Wool

“ Noils, Mungo, Shoddy, Extract, and Flocks.
Artificial Fibers: Spun Glass, Artificial Silk, and Slag Wool.
The Structure of Wool. A large part of the people of the world have always used wool for their clothing. Wool is the soft, curly covering which forms the fleecy [Pg 2] coat of the sheep and similar animals, such as the goat and alpaca. ”

“ Of the treatment of short wool for the cloth manufacture.—Short wool resembles cotton, not a little in the structure of its filaments, and is cleaned by the willy, as cotton is by the willow, which opens up the matted fleece of the wool-stapler, and cleans it from accidental impurities. Sheep’s wool for working into coarse goods, must be passed repeatedly [1317] through this machine, both before and after it is dyed; the second last time for the purpose of blending the different sorts together, and the last for imbuing the fibres intimately with oil. ”

“ It is woven from strong wool and can be described as a fine, durable fabric of a somewhat hard handle, but smooth in appearance and ornamented by the introduction of a figure, pattern, or design produced either by means of an extra thread or by combination of warp and weft threads.
Woollen Lastings, Plain.—A plain twill or kindred weave fabric firmly woven from hard-twisted yarns. It is woven from strong wool and can be described as a fine, durable fabric of a somewhat hard handle, smooth in appearance, and free from any ornamentation produced either by weaving or printing. ”

“ He represents them as passing their happy life in the most perfect tranquillity and the most delicious repose amidst shady thickets refreshed by pleasant zephyrs, and where the soil furnishes so soft a wool, that after having been sprinkled with water and combed, it forms cloths resembling silk. ”

“ TEXTILES. CHAPTER I. Under its widest acceptation the word “textile” means every kind of stuff, no matter its material, wrought in the loom. Whether, therefore, the threads are spun from the produce of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom; whether of sheep’s wool, goats’ hair, camels’ wool, or camels’ hair; whether of flax, hemp, mallow, or the filaments drawn out of the leaves of plants of the lily and asphodel tribes of flowers, or the fibrous coating about pods, or cotton; whether of gold, silver, or of any other metal; the webs from all such materials are textiles. ”

“ The high technical skill of the craftsmanship, the fine spinning of the wool and cotton, and the perfection of the dyeing of the yarn, together with the skilful weaving of the figured cloths and tapestries are a tribute to the vitality and civilization of a people remote from all Asiatic or European influences. ”

“ Wool existed before weaving made it supply one of nature’s imperfections. Wood existed before carpentering took possession of it, and transformed it each day to supply new wants, and made us see all the advantages derived from it, giving the oar to the sailor, the winnowing fan to the labourer, the lance to the soldier. ”

“ It is interesting for a stranger visiting the country at this period to view the processes of washing and shearing the animals—sorting, pressing, and packing the wool;—to often hear the terms of short and long staple wool, and to see the specimens of it arranged in small locks, showing the different degrees of fineness. ”

“ Just as it is desirable, in the interests of health, that wool should be used exclusively for clothing during the day, so it is that the surroundings of the body during the night should be of wool, and the bed or mattrass, being, as it is generally supposed to be, stuffed with hair, wool, or feathers, should be cased in woollen material. ”

“ The prevailing colour of sheep's wool is white, but there are races with black, brown, fawn, yellow and grey shades of wool. Physical characteristics of wool. For manufacturing purposes generally white wool is, of course, most valuable, but for the homespuns, which in earlier times absorbed the bulk of wool, natural colours were in many cases used with good effect. In domestic spinning, knitting, and weaving, natural colours are still largely taken advantage of, as in the cases of rough yarns, Shetland knitted shawls, Highland tweeds, &c. ”

“ Some sheep give a better quality of wool than others. The Merino wool is the very finest. The camel furnishes a beautiful soft fiber. Then, there is the angora goat of Asia Minor, which provides us with mohair. This is a lovely soft fiber resembling silk. Can you find this country on your map? Look for Peru and for Chili. The sheep there furnish the alpaca and llama wools.
Some wool fibers are long, and some are quite short. The length of fiber, or staple as it is called, varies. An average length is 7 or 8 inches. How does this compare with the silk or linen fiber? Is it as long as cotton? ”

