Page:EB1911 - Volume 10.djvu/395

Rh the longitudinal shearing machines the process is continuous, the pieces passing from the beam in the stretched condition over the rotary brush, under the fixed blade, and then being again brushed before being beamed on the other side of the machine. Shearing once is generally insufficient, and for this reason many of the modern machines are constructed with duplicate arrangements so as to effect the shearing twice in the same operation. In the finishing of certain woollen goods the pieces, after having been milled, raised and sheared, go through these operations again in the same sequence.

After these operations the goods are pressed either in the hydraulic press or in the continuous press, and according to the character of the material and the finish desired may or may not be steamed under pressure, all of which operations are described below.

New cloth, as it comes into the hands of the tailor, frequently shows an undesirable gloss or sheen, which is removed before making up by a process known as shrinking, in which the material is simply damped or steamed.

Worsteds and Unions.—The pieces are first singed by gas or hot plate (see ), and are then usually subjected to a process known as “crabbing,” the object of which is to “set” the wool fibres. If this operation is omitted, especially in the case of unions, the fabric will “cockle,” or assume an uneven surface on being wetted. In crabbing the pieces are drawn at full breadth and under as much tension as they will stand through boiling water, and are wound or beamed on to a roller under the pressure of a superposed heavy iron roller, the operation being conducted two or three times as required. From the crabbing machine the pieces are wound on to a perforated shell or steel cylinder which is closed at one end. The open end is then attached to a steam pipe, and steam, at a pressure of 30 to 45 ℔;, is allowed to enter until it makes its way through all the layers of cloth to the outside, when the steam is turned off and the whole allowed to cool. Since those layers of the cloth which are nearest the shell are acted upon for a longer period than those at the outside, it is necessary to re-wind and repeat the operation, the outside portions coming this time nearest to the shell. The principle of the process depends upon the fact that at elevated temperatures moist wool becomes plastic, and then easily assumes the shape imparted to it by the great tension under which the pieces are wound. On cooling the shape is retained, and since the temperature at which the pieces were steamed under tension exceeds any to which they are submitted in the subsequent processes, the “setting” of the fibres is permanent. After crabbing, the pieces are washed or “scoured” in soap either on the winch or at full width. In some cases the crabbing precedes the scouring. The goods are then dyed and finished.

The nature of the finishing process will vary considerably according to the special character of the goods under treatment. Thus, for certain classes of goods cold pressing is sufficient, while in other cases the pieces are steamed under pressure in a manner analogous to the treatment after crabbing (“decatizing”). The treatment in most common use for worsteds and unions is hot pressing, which may be effected either in the hydraulic press or in the continuous press, but in most cases in the former.

In pressing in the hydraulic press the pieces are folded down by hand on a table, a piece of press paper (thin hand-made cardboard with a glossed and extremely hard surface) being inserted between each lap. After a certain number of laps, a steel or iron press plate is inserted, and the folding proceeds in this way until the pile is sufficiently high, when it is placed in the press. The press being filled, the hydraulic ram is set in motion until the reading on the gauge shows that the desired amount of pressure has been obtained. The heating of the press plates was formerly done in ovens, previous to their insertion in the piece, but although this practice is still in vogue in rare instances, the heating is now effected either by means of steam which is caused to circulate through the hollow steel plates, or in the more modern forms of presses by means of an electric current. After the pieces have thus been subjected to the combined effects of heat and pressure for the desired length of time, they are allowed to cool in the press. It is evident that portions of the pieces, viz. the folds, thus escape the finishing process, and for this reason it is necessary to repeat the process, the folds now being made to lie in the middle of the press papers.

The continuous press, which is used for certain classes of worsteds, but more especially for woollen goods, consists in principle of a polished steam-heated steel cylinder against which either one or two steam-heated chilled iron cheeks are set by means of levers and adjusting screws. The pieces to be pressed are drawn slowly between the cheeks and the bowl. A machine of the kind is shown in section in Fig. 8. In working, the cheeks C, C1 are pressed against the bowl B. The course followed by the cloth to be finished is shown by the dotted line, the finished material being mechanically folded down on the left-hand side of the machine. The pieces thus acquire a certain amount of finish which is, however, not comparable with that produced in the hydraulic press.

Pile Fabrics, such as velvets, velveteens, corduroys, plushes, sealskins, &c., require a special treatment in finishing, and great care must be taken in all operations to prevent the pile being crushed or otherwise damaged. Velveteens and corduroys are singed before boiling or bleaching. Velveteens dyed in black or in dark shades are brushed with an oil colour (e.g. Prussian blue for blacks), and dried over-night in a hot stove in order to give them a characteristic bloom. Regularity in the pile and gloss are obtained by shearing and brushing. Corduroys are stiffened at the back by the application of “bone-size” (practically an impure form of glue) in a machine similar to that used for back-starching. The face of the fabric is waxed with beeswax by passing the piece under a revolving drum, on the surface of which bars of this material are fixed parallel to the axis. The bars just touch the surface of the fabric as it passes through the machine. The gloss is then obtained by brushing with circular brushes which run partly in the direction of the piece and partly diagonally. In the finishing of velvets, shearing and brushing are the most important operations. The same applies to sealskins and other long pile fabrics, but with these an additional operation, viz. that of “batting,” is employed after dyeing and before shearing and brushing, which consists in beating the back of the stretched fabric with sticks in order to shake out the pile and cause it to stand erect.

For the finishing of silk pieces the operations and machinery employed are similar in character to some of those used for cotton and worsteds. Most high-class silks require no further treatment other than simple damping and pressing after they leave the loom. Inferior qualities are frequently filled or back-filled with glue, sugar, gum tragacanth, dextrin, &c., after which they are dried, damped and given a light calender finish. Moiré