the auxiliary machines for the treatment of flax the two brakes shown in Figures 7 and S (f/. 41) are especially charac teristic. After the destruction by the retting process of the gummy matter uniting the fibres with the stem these brakes serve to crack, at short inter vals, the woody portions of the flax-stem, so that their complete removal can be readily accomplished by the beating- or seutching-machine. In Fig ure 7 the breaker consists of two rows or groups of cast-iron levers, which move toward each other with an oscillating motion, so that their edges slightly pass over one another and the flax-stems held between them are broken. Figure 8 represents Guild's breaking-machine, whose effective portion consists of two pairs of fluted rollers, between which the flax stems, spread out upon a table, have to pass.
scutch is an implement employed for dressing flax or hemp. By its use the fibre is entirely freed from the woody core. Scutch ing is done by hand or by scutching-mills driven by water or by steam power. A variety of machines and processes has been introduced for the purpose of economizing labor and of improving the fibre of the flax, both with reference to cleanliness and to the production of the least amount of scutching-tow.
flax fibres, thus freed from the woody portions, are subsequently subjected to the so-called "hackling" process, by which the long fibres (" line") are separated from the short fibres (" tow"). By piecing together separate lengths the long flax is converted in a very sim ple manner into an endless tape or ribbon, while for working the tow there is used the carding-engine, which is the universal machine for converting all short-fibred material (requiring spinning) into a uniform roving, which can then be readily twisted into a thread.
producing the silk-thread neither roving nor carding ma chines are necessary, since the thread is spun by the silkworm around itself when it enters the pupa or chrysalis state, and for textile purposes needs only to be unwound from the cocoon.
cocoons, after the chrysalides they contain have been killed either by dry heat, exposure to steam, or in water heated to about zoo° Palm, are sorted and submitted to the reeling process, in preparation for which a number are thrown into a basin of warm water, in order to soften the gummy envelope of the fibres and to permit their ready separa tion from the cocoon. During the reeling process two threads, composed of an equal number of fibres, are passed separately through two perforated agate guides. After being crossed at a given point they are again sepa rated and passed through a second pair of guides, and next through the distributing guides to the reel, from which they arc taken off in banks ready for market.
using reeled silk for textile purposes two or more of the threads are " together and slightly twisted. In this manner are produced the various kinds of silks known as " organ zine," "train," "embroidery," "sewing," etc.
The next process is what is known as " shaking out," whose object is to beat out or open out the hanks that they may present a uniform appear ance. Following is the "stringing" process, which is performed either by hand or by machine, and whose object is to complete the separation of the double silk fibre into its constituent fibres and to impart to them an additional lustre. Some silks which require a special lustre arc subse quently subjected to a special process, known as "silk lnstring." This is effected by submitting the hanks to a gentle stretching between two pol ished steel rollers enclosed in a cast-iron box. During the rotation of the cylinders steam is admitted at a moderate temperature.