MANUFACTURE 
 
 DYKING 
 
 PRINTING 
 
 AND 
 FINISHING 
 
 OF 
 TTFXTILFS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/manufacturedyeinOOpaci 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 INCORPORATED IN 1853. 
 
 COTTOX DEPARTMENT 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 LAWRENCE, MASS. 
 
 152,992 spindles and 3,833 looms making cotton cloths for printing and dyeins 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COCHECO DEPARTMENT 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 DOVEE, N. H. 
 
 148,128 spindles and 3,612 looms making cotton cloths for printing and dyeing. 
 
 HAMPTON DEPiVllTMENT 
 
 .PACIFIC ailJ^LS. 
 COL03IB-IAt*S-. O. ' 
 
 198,736 spindles and 4,757 looms making cotton cloths for printing and dyeing. 
 
 179574 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 Bleachinsi-, rtyeinii-, pi 
 
 I'KINT W<JKKS DEPARTMENT 
 
 PVCTFIC MILLS 
 
 I.\W1!KN(E, :\IASS. 
 
 itiiiii- ;ni(l fiiiisliiiiii- cotton cloths. 
 
 W< )KSTED DEPAKT>rKXT 
 
 VACIFIC MILLS' 
 
 lamiuTnck. AIASS. 
 ,880 worsted spindles, 31,360 spiiicic. i in c onibed cotton yarns, 
 making cotton- war)) aiiiL a II -wool 'dress goods. 
 
 ind:!,43o looms 
 
PACIFIC MILLvS 
 
 
 Foreword 
 
 This pamphlet was compiled and printed 
 at the office of the Pacific Mills, in Lawrence 
 Massachusetts. It is intended to be used in 
 connection with cabinets, made for school 
 use, showing cotton and wool at each stage 
 of manufacture from the raw material to the 
 dyed, printed and finished cloth. 
 
PACIFIC MILLvS 
 
 COTTON BOLLS 
 
 THE MANUFACTURE OF 
 COTTON INTO CLOTH. 
 
 THE cotton fibre from which our common 
 cloth is made, grows on a plant perhaps 
 about two feet high mainly in our South- 
 ern States, along the Gulf coast, and as far 
 north as the Mason and Dixon's line, where the 
 soil and weather are best suited for it, but it 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 A COTTON FIKLD IN SOt'TH CAKOLIXA 
 
 also grows in other parts of the World as well. 
 The seeds are planted in the Springtime, 
 and the little plant soon bears a yellowish 
 flower; this blooms only a few days, and then 
 a little pod grows in its place, full of seeds, and 
 these seeds are wrapped up in downy fibres like 
 fine hairs. In September or October, when the 
 cotton is ripe, the pods, which are called "bolls" 
 burst open and you see the fluffy white bunch 
 of cotton which looks something like our com- 
 mon milkweed pod. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 The cotton pickers now go through the fields 
 with their great bags, and pick the cotton by 
 hand. Then they take it to what is called the 
 cotton "Gin," a machine which separates the 
 cotton from the seeds around which it grows, 
 and then it is pressed hard into great bundles 
 called "bales," each of which will weigh about 
 five hundred pounds, covered with bagging and 
 held together by strong iron hoops. 
 
 When these bales of cotton reach the 
 mill the cotton is in a close mass ; the fibres 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 A BALE OF COTTON 
 
 which are kinky, are crossed and recrossed, and 
 wrapped around each other like a bunch of 
 snarled hair. Besides this the cotton contains 
 dirt, sand, seeds and pieces of leaves. 
 
 Now suppose we go into the cotton mill and 
 see what is done to this dirty cotton before it 
 can be made into nice, clean cloth, like your 
 fresh, clean handkerchief. If we could follow 
 one of these bales through the mill, the differ- 
 ent rooms, and the machines it would have to 
 pass through would be about like this : 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 BALE BREAKERS AND CARRYING BELT 
 
 PICKING. The first thing to do is to take out 
 ^Jl^ all we can of this dirt, for we can- 
 
 not make clean yarn or cloth from 
 dirty cotton. A man gets a bale of cotton from 
 the storehouse and wheels it on a truck to the 
 "Picker" room. He cuts the hoops, takes off 
 the bagging from the outside of the bale, and 
 throws the cotton into a machine called a "Bale- 
 breaker" which breaks up the mass of cotton 
 into small bunches, and then it is carried by a 
 long belt to the "Feeders". The machines have 
 
10 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 INTERMEDIATE PICKER 
 
 wooden slats with pins in them which pick up 
 the cotton and carry it into the Opener where 
 it is torn or picked apart just as you would 
 with your fingers, into little bits of pieces. 
 Then it falls into a wooden trunk which slants 
 upward and a draft of air from a fan sucks it 
 up through this trunk along iron rods, and as it 
 is all in little pieces the sand and heavy waste 
 drops down into the bottom of the trunk. 
 
