THE CLOTH FACTORY AT MOSGIEL.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2715, 30 October 1871, Page 2

THE CLOTH FACTORY AT MOSGIEL.

That which has been so long talked about, the establishment of a woollen mill in Otago, has at length been. accomplished by the enterprise of Mr A. J. Burns, who has converted his old flour mill at Mosgiel to this use. It was with a view to making arrangements for this purpose that Mr Burns visited England, where he purchased some very beautiful machinery, which arrived in the Heienslee. Mr Small, his partner, and the skilled operatives necessary to work the mill, came by the Same vessel. Although everybody—men, women, and children—iwear articles of cotton and woollen clothing in these days, very few can form any idea of how the fibres are converted into cloth. Yet weaving, in olden days, used to be ane of the domesticduties of women. It was a grand transition from coats of skins to garments of wool. At first only the rich could indulge in the

luxury ; but as time rolled on ; means were found to cheapen the cost of cloth, until machinery is now applied that places an article superior in quality to, the Tyrian purple, the garb of kings and nobles, within the reach of the humblest artisan. We do not think that any description we can give of the beautiful processes adopted at Mosgiel will be intelligible unless some little explanation is given of the objects to be achieved by them ; and this involves a few words on the nature 'of wool. The value of wool, as material for textile manufactures, depends upon what is termed its feltiiuj property. This is owing to each fibre being serrated, so that when twisted round another it holds firmly without Slipping. Let anyone take some wool and try to separate the fibres from each other, and he will find them cross and twist round each other; so that it will require both time and patience to separate them ; while by pressing them together they form a compact mass almost impervious to water. This last is felting. But while this felt jpg quality of wqol confers value on xt as a material for fabrics, it is absolutely necessary t.q separate the fibres from each other so as to spin them into threads, and afterwards so to cross the threads as to form cloth. To effect these two objects is the design of all the beautiful and apparently complex machinery of a woollen mill. The first feature that excites attention at Mosgiel is the site chosen. In England for many years it was held to be a desideratum, to cheapness ; that water instead of steam power should be available. But the improvements in steam cpgi neg and economy in working have been so great of late years, that steam is preferred on account of its being more completely under command, steadier as a motive power than water, and capable of adaptation of power to the requirements of .the mill. My Burns could have availed himself of the mill pond, close to which the building is situated, but finds it more economical to use steam. Yet this pond is a great advantage, for a spring in it contributes a never-failing supply of water admirably adapted to washing and scouring the wool. In other respects the ground is well suited to the purpose. It is level aud flat, clothed with a nice green turf, aud as we believe the area is about ten acres, it affords room for every out-door process, such as drying the wool aud cloths at the least expense of labor. If Mr Bums had had to build the mill, he would have had the whole of the processes carried on on a ground floor; but as the building was already up, the two floors have been adapted very advantageously to their present purpose. The enginehouse is the first room we enter. Here are two beautiful engines, each nominally of sixteen horse-power, but which in need can be worked up’to fifty, “ They were m<ide by Messrs A. aud T. Young at their foundry in Ayrshire, aud are supplied with steam by two Corhish boilers, each twenty - two feet long by five feet in diameter. The coal used is from Green Island, which is found to be well adapted to the purpose. In preparing wool for the loom the first process is to wash it. This is done in a wooden vat, The detergents used are soap and a little soda ; soft soap aud potash, although preferable, being too expensive in the Colony. Even in this process of washhig, machinery is brought into play. The wool is cleansed by passing through rollers to which it is conveyed by an endless apron. The wool, having by scouring become clean and white, is passed into the dye-house and placed iu a vat containing the dye. The vat at present iu use will hold about 50 pounds of wool, but another is in course of construction capable of dying 120 lbs. at a time. Steam is used for heating them. The dying completed and the wool having been dried, the next object is to get rid of dust, and to separate'the fibres so as to lay them longitudinally parallel to'each other. lit order to effect this, several processes are accessary, *The first is to pass it through the ,f wjllying machine,” This machinery consists of three rollers, armed with formidable spikes working within each other, moving at different velocities within a hollow truncated cone, revolving 350 or dOO times per minute. 1 he machine is fed by an endless apron ; the wool enters the small end, the spikes tear the fibres apart, aud distangle them from any extraneous substance, not got rid of by previous processes. Tips is ajiled by a fan within the cone, and in addition to this there is a' kind of revolving cage in which the wool is' deposited in a smooth sheet, Ibis machine in the clothing districts of Yorkshire is known by the name of the “ Dewsbury Devil,” whose function, asdes-

