The singed greys enter at the end S of the house, travel gradually, while going through the various processes and machinery, to the end W, and thence pass out in the bleached state, to be opened and dried elsewhere.
The " limeing machine" L consists essentially of a pair of heavy wooden squeezing bowls or roll*, set over a wooden trough fitted up with rollers ; the set or pressure on the bowls is just suffieient to express excess of liquor, and thus prevent annoyance to the workmen when the pieces leave the machine. The pieces pass spirally through this machine, so that they are drawn four or five times (the more the better) between the squeezing rollers and through the milk of lime with which the trough is filled, thereby getting thoroughly saturated with the liquid. The dimensions of the trough are about 31 ft. by 4 ft , depth 3 ft. W W are the washing machines, very similar in construction to the limeing machine, but much larger, the dimensions being about 9 ft. by 4 ft., depth 4i ft. Figs. 311 and 315 give representations of this machine. A round roller R is fixed at a few inches from the bottom of the water-trough B below, the latter being provided with a plug hole for emptying it, and two holes about a foot from the top at the sides for overflow. Two pieces simultaneously enter such a machine, at each end, and pass between the two squeezing bowls A A, down under the roller below, and up through the squeezing bowls again several times, being caused by guide pegs C to travel spirally towards the centre, and out. At the point of exit, the bowls are wrapped with a little lapping, to give the pieces an extra squeeze ; a con stant good supply of clean water flows into the trough at E, the overflow taking place where the pieces enter. To guide the pieces into the machine, there are two strong brass rings or " straining eyes "‘ S, fixed to the framework above, but capable of being turned more or less obliquely, to give the proper degree of tension to the pieces on ent,ering, a matter which must be well attended to, to avoid tearing the cloth, which is apt to occur if it is too slack ; if too tight, on the other hand, the washing is not so complete. G is the water main, and W are the screws, levers, and weights for regulating the pressure of the squeezing bowls against each other. C (Fig. 311) is the " chemicking machine,'' containing, when in use, a weak solution of bleaching powder or " chemick," and S S are the souring machines, in which the pieces are treated with dilute acid. Both these machines are identiccil in construction and method of working with the washing machines ; they are, however, not quite so large, aaad the trough or pit below is made of stone instead of wood. The dimensions of the trough are about 6 ft. by 41 ft., depth 31 ft. For a final
washing, the machine F W is excellent ; it is known as Furneval's square beater, of which Fig. 316 is an enlarged section. In this, the pieces travel spirally as in the other machines ; the water trough below, however, is much shallower, and larger in artificial area : 51 ft. by 10 ft., depth 11 ft. It is fitted with two rollers, a square one A, immediately below the squeezing bowls ; and a round one B with six ribs, at the other end. The square roller or " beater " revolves in a direction contrary to that of the pieces, whioh thus receive a violent flapping motion while moving in a state of tension along the surface of the water. In this manner, particles of dirt from the feet of the workmen, or which may have fallen accidentally on the pieces while piled on the floor, are effeotually cleansed away. It may be remarked here that the floor of the bleaching house shonld be flagged, or of vitrified tiles, but never of wood ; the roof should be well ventilated, especially immediately above tbe bleaching kiers. The " soda ash cistern," A, is a cast-iron tank 6 ft.
by 3 ft. 10 in., depth 5 ft., capacity about 720 gallons, equal to 12 gallons per inch of depth. It serves for dissolving and holding in stock eoda ash solution, made to etand about 50° Tw., equal to about 3 lb. soda ash 58 per cent. per gallon water. A R is the " ash and resin oistern," identical and oonnected by a pipe, with the soda ash cistern; it is used for making the "resin soap." Soda ash or caustic soda liquor from the cistern A is run into it, and the necessary quantity of resin is added; the cistern is filled to within a few inches from the top, and the whole is boiled by steam till the resin is dissolved. It is advisable to keep this liquor constantly at a gentle simmer, to ensure a perfect solution of the resin, 8,nd to prevent the solution from becoming gelatinous or separating, which it does if allowed to cool. It is usual to measure off the quantity of liquor required, both here and in the soda cistern, by means of an iron or wooden bar, marked with inch divisions. B C is the " batch cistern," similar to but larger than the two last, standing on a lower level, but still higher than the kiers. It serves for mixing each batch of resin soap or soda ash liquor with the necessary amount of water required to feed each pair of kiers. It is well to measure out even the requisite amount of water for the lime boil from this cistern. Though not absolutely necessary, the use of this cistern ensures regularity in the amount of liquid for each boiling, and any undissolved particles of resin or other irregularities may be readily detected, before running the liquors into the kiers.