 When it comes out at the other end of this 
 trunk it drops into the next machine which 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 11 
 
 FIXISHER PICKER 
 
 makes it into a sheet or "lap" and it is rolled up 
 on a stick and is nearly as big as a barrel. Then 
 four of these laps are put into another machine 
 called the Intermediate, then four from that ma- 
 chine into the Finisher, and all these machines 
 pick the cotton to pieces and beat out the dirt, 
 and the lap from the last machine looks like what 
 you know as "Cotton Batting." 
 
 Now we think we have the heavy sand and dirt 
 all taken out, but still there are some pieces of 
 leaves which we must get rid of, and then the cot- 
 
12 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 A COTTON CARD 
 
 ton is still more or less matted together, and be- 
 fore we can make it into yarn the fibres must be 
 straightened out and made to lie side by side ; 
 there are also short bits of fibres which we must 
 take out if we want the yarn to be strong and even. 
 
 CARDING. Next we go to the Carding Room 
 ^I^ Here the lap is put into a ma- 
 
 chine called a "Card," which 
 has two big drums which roll together but do 
 not quite touch, The outside of these drums is 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 13 
 
 A COTTON CARD, DELIVERY END 
 
 covered with leather or cloth in which fine wires 
 sharpened like needles are set close together, 
 and the cotton is brushed between the two 
 drums and straightened out much as when you 
 brush your hair, and the wide lap, over a yard 
 wide when it goes into the Card, comes out a 
 fine clean light strand about like a big rope, and 
 is coiled or wound around into a tall can about 
 three feet high and a foot across the top. Next 
 these cans are taken to the Drawing frames. 
 There are three of these, one right after the 
 
14 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 T>K AWING TEAMES 
 
 Other, and each one takes 6 of these strands like 
 cotton rope, and runs them in between little rolls 
 and they come out only one strand about as large 
 as each one of the 6 it was made from. The cot- 
 ton is now as clean as we can get it, and the little 
 cotton fibres have been straightened out and we 
 are all ready to make this cotton rope smaller 
 and smaller until it is fine yarn like thread. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 15 
 
 SLUBBERS 
 
 ROVING . There are three kinds of Roving 
 i frames in this room, each of these 
 
 Slubber ^^^ spindles carrying wooden bob- 
 
 Intermediate bins like spools without heads. 
 Fly Frame which turn very rapidly. Each 
 machine takes two strands made 
 on the machine just before it, and makes them 
 into one strand a little smaller, so that what was 
 once like rope, becomes like clothes-line, then 
 smaller and smaller until it leaves the Fly frame 
 
16 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 INTERMEDIATE ROVING FRAMES 
 
 about as large as the string which your grocer ties 
 his bundles with. Instead of calling it rope or 
 string the girls in the mill call it "Roving" and 
 it is wound up on bobbins as they whirl about, 
 and looks very white and clean. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 17 
 
 FINE ROVING FRAMES 
 
18 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COTTON ROVING, rOUK PROCESSUS 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 19 
 
 COTTON SPINlSriXG "DOFFER" GIRL 
 
 SPINNING Now the roving is fine enough to 
 ^I^^ spin into yarn. The bobbins 
 
 Spinning holding the roving are hollow. 
 
 Twisting ^^^ ^ stick is run through each 
 
 one and it is set up straight in a 
 rack on top of the spinning frame. This frame 
 has a large number of spindles set in a straight 
 row and close together along the sides of the ma- 
 chine, and on each spindle is a small bobbin on 
 which the yarn is wound say about six inches 
 long and half an inch thick. A strand of the 
 
20 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 A COTTON SPINNING ROOM 
 
 roving from the bobbin on top of the frame is 
 fed through a little trumpet, then it goes between 
 iron rolls covered with leather which run at dif- 
 ferent speeds, and they pull the strand out and 
 make it smaller, then it goes through a little 
 rounded piece of steel called a "Traveler" which 
 runs so fast you cannot see it, on a ring about 
 two inches across, and the spindle "spins" like a 
 top in the middle of this ring. 
 
