CALEN DER, in the manufacture of cloth, in its limited sense, is the name of a mechanical engine used for smoothing the surface of cloth, after it has under gone the previous operations of weaving, dyeing, or bleaching. In the more extensive and general accep tation of the word, among taose who deal in cloth, a cal ender is a place where, besides smoothing the cloth, the operations of folding, papering, packing, and all others necessary to prepare it for exposure to sale, either in the home or foreign markets, are carried on.
For smoothing the superficies of cloth, two different modes are adopted : The, first is merely that degree of compression which, besides divesting the threads which compose the texture, frees the cloth from any creases or folds which it has previously received, and renders the whole surface on both sides uniform and level. The second, besides effecting this, adds a gloss to one side of the fabric ; the first is generally called dressing; the second glazing. A considerable diversity of apparatus is required for these purposes ; representations of the most important and essential parts of which will be found in Plate MTH'.
The most simple and common way of smoothing the surface of cloth, and which in sonic respects combines the two modes of acting upon it, namely, by pressure and by friction, is the common domestic smoothing iron, which acts both by pressure and friction. In the operation of the smoothing iron too, besides the me chanical operation, the effect is found to be much heightened by moderate heat, probably from the expan sion produced in the stuff of which the cloth is com posed, during the operation. For the smoothing of large surfaces of cloth, the operation of the hand-iron being much too tedious, the implement generally em ployed for the use of private families, is the common mans*, of which there are different kinds in use. One very simple in construction, and which answers the purpose very well, is represented in Fig. 1. Plate CVI II. This machine consists merely of a strong level smooth table, of a convenient height and breadth, the cover be ing stout, and of well seasoned wood, to prevent casting or warping. The cloth being smoothly spread upon this table, the box A, which is placed upon tw o smoothly turned rollers of iron, is made to roll alternately from one end of the table to the other, until the cloth is suffi ciently smoothed, when a fresh portion is spread upon the table, and the operation repeated until the whole piece has undergone the process. The floth may be very regularly and quickly drawn along the table, by unwinding- it from a roller at one end, and winding it upon a similar roller at the other. If it be desirable occasionally to employ heat, it may be easily done by casting the iron rollers of the box A hollow, and filling the cavity with small cylinders of cast iron, heated pre viously in a furnace or common lire. The motion i,
coinnumicated to the box A by two belts, cords, or chains B, 13, which, after passing over a pulley at either end of the table, are wound round the cylinder or barrel C. By turning a handle or winch \V, the barrel is moved round, and the motion communicated to the box in either direction. It will be found convenient to have two hooks suspended over the box, by which it may be lifted from the table when the cloth is to be shifted.
An apparatus of this kind may do very well for family use, or upon a small scale ; but it would be found too trifling and tedious for the operations of general busi ness, where quantity and dispatch are necessary. Fot this reason, the common live bowl calender is generally used ; and this machine is usually set in motion by the power of a horse, excepting in large manufaetorieF, where the great moNing powers, water or steam, are employed fur a variety of purposes, in which case the calendars are driven by the same power employed for other mechanical purposes.
A front elevation of the five bowl calender will be found in Fig. 4. A is the frame-work, consisting of two very strong upright posts, generally of hard wood. about 12 inches by six, and connected at the top by a strong cross piece or cape, fixed to the upright posts by screw-bolts, besides which there is usually another cross rail below ; secured in the same manner. The bowls or cylinders, five in number, arc distinguished by numerals. Of these, numbers 2 and 4 are of cast iron, very smoothly (turned, and hollow in the centre, for the purpose of admitting cylindrical pieces of iron red hot, when the calender is to be heated. The main bowl, or cylinder 3, used to be universally of wood, until the in troduction of what are called paper bowls, which, we believe, originated in Lancashire, and which have been found in every respect so much superior to the former, that they are now in very general use, although the ori ginal expence of a paper bow I is at least six times as great as that of a wooden one. The advantage of the paper bowl over the w ooden one, arises from its being perfectly free from every tendency to split or warp, to both of which the wooden one is very liable, especially when often exposed to great heat from the iron howls with which it is in contact. Independent of this, which of itself is of infinite importance, the paper takes a very smooth fine polish when turned ; and by pressing into every pore of the cloth, smooths its surface much more effectually than any cylinder of wood, Bowater truly turned.