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LINEN and LINEN MANUFACTURES. Under the name of linen are comprehended all yarns spun and fabrics See also:woven from See also:flax fibre (see FLAx).
From the earliest periods of human See also:history till almost the See also:close of the 18th See also:century the linen manufacture was one of the most extensive and widely disseminated of the domestic See also:industries of See also:European countries. The See also:industry was most largely See also:developed in See also:Russia, See also:Austria, See also:Germany, See also: The See also:foundation of See also:machine spinning of flax was laid by See also: The See also:common use of the two-handed wheel throughout the rural districts of Ireland and Scotland is a See also:matter still within the recollection of some See also:people; but spinning wheels are now seldom seen. The See also:modern manufacture of linen divides itself into two branches, spinning and weaving, to which may be added the ' See See also:Sir See also:Arthur See also:Mitchell's The Past in the Present (See also:Edinburgh, I 88o).See also:bleaching and various See also:finishing processes, which, in the case of many linen textures, are laborious undertakings and important branches of industry. The flax fibre is received in bundles from the scutch mill, and after having been classed into various grades, according to the quality of the material, it is labelled and placed in the See also:store ready for the flax mill. The whole operations in yarn manufacture comprise (1) hackling, (2) preparing and (3) spinning. Hackling.—T his first preparatory See also:process consists not only in combing out, disentangling and laying smooth and parallel the See also:separate fibres, but also serves to split up and separate into their ultimate filaments the strands of fibre which, up to this point, have been agglutinated together. The hackling process was originally performed by hand, and it was one of fundamental See also:inn qortance, requiring the exercise of much dexterity and See also:judgment. he broken, ravelled and See also:short fibres, which separate out in the hackling process, form tow, an See also:article of much inferior value to the spinner. A See also:good See also:deal of hand-hackling is still practised, especially in Irish and See also:continental mills; and it has not been found practicable, in any case, to dispense entirely with a rough preparation of the fibre by hand labour. In hackling by hand, the hackler takes a handful or " strick " of rough flax, winds the See also:top end around his hands, and then, spreading out the See also:root end as broad and See also:flat as possible, by a swinging motion dashes the fibre into the hackle See also:teeth or needles of the rougher or " ruffer." The rougher is a See also:board plated with See also:tin, and studded with spikes or teeth of See also:steel about 7 in. in length, which See also:taper to a See also:fine See also:sharp point. The hackler draws his strick several times through this See also:tool, working gradually up from the roots to near his hand, till in his judgment the fibres at the root end are sufficiently combed out and smoothed. He then seizes the root end and similarly treats the top end of the strick. The same process is again repeated on a similar tool, the teeth of which are 5 in. See also:long, and much more closely studded together; and for the finer See also:counts of yarn a third and a See also:fourth hackle may be used, of still increasing fineness and closeness of teeth. In dealing with certain varieties of the fibre, for fine spinning especially, the flax is, after roughing, broken or cut into .three lengths—the top, middle and root ends. Of these the middle cut is most valuable, being uniform in length, strength and quality. The root end is more woody and harsh, while the top, though fine in quality, is uneven and variable in strength. From some flax of extra length it is possible to take two short middle cuts; and, again, the fibre is occasionally only broken into two cuts. Flax so prepared is known , as " cut See also:line " in contradistinction to " long line ' flax, which is the fibre unbroken. The subsequent treatment of line, whether long or cut, does not present sufficient variation to require further reference to these distinctions. In the case of hackling by machinery, the flax is first roughed and arranged in stricks, as above described under hand hackling. In the construction of hackling machines, the general principles of those now most commonly adopted are identical. The machines are known as See also:vertical See also:sheet hackling machines, their essential features being a set of endless See also:leather bands or sheets revolving over a pair of rollers in a vertical direction. These sheets are crossed by See also:iron bars, to which hackle See also:stocks, furnished with teeth, are screwed. The hackle stocks on each separate sheet are of one See also:size and See also:gauge, but each successive sheet in the length of the machine is furnished with stocks of increasing fineness, so that the hackling tool at the end where the flax is entered is the coarsest, say about four pins per See also:inch, while that to which the fibre is last submitted has the smallest and most closely