth or soap, and submitted to the action of the _pestles_, or _stampers_, which are moved in a horizontal direction, backwards and forwards, by means of appropriate machinery. This operation reduces the dimensions of the cloth, and greatly improves the beauty and stability of the texture. The cloth is afterwards dried in the open air on frames prepared for the purpose.

27. After the cloth has been dyed, a nap is raised on one side of it by means of the common teazle. The nap is next cut off to an even surface. This was formerly done with a huge pair of shears; but, within a few years, it has most commonly been effected by a machine, the essential part of which is a spiral blade, that revolves in contact with another blade, while the cloth is stretched over a bed, or support, just near enough for the projecting filaments to be cut off at a uniform length, without injuring the main texture. Pressing and folding the cloth complete the whole process.

28. A great proportion of the woollen fabrics worn in the United States, are manufactured in families, part of which is sent to the clothiers to be dressed. Much cotton yarn, spun at the manufactories, is purchased for domestic use. Formerly, the raw material was procured, and spun into yarn on the _big wheel_. Coa.r.s.e linens are also extensively manufactured in families, especially among the German population.

29. The manufacture of cloth from wool was introduced into Britain by the Romans, some time in the Augustan age. At Winchester, they conducted the business on a scale sufficiently large to supply their army. After the Romans withdrew from the island, in the fifth century, the art was comparatively neglected, and gradually declined, until the reign of Edward III. This monarch invited into his dominions workmen from Flanders, in which country the manufacture had, for a long time, been in a flouris.h.i.+ng condition.

30. Shortly after the first immigration of the Flemish manufacturers into England, an act was pa.s.sed prohibiting the wearing of cloths made in any other country; and, in the time of Elizabeth, the manufacture had become so extensive, that the exportation of the raw material was forbidden by law.

31. It is supposed that there are now, in Great Britain, thirty millions of sheep; whose annual produce of wool is worth, on an average, about seven millions of pounds sterling; to this may be added five millions of pounds weight from foreign countries. This amount is increased in value, by manufacturing skill, to twenty or thirty millions of pounds. Not less than three millions of persons are supposed to be employed in this branch of British industry.

32. Both the woollen and cotton manufactures have arisen to great importance, of late years, in the United States; and, from the mechanical skill of our countrymen, the abundance of the raw material, and the vast amount of water-power, there is every reason to antic.i.p.ate a rapid and continual increase in these divisions of American enterprise.

THE SILK-WORM.

1. Silk is the production of a worm, of the caterpillar species, which, in due course, pa.s.ses through several transformations, and at length becomes a b.u.t.terfly, like others of the genus. It is produced from an egg, and when about to die, or rather again to change its form, spins for itself an envelope, called _a coc.o.o.n_. The worm then changes to a chrysalis, and, after remaining in this state from 5 to 8 days, the b.u.t.terfly, or moth, comes out, forcing its way through the coc.o.o.n. The moths, or b.u.t.terflies, eat nothing, and die as soon as they have provided for the propagation of their species. Enough of these are suffered to come to maturity, to provide a sufficient stock of eggs. The rest are killed, in a few days after they have spun their task, either by heating them in an oven, or by exposing them to the rays of the sun.

2. The fibres are wound upon a reel. To render this practicable, the coc.o.o.ns are put into water heated to a suitable temperature, which dissolves the gummy substance that holds the fibres together. A number of threads being detached, and pa.s.sed through a hole in an iron bar, form, by the aid of the remaining glutinous matter, one thread, which is wound upon a reel into skeins.

3. The raw silk, thus produced and prepared, is sold to the manufacturers, who twist and double the fibres variously, and finally form them into threads for sewing; or weave them into a great variety of fabrics, which are too well known to need particular description here.

4. According to the ancients, the silk-worm was originally a native of China, and the neighboring parts of Asia, and had there been domesticated for a long time, before it was known in Europe. For many years after silk was sold among the nations of the West, even the merchants were ignorant of both the manner and place of its production.

5. The Greeks became acquainted with silk, soon after the time of Alexander the Great; and the Romans knew little of the article, until the reign of Augustus. Dresses, composed entirely of this material, were seldom worn; but the fabrics which had been closely woven in the East, were unravelled, and the threads were recomposed in a looser texture, intermixed with linen or woollen yarn.

