The sun. [volume], April 28, 1912, SIXTH SECTION BUSINESS SUPPLEMENT, Page 16, Image 84

About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916

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6
THE SUN, SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 1912.
EARLY FELT FROM MOLES.
Lake Dwellers l.seil llir tlntntili- Anl
mnt'i llnlr ( MnUr Clnlh.
One of the Interesting finds mado by
eychrolorsts who investigated the re
mains of fh European lake dwellers,
people of prehistoric times that built their
hut on piles over bodies of water, won thn
discovery of small tMiititlos of what ap
peared to li line wool rlotli. (.'loser ex
amination disclosed the fact that the.
fabric not woven but was felted.
The scientists th'-n begun an Investign
tlon to discern what sort of nn animal it
wan that furnished the wool which the
lake dwellers made into their cloth. A
close investigation resulted In tho de
rision that these strange people had made
felt from thn wool of moles. These small
animals have a (Inc. lleece which would be
out of tho question were spinning con
sidered, but could lie used for felt
Kelt it a fabric formed without weaving
hy taking advantage of the tendency of
hair and wool to interlace and cling to
each other, Antiquarian state that the
art of felting was developed long before
thn weaver was tlrst known. Kelt lug
antedate tho Christian era by many cen
turies. Authorities state that the felting
quality of hair or wool results from the
natural structure of the material, The
hair of most animal I noticed to be more
or less notched or jagged on lis surface.
T)il Is the more apparent when nn ex
amination of the material i made by the
aid of a microscope. In some animal
there appears to be u set of barbs on the
ualr and these barbs are so placed that the
tip of each points to the end of the hair.
It follows that when a number of hairs
are pressed together those which lie in
the opposite direction to each other will
interlock with the barb of the hair surface
nnd resist nn effort to tear them asunder
When the hair has a natural tendency to
curl the interlacing process which i called
felting is more easily accomplished. Al
though the felting property Is possessed
bvwool in a special degree, other animals
have it in their covering. This I true of
the goat, ox. hare, rabbit nnd beaver.
.1. It, William, an American, first Intro
duced h mechanical process for felting in
IMii. The main principle involved In Mr.
Williams's de ice and varied in detail in
other patents that have been taken out
is llrst n carding of the wool into lap of j
the length ntid breadth of the web to be
made. One layer of these lap i placed I
upon another to secure the desired thick
tie of the fabric. The sheet i passed
between rollers that are partly immersed
in water nnd miiv be heated by steam.
The material 1 subjected to a beating
land oscillatory motion a well as to pres-
Mltc,
(Jut eminent Count of Sheep.
Government report. show that there
are to-day more than 67,000.000 sheep
In tho I'nlted Ktntos. Some one bus
calculated that If this number were
placed In a column, two nbreast, they
would circle the globe, and still there
would be n few left over, To ascertain
the cost of piodiicliiK this vast amount
of wool and mutton, the tioverntneiit
ha. spent more than a year In Inves
tigation. Whenever the tariff occupies
the stuge In politics nnd Schedule K
Is talked about, t tits question of the cost
of producing wool I. one of the chief
topics. So many conflicting views have
been presented on this subject that the
(internment has employed I'rof. K.
I.. Shaw, n noted sheep expert and
corps of assistant to Investigate the
conditions In the sheep States and to
submit n report, I'rof, Shaw has
been busy since n year ago last Oc
' toiler compiling statistics as to the exact
, cost of sheep raising both in tin: Mast
and the West. Some Idea of the thor
oughness of the work can be gathered
fmm the fact that in Helena, Mini.,
alone. Prof. Shaw and his assist
ants spent five weeks rnmlntng the
books of fourteen large sheep ranches.
Jamestown . . .
Worsted Hills
Established 1873
(ASK THE WEARER)
Dress Goods
And
Worsted . .
Suitings . .
New York Office,
79 Fifth Ave.
Mills,
Jamestown, N. Y.
"
Stillwater
Worsted
Co.
79 Fifth Avenue
New York
SAMUEL SLATER, A
TEXTILE PIONEER
dune to America in 1789 With Ills
Head Full of Arkwrlghfs
New Inventions.
