After being dyed, the warps are washed and then passed through drying
machinery, from which they are delivered in coils. These are brought
to the beaming frames, where they are again spread out into sheets of
parallel threads, and passed through the teeth of a steel comb, which
separates the threads and prevents tangling, and in this form they are
wound on huge iron spools known as slasher beams.]
[Illustration: SLASHERS.
From the beaming frames the warps are taken to machines known as
Slashers, where they are sized or stiffened to enable them to stand the
chafing at the looms incidental to the process of weaving. The slasher
beams are placed in an iron frame at the back of the slashers and
unwound together through the machine. With them some additional threads
of white yarn are unwound at either side to form the selvage of the
cloth.]
[Illustration: WEAVE ROOM.
The sheet of warp threads unwinds from the loom beam, receives the
filling threads and is wound into a roll of cloth at the front of the
loom. This weave room contains 2000 looms. It is 904 feet long by 180
feet wide (about four acres) and is the largest single weave room in
the world. Overhead is the roof, which forms one vast sky-light, being
of what is known as saw-tooth construction. The vertical sides of the
teeth all face due north and are formed of ribbed glass, which affords
the most perfect light to every section of the room.]
[Illustration: THE COTTON CLOTH FINISHED