THREAD AND YARN. The distinction between thread and yarn is such as to render it desirable to describe them together under the present howling.
Yarn is the general name given to the threads which are woven intc the various kinds of textile fabrics, whether cotton, silk, flax, hemp, wool, or worsted ; the terms twist, mule-weft, organzine, tram, abb, &c., being particular names applied to particular sorts. Yarn foi cotton-weaving is of two distinct kinds, according as it is intended for warp or weft ; each kind being varied to suit different fabrics. Water twist or throstle-pra (the first name having been derived from the water.frame by which this kind of yarn was formerly spun, and the second from the throstle now employed) is smooth and wiry, and i4 usually employed for warp in heavy goods, such as fustian, corduroys or for making sewing-thread. Mule-yarn (named from the mule =chino by which it is spun) is of a soft and downy nature, calculated for tin weft in coarse goods, and for both warp and weft in finer fabrics. Th4 ;pun yarn is distinguished by certain numerals, which indicate the lumber of hanks contained in one pound, each hank consisting of 840 yards of yarn. The two kinds of machines are adapted for different numbers; thus, the throstle is not now often employed for yarns finer than No. 30 or 40, the higher numbers being generally spun by the mule. By successive improvements in the machinery employed, yarn 4s now spun to an exquisite degree of fineness, several hundred miles of yarn being spun from one pound of cotton. The excellence and cheapness of the yarn spun by modern machinery has led to very large exports. Flax-yarn is not estimated by No., like cotton, but by terms peculiar to that branch of spinning. Three hundred yards form a lea of flax-yarn; 38 leas form a spindle ; 6 leas form a rand ; 72 leas, or 21,600 yards, or 12 rands, form a dozen. There is this difference, how ever : in Scotland, flax yarn is designated by the number of lbs. in 48 leas ; thus the same yarn is known in England as No. 48, and in Scotland as 1 lb. yarn. Iu the process of preparation by spinning,
the flax becomes separated into two qualities, the finer obtaining the name of line, and the coarser that of tow ; and the yarn spun from these two qualities is applied to different purposes. Modern improve ments have led to the production of such fine qualities of line, that it is now used in combination with silk in pocket handkerchiefs and other fabrics. With regard to hemp, besides the yarn employed for weaving into sacking and other coarse goods, the term yarn is applied in rope-making in a different sense. , The yarn in this case is a loose kind of string or cord, and it receives a No. according to the number of such strings required in making ropes three inches in circumference ; thus, Nos. 18, 20, or 25 imply such thicknesses of yarn that 18, 20, or 25 of them are required in making a rope of the dimensions just stated. Silk-yarn has names applied to it not known in the examples just given. The silk is imported as a fine filament, or in the state of raw silk ; it is twisted as a means of giving it greater firmness of texture, and then obtains the name of singles ; two fila ments are twisted together rather loosely, and formed into a yarn called tram, which commonly forms the weft or cross-threads of manu factured goods ; lastly, two or more filaments are twisted separately into hard singles, and then twisted together in an opposite direction, forming a strung silken yarn called organzzne, used generally for warp. Silk yaru in the form of tram or organzine, that is, ready for the weaver, is called thrown silk. Yarn made from wool is called woollen or worsted, according as it is formed from short or from long wool, from clothing or from combing wooL The former of these is so spun that the elementary fibres shall be in a fit state for felting or fulling; while the latter has the filaments ranged more nearly parallel. The worsted yarns are further divided into the coarse and the fine, according as they are to be used fur hosiery or for such goods as mousseline-dc laMes, fine mcrinoes, &c.