YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 8, 4 October 1918, Page 8

YORKSHIRE LETTER

USES OP WOOL SUBSTITUTES

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

Bradford, August 8,

j Recently we made special mention ! of the commandeering and controlling I of all rags and shoddies, the Depart- • mont having taken this step for the . purpose of preventing values rising i further. Altogether, something like ' 180 different qualities of rags and : shoddies have been-, scheduled and a : fixed price beyond which it is not lawI ful to buy. . The magnitude of this J branch of the textile trade is such that • the reader at a distanco' from Dcwsi ibury and Batley.can. have little con- : ception of it, but it is a very valuable ; adjunct to t?io wool industry and ; 'serves a very useful purpose. Iho v ■writer knows that many would sweep i jnto oblivion the rag and shoddy ini dustries, but . they have now. become ! permanent institutions and must bo [ reckoned .with. It. would be shameful •waste to iburri or allow to rot on the manure, heap ;the cast-off .clothing, _ new j; tailors'• clippings, hosiery clippings, j: stockings and Pastes, all or which ( .when put 'through, the,' ''devil, ■ ana i garnetting machine provide r the wool- '• len manufacturer with good useful nia- •; terial.' 'Blended with pure wool, milled rags produce some excellent fabrics ! which appeal to a large clientele, and I certainly the industry!is serving anex- ' ceedingly good purpose. When old }' stockings are selling at 2705. per cwt., the value of cast-off clothing js seen, ' and the rightful use of these by- ' products brings good sound wearable . clotheswithin the reaoh of millions..

i ; ;. ■ . Military Requirements. ■ In the first flush of tho war fever, ; the khaki oiders that were placed were i made of-nearly-all wool.. We believe f that only about 10 per cent, of mungo ■ was allowed in the. blend for the woolHen-; wefts. Stocks ,of raw wool went down so quickly that it was found .'necessary for a larger use to be made ■ of.khaki mungo, the result being that •' at one time the blends were composed • of 50 per cent, wool and 50 per cent. ' and other wastes. In tact, '•-many manufacturers 'have maintained Ull through that 50 per cent, ot wool ■and 50 per cent, of mungo would proi duce a cloth sensibly above the average of that being worn by the rank i- anil file of men even m the midclla- ; class- position. To-day in the production of the tartan, serge the blends -are composed of 75 per cent, of wool, ! the' balance being mungo and garnet(ted'■ 'wastes, pjilled from pure worsted thread waste and hosiery, clips, iheso ; are pure wool, only they have been manufactured once. A larger perccntt aee of wool is used in the blends be- ' cause of the scarcity of khaki mungo, 1 and the point we want to empliasiso tig the larger use that is being made {of both mungo and shoddy in the proeduction of military cloths. So long, as i a blend contains 50 por.cont. of puro ' virgin wool it produces excollent wearing fabrics, and this is the goal of the i Department. The writer is not so very familiar with the production of the ! greatcoat, but this is. a solid woollen i' fabric, and what percentage of mungo is being used in the blend we are un- • iible to pay. In the production of the jdral) ana tartan serge cloths the warps [are'solid worsted, being spun to s S out of 44's to 46's quality crossbrcds. I Experience has found that by using a ( worsted warp'and a woollen weft _the jcloth when milled and finished gives maximum results both from a wearing ; and neat-retaining''standpoint.,

| The Making of Flannels. . It is not perhaps generally _known 1 that the cloth section o jfthe War Office produces several distinct classes of flannel, the reader _ easily seeing that ■with so many soldiers and sailors to clothe, it would never do to dress them all alike. ■ Then; too,. are the .'men in training and also the wounded, | all alike having ' their special requirements considered. For instance, _ a [ silver l grey flannel is made, this being ■ a very old standard flannel of the War ; Office-. It has always been well liked 'and been exceedingly well made. This 1 is an 'all-wool flannel, made exclusively [from woollen yarns." A good deal of {short'clothing merino wool is usedin ffact, in. the construction and costing I sheet of the Department, the following blend is given: 30 per cent, type j 248 scoured wool or similar; 50 per ' cent.- , carbonised wool.

t Fifteen per cent, of the above, is L'dye'd a bright indigo blue, which is !• used to 'obtain the shade. Both • the ! warp and .weft of this flannel are spun '■to 24. skeins, and.the weight when finj ished is;si to 6oz. per yard, 30 inches |wide. ;;.:The flannel has done exceed-: Sitfgly good service"; for'a"'great number■ •; of yearsj and it was largely used dur'mg 'the Boer War, and has been made ■ ever since. . .

: We now' come to deal with what-is. i known as an Angola natural flannel, '. this being made by th& million yards ijfor the ordinary soldier. The width ;Of this is 30 inches, and tho weight |6joz.:tbi the yard. Here, again, the :wnrp' r is spun to 22 skeins, and the ' weft'24'skeins; the point we' want to ; emphasise being' the,, raw material j which constitute the blend. The following is given:—so per cent, carbori!ised wool; 25 per cent, carbonised i roils; 25 per' cent, cotton (preferably ■Peru).

; Anyone with practical knowledge of ;the principles of manufacturing can ' see" again that this blend will produce ian exceedingly good wearing flannel, and in order to get the shade, 8 per icent.';of dyed fast brown is used, tlw jbrown shade giving the natural colour [to the flannel. Of course, this dyed 'wool should really be natural, black cr jbrown wool from the sheep, but this is produced in such limited quantities jthat white wool has to be dyed brown ;in order to obtain tho enormous yardj ago 'df this - natural flannel which 'is j wanted. .

.Nest comes the construction of another silver grey or natural cotton warp flannel, a very different proposition; to the two former. Here the fidth is 30 inches when finished, and the weight ojoz. per yard. For what jpprpose this is used the writer cannot [say, but the warp in this case is all jcotton, tho weft being, a 16 skeins (woollen, the blend being composed of jl-5 per cent, of carbonised wool, 15 per [cent, of dyed indigo, '20 per cent: of jcarbonised noils, 40 per cent, of silver :sliirting mungo, and i 10 per cent, best '.cotton ring laps, this blend being for ithe silver greys, the natural blend ibeing composed of 20 per cent, uncarjbonised noils, 40 per cent, natural (shirting inungo, and 10 per cent, best jcotton ring laps. J ;It is safe to say thai a greater yardage of tho above has been made than nny other class of;fabric made during jthe present war, and seldom has a complaint emanated from a soldier because the majority aro better clothed than thoy were in "civilian life. So long as a right/fill use is made of rags and shoddy, fabrics will be satisfatcor.y, it only bemg when no puro wool at all is used that, the fabrics produced aro deficient, in wearing and heat retaining property. The Wool Used. | already indicated, the wool used inithe production of the above flannels ! " v " ;: " '• ' 7

consists of short clothing merinos. These comprise mostly locks, pieces, and bellies, tho very class of raw material bast suited for this purpose. It would be shameful . waste for good combing wool to be used for this purpose; in fact, the best flannels procurable in pre-jvar days were made from good clean locks and short pieces. Being a light fabric, locks do admirably, because a fine soft handling yarn is wanted and flannels and shirtings havo always provided a big outlet for these sniort clothing merinos.