quently m furniture, baskets or baby carriage bodies. Wicker fibre can be made in endless strands. thus doing away with unsightly ends. Wicker fibre originates, late paper.
from the forest with fir and pine proving the most satisfactory.wood, although almost any kind can be used. After the trees have been cut and the logs sent to the paper mills a pulp is formed. (See PAres). This pulp becomes paper and is cut into ribbons of various widths. These reels of paper ribbon are run through baths of casein glue for poses of preservation and toughening.
the ribbons enter twisting devices running 5,01:0 revolutions per minute. Sometimes wire cen tres are used but usually pure paper fibre U manufactured. The twisted paper ribbon dried on large drums and then ready for wav ing. After being woven the shaped article is dried and painted from two to four times with enamel or shellac. These various treatments make the fibre absolutely impervious to water sunshine and other weather conditions.
Methods of Hand weaving =sr have been the only method used in bilihal days, so far as wicker weaving is concerned. for there is no mention of any machine being used. The biblical method consisted of wear ing two strands at right angles to each other. considerably or exactly like textile weaving (See TEXTILE I ttnusrev). When wicker was to be woven a frame was made and the up. right strands or weft attached to it Then the warp was interlaced through the weft The method has been handed down through all ages and through all peoples until to-day. Many men have tried to change the method of the biblical days but failed. More tried to use the same method and weave wicker on machines like textiles are woven. But all of these in ventors, save one, were doomed to failure. Marshall B. Lloyd of Menominee, Mich., spanned the gap of centuries by changing the method of weaving before trying to make a machine loom which would do the weaving. Instead of attaching either the weft or warp to the frame of the article desired, he found a way of weaving the wicker independent of the frame and then attaching the wicker-work to the frame. Any of the modern wickers lend themselves to his method. Later he produced a machine known as the Lloyd Loom, which weaves the wicker 30 times faster than the most expert hand weaver can and with far greater superiority. The loom also lends itself to weav ing any kind of wicker strand. The Lloyd Loom requires that the weft be attached to a drum. The warp is fed through a station ary shuttle after being made more or less continuous by connecting the ends of vari ous pieces of wicker or by making con tinuous wicker fibre. The average baby-car riage body of endless wicker fibre is usually woven on the loom in 18 minutes, while a hand weaver would require an entire day of nine working hours to accomplish the same results. And even then his work would not be nearly as smooth and beautiful. This is due to mechanical exactness in weaving as com pared with human lack of exactness, as is very evident when the old home-spun textiles are compared with modern machine-woven products.
The weaving of cane for chair scats, etc., has been in vogue for 25 years. This kind of weav ing is called flat weaving and requires no shap ing as does furniture, baby carriages and baskets. Hence, the early solution of its mechanical weaving problems.
Baby The 'de velopment of the baby carriage has been slow. The first "baby carriages" were merely baskets like that in which Moses was found. The American Indian mother with her papoose strapped on her back, either in skins or in woven articles, according to weather condi tions, originated another form of the "baby carriage.° While there is no authentic data to show the development of the baby carriage yet it is taken for granted that when man put wheels under a sledge, thus making a wagon, he conceived the idea which led to the modern wagon, baby carriage, train and even the auto mobile. The first form of a baby carriage was a basket with a wheel on either side. Then came the elaborate chariot-like carriage but still with only two wheels. The latter came into prominence in the 18th century. Early in the 19th century the baby carriage took the shape of the average toy express wagon with four solid wood wheels. Then came the collapsible carts which could be folded up into a small article. Wicker-woven carriages regained prominence in • the 20th century, and to-day they dominante. Most of them are made of beauti fully woven bodies or baskets. The finer the strand the more even the weaving, and the greater the cost to the ultimate purchaser. The bodies are set on steel springs which are either air or oil tempered, the latter _pro ducing more resiliency and solidity. Four wheels, two on either side, made of wood or wire and with rubber tires, a woven hood or top, a storm shield, smooth and soft upholster ing and wheel brakes complete the carriage.
These articles have been made ever since biblical days, as shown in the above Bible references. There has been little advancement in the art. The usual wickers described above have been and are being used.
Bible gives very little information on what sort of furniture was used at that time. It is said that the early Egyptians wove bedsteads of wicker-work, but what the make-up of the wicker was is not known. In 1650 a few chairs were made of wicker, while in 1711 wicker and cane chairs seem to have secured considerable general usage. In the 16th century the Hollanders made heavy wooden chairs and used woven cane or rush scats. The 19th century found chairs made of wicker willow and wicker reed. Tables, davenports, desks and bedroom furni ture later were made of various kinds of wicker. The high cost of weaving, great waste of mate rial, numerous short unsightly ends, combined with the lack of wearing and weather-proofing qualities kept the quantity of wicker-woven fur niture to a very low ebb when compared with the vast volume of furniture, made and used in the world.