FOr.NDKH OF AN INDUSTRY
He It ti i 1 1 llie New Mni'lilnrs Under Hip
(i rentes! Handicap nnd Rrtolu
tlonlcd Cotton Spinning.
Almost to the day of his death, From that
time thoy were dominated by the first
Horatio X. Slater. Ho had been taken into
the firm by his father in IHM. Six years
Inter he assumed what was substantially
the full control of tho Industry. For
nearly forty-five year, until his retire
ment in 1888, he managed the business,
developing it with rapidity and solidity,
Horatio X, Slater wr.s a romorkable
man. He had greut executive e.billtv.
He inherited the mechcnlcal genius of hi
father and Invented improvements to HI
kinds of machine used In hi mills. He
built his own loom. He had an instinc
tive knowledge of tibre, especially of wool,
and with it all he had tlio fine courage
and vitality which led to the tremendous
expansion of the business.
It was characteristic enterprise that, to
ritt ntmsetr or a transportation mononoiv,
ie mutt and operated a rauroaa, tne
The history of Samuel Slater, one of
the picturesque American pioneers In
the textile Industry, might bo cited as
Illustrative of the growth of tho Industry
in this country.
The foundation period began with the
emigration of the youthful Samuel Slater
from Knglntid in 179 and ended with
hi death in is;;:,. 'I his may lie called the
ronmntid epoch of the business, for the
story or Samuel Slater is a remarkable
series of accomplishment very rarely
found in the life of one man. Appren
ticed to Strutt, the associate of the great
Arkwright, the lad had mastered Ark
wright's inventions which had revolu
tionized cotton spinning. He had the
mechanical instinct and training which
permitted him to build the machines
himself under what proved to be moM
ndvere condition Moreover he knew
how the machine should be ucd for he
had a complete working knowledge, of
textile manufacturing, acquired in a
long and thorough apprenticeship
Before, his industrial service with
Strutt had ended he had made up hi
mind to lenvo Knglnud for the New World.
He saw further than most men of his
dav. He believed that tho United States
presented a greater field for the then
modern textile machinery than did Kng
land. At that time cotton manufacturing
In England was conllned to a small sec
tion of Derbyshire. The general opinion
of those engaged in the business was
voiced in an interview between Samuel
and hi employer
Before the hoy entered into his appren
ticeship he asked Mr Strutt whether he
considered it a permanent busine. The
elder man replied. "It is not probable,
Samuel, that it will always be a good
as it i now, but I have no doubt it will
always be a fair business if it well man
aged." This was not so conservative
an opinion a it appears to one looking
back from the present day, for Peel had
not then invented the printing cylinder
Naturally the boy wa influenced by the
prevailing estimate of condition, and
when he read the advertisement of An
American society, published in a Phila
delphia newspaper. olTering a reward
for the invention of textile machinery,
to accomplish who' Arkwright had done,
he determined that the United States
presented to the inventor who was well
grounded in hi knowledge a virgin
sou which woul.l produce most prontnmo
harvests. Apparently he dared tell no
one his plans. Certainly neither hi
mother nor hi brother learned of hi
intention until he was on the ocean
The Knglish (lovernment was guarding
its industries with a most jealous care.
The sling of the revolution still smarted.
No skilled mechanic was permitted to
leave the country. No machinery was
sold abroad. No person could take pas
sage for the United htntes without being
submitted to a thorough search, and
severe punishment awaited one who at
tempted to smuggle knowledge in a tangi
ble form across the Atlantic
When he reached America he soon
formed the acquaintance of Moses lliowjt
of Providence, who was the founder of
Brown University. A year later lie was
operating the Him American machine
embodying the Arkwright invention
Previously some attempts had been made
by American to build jennies and billies
for the spinning of cotton, but none had
been successful The yarns c,ould not be
woven into cloth I he sner loom had
not coin" Into use Vain iheti were
woven by hand in liouseholds, In IMii.
twenty years alter Slater's spindles were
sot to worn at Paw tucket, mine than a
hundred cotton mills weiv in opeiation,
all constructed after his models.
