Carding (textiles)

“ The cotton wool is combed by circular cards of every degree of fineness; and the card-making machine, receiving only a supply of leather and wire, does its own work without the aid of hands. It punches the leather—cuts the wire—passes it through the leather—clinches it behind—and gives it the proper form of the tooth in front—producing a complete card of several feet in circumference in a wonderfully short time. All men feel the benefit of such inventions, because they lessen the cost of production. ”

“ The practice of carding is of such great antiquity that its origin cannot be traced. It consists in combing or brushing fibres until they are straight and placed in parallel lines; in doing this, imperfect fibres are separated from perfect ones, all impurities are removed, and the sound fibres are in condition for further treatment. The teasels once used have long given place to hand cards, and these in turn to what, in the rudest form, were known as “stock cards,” namely, two wire brushes, each 4 in. ”

“ The fleece of strippings thus produced is removed from the roller by dividing it along the narrow uncovered space shown, after which it will lift off by slowly revolving the roller. A similar plan is followed with the doffer. The rollers and clearers are usually stripped by hand, and it is hardly possible to adopt a better plan.
(190) In closing the consideration of the carding engine and its accessories, it is necessary to enforce upon the reader the dictum that good carding is absolutely essential to good work. With it a good even yarn can be made. ”

“ Many other materials have been used in manufacturing cards besides paper. As has been mentioned, beautiful packs have been painted on ivory or mother of pearl. Parchment and leather have been often used; thin tablets of wood and large leaves have been pressed into service, as well as stout paper which was neither card nor pasteboard. The Chinese and Hindoos sometimes used a cotton paper so stout and smooth as to make it most suitable for the purpose ”

“ Slip one end of your wool through the hole of both pieces of cardboard when they are laid together, tie it in a knot, and with your fingers at first, and later with a darning needle, keep winding the wool through the hole and over and over the cardboard until it is all covered. ”

“ A cotton card is a sort of brush, containing wires instead of bristles. The cards are made of bands or fillets of leather, or are formed of alternate layers of cotton, linen, and india-rubber pierced with numerous holes, in which are fixed bent pieces of iron wire, called dents or teeth.
The fibres of the cotton are not yet sufficiently level to be twisted into yarn; and it often happens that the teeth of the card lay hold of a fibre by the middle and thus double it together, in which state it is unfit for spinning. ”

“ Now sew the wool securely along one edge of the card, drawing it as close together as possible so as not to make too thick or wide a stalk to the tiny flower. When all the strands are fixed so that they won't slip when combed, cut them along the opposite edge of the card. Slip the scissors along close against the card and you should have a little ball of wool strands. Now take the little comb and comb them out, so that every bit of wool is divided and the little ball looks like yellow cotton wool or wadding. Take the scissors now and trim and cut it until the size of a wattle blossom. ”

“ FIG 5.
About three hundred flowers are placed between two sheets of stiff card-board, and these are tied together in a single bow-knot with silk floss, the end which unties the knot being allowed to hang down, and having a tiny shoe-button fastened to it, so that it may be found easily. Hanging from one of the pieces of card-board is a loop of strong black thread. This bundle is placed in the inside right breast pocket of the performer's coat, and the loose end of the loop is passed over a button or small hook sewn on the vest. ”

“ Cards are destined to disentangle the individual filaments from each other, and to lay them lengthwise, instead of being doubled up and convoluted, as they usually are in leaving the blowing and lap machines. Carding consists in the mutual action of two opposite surfaces, which are studded thick with oblique angled hooks. ”

“ The illustration shows how the hand-comb differed from the card used in the preparation of the wool for the woolen yarn.
Fig. 13.—A Pair of Hand-combs.
The material when thus combed differed from the same material carded, in that the combed wool contained only the long fibers, which lay parallel, the short fibers or noil having been altogether rejected or combed out. The carding eliminates no noil. Long and short fibers go together to the spindle. Thus it happens that a woolen yarn is soft and fluffy, while a worsted yarn is hard and firm, possessing a much greater tensile strength. ”

“ A difficulty has always existed in working cross borders on handkerchiefs, cloths, &c., so as to avoid having to shift or change the cards, and also to do without the expense of getting a complete set of cards cut for the whole cloth. ”

“ Take a narrow piece of stiff cardboard, or a flat stick about five inches long and about one inch wide, and make a slit at each end: between these two slits stretch a piece of thin string and then, about the middle of the strip of cardboard, wind the wool over and over till it is like a ball. Do not allow the wool to spread too far along the cardboard. When the ball of wool is two, or two and a half inches in diameter, loosen the string from the slits, and slip out the cardboard carefully from the ball; you will not have a bundle of wool with a string running through all the loops. ”

“ A little girl at a small wheel is filling quills with woollen yarn for the loom, not a skilled work; the irregular sound shows her intermittent industry. The father is setting fresh teeth in a wool-card, while the boys are whittling hand-reels and loom-spools.
One of the household implements used in wool manufacture, the wool-card, deserves a short special history as well as a description. In early days the leather back of the wool-card was pierced with an awl by hand; the wire teeth were cut off from a length of wire, were slightly bent, and set and clinched one by one. ”

“ This pack is prepared as follows:—The last six cards are arranged with the thread travelling in and out between them, just as the six cards in the hinder compartment were in the older form of the trick. A knot is made in the silk thread, which is hitched into a notch an eighth of an inch deep, made in the lower edge of the sixth card. The knot prevents the thread from slipping, but does not interfere with its being instantaneously detached when, the trick being over, you hand the whole apparatus, cards and all, to be examined. ”