set teeth. The finest tools may contain from 45 to 6o pins per inch. Thus the whole of the endless vertical revolving sheet presents a continuous series of hackle teeth, and the machines are furnished with a double set of such sheets revolving See also:face to face, so close together that the pins of one set of sheets intersect those on the opposite stocks. Overhead, and exactly centred between these revolving sheets, is the See also:head or holder channel, from which the flax hangs down while it is undergoing the hackling process on both sides. The flax is fastened in a holder consisting of two heavy flat plates of iron, between which it is spread and tightly screwed up. The holder is 11 in. in length, and the holder channel is fitted to contain a line of six, eight or twelve such holders, according to the number of separate bands of hackling stocks in the machine. The head or holder channel has a falling and rising motion, by which it first presents the ends and gradually more and more of the length of the fibre to the hackle teeth, and, after dipping down the full length of the fibre exposed, it slowly rises and lifts the flax clear of the hackle stocks. By a reciprocal motion all the holders are then moved forward one length; that at the last and finest 'set of stocks is thrown out, and See also:place is made for filling in an additional holder at the beginning of the series. Thus with a six-tool hackle, or set of stocks, each holder full of flax from beginning to end descends into and rises from the hackle teeth six times in travelling from end to end of the machine. The root ends being thus first hackled, the holders are shot back along an inclined See also:plane, the iron plates unclamped, the flax reversed, and the top ends are then submitted to the same hackling operation. The tow made during the hackling process is carried down by the pins of the sheet, and is stripped from them by means of a circular See also:brush placed immediately under the bottom See also:roller. The brush revolves in the same direction as, but quicker than the sheet, consequently the tow is withdrawn from the pins. The tow is then removed from the brush by a doffer roller, from which it is finally removed by a doffing See also:knife. This material is then carded by a machine similar to, but finer than, the one described under JUTE (q.v.). The hackled flax, however, is taken See also:direct to the preparing See also:department. Preparing.—The various operations in this See also:stage have for their object the proper assortment of dressed line into qualities See also:fit for spinning, and the drawing out of the fibres to a perfectly level and uniform continuous ribbon or sliver, containing throughout an equal quantity of fibre in any given length. From the hackling the now smooth, glossy and clean stricks are taken to the sorting See also:room, where they are assorted into different qualities by the " line sorter," who See also:judges by both See also:eye and See also:touch the quality and capabilities of the fibre. So sorted, the material is passed to the spreading and drawing frames, a series or system of machines all similar in construction and effect. The essential features of the spreading frame are: (I) the feeding cloth or creeping sheet, which delivers the flax to (2) a pair of " feed and See also:jockey " rollers, which pass it on (3) to the gill frame or fallers. The gill frame consists of a series of narrow hackle bars, with short closely studded teeth, which travel between the feed rollers and the drawing or " See also:boss and pressing " rollers to be immediately attended to. They are, by an endless See also:screw arrangement, carried forward at approximately the same See also:rate at which the flax is delivered to them, and when they reach the end of their course they fall under, and by a similar screw arrangement are brought back to the starting-point; and thus they form an endless moving level toothed See also:platform for carrying away the flax from the feed rollers. This is the machine in which the fibres are, for the first time, formed into a continuous length termed a sliver. In See also:order to form this continuous sliver it is necessary that the short lengths of flax should overlap each other on the spread sheet or creeping sheet. This sheet contains four or six divisions, so that four or six lots of overlapped flax are moving at the same time towards the first pair of rollers—the boss rollers or retaining rollers. The fibre passes between these rollers and is immediately caught by the rising gills which carry the fibre towards the drawing rollers. The pins of the gills should pass through the fibre so that they may have See also:complete See also:control over it, while their See also:speed should be a little greater than the See also:surface speed of the retaining rollers. The fibre is thus carried forward to the drawing rollers, which have a surface speed of from to to 30 times that of the retaining rollers. The See also:great difference between the speeds of the retaining and drawing rollers results in each sliver being See also:drawn out to a corresponding degree. Finally all the slivers are run into one and in this See also:state are passed between the delivery rollers into the sliver cans. Each can should contain the same length