MOSAIC WOOL, or Woof. Mosito, is a remarkable application of the principle of mosaic-work to the production of woolen or worsted rugs and carpets, having a definite design or pattern, independent of the ordinary processes of printing, and weaving. Many attempts in this direction have been made, chiefly on the continent; but the moat successful is that of Messrs. Crossley, in whose extensive carpet factory at Halifax the mosaic wool is produced as a regular department of manufacture.
In the 'first place, weil-spun worsted threads are dyed to every color and almost every shade or tint, amounting to a hundred varities in all. An artist prepares a full-sized drawing of the pattern or design, ruled all over with cross-lines; this is copied omlined paper by girls, each of whom takes as much of the pattern as will fill a square foot. A workman (or woman) having a good eye for color, examines each square piece of draw ing in detail, and selects the proper color of thread suitable to every portion of it; the threads are a little over 200 in. long each, or about 17 ft., and are numerous enough to pack closely together into a mass of one sq. ft. in width and depth. A strong iron framework, 17 ft. long, is so arranged that all these threads can be stretched on it horizontally, tied at one end, and weighted with 4 lbs. to each thread at the other. Girls, under the direction of the workwoman who selects the colors, arrange these threads one by one, tying them at one end, weighting them at the other, and supporting them on a steel bar in the middle. This being done, the mass of 17 ft. in length is cut up into blocks of 20 in. long each, for convenience in after-operations. All these pro cesses are for one sq. ft. only of the pattern, and they have to he repeated as many times as there are sq. ft. in it. Supposing a rug 6 ft. by 2, with a lion, tiger, or other device occupying the greater part of the surface: there must be 12 masses prepared, and as each mass contains 50,000 threads, there will be 600,000 altogether. Blocks are cut from each
mass, and are placed in an iron box or frame, side by side; thus forming a quadrangular solid 6 ft. by 2, and 20 in. deep, with the threads arranged vertically. Now, to convert this into a great number of separate rugs, the pattern of which is seen represented on the upper surface, formed by the ends of the colored threads. india-rubber is dissolved in camphine to the consistence of carpenter's glue, and brushed well over the top: so that every individual thread shall receive its portion; this being dried, a second coating is applied; and afterwards a third. A backing of canvas, or of seine kind of strong cloth, is cemented down upon tlie,mass of threads by a glue of the kiud, and is scraped ant rubbed until it adheres to every individual fiber. When dry, the mass of threads is raised up three-sixteenths of an inch, by a screw acting upon a movable bottom to the box. A very keen circular emitter, 12 ft. in diameter, and rotating 170 times per minute, quickly severs a horizontal slice three-sixteenths of an inch thick, the box of threads being caused by an endless screw to travel onward to meet the cutter. This slice when turned up, presents the picture complete, in a beautifully soft nap, or pile of woolen threads, supported by a canvas or woolen backing. It is a mere question of hand-work to convert this into a rug, carpet, coverlet, or wrapper of any kind. A second repetition of the same processes converts another slice into a second rug; and so on, until the mass of 20 in. in depth has been cut up into about a hundred slices, each forming one rug. As the blocks of 20 in. were originally cut from a mass of 200 in., the whole mass pro duces about a thousand rugs, all exactly the same pattern. It is this power of repetition which makes the process pay; for the great preparatory labor of selecting and arranging (say) 600,000 distinct threads could not otherwise be compensated for.