SHODDY, in origin probably a factory term and first applied to the waste thrown off or "shed" during the process of wool manufacture. It is now the name given to a special type of fab ric made from remanufactured materials, i.e., materials which have already been spun into yarn and woven into cloth but have been torn up or "ground up" (as this operation is termed tech nically) into a fibrous mass, and respun and rewoven. The term "shoddy" is sometimes applied to all fabrics made of such reman ufactured materials, of which there are many types, such as "mungos," "extracts," "flocks," etc., but strictly it should be con fined to a cloth produced from fabrics originally made from Eng lish and the longer cross-bred wools. Mungo is produced from fabrics originally made from Botany and short fine wools; ex tract is the wool fibre obtained from goods originally composed of wool and cotton from which the cotton has been "extracted" by sulphuric acid or some other agent ; and flocks mostly come from milling, raising and cropping machines.
The operations of converting rags, tailors' clippings, etc., into these remanufactured materials are as follows : dusting, to ren der the subsequent operations as healthy and agreeable as pos sible; seaming, i.e., taking out every little bit of sewing thread
(unless the rags are for extracting) in order that a good "spin" may result ; sorting into the various qualities and colours; oiling, to cause the fibres to glide upon one another, and thus separate so far as possible without breakage ; and finally grinding, i.e., tear ing up into a fibrous mass which may be readily spun into threads. The last-named operation is usually spoken of as "grinding," but really it is more of a teasing-out operation, the object being to preserve the length of the fibre so far as possible. The remanufac tured materials are necessarily very short in fibre, so that it is usually necessary to mix, i.e., "blend," some better material with them to carry the bulk through the machines into the yarn. With this object in view, sometimes good wool or noils (the short from combing), but more often cotton, is employed. The yarns thus spun are in the majority of cases woven into pieces as weft yarns, the warps usually being cotton ; but there are some exceptions, a good mungo blend being readily woven as warp. (See also YARN.)