of sliver, a common length being See also:I000 yds. A See also:bell is automatically See also:rung by the machine to warn the attendant that the desired length has been deposited into the can. From the spreading frame the cans of sliver pass to the drawing frames, where from four to twelve slivers combined are passed through feed rollers over gills, and drawn out by drawing rollers to the thickness of one. A third and fourth similar doubling and drawing may be embraced in a preparing system, so that the number of doublings the flax undergoes, before it arrives at the roving frame, may amount to from one thousand to one See also:hundred thousand, according to the quality of yarn in progress. Thus, for example, the doublings on one preparing system may be 6 X12 X12 X 12 X 8 = 82,944. The slivers delivered by the last drawing frame are taken to the roving frame, where they are singly passed through feed rollers and over gills, and, after drafting to sufficient tenuity, they are slightly twisted by flyers and wound on bobbins, in which See also:condition the material—termed " rove " or " rovings "—is ready for the spinning frame.' Spinning.—The spinning operation, which follows the roving, is done in two See also:principal ways, called respectively dry spinning and wet spinning, the first being used for the lower counts or heavier yarns, while the second is exclusively adopted in the preparation of fine yarns. The spinning frame does not differ in principle from the throstle spinning machine used in cotton manufacture. The bobbins of flax rove are arranged in rows on each side of the frame (the spinning frames being all double), on pins in an inclined plane. ' The preparation of tow for spinning differs in essential features from the processes above described. Tow from different See also:sources, such as scutching tow, hackle tow, &c. differs considerably in quality and value, some being very impure, filled with woody shives, &c. while other kinds are comparatively open and clean. A preliminary opening and cleaning is necessary for the dirty much-matted tows, and in general thereafter they are passed through two See also:carding engines called respectively the breaker and the finisher See also:cards till the slivers from their processes are ready for the drawing and roving frames. In the case of fine clean tows, on the other hand, passing through a single carding See also:engine may be sufficient. The processes which follow the carding do not differ materially from those followed in the preparation of rove from line flax. The rove passes downwards through an eyelet or See also:guide to a pair of nipping rollers between which and the final drawing rollers, placed in the case of dry spinning from 18 to 22 in. lower down, the fibre receives its final draft while passing over and under cylinders and guide-See also:plate, and attains that degree of tenuity which the finished yarn must possess. From the last rollers the now attenuated material, in passing to the flyers receives the degree of twist which compacts the fibres into the round hard See also:cord which constitutes spun yarn; and from the flyers it is wound on the more slowly rotating spool within the flyer arms, centred on the top of the spindle. The amount of twist given to the See also:thread at the spinning frame varies from 1.5 to 2 times the square root of the See also:count. In wet spinning the general sequence of operations is the same, but the rove, as unwound from its bobbin, first passes through a trough of See also:water heated to about 12o° Fahr.; and the See also:interval between the two pairs of rollers in which the drawing out of the rove is accomplished is very much shorter. The influence of the hot water on the flax fibre appears to be that it softens the gummy substance which binds the separate cells together, and thereby allows the elementary cells to a certain extent to be drawn out without breaking the continuity of the fibre; and further it makes a finer, smoother and more uniform strand than can be obtained by dry spinning. The extent to which the See also:original strick of flax as laid on the feeding roller for (say) the See also:production of a 50 See also:lea yarn is, by doublings and drawings, extended, when it reaches the spinning spindle, may be stated thus: 35 times on spreading frame, 15 times on first drawing frame, 15 times on second drawing frame, 14 times on third. drawing frame, 15 times on roving frame and to times on spinning frame, in all 16,537,500 times its original length, with 8 X12 X16=1536 doublings on the three drawing frames. That is to say, i yd. of hackled line fed into the spreading frame is spread out, mixed with other fibres, to a length of about 9400 M. of yarn, when the above drafts obtain. The drafts are much shorter for the See also:majority of yarns. The next operation is reeling from the bobbins into hanks. By See also:act of See also:parliament, throughout the United Kingdom the standard measure of flax yard is the " lea," called also in Scotland the " cut " of 300 yds. The flax is wound or reeled on a See also:reel having a circumference of 90 in. (22 yds.) making " a thread," and one hundred and twenty such threads form a lea. The grist or count of all fine yarns is estimated by the number of leas in i lb; thus " 5o lea " indicates that there are 5o leas or cuts of 300 yds. each in 1 lb of the yard so denominated. With the heavier yarns in Scotland the quality is indicated by their See also:weight per "spyndle " of 48 cuts or leas; thus " 3 lb tow yarn " is such as weighs 3 lb per spyndle, See also:equivalent to " 16 lea." The hanks of yarn from wet spinning are either dried in a See also:loft with artificial See also:heat or exposed over See also:ropes in the open air. When dry they are twisted back and forward to take the wiry feeling out of the yarn, and made up in bundles for the See also:market as " See also:grey yarn." English spinners make up their yarns into " bundles " of 20 hanks, each hank containing to leas; Irish spinners make hanks of 12 leas, 161 of which form a bundle; Scottish manufacturers adhere to the spyndle containing 4 hanks of 12 cuts or leas. Commercial qualities of yarn range from about 8 lb tow yarns (6 lea) up to 160 lea line yarn. Very much finer yarn up even to 400 lea may be spun from the system of machines found in many mills; but these higher counts are only used for fine thread for sewing and for the making of See also:lace. The highest counts of cut line flax are spun in Irish mills for the manufacture of fine cambrics and lawns which are characteristic features of the See also:Ulster trade. Exceedingly high counts have sometimes been spun by hand, and for the preparation of the finest lace threads it is said the Belgian hand spinners must work in See also:damp cellars, where the spinner is guided by the sense of touch alone, the filament being too fine to be seen by the eye. Such lace yarn is said to have been sold for as much as ;240 per lb. In the Great See also:Exhibition of 1851, yarn of 760 lea, equal to about 130 M. per lb, was shown which had been spun by an Irish woman eighty-four years of See also:age. In the same exhibition there was shown by a Cambray manufacturing See also:firm hand-spun yarn equal to 1200 warp and 1600 weft or to more than 204 and 272 M. per lb respectively. Bleaching.—A large proportion of the linen yarn of See also:commerce undergoes a more or less thorough bleaching before it is handed over to the See also:weaver. Linen yarns in the See also:green condition contain such a large proportion of gummy and resinous matter, removable by bleaching, that cloths which might present a firm close texture in their natural unbleached state would become thin and impoverished in a perfectly bleached condition. Nevertheless, in many cases it is much more satisfactory to weave the yarns in the green or natural See also:colour, and to perform all bleaching operations in the piece. Manufacturers allow about 20 to 25% of loss in weight of yarn in bleaching from the green to the fully bleached stage; and the intermediate stages of boiled, improved, See also:duck, cream, See also:half bleach and three-quarters bleach, all indicating a certain degree of bleaching, have corresponding degrees of loss in weight. The See also:differences in colour resulting from different degrees of bleaching are taken See also:advantage of for producing patterns in certain classes of linen fabrics. Linen thread is prepared from the various counts of fine bleached line yarn by winding the hanks on large spools, and twisting the various strands, two, three, four or six cord as the case may be, on a doubling spindle similar in principle to the yarn spinning frame, excepting, of course, the drawing rollers. A large trade in linen thread has been created by its use in the machine manufacture of boots and shoes, See also:saddlery and other leather goods, and in heavy sewing-machine work generally. The thread industry is largely developed at See also:Lisburn near See also:Belfast, at See also:Johnstone near See also:Glasgow, See also:Bridport, See also:Dorsetshire, and at See also:Paterson, New See also:Jersey, United States. Fine cords, See also:net twine and ropes are also twisted from flax. Weaving.—The difficulties in the way of power-loom linen weaving, combined with the obstinate competition of hand-loom weavers, delayed the introduction of factory weaving of linen fabrics for many years after the system was fully applied to other textiles. The principal difficulty arose through the hardness and inelasticity of the linen yarns, owing to which the yarn frequently See also:broke under the tension to which it was subjected. Competition with the hand-loom against the power-loom in certain classes of work is conceivable, although it is absolutely impossible for the work of the spinning wheel to stand against the rivalry of drawing, roving and spinning frames. To the present day, in Ireland especially, a great deal of fine weaving is done by hand-loom. See also:Warden states that power was applied on a small See also:scale to the weaving of See also:canvas in See also:London about 1812; that in 1821 power-looms were started for weaving linen at See also:Kirkcaldy, Scotland; and that in 1824 Maberly & Co. of See also:Aberdeen had two hundred power-looms erected for linen manufacture. The power-loom has been in uninterrupted use in the Broadford factory, Aberdeen, which then be-longed to Maberly & Co., down to the present day, and that firm may be credited with being the effective introducers of power-loom weaving in the linen trade.