In the sparse population one of the chief
difficulties of tho early manufacturers
was in procuring operators or help. The
mill succeeding ."slater's were located
further in the intenor; on this account
Mr Slater was obliged to seek families
nnd induce them to emigrate to Paw
tucket He found one Arnold with a
family of ten or eleven living near a small
village in a rude cabin chietly made of
slabs and with n chimney of stone The
i oof of this comfoilless structnie sloped
nearly to the ground, but it was the home
of these hardy eople Mis Arnold ap
preciated it fully, lor when her husband
consulted her on the pioposed change
she insisted thai Mi Slater should give
them as good a house as their old one
The wages paid the-e opeiators i.uigetl
from vi cents to Sl.Iln and $1 in a week
P.iwlueket contained (hen not more
than a down houses, There w.i no school
and no church. Mi Sljter introduced the
Knglish apprentice system, but it did not
suit the Amerirau teuicrimeut and was
abandoned. Due l,id toum! the pressute
hard and Mr. Slater too strict, tie com
plaints) to an older comiauion that he
could not stand it. "Very well," said hi
adviser, "act like the duvil and Slater will
let you oft".
Ai first Salem was the chief market (the
town was then a very important port of
export). Hartford was opened next when
the supply acciiuiulaled and then Phila
delphia became the chief market of all.
New York or Boston hardly took any of
tho product Much was liitailed at the
mill. The first IH.UKi pounds or cotton
curded at Pawtuckel was picked by hand.
The yarns manufactured at Pawlucket,
either in skeins or inudo up in warps, wore
sold to farmers and others to lie taken to
their homes and woven for themselves in
hand looms, or were given out to lie woven
for manufacturer and returned to them
in cloth. To obtain this yam was deemed
a favor by the women of the families, bh
the weaving enabled them to earn tho
means to ay thn merchants for their
necessity supplies.
Tho usual lirico tuid for weaving was
four cents a yard for three-fourths vnrd
wide, plain cloth; six cents for four
fourths wide, plain cloth: six cents for
three-fourths wide, stripes; eight cents
for three-fourths wide, plaids; in cents
for three-fourths wide, liedticks, and Vi'-,
cents for four-fourths wide, ludtioks,
This business continued until about 1x23,
By 1st l cotton uunufatuHng had in
creased to such nn extent in Pawtuckel
and vicinity that it was difficult to llnd an
outlet for all tho yarns made, as every
family for miles around was employed in
the picking and weaving. It lcame
necessary, therefore, to enter a new terri
tory, and esocially a farming country,
as among the families of the farmers were
to 1m louud those skilled in the hand loom
process.
In lNlli in1 response to a public demand
Samuel Slater's genius was again put to
work, and he erected ut Webster the first
woollen mill in America, soon to begin the
manufacture of uniform cloths. At an
early date the United Str.tes called upon
him to supply this cloth for the army and
navy, and to the present dav a uniform
seen in Americi' cun usuHlv trace lmo!
it history to the first Sl'ter woollen mill
Mr. Slater operated the Webster mill
Pro-idenee,WebsterndHprlnfl(leld. which
is still owned by the estate though oper
ated by the Boston and Albany Railroad
as the Webster branch. He was ideally
lifted to tuketip the work where his father
had loft it and carry it on through the
period of vast advance In mothods pr tex
iiin mnnnfor-iiirlniT At the same time ho
had the ability to direct tho marketing of j
a product winch in us voiumo ran nnrwi
hi leaps nnd bound. To thi man Is due
thn expansion of the Industry, its estab
lishment on Maple line mid the formation
of tho plan which with slight modlfiea
tlons ha since been adhered to.
A Big Export Oaln of mil.
Merchandise valued at 12.049.320,1
a. .mortwl from I his country In 1911,
gainst II, 744,081,7:0 a year ago.
THREAD INDUSTRY
I iteel rollers on which the hanks of cotton
are placed and spread out evenly. The
bearings of the upper roller run in a
slotted groove. After tne soaa nas oeen
piled tho upper roller is revolved and
the hanks acWng as a belt causes the
lower roller to simultaneously move.