 There are two kinds of yarn, the warp threads 
 which run the long way of the cloth, and the 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 21 
 
 A COTTON SPINNER 
 
 filling threads which run across from side to side 
 The filling yarn is spun on its kind of bobbins 
 and then it is all ready to go directly to the shut- 
 tle which unwinds it in the loom when we are 
 ready to make the yarn into cloth, but the warp 
 yarn has to go to some other rooms, and 
 through two or three other machines before we 
 can use this to make into cloth. Sometimes also 
 we want very strong yarn, so then we twist two 
 or three threads of yarn together, but of course 
 this makes rather coarse yarn and heavy cloth. 
 
22 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COTTOX TWISTING 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 23 
 
 COTTON SPINNERS EXAMINING YARN 
 
24 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COTTON YARN ON FILLING BOBBIN, WARP BOBBIN, SPOOL 
 
 SPOOLING. When the warp yarn is put into 
 ^I'^ the loom it is on a roll, and as 
 
 we sometimes have to make sev- 
 eral thousand yards of cloth 
 from one roll you will see that we have to use 
 very long threads, and then there are a good 
 many threads in a wide piece of cloth, so we 
 have to put the threads from a good many bob- 
 bins onto this roll. When the bobbins on the 
 spinning frame are full, they are "doffed" by 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 25 
 
 COTTON SPOOLING 
 
 girls or boys who lift the bobbins off the spindles 
 and put on empty bobbins in their place. 
 
 These full warp bobbins are now taken to the 
 Spooler. Each is put into a little holder so it 
 can easily be unwound, and the end of the 
 thread is tied to another thread on a large spool 
 having two heads, which holds about a mile of 
 yarn when it is full. For tieing these ends to- 
 gether quickly the girl has a funny little machine 
 which she wears on her left hand ; she takes the 
 two threads, places them across a little hook. 
 
26 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 TIEIXG YARN AVITH "KXOT TYER' 
 
 shuts her hand, and the machine ties a knot and 
 cuts off the loose ends close to the knot much 
 quicker and neater than you would be apt to do 
 it if in a hurry. The large spools turn on spin- 
 dles and it takes quite a number of bobbins to 
 fill a spool. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 27 
 
 COTTON WAKPEKS 
 
 WARPING When the spools are full they are 
 
 ^r taken to the Warper creel, which 
 
 is a rack in which say 300 to 400 
 
 spools are set in glass rests so 
 
 that a thread from each spool can be wound off 
 
 onto a large Warper beam, which is a wooden roll 
 
 with iron heads and holds say 25,000 to 30,000 
 
 yards in length of these 300 or 400 warp threads. 
 
 We should have told you that on this machine, 
 
 and on many of the others all over the mill, the 
 
 threads run through loops or guides in such a 
 
28 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COTTOX SLASHING, EXTEKING EXD 
 
 way that if a thread breaks it stops the machine 
 and so prevents uneven places and waste. 
 Of course when these spools "run out" or are 
 emptied, the girl has to tie the end onto a new 
 full spool, and this keeps her busy most of the 
 time. 
 
 If a cloth is 40 inches wide and 
 there are 50 threads to the inch, 
 it means that there will be about 
 
 SLASHING 
 
 2000 threads in the roll or "beam" as it is put 
 into the loom. To get these 2000 threads onto 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 29 
 
 COTTON SLASHER, DELIVERY END 
 
 one beam we take say 5 of the Warper beams of 
 400 threads each and run them through the 
 Slasher. This machine has a rack for holding 
 the Warper beams, a wooden box which is filled 
 with hot starch, and two large copper drums fill- 
 ed with steam and very hot. The yarn froin the 
 beams is unwound and drawn through the hot 
 starch, then over the outside of the hot drums 
 which dry it : then it is tightly wound onto the 
 roll or what we call the 'Toom beam". The 
 
30 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 W' 
 
 ^£^^ 
 
 WEB DRAWING 
 
 Starch on the threads has several uses ; the 
 thread is apt to be soft and to curl up and get 
 easily tangled, and the starch makes it stiffer and 
 more easily handled when we draw the threads 
 into the eye of the harness, which we are soon 
 going to tell you about, and also makes it stand 
 the rubbing of the shuttle and the harness when 
 we weave it into cloth, with less danger of get- 
 ting broken. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 31 
 
 WEB DRAWING 
 
 WEB-DRAWIN G. Next the beam is "drawn-in" 
 ^JF when a girl with a little hook 
 
 pulls the threads one at a 
 time through the eye of a "harness" which is 
 made of twine cords, or wire, say 10 inches long, 
 having an "eye" in the middle and fastened at 
 each end to wooden rods which lift and drop in 
 the loom, carrying the warp threads with them, 
 and are used in making the pattern in the cloth 
 — if it is a "Plain" cloth there are but two har- 
 nesses, each carrying half the warp threads, but if 
 it is a fancy weave, that is, has a figure in it, then 
 it may take quite a lot of harnesses. 
 