cribed wvitty clergyman, was said to be “tolten’r in pieces, to kick up a dust, and to make a horrible noise. ” It is necessary now to %pU Jibe wool prior to its being subjected to /urtbcr processes, and for this purpose olive.oil is used. Having been prepared, it is passed through the cock-spur teazer, so named because the teeth with which the cylinders are furnished are as fine and something in the form of a cock’s spur. By this process it is still more finely divided, and prepared Jor scribbling and carding. The whole of these machines are constructed in a similar principle. They consist of cylinders of different diameters, revolving at different velocities, aud armed with teeth graduated from the long spikes of the willying machine to the fine sharp needle points which stud the caid*. The cards of teeth are fixed upon the cylinder!. The wool is conveyed to them by means of endless aprons, and when it issues from the last of the series, the fibres are not only arranged side by side, but twisted loosely, so that they can be wound in lengths upon roller*. This is done by a most ingenious process by which the exact length is cut off, aud notice is given by a bell, to tbe boy or man in attendance, to take away the bolls, as they are technically .termed. . The wool is not yet ready for spinning mto thread, but has to be passed through the “ slabbing machine,” to soften the twist. * It would be difficult by mere description to give an idea of this process, or of two or three others prior to being spun into thread. This last operation is performed by two mule jennies, to each of which are attached 312 spindles.

These jennies travel backward and forward, the spindles revolving so rapidly that the eye cannot detect; their motion. As the jennies travel backward and forward, the thread is unwound from rollers in the same manner as a rope maker walks backward and extends his flax or hemp, and the revolution of the spindles gives the necessary twist to the thread. So perfect is tbia process, that those 624 spindles are under the care of one youth, whose office it is to see that the threads are drawn without breaking or if broken immediately reunited. Two kinds of thread are "required, which are .termed “warp” and “weft.” As there is more strain upon the warp than on the weft it requires to be twisted somewhat more firmly than the other, and, after being properly prepared, it is placed upon the loom. The object now is to arrange ihe tbreads so that although fixed at one end, bjy'a Certain motion given to the loom, each alternate oneshall descend as the other-ascends at the other end. By means of what is termed a shuttle, the weft is thrown across the opening, after each motion of the loom, and 'the thread being forced into the between the two divisions of the warp, a c iqpact web of cloth ia formed. In weaving patterns much care is required in the arrangement of threads of different colors: but so perfect is’ the ma, chiuery, that twenty hands only are required for. the whole working of the mill. After the cloth has been woven, it undergoes an examination to see that it is perr feist; then it requires Washing in hot water t > get the oil out of it. These processes are similar to-those already-described, with the exception of milling. r : The last manufacturing process is that of raising the nap, for which purpose no substitute has been ipunp for the Teazle. This plant, the Dipsacu-i Fallon am, is carefully, cultivated in the clothing districts at Home. It has a fine hooked awn, which readily insinuates itself into a woollen web, and djaws out those fine fibres of wool which ‘form tlie nap of the cloth. The drying ground was hardly completed when we were at the factory, but it needs no particular description. We have imperfectly described the various processes adopted by modern art to produce cloth. Had it not been for the perfection to which machinery has been brought in saving human labor, it would have been impossible to have competed with 'countries where work is cheap; hut, 'With the appliances we now have, with raw material in abundance on the spot, there is every prospect of successfully carrying on this first woollen' manufactory'in Otago.