HAIR MANUFACTURES. These consist of fabrics woven or felted of various kinds of hair ; brushes made of particular kinds of hair ; and ornamental hair-work.
Woven Fabrics.—The most important in this country is the horse-hair cloth so exten sively used for covering the seats of chairs, couches, and other articles of furniture ; this is made of the long hair of horses' tails. As the hair is of such various colors, it is necessary to dye all the darker shades so as to produce a uniform glossy black ; this is done by logwood and sulphate of iron (copperas) in the following manner: The hair must first be cleansed and deprived of its grease by soaking it in lime-water for a clay ; it is then transferred to the dye-vat, which is thus prepared for a hundredweight of hair. Sufficient water to fill a boiler large enough to receive the hair, is boiled with CI) lbs. of cut logwood for three hours, after which it is suffered to cool, when 2 lbs. of copperas are added. This constitutes the bath, as it is called ; and the hair, after being removed from the lime-water, and well washed in soft-water, either rain or river, is immersed in it for 24 hours ; it is then removed, and again washed, to free it from the superfluous dye, dried, and shaken out ready for use. Perfectly white horse-hair can be dyed vari ous colors, and is well adapted to receive the brighter ones, hence it has been much used of late years to produce ornamental hair-cloth, which are in great request abroad, especially in South America. The weaving of horse-hair cloth is different from that of other tissues, in consequence of the shortness of the hair, which, for the same reason, can only be used for the weft except in the open or sieve cloth which is only made in small squares for the sieve-makers. Each hair has to be worked singly, and the loom reqUires two persons to work it. The warp used is either worsted, cotton, or linen yarn, generally the last, The hairs for the weft are kept wet by the side of the weaver, and are handed to him one by one. IIe receives them on a kind of hook at the end of his shuttle, the hook catching a knot tied by the attendant child who hands the hair. In
other respects, the weaving differs little in its general character from that ordinarily employed for other fabrics. When the web is completed, it is dressed by calendering, which gives it a smooth and glossy surface. It is to be regretted that the popular taste in Great Britain does not turn to the ornamental kinds, which are not only very beauti ful, but are durable and easily cleaned. The true crinoline cloth, for ladies' dresses, etc., was at first made of horse-hair, usually the white kind ; but the immense demand led to the introduction of Agave or Atoe fiber, which soon supplantcal it for most pur poses, except the maimfaCture of boithets, for which it is largelyetnployed both as a material for the body of the bonnet and also as a trimming. The trade in crinoline trimming in Switzerland and France is large, and considerable quantities are imported into Britain. Horse-hair is twisted into thick yarn, and woven into sacking in the i ordinary way, in Anatolia and Boumelia ; and cow-hair is worked up into a rough yarn, and is woven into carpets in Germany ; and in Norway is made into socks by the peas ants. Pig's hair is similarly employed in China ; and amongst the natives of the Hudson's Bay territories, dog's hair is used for the same purpose. The goat's hair of Thibet and Persia, and the camel's hair used in weaving, belong rather to the true wools, and will be treated of under WooL.
The difference between hair and wool depends chiefly upon the greater or less smooth ness of the surface of each fiber, hence the hairs which are smoothest cannot easily be felted, for if brought into contact, they have no projections of the surface to keep them from slipping away from each other ; but some of the hairs proper, by a little prepara tion, may be so roughened as to fit them for felting. Thus, coney wool, or the hair of rabbits and hares, if properly moistened with a solution of nitrate of mercury, loses its straight and smooth character in drying, and is then readily felted.