“ Woolen Clothing.—Woolen clothing, such as overcoats and fine cloth dresses and suits, is made from the wool cut from sheep. Enough wool can be sheared from two sheep in one year to make an entire suit of clothes. The raw wool is first twisted into threads and then woven by machines into cloth. ”

“ In as far as materials are essential to the art of embroidery, I must restrict myself to the history of silk, wool, flax, cotton, and gold. With these all the finest works have been executed for the artistic adornment of dress and hangings. All other materials have been occasional experiments, or else were resorted to in the absence or ignorance of the above five most important factors in our domestic civilization. The history of wool must take precedence as being that of the original, if not the first, of textile materials. ”

“ The wool is not sheared off, but torn from the animal’s back, and woven by the peasantry, during the long winter evenings, into a kind of coarse cloth, or knit into gloves and stockings, which form one of the chief articles of export. ”

“ Long, coarse, or hard wools, used in the manufacture of camlets, bombazines, circassians, and other worsted fabrics, are not carded, but combed. In England, and in other countries where much of this kind of wool is used, wool-combing forms a distinct trade. ”

“ The reason why wool and woollen goods felt and solidify more readily than any straight fibred furs, is owing to the natural curl or frizzle possessed by wool, each and every bend of every individual filament assuming an inclination for travel independent of each other and of the general inclination of the perfect fibre. ”

“ The scaly structure of wool is of great importance in regard to what is known as felting property. When woollen fabrics are worked in boiling water, especially in the presence of soap, they shrink in length and breadth, but become thicker in substance, while there is a greater amalgamation of the fibres of the fabric together to form a more compact and dense cloth ”

“ In all times it has been used for making cloth for clothing, and spinning and weaving are very old duties of the household. If wool is made damp and then pounded it clings together so as to form a kind of felt, and in our times much wool is used in this way to make felts for hats, carpets and shoes. ”

“ It has always been my belief that wool loosely woven, so that it forms a soft, thick cloth, is a better heat retainer than the same quantity of wool tightly woven, so that it makes a thinner, tighter and harder material. ”

“ The long fiber wool is commonly carded, combed and spun into worsted yarn. The short fiber is usually carded and spun into woolen yarn. The short fiber obtained in combing long staple wool is called "noil." ”

“ Wool is the most important animal fiber. Strictly speaking the name applies only to the hairy covering of sheep, but the hair of certain goats and of camels is generally classified under the same terms. The wool fiber is distinguished by its scale-like surface which gives it its felting and spinning properties. Hair as distinguished from wool has little or no scaly structure being in general a smooth filament with no felting properties and spinning only with great difficulty. ”

“ Not all animal fibers are alike. They vary in fineness, softness, length, and strength, from the finest Merino wool to the rigid bristles of the wild boar. At just what point it can be said that the animal fiber ceases to be wool and becomes hair, is difficult to determine, because there is a gradual and imperceptible gradation from wool to hair. [1] The distinction between wool and hair lies chiefly in the great fineness, softness, and wavy delicacy of the woolen fiber, combined with its highly serrated surface—upon which the luster of the wool depends. ”

“ Woolens.—There are two classes of woolen textiles, woolens and worsteds, depending upon the character of the fiber used, and the treatment to which it is subjected. The shorter varieties of wool are used in woolens, while the long fibers are combed out and used for the worsteds. In making woolen yarns the wool is simply carded and very loosely spun, but in making worsted thread the wool is combed out and hard twisted. Owing to the nap of the woolen goods the weaving is scarcely visible, but in the manufacture of worsteds the weave is evident and a great variety of designs is possible. ”

“ The real Page 64alpaca wool which comes into the market to-day is not so called. Long and silky, straighter than the sheep's wool, it is strong, small of fiber, very soft, pliable and elastic. It is capable of being woven into fabrics of great beauty and comfort. ”