32 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 FILLING YARX IX LOOM SHUTTLES 
 
 WE A VIIMG Probably most of you have seen 
 
 xjT[^ a loom, or have an idea what it 
 
 looks like and how it works. 
 
 To a child who has never seen 
 a loom the weaving may be said to be much like 
 mother darning socks, for just as her needle 
 draws the yarn in and out between the threads 
 which run the other way, so the shuttle in the 
 loom carries the filling thread over and under 
 among the warp threads and makes the firm cloth. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 33 
 
 FANCY LOOM WITH DOBBY HEAD 
 
 The loom beam, with the threads drawn in to 
 the harness, and also through a ""reed" (which is 
 like a large comb and keeps the threads separate) 
 is set into the loom; the harnesses rise and fall and 
 thus open up the warp threads so that the shuttle 
 can pass through, carrying the filling thread, and 
 the way the threads cross each other makes the 
 pattern or figure. 
 
 There are two kinds of cloth, plain and fan- 
 cy or figured. Your mother's apron very likely 
 
34 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 (f^ 
 
 <N^"¥ 
 
 COTTOJSr WEAVING ROOM, PLAIN AT'TOMATIC LOOMS 
 
 is plain cloth, while your table-cloth is probably 
 figured. In the plain cloth half the warp threads 
 are held up and half dropped down, the filling 
 thread is carried through by the shuttle, then be- 
 fore it conies back the harnesses take turns and 
 the filling thread is thus shut in between the 
 warp threads which are half the time above and 
 half the time below the filling thread. 
 
 If the cloth is woven with yarn just as it 
 comes from the spindle without being dyed it is 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 35 
 
 INSPECTING GRAY CLOTH FOR IMPERFECTIONS 
 
 known as "grey" cloth, or when you buy it at the 
 store it would be called "unbleached". "White" 
 cloth would be bleached, and then there are a 
 great number of kinds of dyed and printed cloths 
 just as there are a great number of fancy kinds 
 of weaving. 
 
36 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 The PACIFIC MILLS is one of the largest 
 cloth making companies in the United States. 
 For about 65 years this company has been among 
 the leaders in making both cotton and worsted 
 dress goods for ladies' wear. Over 15,000 looms 
 are busy all the time making the millions of yards 
 of cloth turned out each year, and all the cotton 
 cloth is dyed or printed in its great Pacific Print 
 Works at Lawrence, Massachusetts, whose name 
 is known in nearly every home all over our 
 Country. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 37 
 
 CALICO 
 PRINTING 
 AND 
 DYEING 
 
38 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 CALICO PRINTING 
 
 Cotton Cloth as it comes from the loom is known 
 as "gray" or unbleached cloth. It is rather yel- 
 lowish in color and does not have a finished ap- 
 pearance, so if you want a nice white cloth it 
 must be bleached. Perhaps your mother prefers 
 to buy the unbleached cloth and bleach it her- 
 self, which she can do by spreading it on the 
 grass and letting the sun shine on it for a few 
 days, but usually she buys it already bleached. 
 But if she wants to make it into aprons or house 
 dresses, drapery curtain, or for any other purpose 
 where she wants it colored, then it must be dyed 
 or printed. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 39 
 
 I.NDIUO D\EiNG MACUl.NK 
 
 DYEING When cloth is dyed in large fac- 
 
 ^J^" tories the ends of a good many 
 
 pieces are sewed together so as 
 
 to make a long roll of many 
 
 yards and this cloth is drawn by rollers through 
 
 large boxes filled with the liquid dyes, after which 
 
 it is dried, starched and ironed (calendered) and 
 
 wrapped up into neat packages. 
 