6. The prodigal Hehogabalus is said to have been the first individual, in the Roman empire, who wore a robe of pure silk. It is also stated, that the Emperor Aurelian refused his wife a garment of this description, on account of its exorbitant price. At that time, as well as at previous periods, it usually sold for its weight in gold.

7. A kind of gauze, originally made by the women on the island of Cos, was very celebrated. It was dyed purple, with the substance usually employed in communicating that colour in those days; but this was done before it was woven, as in that state it was too frail to admit of the process. Habits, made of this kind of stuff, were denominated "dresses of gla.s.s:" because the body could be seen through them.

8. The Roman empire had been supplied with silk through the medium of the Persians, until the time of Justinian, in the year 555. This emperor, having become indignant at the rapacity of the silk-merchants, determined, if possible, to supply his people from the insect itself.

9. After many unsuccessful attempts, he at length obtained a small quant.i.ty of the eggs from India, by the a.s.sistance of two Persian monks, who had contrived to conceal them in the hollow of their canes. The seeds of the mulberry-tree, on the leaves of which the worm feeds, were also procured at the same time, together with instructions necessary for the management of the worms.

10. For six hundred years after the period just mentioned, the rearing of these worms, in Europe, was confined to the Greek empire; but, in the twelfth century, Roger, king of Sicily, introduced it into that island, whence it gradually spread into Italy, Spain, France, and other European countries.

11. The silk-worm was introduced into England by James the First; but it has never succeeded well in that country, on account of the dampness and coldness of the climate. The manufacture of fabrics from silk, however, is there very extensive, the raw material being obtained, chiefly, from Bengal and Italy. In the latter of these countries, in France, and other parts of Europe, as well as in Asia, the manufacture is also extensive.

12. Some attention has been paid to the rearing of silk-worms in the United States, and attempts have been made to introduce the manufacture of silks. The mulberry has been planted in various parts of the Union; and it is highly probable, that, in a few years, we shall be able to obtain excellent silks, without sending for them to foreign countries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DYER.]

THE DYER, AND THE CALICO-PRINTER.

THE DYER.

1. The art of dyeing consists in impregnating flexible fibres with any color which may be desired, in such a manner, that it will remain permanent, under the common exposures to which it may be liable.

2. The union of the coloring matter with the fibres receiving the dye, is purely chemical, and not mechanical, as in the case of the application of paints. Wool has the greatest attraction for coloring substances; silk comes next to it; then cotton; and, lastly, hemp and flax. These materials, also, absorb dye-stuffs in different proportions.

3. Previous to the application of the dye, the greasy substance which covers the fibres of wool, and the gluey matter on those of silk, are removed by some kind of alkali. Their natural color is, also, discharged by the fumes of sulphur. The resinous matter and natural color of cotton and linen, are removed by bleaching.

4. The materials used in dyeing are divided into two cla.s.ses--_substantive_ and _adjective_. The former communicates durable tints without the aid of any other substance previously applied; the latter requires the intervention of some agent which possesses an attraction for both the coloring matter and the stuff to be dyed, in order to make the color permanent. The substances used for this purpose are usually termed _mordants_.

5. Agents capable of acting in some way as mordants, are very numerous; but _alumina_, _alum_, the _sulphate_ or _acetate of iron_, the _muriate of tin_, and _nut-galls_, are princ.i.p.ally employed. The mordant not only fixes the color, but, in many cases, alters and improves the tints. It is always dissolved in water, in which the stuffs are immersed, previous to the application of the dye. Dyeing substances are also very numerous; but a few of the most important have, in practice, taken precedence of the others.

6. Blue, red, yellow, and black, are the chief colors, for which appropriate coloring substances are applied; but, by a judicious combination of these same materials, and by a proper application of mordants, intermediate hues of every shade are produced; thus, a green is communicated by forming a blue ground of indigo, and then adding a yellow by means of quercitron bark.

7. The _blue dye_ is made of indigo; the _red dye_, of madder, cochineal, archil, Brazil-wood, or safflowers; the _yellow dye_, of quercitron bark, turmeric, hickory, weld, fustic, or saffron; the _black dye_, of the oxide of iron combined with logwood, or the bark of the common red, or soft maple, and the sulphate or acetate of iron. The dyes made of some of these substances require the aid of mordants, and those from others do not.

