THE MOSGIEL CLOTH FACTORY.

Evening Star, Issue 3329, 21 October 1873, Page 2

THE MOSGIEL CLOTH FACTORY.

About two years ago, more or less, we gave a somewhat minute description of the factory established by Messrs A. Burns and Co., at Mosgiel, which, so far us the chief points of the process are concerned, is as applicable to present appliances as to those then in use. But there have been great improvements and additions since that time. We know of scarcely any article more unlike in appearance than a well-finished piece of woollen cloth and the fleece from which it is manufactured. One would hardly imagine that human brains could devise the means of converting a bale of greasy wool, tangled and matted, and the fibres twisted together, apparently a, hopelessly confused mass, into beautiful milk-whito blankets, fleecy hosiery, or variously-colored pieces of cloth. We remember reading a story of a poor girl despairingly bewildered through a cruel task set her by an ill-natured old aunt, who required her to unravel and sort into different colors some tangled skeins of silk. As she was as good as her relative was spiteful, the Genius of Order came and helped her, and so the task was accomplished ; and in like maimer, the Genius of Order has arranged the machinery at Mosgiel so that each lihro shall bo laid alongside its fellow preparatory to their being united so as to form continuous threads. Wo scarcely know of anything more really wonderful in fable than tho adaptation of means to an end in the manufacture of woven fabrics, and at Mosgiel the wholg process is carried out. Beginning witty

the wool after shearing, the first object is to free it from dirt and grease. This operation may be considered chemical. At Home, many years ago, a peculiar kind of soft soup used to he thought needful. It was made from whale oil and barilla, was supposed to have peculiar qualities, and that its action upon wool was to impart to it a glossy face, as well as softness to thotoujh. Wo remember, in our early days, to have smelt the oil when clothes became warm in the sun, or through the absorbtion of heat from the wearer. It almost made one imagine one’s self a young walrus. This, like many other notions, is exploded ; and the chief agent in the washing process is good hard snap of Dunedin manufacture, and steam from the boiler. It is, however, a delicate pieces*, for it is quite possible to extract all the yelk from the wool, and to render it difficult to work if care be not taken. This primary process is carried on in a room which we sec in the plan is called the “ washing and felting room” - very nearly the last as well as the first processes are thus carried out side by side. We suppose the wool washed and dried, the last operation being performed by spreading it thinly over racks m the drying room, but it is still tangled, matted—or if any likes the term better, felted “and knotted, retaining dust and other impurities; the fibres cross and interlace each other in all conceivable directions. The next object, therefore, is to free them from every foreign substance, and to lay them side by side close to each other, but still separate, so that a few of them can bo lain hold of and drawn out into fine threads, which may be set out lengthwise and worked in crosswise until pieces of cloth or blanket fifty or sixty yards in length are produced. Except in dyeing the wool, we have done with chemistry when the washing is over. A little olive oil is added to it on being dried, and then it is subjected to somewhat rough treatment. As on a former occasion we described each separate process, we need merely say that the principle of the machinery in the wool-teasing room and in the carding room is the same, although there is great difference in the construction and appearance of the different machines. In the “teasing room” the wool is passed between cylinders armed with steel spurs formed like the spur of a cock—hence its name, “ cock-spur teaser.” The cylinders revolve in opposite directions, and the spurs interlace, so that no portion of the wool is untouched. It is also subjected in this first dividing process, after having gone through this teasing ordeal, to the action of a fan revolving at a high velocity, which expels it from the grasp of the Dewsbury devil in fleecy flakes, leaving dust and impurity behind. After passing through the “cock-spur teaser,” it is transferred to the carding-room. Those “cards” are filled with an innumerable multitude of flue steel needles, and are placed on cylinders of different diameters. The wool passes over one and under another, until, having gone through a series of intricate evolutions, it is at last discovered in the form of a stream of soft woollen cord being wound upon a wooden roller fixed in a frame, to which is attached a bell that gives warning when the proper length is cut off. This calls the attendant, who removes the roller with its wool, and inserts another in its stead. The next process is spinning the wool into thread, and we scarcely know a more complete triumph of art than the automatic movements of the jennies, with their spindles revolving so rapidly that the eye can scarcely detect their motion. There are now four of these jennies, each with 312 spindles. Every jenny, in fact two, can be superintended by one lad. His duty is to take care that the threads are perfect—to join those thatare broken; and it is really amazing to see the quickness and precision which youth of both sexes acquire. The thread passes from the jennies to the power looms, of which there are ten, all of which were at work when we visited the factory on Friday. Hince our last description of the processes at Mosgiel, several important additions and alterations have been made. The power looms were formerly placed on an upper floor, but this was found inconvenient in many respects. There have been, therefore, immense additions to the floor area, and a new building has been just erected, built in a most substantial manner, in anticipation of the arrival of new machinery, rendered necessary to overtake the extensive orders in course of being executed. Not the least interesting manufacture connected with this thriving establishment is that of stockings and other knitted woollens. We have always looked upon a sewing machine as a masterpiece of ingenuity, but it pales in complexity before these stocking Doras. They were not at work on Friday, the knitting genius being away after his home concerns; but we have watched those hooks picking up the loops and going steadily on, adding round to round, without ever yet forming a clear idea how the movements were executed. There has also been added machinery for giving a finish to the cloth; and such is its completeness that the Tweeds turned out at the Mosgiel works are fully equal in appearance and superior in quality to those usually produced at Home. The advantage to the immediate neighborhood of so large a factory being carried on is seen in the improvements going on and the buildings in course of construction. Cottages are being built for the factory hauls; they earn good wages, and, although several of them have had no previous training, they fully equal the imported hands in skill, quickness, and reliability. We need not say that the whole of these complicated and beautiful movements are effected by means of a magnificently-finished and powerful steam-engine, and so perfect is the machinery and so varied are the labor-saving processes, that there is every reason to believe New Zealand can complete successfully with European countries in the world’s markets. In fact, orders are on hand for India and elsewhere at highly remunerative prices. We sea Messrs Burns and Co. propose carrying the factory on as a joint stock company. We trust that by that means its capabalitios may be fully developed, and that, in a few years, Mosgiel, now a rising village, may become a busy, populous manufacturing town.