When the ends of the fibres have been thus raised to the surface, they are next ahrared or cropped, a process of great beauty and singu Lathy. Originally this process was performed by means of large hand shears, the cloth being stretched over a stuffed table, and the workman proceeding to clip the ends of the fibres in a regular and equable manner. This was an operation requiring great dexterity ; and the men who worked at it being in the receipt of good wages, were so But the machines became by degrees extensively employed. They consisted each of a pair of shears, as in the hand-method ; but all the movements were effected by machinery. More recently a machine has been introduced, the action of which is regulated on a different principle, as will be seen from the annexed cut : b bb are disk-formed cutters, working against a thin bar of steel, a a a, of a semicircular form ; which cutters in their revolution travel round against the edge of the bar or blade in such a way as to shave off the filaments standing up on the surface of the cloth beneath. The cloth is represented by the shaded part. The wheel c cc, set in motiou by machinery, imparts action to the circular cutters attached to it through the medium of the rack d d. It is easy to see that, whether the machine travels along over the cloth, or the cloth travels along beneath the machine, every part of the fibrous surface is acted upon in precisely the same way by the double rotation of the wheel and the disk-cutters. There are other shearing machines in use, of equal ingenuity.
When the cloth has been raised and sheared (which operations are repeated two or three times for superfine cloth), it is brushed by a machine consisting of a system of brushes affixed to cylinders ; the cloth being exposed at the same time to the action of the brushes and of steam. A few subsequent operations are carried on, having for their object the imparting of smoothness, gloss, &c. to the cloth, pre paratory to its being placed in the hands of the dealers.
We have described most of the manufacturing operations in their simpler forms, for more ready comprehension ; but it is well to bear in mind that new machines and new processes are being continually brought into this department of industry. A meeting of Leeds woollen manufacturers took place in 1860, to examine a new French machine invented by MM. Tavernier and Vouillon, "to convert slivers or rovings, as they came from the carding-engine, into threads suitable for weaving, by felting and friction, without any spinning process." It was declared that " many gold medals had been awarded in France for the invention ; that many of the machines were at work ; that no oil or size is necessary as a dressing ; and that 30 per cent. of wool is saved." So far as we are aware, this favourable description failed to make the intended impression ou the manufacturers. Many of the recent novelties in the trade relate to the employment of cotton for warp-threads, and of rag-wool mixed with new wool for weft ; a sub ject briefly noticed under SHODDY MANUFACTURE. One inventor has brought into use a machine called a combiner, by which, when attached to the carding-engine, the wool is brought off iu a continuous sliver wound on cylinders, ready to be conveyed to the spinning-machine. Mr. Archibald, of Tillicoultry, in 1858, introduced a machine for piecing the lengths of carded wool as they leave the carding-engine, and forming them into a continuous length or roving ; the rolls drop into reversing channels, and thence to travelling belts, which convey them to a machine where they are connected into a length more uni formly than in the ordinary way. Without noticing the almost num berless new machines and processes, we may just mention a very curious process, patented by Messrs. Tolson and Irving, for imparting a metallic lustre to fine woollen cloth. The cloth, either in the yarn or when woven, is steeped in a solution of sulphate or oxide of copper, lead, or bismuth, and then exposed to steam charged with sulphurctted hydro gen gas, by which a metallic deposition takes place.
Other matters relating to the manufacture of woollen cloth will come under notice presently.
Worsted or Stuff Manufacture.—The long wools for worsted fabrics, not being felted or fulled, pass through a series of operations different from those hitherto noticed ; since the object iu view is rather to lay the fibres in a parallel position than to twist and entangle them one among another. All combing-wools are longer in fibre than the cloth ing-wools, but they are subject to the division into long and short combing wools ; the long, varying from six to twelve inches in length, being used principally for coarse worsted goods ; and the short, from four to seven inches, being used for hosiery and some other purposes.
After the wool has been sorted, cashcd, and scoured from the adherent grease, and dried in a heated room, it is carried to a machine called a plucker, containing a pair of spiked rollers, by the action of which the wool is cleansed, separated, and the fibres straightened, preparatory to the process of combing. In hand-combing, which, until modern times, was the only mode followed, and which is rather laborious work, the proceedings are somewhat as follow :—The comber is provided alarmed at the introduction of shearing-machines, in the early part of the present century, that serious riots Oc mrred in the west of Englund, with a pair of combs such as are here represented, a comb-post to which to attach the combs, and a comb-pot or stove for heating the teeth. Each comb consists of two or three rows of steel teeth, b, one row longer than the other, Inserted in a wooden stock or head, e, from which protrudes a handle, d, at right angles to the direction of the teeth. The workman first heats the teeth of one of the combs In the stove, and fixes it in the post, teeth uppermost. lie then takes a small handful of wool, consisting of about four ounces, sprinkles it with oil to increase the pliancy and ductility of the filaments, and works it about between his hands to equaliso the oil on every part of the fibres. The comber then takes half the bundle of oiled wool, and dashes it on the upturned teeth of the comb, till It is all deposited there, and caught between the teeth sufficiently firm to be retained. The comb with its wool is placed, points downwards, in the stove ; and the comber next fixes the other heated comb in the comb-post, lays the other half of the bundle of wool on it, and places this likewise in the stove. When both combs with their supply of wool are properly warmed, the comber holds one of them over his knee with his left hand, while seated on a low stool, and with the other comb, held in his right hand, he combs the wool upon the first, by introducing the points of the teeth of one comb into the wool contained in the other, and drawing them through it. This is repeated till the fibres are laid parallel. The wool which remains uncombed on the teeth, and which constitutes about one eighth of the length of the fibres, is unfit for spinning into worsted, and is consequently applied to other purposes. In machine combing, the apparatus sometimes consists of two wheels of large diameter, like the one here sketched, having wires placed round the circumference, parallel with the axis, and pointed at one end so as to act like teeth. A buy, sitting on the ground, strikes wool on the points of the teeth in one wheel, so as to make it adhere to and betweeu them. The two wheels are then made to rotate, the distance between them being such that the teeth of the one can draw through or comb the wool lying on the teeth of the other. This is effected with great rapidity ; and when the combing is completed, the top or combed worsted is taken off by a boy or girl in a continuous sliver from the upper part of the wheel, while the soils or uncombed part is removed by another boy.