Tilt! I'l'Ot'eSS of Mci'Cerl.ill"- llns 'rnree ntlnutca is the time given for this
..... tcii , treatment, after which the hanks are
Allied in n Mnrkcil waghed untll tht.ir ,en8lon 8lacken8 ,
I legrOO. then they are treated with dilute sulphuric
, acid and waghed again.
MACHINES ARK I XT HI TATE "'hln follows and theyarn may be
subsequently dyed in the ordinary way.
Cotton in the piece is mercerized by a
more expensive apparatus because it is
necessary to prevent contraction in both
I length and breadth. It has been found
that when cotton Is mercerized under
tension it does not take color sowed as
when it is mercerized in the slack condi
tion. Why cotton should bo made lus
trous by this process has not been com
pletely explained by experts and various
views have been expressed on the sub
ject. The thread from which these raercer-
.Matcrinl Is Passed Itnck nnd
Forth Through Hollers
denning Important.
Oreat progress has lieen made in the
development of tho mercerizing process
for cotton thread and yarns and in adapt
ing the process to tho demands of the
wholesale trade. It is claimed that the
mercerization of fabrics lus become one
of the world's leading industries.and more
especially in the manufacture
in the latter industry the mercer
articles have foundcqu.il favor with silk,
this fact being due to the better wearing
qualities of mercerized cotton over tho
silk hoisery. Mercerized yarns are also
being used In the manufacture of under
wear as well as in other ways new to tho
cotton trade.
woe oi mesa new uses is in ine limning i
of embroidery Just now embroideries
and I ices form an Important part of
milady' wardrobe. The yarns are being
used extensively for backing in silks, for
mufflers, uocklies, scarfs and other
of hosiery '-' 'a',r'c9 nre made is tiie product of
ncrcerized con'P"ca,e' uul nearl? perfect machinery.
i he raw material must pass through a
maze of rollers, toothed wheels and spin
dlelike contrivances. As the hales of
ginned cotton are received at the mills
they are usually dense masses that have
been packed by hydraulic pressure. The
bale breaker takes these compact bundles
'and disentagles them. One machine for
doing this work consists of thee pairs
of spiked rollers and one fluted pair, the
cotton being fed between the first spiked
pair and gripped and pulled apart by the
second pair, revolving at a higher ve
locity. It is then passed to the third Dair
articles of a similar nature. Korit itching , '., , ,. ... , . . ,,
' of staked rollers, which complete the di
. , 7 ! . entangling process and deliver the cotton
..,, w ... .. ...... . u. .,uv ,0 ,he flu(ed ro,lerg b Trh,ch t ,a Ited
in tho manufacture of clothing. l.e."from the mach.ne. a travelling lattice-
ges. icaiuer goous ana omer. k conv(,yor takM the coM(m , ,
articles wuere urge quantities oi suicning ,UX(I1C r0om
threads are used. It would be possible! ,
to go on with a much longer list of the
uses found for this thread
Mercerizing gels Its name from .lohn
Mercer, a Iincashire calico printer who
discovered the process in IS44. This
consists in treating cotton with certain
reagents, such a caustic soda, thut re
sults in briugilig about chemical changes
in llie llbre. On placing a piece of
bleached calico in caustic sodu the ex
perimenters noticed that it changes its
appearance and becomes stiff nnd trans-
To clean the cotton thoroughly it is
subjected to the intiuenoe of a beater
another machine made up of rollers and
teeth. It is passed back and forth from
one set of rollers to another until all dirt
and impuriticB pass off through a grating,
leaving the cleaned cotton behind. The
opened cotton is carried by a strong blast
of air and deposited upon the surfaces
of two wire cylinders. Foreign matter
passes off through the wire netting, the
process is repeated two or threo times,
and flnallv the cotton rolled intn n Kui
.Ulc.. ........ , .- ..,,t.. ... ,s coiled il(o n Ufj
go back to its original condition, but close nMt g
examination disc oses tho fact that the i , Thlg , UQt ,
fabric has shrunk considerably and its a p,entjfulj. fad with roerB n h
Iexiure nas ,Ken on a o.nerenv appear- prevIoUB one8, finishes up whatever clean-
ance. It can be dyed more easily and Is
stronger than an untreated fabric. The
microscope shows that the cotton has
undergone "morphological changes, inas
much as the lumen or central cavity is
reduced in si;'e while the fibre has lost lis
ing has not been done by the others and
makes the laps of equal weight and den
sity for delivery to the carding mschine.
