Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN AND WORSTED. 129 must first be scoured. All unwashed fleeces carry a considerable amount of the yolk or natural grease of the animal, and some Australian and South American wools contain as much as 60 per cent, of sand, dirt, and grease. The washing is effected by machinery in what is called a “ bowl,” though it bears no resemblance to that useful domestic vessel. The washbowl is a long, deep iron trough, in which the wool is immersed in a bath or “ sud ” of hot water to be combed or carded, as the case may be. The combing machine is one of the marvels of mechanical invention, and it has several forms, but the type which has finally been adopted in this country is known as the great circle comb. It consists of a large brass ring, about four feet in diameter, in which the steel pins of the comb are set in concentric circles, the strongest teeth on the outer ring, the finest on the inner, there being usually “ DRAWING.” and soap, being slowly passed from one encl of the trough to the other by a series of reciprocating brass forks. The bowl has a false bottom, into which the sand and dirt settle by gravity. On emerging from the end of the bowl the wool is squeezed between rollers, and usually at once passes into a second bowl, where, of course, the water is cleaner, and often into a third and even a fourth. When it finally emerges it is pure and almost snow-white, though still carrying many grass seeds, burrs, and other entanglements. After drying by subjection in a closed chamber to the action of a stream of hot air, during which time it is being constantly tossed like the grass in a hayfield, the wool is ready 17 four or five such rings. The pins or teeth of the comb, which revolves horizontally and very slowly, are heated, and by an ingenious arrangement of fluted rollers the wool is gradually drawn through the teeth of the comb from the outside, coming away from the inner edge absolutely free from impurities and with every fibre laid parallel with its neighbour. The shortest of the wool is left behind, and is automatically picked out of the teeth of the comb before it receives a fresh supply of wool. This short stuff is called the noil, and the combed wool which comes off in a continuous rope is coiled up into a ball or “ top.” The top-maker, then, is one who buys wool, sends it to be washed and combed, and then sells the