Wool is almost exclusively derived from the fleece of the sheep,
goats’ wool being only occasionally used. Wool differs from hair in
possessing a notched surface, giving it the very useful quality of
“felting,” and enabling the fibres to adhere into a mass when pressed
and beaten together, the notches catching into each other. Woollen
articles are chiefly of two kinds, “woollens,” or those partly
felted and made from “short” or “clothing” wools, called “cloths,”
and those made without felting from “combing” or “long” wools, as
“merinos,” “stuffs,” &c. Wool undergoes a numerous succession of
processes before it is complete in its manufacture. It is first
sorted according to the quality required, next scoured and washed in
a warm solution of soap, and then rinsed in cold water, to get rid of
the “yelk” or grease with which the wool is naturally coated. It is
then passed between rollers to dry it, next dyed, and then “willowed”
(this last process is to disentangle the fibres and at the same time
get rid of any dust which may have been mixed with it); afterwards it
is spread out and sprinkled with a small quantity of olive oil being
thoroughly beaten with rods, to spread the oil over the surface of
every fibre. It next undergoes a process called “scribbling,” which
is effected by a machine which combs out the fibres and lays them
in layers, in a parallel direction; the wheels which effect this are
armed on their surfaces with wires and the wool passes from one set
to another, finer and finer, till at last it passes out in threads
or “cards” and these are spun by the “slubbing machine” into “yarns”
for weaving. After being woven, the oil is again washed out with
warm soap and water, and the fabric is then stretched by means of
“tenter-hooks” stuck in a margin or “list” of coarser worsted, left
on each side of the cloth for that purpose, and it is allowed to dry
in this position.
The material is now fit for “felting,” or “fulling,” as it is
called, which is done in the “fulling mill.” The process consists in
thoroughly beating the cloth with heavy wooden mallets or “stocks”
for ten or twelve hours, it being at the same time wetted with soap
and water, and folded into a mass of many layers. This beating causes
the fibres to interlace and adhere together till the cross-bar
pattern made by the warp and weft in weaving is obliterated, and
the cloth has the appearance of a felted surface, which, however, is
rugged and uneven. It is next “teazled,” a process formerly performed
by means of a bundle of thistle-heads--called “teazles”--which were
dragged over the cloth, so as to raise the ends of the woollen fibres
perpendicular to the surface; but this is now performed by machinery,
the teazles being fixed round a roller turning one way, while the
cloth is moved in an opposite direction. In some machines wire
brushes are used instead of teazles. The cloth is next “milled,” or
“sheared,” which is done by stretching it out on a perfectly level
surface, where a pair of circular knives fixed to a wheel work over
it and “shear” off the fibres, leaving the surface perfectly even.
It is now wetted, brushed, and finally dried and packed in a finished
state.