The public taste has changed very much of late years with respect to the finish of woolen cloths. Formerly, a firm, close, and hard fabric, with a highly-dressed or glossy surface, was in demand; now, a softer and more pliable finish, without gloss, is in favor. Foreign manufacturers think, however, that a soft, rich, elastic cloth is apt to lose in strength what it gains in appearance, and do not finish so highly as the English. The desire for fancy woolens is another marked feature of the taste of the present day, and compels manufacturers to expend considerable sums in the preparation of designs and colors. It has also led to the enlargement of old, and the establishment of new art schools in both the woolen and worsted centers in Yorkshire.
Of all the changes, however, which the present generation has witnessed in this trade. the most remarkable is doubtless the production of cheap cloths by the use of shoddy; although cotton warps have also done much in the same direction. Prepared shoddy is obtained, for the most part, by tearing up woolen rags by a swift, with ten or twelve thousand iron spikes upon it, revolving inside an iron cylinder. Shoddy now enters to a greater or less extent into the composition of all but the very finest woolen cloths. It began to be used about 60 years ago, but the prejudice against it is scarcely yet overcome. In spite of this feeling, it has become so necessary that to stop the sup ply would be to shut one-third of the woolen mills in the kingdom. The excellent finish now given to woolen cloths containing a large proportion of shoddy, and also cloths !with cotton warps. is quite surprising; and., moreover, their cheapness has brought com fortable clothing within the reach of the humblest classes. Cloths with too large an amount of shoddy in them are easily torn; but if a judicious admixture of pure wool has been employed, they wear comparatively well. Formerly, the only use of woolen rags was to make flocks for wall-papers, for saddlers' stuffing, and some minor pur poses, the greater part being used as manure.
In the British islands, the various branches of the woolen manufacture are very extensively diffused. According to a factory return made in 1871, it was carried on in 22 counties of England, 12 of Wales, 27 of Scotland, and 16 of Ireland. The principal seat of the manufacture of superfine broadcloth is the west of England—Gloucestershire and Wiltshire especially—where it has existed for centuries. But Yorkshire is the great se .t of the woolen manufacture, if we take in all the kinds, Leeds and Huddersfield being the great centers. One-half of all the operatives in the woolen factories of the kingdom are employed in Yorkshire, and here, too, the trade has increased most rap idly, both in the last and in the present century, owing mainly, it is believed, to the success of manufacturers in producing cheap goods. Blankets are made chiefly at Witney, in .Afordshire; at Dewsbury, in Yorkshire; and some places in the south of Scotland. Hall. ix and the surrounding district is the chief center for flannels, lint they are also ^lade chiefly in Wales. In Scotland, the woolen manufacture is a very i extensive one, hut it has, for the most part, been already described under TWEEDS.
This does not give a full idea of the vast number of persons to whom this great industry gives employment, but only those engaged in spinning and weaving. A very large
-lumber are occupied in sorting and stapling, and other operations before the wool goes to the mills and factories, and also in dyeing and scouring it, either as wool or as woolen yarn and cloth; and in many districts much work is done by hand-lOom workers in their cottages None of these come under the operations of the factory act, and are conse quently omitted in the returns.
The imports of woolen and worsted yarns (not distinguished iu the returns) were in 1861, 1,577,000 lbs.; in 1877, 14,109,586 lbs. The exports of woolen and worsted goods in 1872 and 1377 were as follows: Woolen and worsted yarns, 39,734,924 lbs. in 1872, and 26,972,536 in 1877; woolen and worsted cloths, etc., 385,703,913 yards in 1872, and 238,902,940 in 1877; flannels, blankets, carpets, etc., 26,830,023 yards in 1872, and 23,538.896 in 1877. The total value was £37,028,628 in 1872, and £20,952,659 in 1877. The progress of the woolen manufacture has been less rapid and extensive than that of other textile fabrics, which is believed to be owing to its processes being more numerous and complex, to the greater variety of machines and of work-people required, and to the high price of the raw material.
'Worsted Manufacture.—Worsted yarn, as has been already said, is spun in a different way from woolen yarn. In the former the fibers are arranged as parallel as possible; in the latter they are crossed in every direction so as to assist the felting or milling of the cloth. For worsted the wool is first combed, and this was formerly done by hand-combs, a process which has only recently been entirely given up. The introduction of machines i for combing wool has formed quite an epoch in the worsted trade. They are of two kinds—those used for combing long, and those used for combing short wool. Heil mann's machine, made in 1846, was the first which did its work successfully. Lister's machine, now much used for combing long-stapled wool, is an improvement upon Heil mann's. It is shown stripped of some of its details in the annexed cut. At G there is a series of gill-combs, which, by means of a screw on the upper gill-shaft S, travels from ?eft to right, and as each gill-comb reaches the jaws J, J, it drops to the lower shaft 3', which has also a screw. On this the gill-combs travel in the opposite direction, et ch being in turn raised to the upper gill-shaft by a cam. These gill-combs, which arc healed by gas, are thus traveling in a circuit so to speak. The arrangement of toothed gearing by which the movements of the machine are regulated, we shall pass over, and trace the course of the wool. It is fed to the grooved rollers R, from which it passes to the gill-combs at G. As each gill travels forward to the jaws 4, J, these close, detach from it a " handful " of wool, and move forward on their frame F to the position shown by the dotted lines. At the same instant the carrier-comb N' takes up the position shown also by dotted lines, lifts from the now opened jaws the "handful" of wool, and carries it forward to the large circular comb C, into the teeth of which it is pressed by the brush B. The comb C moves slowly round to the right till leather bands and roll ers at Z, Z, remove the combed wool or " top" in a continuous sliver. Another arrange ment strips the comb of the " noil " or short wool.