“ CLOTH, properly a covering, especially for the body, clothing, then the material of which such a covering is made; hence any material woven of wool or hair, cotton, flax or vegetable fibre. In commercial usage, the word is particularly applied to a fabric made of wool. ”

“ Thus, for instance, the finishing of an “Italian” may be considerably varied from the foregoing, being more complex, while other styles, such as plain all-wool goods, are treated very simply.
It will be gathered from the foregoing remarks that the varieties of wool textures are many and very different in character. This is Varieties of woollens and worsteds. perhaps realized best by contrasting a heavy melton cloth weighing say 24-30 oz. per yard with a fine mohair texture weighing say 2-3 oz. per yard. None the less remarkable is the difference in appearance of varieties of wool textures. ”

“ To the causal class belong the arts of washing and mending, of carding and spinning the threads, and the other arts of working in wool; these are chiefly of two kinds, falling under the two great categories of composition and division. Carding is of the latter sort. But our concern is chiefly with that part of the art of wool-working which composes, and of which one kind twists and the other interlaces the threads, whether the firmer texture of the warp or the looser texture of the woof. ”

“ The wool should open on the back of the sheep in connected masses, instead of breaking up into little round spiral ringlets of the size of a pipe-stem, which indicate thinness of fleece; and when the wool is pressed open each way with the hands, it should be close enough to conceal all but a delicate rose-colored line of skin. The interior of the wool should be a pure, glittering white, with a lustre and liveliness of appearance not surpassed in the best silk. ”

“ Wool, one of the most important of all animal substances, ranks next to cotton in its use in the manufacture of clothing. It is a sort of hair, growing on sheep and on goats. The fiber differs from a hair in being crinkly or wavy and in having very minute scales, both of which properties fit it for its uses. ”

“ Those who buy wool for combing and other light goods that do not need milling, wish to find length of staple, fineness of hair, whiteness, tenacity, pureness, elasticity, and not too many pitch-marks. ”

“ If the wool be in the state of spun yarn it has gallipoli, or rape oil, in its thread, the spinner, or rather the comber, using it to render the wool more flexible, &c. It is absolutely necessary that wool, (as indeed every other material to be dyed) should be made very clean and white, if any brilliant or bright colour is to be imparted to it. ”

“ For when that part of the art of composition which is employed in the working of wool forms a web by the regular intertexture of warp and woof, the entire woven substance is called by us a woollen garment, and the art which presides over this is the art of weaving. ”

“ From the composite nature of this domestic fabric, its cross-weaving of animal and vegetable fibre, it takes colour irregularly. Every cross-thread of wool is deeper in tone than the cotton thread it crosses, and this gives the quality which artists call vivacity or vibration. ”

“ There are certain wool materials such as velours, duvetyn, wool plush and materials of similar character that should not be sponged. Very thin, open-meshed materials should not he sponged either, but most wool materials should be sponged either at the store where you buy them or at home. ”

“ The first we know of Scandinavian wool for dress, is a fragment from a Celtic barrow in Yorkshire—a woollen plaited shroud. This fabric was an advance upon the original northern savage costume—a sheep-skin fashioned and sewn with a fish-bone for a needle, sinews for thread, and a thorn for a pin. But we must imagine that some use was made, besides plaiting, of the spun wool, of which the early northern women have left us evidence, in the whorls of their spindles, from prehistoric times.
Wool has always appeared to be a natural material for dress. ”

“ The only process applied in the improvement of wool consists in this, that the farmer with the greatest care and perseverance selects from a whole flock of sheep those individuals which have the finest wool. These only are used in breeding, and among the descendants of these selected sheep, those again are chosen which have the finest wool, etc. ”

“ Wool differs from hair in possessing a notched surface, giving it the very useful quality of “felting,” and enabling the fibres to adhere into a mass when pressed and beaten together, the notches catching into each other. ”