SHORT WOOLS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 235, 22 June 1918, Page 10

SHORT WOOLS

INTEREST OF SPINNERS AND MANUFACTURERS (From Our Special Correspondent.) Bradford, May 28. lhe outstanding featuro of the market to-day is tho intereet which has boon aroused in clothing and combing wools. This is largely duo to the subject being locused by Professor Barker, of the textile department of the Leeds University, but as a matter of fact a paper was read in Bradford a few weeks ago boforo the Yorkshire section of tho Textile Institute on the production of worsted yarns on the Continental system, and it load to an interesting and instructive discussion. The writer was present at that meeting, ond ever siuco tho subject lias boen pointedly discussed in many influential quarters. The whole question is one of direct interest to readers of this issue, because the war has emphasised tho huge business which was done by Continental spinners and manufacturers in the successful manipulation of short clothing wools, tho very raw materials which many Yorkshire ' spinners and manufacturers have completely ignored. Wo are living in times when nothing can be wasted without some section of tho trado suffering, and if Germany has taught the world no other lesson than the uso of the by-products of the trade and substitutes, then that nation has certainly served .one useful purpose. The present demands that the "odds and ends" of every industry be no longer thrown upon the scrap heap, but that all alike be taken and manipulated in such a way as to produce something useful and guod. The writer woll remembers that the "mucic lumps" of the wool trade, or to use a m.ire dignified term, 'he daggings and britch ends of the fleece were simply thrown upon the dunghill, there to rot and decay. We have hoard Australasian pastoralists often tell the. Btory that after shearing there accumulated n big pile of heavy dung locks which were looked upon as so much waste, and not worth putting into bales to be sent to market. That no doubt was quite true when good merino combing wool was fetching in London anywhere from 6d. to mi. per lb., and when in 1901 excellent Now Zealand crossbred fleece wool of medium quality was selling at 'lid. At that time the shipment of heavy looks did not pay for freight, but these unprofitable times for pastoralists have gone for ever. Clothing Wools.

j The question is worth asking, What ! constitute clothing wools, or what wools I are considered by the trade to fill, that category? Every sheepfarmor and Woolman knows that on a decent Australian station, and also when the lleeees go into the hands of the merchant, topmakei, or spinner, they are, or should be, put upon the sorting-hoard, and the different qualities oeparated, when it will be found that every fleeco almost provides combin/r and clothing classes. In ;a word, the latter comprise the shorterstapled portions of the fleece, those which are suitablo for the woollen industry, the- combing or longer wool nearly all •going to the worsted trade. To-day emphasis is being laid upon tho uso of short, faulty descriptions for tho production of hosiery yarns and fabrics, which hitherto have only been partially projduced in England,, but in which Irench, I Belgian and German spinners and nianuI faciurers have specialised during iho j past dozen years. We' in ay before long givo a table showing the imports of Con- ! tinontal .spun yarns into this .country, the total being lairly largo. As a matter of fact, Roubaix and Tourcoiug as well as Yerviers spinner.) sent huge quantities of mule spun yarns to Leicester, to the detriment of Bradford worcesled cap spun yarns, and it is a noteworthy fact that Leiceslei- hosiery "manufacturers I within the past week have stated frankly S that they are looking forward to the time I whem Continental mule spun yarns will again be available, in preference to. those spun in Bradford on the cap spinning frames. It is not that the latter are I not better than tho former so far as • sound wearing capabilities are concernj ed, hut. mule spun yarns produco a betI ter-looking fabric, they are softer in ! handle, and all hough n sound worsted I cap spun yarn produces a better wcarj ing article than if made from soft mule 1 spun yarns, the former is still preferred ! by the majority of hosiery manufac- ! turers.

It can truthfully be said that clothing wools hiivu never appealed to the Bradford trade, and one hits only had need to sit in Oqlenian Street AVool Exchange or at any of the selling centres in Australia to observe the .huge quantities of short merino clothing wools which have been purchased by Continental buyers. It mattered not a particle how burry and seedy the wools were, whether grease or scoured, they mopped them up like a dry sponge does water, all because they could bo scoured and carbonised fo perfection, put through the Schlumberger comb and then mule spun, producing a cheap and attractive yarn. That has all along.been the missing link of the West Riding trade, and whether it will ever be remedied is doubtful to a large number. Let us look a little move closely at the subject as it well deserves the attention of nil readers of this Article. Worsted Cloths from Clothing Wools. To the- average Bradford spinner and manufacturer the statement that worsted fabrics can bo made from clothing wools is more or less an anomaly, but such is the case. Prof. Barker has sont to theBradford Chamber of Commerce about half a dozen cloths which are supposed to be samples of what can be done by the use of clothing woe's, tho fabrics being well made. The writer nits inspected them, but the missing link is tho absence of the raw materials out of whic'h they were made. In the first instance, the Professor is advocating the spinning of yarns on the worsted principle from the carded eliver, that is, without the wool going through the combing operation. Wo have discussed the feasibility of this with many Bradford spinners and manufacturers, and all alike admit that it can be done. At the same time there is a consensus of opinion that only thick yarns can be spun, and all emphasise the fact that the resultant yarns will be irregular, there will bo an abundance of "sliibs" and there will not be that- level uniform character about the yarns which can be obtained when spun from a combed top. That fa exactly what is demostrated in one or two of tho cloths shown at the Bradford Chamber of Commerce. Wnrp way of the fabric there id no evidence of irregularity in the yarns, but weft way there is irregularity and tinevenness,_ which, as one-manufacturer stated after inspection, would in normal times prevent its sale. We are confident that Continental spinners and manufacturers have not scored on the lines of spinning simply carded wool, they have scored all along in the shok clothing: wools being -put through the Schlumberger combing machine, and then mule spun. In these operations we are confident the liuge trade of both Prance and Belgium has been built up, and are satisfied that if West Riding spinners intend to imitate their j Continental competitors, a successful business can only be built up by the, employment of Continental machinery, j

. What Are Clothing Wools? Experiments are being conducted lodny at the' Bradford Technical ColUgo regarding tho use of short nine morrttie grown Cape wools, but tho experiments should have gone further, and six months grown Cape wools should have been. used, many thousand sales of these being used in Germany in days goile oy. However, as a start nine months Oape will form the basis for experiments, and the trade will await with interr/at the final results. The clothing woola vrhicn have largely gone to France, Belgium, and Germany have been pieces,-' tellies, and lacks of i< very seedy aii'A -faulty nature, these -wools in the past only being bought in this country for woollen and 'flannel manufacturers. 'J'liere certninly is room here for reform .and development, and we are saliMilid Hint quite as satisfactory results I'aii be obtained by British spinners find munnfacturcrsj providing Contineiilftl typos of machinery are installed. It is not generally known that during the past three venrs eoino fairly big quantities of merino noils have been exported to France, and we have tho. best of. reasons for sayinir that these have actually been recombed on the Sr.hlumnensrcr machine, a fine but short top beinx the result which has formed the teis tor male spun yarns, There certainly is a big

lot of raw materio.'f produced in tho British colonies, w'hich will continue to go to tho Continent if manufacturers in this country do aiot throw themselves heart and soul into the installing of suitable machinery for treating these wools. Practical men know how the passing of those short wools through tho Noble comb cannot be compared with the results obtained by the use of the French comb. No one advocates tho scrapping of the machinery in vogue today in West Riding mills, but there is certainly a big opening for the use of clothing wools in the worsted industry, and these can bo successfully manipulated by the adoption of Continental methods and, machines.