8. In communicating the intermediate hues, the different dye-stuffs forming the leading colors, are sometimes mixed; and, at other times, they are made into separate dyes, and applied in succession.

9. In this country, the business of the dyer is often united with that of the clothier; but, where the amount of business will justify it, as in manufactories, and in cities or large towns, it is a separate business. The dyers sometimes confine their attention to particular branches. Some dye wool only or silk, while others confine themselves to certain colors, such as scarlet and blue. The princ.i.p.al profits of the dyer, when unconnected with manufacturing establishments, arise from dyeing garments or stuffs which have been partly worn.

10. The origin of the art of dyeing is involved in great obscurity, as the ancients have not furnished even a fable, which might guide us in our researches. It is evident, however, that the art must have made considerable progress, long before authentic history begins. Moses speaks of stuffs dyed blue, purple, and scarlet, and of sheep-skins dyed red. The knowledge of the preparation of these colors, implies an advanced state of the art, at that early period.

11. Purple was the favorite color of the ancients, and appears to have been the first which was brought to a state of tolerable perfection.

The discovery of the mode of communicating it, is stated to have been accidental. A shepherd's dog, while on the sea-sh.o.r.e, incited by hunger, broke a sh.e.l.l, the contents of which stained his mouth with a beautiful purple; and the circ.u.mstance suggested the application of the sh.e.l.l-fish, as a coloring substance. This discovery is thought to have been made about fifteen hundred years before the advent of Christ.

12. The Jews esteemed this color so highly, that they consecrated it especially to the service of the Deity, using it in stuffs for decorating the tabernacle, and for the sacred vestments of the high-priests. The Babylonians and other idolatrous nations clothed their idols in habits of purple, and even supposed this color capable of appeasing the wrath of the G.o.ds.

13. Among the heathen nations of antiquity generally, purple was appropriated to the use of kings and princes, to the exclusion of their subjects. In Rome, at a later period, purple habits were worn by the chief officers of the republic, and, at length, by the opulent, until the emperors reserved to themselves the distinguished privilege.

14. There were several kinds of sh.e.l.l-fish, from which this coloring substance was obtained, each of which communicated a shade somewhat different from the others. The kind collected near Tyre was the best; and hence the Tyrian purple acquired especial celebrity. So highly was it esteemed by the Romans, in the time of Augustus, that wool imbued with this color was sold for one thousand denarii per pound, which, in our currency, amounts to one hundred and sixty-eight dollars.

15. After all, the boasted purple of antiquity is supposed to have been a very inferior dye, when compared with many which we now possess; and this is only one among many instances, wherein modern science has given us a decided superiority over the ancients.

16. The color, second in repute with the people of antiquity, was scarlet. This color was communicated by means of an insect, called _coccus_, and which is now denominated _kermes_. Besides the various hues of purple and scarlet, several others were in some degree of favor; such as green, orange, and blue. The use of vegetable dyes appears to have been but little known to the Romans; but the Gauls had the knowledge of imparting various colors, even the purple and scarlet, with the juice of certain herbs.

17. The irruption of the northern barbarians into the Roman empire, destroyed this, with the rest of the arts of civilization, in the western parts of Europe; but, having been preserved, more or less, in the East, it was again revived in the West, princ.i.p.ally by means of the intercourse arising from the Crusades.

18. Although indigo seems to have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, yet it does not appear to have been used for dyeing. The first that was applied to this purpose in Europe, was brought from India by the Dutch; but its general use was not established without much opposition from interested individuals. It was strictly prohibited in England, in the reign of Elizabeth, and, about the same time, in Saxony. Many valuable acquisitions were made to the materials employed in this art, on the discovery of America, among which may be enumerated, cochineal, logwood, Brazil-wood, and Nicaragua, together with the soft maple and quercitron barks.

19. The first book on the art of dyeing was published in 1429. This, of course, appeared in ma.n.u.script, as the art of printing had not then been discovered. An edition was printed in 1510. The authors to whom the world is most indebted for correct information on this subject, are Dufuy, Hallet, Macquir, and Berthollet, of France; and Henry and Bancroft, of England; all of whom wrote in the eighteenth century.

THE CALICO-PRINTER.