The cotton fibres are arranged parallel
and formed into a porous band called a
sliver liy tne carding machine. Three
characteristic bind shape appearance and cylinders wotk together in this machine.
become milliard. or ,Bklritli lg covereu with gaw
An important application of the process let,lh, The ,eeth t,omb ,h(J a(tached
in iumu i uiik ni.iLii ucwbcu ujr nhres, delivering the loose one to the
Mercer was revived m IMS) and is still main cylinder, where the combing is car-
much used uepouuy patenieti another ried on by means of several small cylin
application or this principle in IbM. it ,,.r. Thus the cotton is passed around
has for its object the production of print and back and forth until all of tho fibres
effects on materials consisting of wool are neatly arranged in tho proper posi-
and cotlon or silk and cotton. Binding tion to be fed into a funnel, which forms
threadsareintroduced in the manufacture them into tho sliver and deposits them in
of sucli goods and then the piece is passed a can. Finer grades of cotton are handled
.t t. I.I .,!.. I- U...I I. . . .
inrougu com i-uusm. kuuh, nunncu, miu- Uy u,e combing machine, which turns
jecled to dilute sulphuric acid and washed out product similar to that of the card
again. Thi process uffects tho cotton ing machine.
but not tiie wool or silk and results in the drawing frame takes charge of the
desired puckered effect. slivers, and by its rollers attenuates the
Another application of this process was fibres, eliminating irregularilfts and
discovered by H. A. Lowe in 18sa which evening them. The first twisting of the
imparts a permanent lustre to cotton Mivers is done by the flier frame, which
goods. This lustre may be effected in also winds the cotton upon wooden spools.
two ways. Due is to treat the cotton Next there comes tho intermediato frame
when it is stretched with strong caustic to carry along the processes of combina
soda and wash it while it is still stretched. , tion, attenuation, twisting and winding,
After tho washing has lieen continued ror and those manipulations come to an end
a while it is found that the cotton has in the roving frame, which turnB out the
j acquired a gloss not unlike that of silk, , finished thread.
Tho second method differs only slightly Although tho roving frame is usually
in that the cotton is stretched after its . the last one in the process of thread-
immersion in the caustio bath, F.gyptian 1 making for spinning, where fine varus
or Sea Island cotton makea yarns which ' like those made from Egyptian and Sea
have the most brilliant lustre. They Island are to be spun a second roving
should bo twofold or multifold yarns, machine is sometimes employed. This '
because single yarns have been found one is called a jack frame. It takes the
to be only slightly improved by the proc-1 pairs of roving from the roving frame
ess, i and twists them still closer, in order that
The machine for mercerizing cotton the linol product may be line enough for
yarns consists of two superimposed strong J the use to which it is to bo put.
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FACTURERS OF FINE WOOLLENS. OFFICES 100 FIFTH AV., Nft
VORK riTV. w
Taltphona Call 607 Spring
PHILADELPHIA
Cablt Addrea: "Lobarn"
PARIS
F. A. Straus & Co.
Importers and
Manufacturers of
YARNS
93 & 95 Greene Street
MILLSl TRENTON, N. J. New York
SALESROOM :
894 Broadway, New York
ALBERT L. CUSHING, Gcn'l Mgr.
Telephone j Ciramrrcy
( 6837 )
Waterhouse
Worsted Company
Agents for
Lippltt Woolen Company
Waterhouse & Howard
Blackinton Company
New York, N. Y.
PROVIDENCE OFFICE:.
315-316 Howard Building
Telephone 714 Union
Kent
Manufacturing Co.
Manufacturers of
Fancy Worsteds and Woolens
For the
Clothing, Tailoring and
Jobbing Trade
Centreville, - - R. I.
J