The various operations connected with linen weaving, such as winding, warping, dressing, beaming and drawing-in, do not differ in essential features from the like processes in the case of
cotton weaving, &c., neither is there any significant modification in the looms employed (see WEAVING). Dressing is a matter of importance in the preparation of linen warps for beaming. It consists in treating the spread yarn with See also:flour or See also:farina See also:paste, applied to it by See also:flannel-covered rollers, the lowermost of which revolves in a trough of paste. The paste is equalized on the yarn by brushes, and dried by passing the See also:web over See also:steam-heated
cylinders before it is finally wound on the See also:beam for weaving.
Linen fabrics are numerous in variety and widely different in their qualities, See also:appearance and applications, ranging from heavy Fabric' See also:sail-cloth and rough sacking to the most delicate cambrics,
lawns and scrims. The heavier manufactures include as a principal See also:item sail-cloth, with canvas, See also:tarpaulin, sacking and carpeting. The principal seats of the manufacture of these linens are See also:Dundee, See also:Arbroath, See also:Forfar, Kirkcaldy, Aberdeen and See also:Barnsley. The See also:medium weight linens, which are used for a great variety of purposes, such as See also:tent-making, towelling, covers, See also:outer garments for men, linings, upholstery work, &c., include duck, See also:huckaback, See also:crash, tick, See also:dowlas, See also:osnaburg, See also:low sheetings and low See also: See also:Plain bleached linens form a class by themselves, and include principally the materials for shirts and collars and for See also:bed sheets. Under the head of twilled linens are included drills, diapers and See also:dimity for See also:household use; and damasks for table linen, of which two kinds are distinguished—single or five-See also:leaf See also:damask, and double or eight-leaf damask, the See also:pattern being formed by the intersection of warp and weft yarns at Intervals of five and eight threads of yarn respectively. The fine linens are cambrics, lawns and handkerchiefs; and lastly, printed and dyed linen fabrics may be assigned to a special though not important class. In a general way it may be said regarding the See also:British industry that the heavy linen trade centres in Dundee; medium goods are made in most linen manufacturing districts; damasks are chiefly produced in Belfast, See also:Dunfermline and See also:Perth; and the fine linen manufactures have their seat in Belfast and the north of Ireland. See also:Leeds and Barnsley are the centres of the linen trade in England. Linen fabrics have several advantages over cotton, resulting principally from the microscopic structure and length of the flax fibre. The cloth is much smoother and more lustrous than cotton cloth; and, presenting a less " woolly " surface, it does not See also:soil so readily, nor absorb and retain moisture so freely, as the more spongy cotton; and it is at once a cool, clean and healthful material for bed-sheeting and clothing. Bleached linen, starched and dressed, possesses that unequalled purity, See also:gloss and smoothness which make it alone the material suitable for See also:shirt-fronts, collars and wristbands; and the See also:gossamer delicacy, yet strength, of the thread it may be spun into fits it for the fine lace-making to which it is devoted. Flax is a slightly heavier material than cotton, while its strength is about double. As regards the actual number of spindles and power-looms engaged in linen manufacture, the following particulars are taken from the See also:report of the Flax Supply Association for 1905: Country. See also:Year. Number of Year Number of ' Spindles Power-looms for Flax for Linen Spinning. Weaving. Austria-See also:Hungary . 1903 280,414 1895 3357 Belgium 1902 280,000 1900 3400 England and See also:Wales 1905 49,941 1905 4424 France . . . . 1902 455,838 1891 18,083 Germany . . 1902 295,796 1895 7557 Holland . . 1896 8000 1891 1200 Ireland . . 1905 851,388 1905 34,498 See also:Italy 1902 97,000 1902 3500 See also:Norway .. .. r88o 120 Russia . . 1902 300,000 1889 7312 Scotland . . 1905 160,085 1905 17,185 See also:Spain .. .. 1876 1000 See also:Sweden . . . . .. .. 1884 286 LINEN-See also:PRESS, a contrivance, usually of See also:oak, for pressing sheets, table-napkins and other linen articles, resembling a modern See also:office copying-press. Linen presses were made chiefly in the 17th and 18th centuries, and are now chiefly interesting as curiosities of See also:antique See also:furniture. Usually quite plain, they were occasionally carved with characteristic Jacobean designs. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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