THROUGH THE WOOLLEN MILL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7078, 25 February 1893, Page 2

THROUGH THE WOOLLEN MILL.

The Timarn Woollen Factory will soon be in full swing again. The company of practical men who have acquired the premises and plant, have been in occupation some time, but they found so much re-arrangement necessary among the machinery that they have not yet completed all the alterations they deemed necessary. The spinning department has been at work from the first almost, and considerable quantities cf various kinds of yarns have been sent away to Dunedia manufacturers Subsequently some of the looms were set to work and cow there are nine at work of the fourteen in the mill None of the products of the looms however have yet reached the finishing machine, which in its turn is not quite ready for work. Mr Lillico, the managing partner, I kindly showed a member of our staff over the mill, and explained the various processes and results, and the alterations made and in bend. A wool store and sorting room has been added to the premises, in wood, and here were opened out a variety of wools, undergoing selection for special purposes. From the eorter the wool goes to the scouring room, where a compact and complicated looking scouting machine gives a good account of itself iu the white tangle taken from it. A centrifugal drier removes the bulk of the water from the wool, and the drying is completed on clothes out of doors in fine, and on steam-heated

trays indoors in damp, weather- If to be dyed the wool is taken to the dying shed, where in large wooden vats, heated by steam pipes, a variety of colours in endless shades can be given it from colouring matters in bags and barrels and drums piled along the floor. High class alizarine dyes aro used as well as commoner ones, those being manufactured in Germany, where industrial chemistry ia ahead of that in England. Pleasing, quiet, light colours for yarns are being produced however by mixing in various proportions natural white and brown wools. “ Teasing ” machines loosen up the knots of washed, and white or dyed wool, aud then the wool gees to the “carding” machines, of which there are two sots. Here any tint can be given to yarns, by feeding in proportionate weights of white and dyed wools. These carding machines are among the most wonderful of man’s inventions, the wool going iu at one end in rough knots, the fibres crossed and mixed up in every direction, and coming out at the other end, wound upon spools in even, unspnn, yet coherent threads. Thence to the spinning room on the upper floor, where some hundreds of spindles are whirling to invisibility, and twisting with very little attention as many woollen threads. Another machine on the same floor twists two or yarns cf one or more colours into ! a single yarn, for any kind of hoisery work. On the lower floor a large room contains 14 looms, and nine of them are at work on flannels, dress pieces and tweeds. Those stuffs are quite curiously rough and unlike the commercial articles when taken from the loom, and they have much to go through before being fit for market. The first operation is scouring to free the pieces from grease, and then each piece is “ milled.” The milling machine may bo described as a narrow roller mangle, with a very heavy weight on the upper roller. One end is passed through the rollero, | both ends are then sown together, the belt is turned on, and tho tcwsliog and squeezing that bit of stuff gets in a long cpell of ten-milesan-hour rush end drag through the rollers ought to make it shy of shrinking ever after. This milling has the effect of shrinking a flannel 52 inches wide on the loom into 38 inches. Scouring and drying are followed by teazling, which raises a “nap” on the piece by dragging out the ends of the fibres. A finishing machine, operating something like a lawnmower, shaves off the fur raised by the teasles to a smooth and uniform length. The piece is then brushed in another ' machine aud if tweed is subjected to hydraulic pressure for 48 hjure or so, with glazsd card* 1 between tho folds, to give a smooth surface. Wo should not bo surprised to learn that, from first to last, a lock of wool travels a, thouaand miles, between going into tho mill in a wool bale and leaving it in a bale n£ tweed or flannel ; and whatever the distance, be it is more or less than that, its journey -a performed almost wholly under the influence of the steam engine. Wo wore struck with the quiet business-like air worn by everyone engaged in the mill. There was no hurry or flurry. This was being done, and that, and it seemed just at tho right moment, though exactly what was being done, a novice would half the time have no clear idea.

Timaru is to bo congratulated upon tha woollen mill being reopened, and under circumstances which promise to keep it open. The company who now have the industry in hand are all practical men ; each department, from the wool store to the outtide market is in charge of an expert ; therefore if the mill does not succeed in its present hands it cannot succeed at ail. These gentleman have all bad many years experience both at Home and in tho colonies, and have held the most responsible positions in tho best mills in the colony They intend to turn out goods equal to any produced ia the colony, and their experience and recent high appointments guarantee that at any rate they know how to do it. Mr Lillioo informs us that they find the locally grown wools are of excellent quality, and they will use little but local grown. When they -get into full swing ho anticipates they will put through five to six hundred bales a year. They have already spun fifty or sixty bales,, some of which has been and is being woven ; the bulk of it has been converted into hosiery yarns and sold in bulk to Warehousemen. Everyone admits that it is an excellent thing for the town to have the mill running again, and i fc j 8 a mat t er f of the

Greater satisfaction that it is being run by such competent persons. The town might show its satisfaction in a practical manner through its Borough C7ouncil. One drawback to the comfortable if not even to the efficient working of the mill iv the stale of the Bank street frontage, where a rough steep elope is presented to the street. The company have asked the Council to build, or assist in building, a retaining wall on this frontage am\ so allow a decent appearance, and a reaaojeably desired privacy, to be obtained. Evesy- . one who sees tho place and thinks about it & little, will agree that tho retaining wail should bo built, and that the Council should even 4 fitretoh a point to have it done.