Comparatively recent improvements have made the operations of scribbling, card ing, and slabbing continuous, mainly through the introduction of Apperly's patent feeder, and of a modification of the carding-machine called a condenser, which does away with the use of the slubbing-billy; so that what with the older machines is three separate processes, with the newer may be said to be only one. Each of the foregoing operations occasions a certain amount of waste" wool, which is worked up again into inferior moods. It was, in fact, to such waste that the name shoddy was origin ally applied. the spinning process, the warp yarns, having to bear the strain of the loom, are made in a different way from those for the weft, and they are besides hard ened with size.
The difference between woolen and worsted fabrics is owina. in great part to the way the yarn for each is spun. Yarn for woolen cloth is very owing twisted, so as to leave the fibers as free as possible for the felting process; worsted yarn, on the contrary, is hard spun, and made into a much stronger thread. On account of the feebleness of woolen yarn, it is more difficult to weave it by power-looms than either worsted, cotton, linen, or silk.
Woolen cloth is now woven chiefly by power-looms. See Loot and WEAVING. 'When the cloth is taken from the loom, it has a bare look, and is called the rate thread. It first requires to be brayed or scoured, to remove the oil added to the wool before spin and the size added to the -warp. This is done by immersing it in some ammonia cal 'detergent liquid, such as urine and hog's dung, and squeezing it between rollers, or beating it in the fulling-stocks, and then rinsing it in clean water. The cloth then passes to the burler, who removes any knots or burls, and helps any imperfections. The next process to which it is subject is the nulling or fulling and it is a very important one. In some mills this is still done by beating the cloth in the which are heavy wooden mallets, raised by wheels with projecting cams; but a newer fulling :machine lies come into use, in which the cloth is felted by passing it in a confined space between heavy rollers. With either machine, a thick solution of soap is used, and in the fulling-stocks an ordinary broadcloth will take 60 hours to mill, but a considerably shorter time suffices in the fulling-machine. The result of the operation is that the fibres of wool become so interlocked—so thoroughly felted—as to leave no appearance of thread. The shrinkage of the cloth in the milling is sometimes nearly a half in the width, and about a fourth in the length. Another scouring follows the milling, and after that the nap or pile of the cloth is raised by teasels (q.v.). These curious thistle
like heads are set in frames, which are arranged upon a large cylinder—the whole 9 paratus being called a As the cylinder revolves, the spines of the teasels raise the nap, which is afterward cut by a process termed shearing. For this purpose, a cut machine with spiral blades arranged round an iron cylinder, is used; and when it revolves, the spiral cutters, acting against a straight steel blade, shear off the nap of the fabric like scissors. The cloth is then boiled, or " scalded," to impart a luster to it, and to prevent spotting with rain. After this it is dyed (if this is not previously dove in the wool), and it is pressed between polished iron plates in a powerf til hydraulic press. With respect to the dyeing of black cloth, it may be as well to explain that the term wooded colors, so commonly used in the trade, originally meant that woad (q.v.) was used in conjunction with indigo as the basis of the color—a combination uhieh produces the best and most durable color. Of late years. however, the name has been applied to the color of the fabric when indigo itself has been used as its basis. It is only the finest cloths that are now dyed in either of these ways—loa-wood, a salt of iron, and galls being much more generally employed to produce a black.
Names are given to various kinds of woolen cloths according to the style in which they are finished, the special material of which they are .made, and the purpose for which they are intended. Broadcloths are classed into perfines." miming from 54 to 62 in. wide; "mediums," from 54 to 58 in.; "double milled," from 54 to 56 in.; and Venetians, which are twilled fabrics, from 54 to 58 inches. The general term broad cloth also includes the, following varieties, which, for the most part, have less hip..-hly finished surfaces—viz.: meltons, weaver, pilots, cloakings, china striped cloths, India cloths, elastics, lusters, and union cloths which have cotton warps and woolen wk fts. Narrow cloths, which average about 27 in. wide, include cassimeres, a thin, fine, twilled fabric; doeskin, also twilled, a strong, smooth-finished, sometimes, treble-milled cloth, now usually dyed black for trouserings; tweeds (q.v.), which have very much taken the place of fancy doeskins; and several other varieties. Then there are special kinds both broad and narrow—such as army cloths, rifle cloths, police cloth, upholstery cloth, carriage cloth, coffin cloths, and many more. Flannels, blankets, and some kinds of shawls, arc also included among woolen goods.