“ Thus every piece of wire is double toothed. The leather is afterwards applied to a flat or cylindrical surface of wood or metal, and the co-operation of two or more such surfaces constitutes a card. The teeth of cards are made thicker or slenderer, according as the filaments to be carded are coarser or finer, stiffer or more pliant, more valuable or cheaper. It is obviously of great importance that the teeth should be all alike, equably distributed, and equally inclined over the surface of the leather, a degree of precision which is scarcely possible with handwork. ”

“ Some carders use a breast or small swift in place of those opening rollers—mostly on account of economy. The swift is usually surmounted with four workers and strippers and is very similar to the woollen carder, save that the workers and doffer are larger, thereby effecting more of a combing action and working economically by reason of the greater wearing surface brought into play. As botany wool is usually brought directly from the wash bowl to the feed sheet of the card, it is usual to clothe the first cylinders with galvanized wire clothing. ”

“ Price cards shown in the center of the reproduction were made of white cardboard. Numerals were written in with black ink with model “B” speed ball pen. Each card features a different colored, flat band border of dark blue, tangerine, maroon, orange, mauve and bright yellow, respectively. This border is made by “chiseling” the brush out perfectly flat and laying it full width, or whatever width may be desired, on the edge of the card and dragging it steadily down on each edge of the card. Colored borders on price cards add much to their attractiveness. ”

“ When several threads are put to the mail, it is also usual to put several picks to each card. The fewer picks, the finer will be the pattern; but a good method of regulating this is to make the checks formed on the cloth square, a little more or less according to the fineness of the pattern required. Thus, if the cloth is wefted square, or a little over that—say, 100 warp by 100 to 110 weft threads per inch—paint the design on, say, 8 × 8 or 8 × 9 paper, and give as many shots [176] to the cards as there are threads in the mail. ”

“ CARD-RECEIVER. In making the card-receiver, take the design off on tracing-paper, and then carefully trace it with a sharpened stick or end of a bone crochet-hook, over the impression-leaf on the sheet of brass. In this also the relief should be high, thus rendering it necessary that it should be hammered on the composition-bed. Polish and finish this in the same manner as the plaque.
FOXING. Foxing, or sticking the metal to be embossed upon a block covered with pitch, is a favorite method with many workers. The block can be of iron or wood, and should measure eight or nine inches across ”

“ The success of the finish of every garment depends upon the pressing, whether the material be heavy or light, cotton or wool. Garments are always pressed on the wrong side, when being made. The iron used should neither be too hot nor too heavy and the work should be done on a perfectly smooth, well-covered board. For pressing black or dark cloth, the cover of the board should be dark and free from lint, while a perfectly clean light cover should be substituted when white or light goods are to be pressed. ”

“ You will notice that the pieces of material are an inch larger each way than the cardboard they are to cover. When you lay a piece of cardboard on a piece of material there should be 1⁄2-inch of material all round, outside the cardboard, for turning over. Crease it over the edges of the cardboard all round, turning it in under again at the corners, as you see in the little picture. Start by taking a few stitches at the first corner, carry your needle on to the next corner, and again take a few firm stitches. ”

“ Wind the netting silk round a piece of cardboard 5 inches long, wind a sufficient quantity to make it look handsome. Under the silk pass a doubled length, and tie it all together very tightly, slip it off the card, and wind two thicknesses of silk firmly over the tied end for the depth of three-quarters of an inch, leave an end about half a yard long, thread a strong needle with this end, pass it through the tassel, under the silk wound over, and bring the needle out at the top ”

“ THE ARMS OF THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF MAKERS OF PLAYING CARDS, 1629.
To conclude this article—much too limited to cover so interesting a subject—we give an illustration (Fig. 34) from a pack of fifty-two playing cards of silver—every card being engraved upon a thin plate of that metal. They are probably the work of a late sixteenth century German goldsmith, and are exquisite examples of design and skill with the graver. They are in the possession of a well-known collector of all things beautiful, curious, and rare, by whose courteous permission this unique example appears here. ”

“ THE CARD OF ONE COLOUR FOUND IN A PACK OF THE OTHER. Put all the red cards in one heap, and all the black cards in the other. One of these packs you conceal in your pocket. You let any person draw a card from the other pack, and while he is examining the card, substitute the pack in your pocket for the one you hold in your hand. Let him place his card in the pack you have taken from your pocket, and shuffle as much as he pleases. On receiving back the pack, you will at once recognize the card he has drawn by the difference of colour. ”

“ In Germany, hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns were generally adopted; in Spain, swords, cups, batons, and coins prevailed as devices for cards.
Various materials have been adopted in the production of playing cards. At South Kensington Museum, besides cards printed from etched steel and copper-plates, wood blocks, and by lithography, we find a pack of silk embroidered cards. A pack of white metal engraved cards were shown at this institution, if we remember rightly, some year or so ago. ”

“ The old style of thick, heavy, in some sort armour-plated, binding, could not exist long after the invention of printing, which, while multiplying books, diminished their weight, reduced their size, and, moreover, gave them a less intrinsic value. Wooden boards were replaced by compressed cardboard, nails and clasps were gradually laid aside, and stuffs of different kinds no longer used; only skin, leather, and parchment were employed. ”

“ The material most largely used for drawing on is probably white Bristol board, of four-sheet or six-sheet thickness, and this will answer better than anything else in almost all cases. Some attention should be paid to the tint of the card, many cardboards having a tendency to turn yellow with age and exposure. A cardboard of a pure white, or a slight tendency to a bluish tint, is what we require, a blue card being in photographic reproduction practically the same as white. Upon the surface of the cardboard will greatly depend the ease with which we shall get clean sharp lines. ”