40 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 PADDER FOR DYEING 
 
 PRINTING By printing is meant the stamp- 
 
 ^I^^ ing of a colored figure or pat- 
 
 tern on the cloth. Many years 
 ago the Chinese and the Egyp- 
 tians printed figures on cloth by means of wood- 
 en blocks on which the figure was cut, then color 
 was spread over the face of the block which was 
 then placed on the cloth and a sharp blow from 
 a mallet stamped the figure on the cloth. This 
 was rather slow work, you see it would take a 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 41 
 
 A LINE OF 48 CALICO PRINTING MACHINES 
 
 long time to stamp figures over many yards of 
 cloth, and it would cost too much. Now, instead 
 of wooden blocks we use copper rollers, one for 
 each color in the pattern, each roller having en- 
 graved or "sunk in" on its smooth face that part 
 of the pattern which goes with its color. These 
 rollers are placed in the printing machine so as 
 to turn or roll against the face of a large drum 
 about as wide as the rolls are long, the cloth is 
 drawn between the drum and the rolls, and each 
 roll in turn prints on its color so that what 
 
42 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 -\-H 
 
 SEWING ENDS OF GRAY CLOTH PIECES BEFORE SINGEING 
 
 went in as clean white cloth comes away from 
 the last roll with all the colors exactly fitting 
 each other, and a good many yards a day can be 
 printed on one of these machines. 
 
 Preparation But you must not think that 
 
 for printing is a simple matter — 
 
 Frmting there are a good many things 
 
 that have to be done to the 
 cloth before it is ready to be printed upon, and 
 it has to be handled a good many times after- 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 43 
 
 SINGEING CLOTH BY GAS FLAMES 
 
 ward before it has that nice "finish" which 
 would lead your mother to buy it as a good piece 
 of cloth. You know how easy it is to write 
 with a good pen on a piece of smooth paper, but 
 on a coarse rough paper, or when you get a bit 
 of lint in your pen, then the ink spreads and 
 you get an ugly blotch, Just so when we wish 
 to print a pattern on the cloth, it must first be 
 made white and with a smooth surface. When 
 the cloth comes from the loom there is a loose 
 fuzz on the face which would act just like the 
 
44 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 BLEACHING 
 
 lint in your pen, and there are also ends of 
 threads and knots, and the first thing we do is 
 to get rid of these. 
 
 SHEARING First, as we wish to handle the 
 and cloth in long rolls, we sew the 
 
 bll\LrLh\Lr ends of a number of pieces to- 
 
 gether. Then this cloth is fed 
 through what is called a Cotton Shear so that the 
 face of the cloth just grazes the edge of fast turn- 
 ing shear blades much like the cutter in a lawn- 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 45 
 
 BLEACHING KIERS 
 
 mower, and these shear blades cut off loose 
 threads and knots and trim the edges of the 
 cloth. But in removing the lint we have to use 
 a much more delicate way so as not to injure the 
 cloth, so we run the cloth through a gas flame 
 just quick enough to burn off the fuzz and not 
 burn the cloth itself. 
 
46 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 4 
 
 '^^ 
 
 WASHING CLOTH AFTER BLEACHING 
 
 BLEACHIN G Now unless the cloth is to be 
 
 ^I^^ finished as a flannel ( in which 
 
 case it goes through a machine 
 
 called a Napper which raises a 
 
 "Nap" on the cloth by means of rolls covered 
 
 with fine wire points which scratch up the cotton 
 
 fibres much as when you stroke a cat's fur the 
 
 wrong way) the singed cloth is fed into large 
 
 iron tanks called Bleaching Kiers where it is 
 
 boiled for about twelve hours in a solution of 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 47 
 
 caustic soda, then washed and soaked for several 
 hours in bins containing dilute acid which takes 
 out iron stains, etc. Then again washed and a 
 second time is boiled twelve hours in kiers, 
 after which it is washed and run through a 
 solution of Bleaching powder, and then allowed 
 to steep for several hours in pits provided for 
 this purpose. This treatment removes all im- 
 purities, turns the cloth from a dirty yellow to 
 a pure white and also makes the cotton more 
 
48 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WHITE CLOTH IN ROLLS READY TO FEED INTO 
 PRINTING MACHINE 
 
 receptive to the color with which it is to be 
 dyed or printed. 
 
 Once more it is washed and then drawn over 
 the surface of copper cans filled with hot steam 
 to dry it, then it is wound into large rolls about 
 the size of a big bass drum, as shown in the 
 picture above. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 49 
 
 MIXING COLORS FOR PRINTING ON CLOTH 
 
 COLOR Meantime in an adjoining de- 
 
 MIXING. partment the colors are being 
 
 prepared for the printing of the 
 patterns on the white cloth. 
 Gums from Africa and Asia, starches made from 
 our own American corn or wheat, dyestuffs of 
 many kinds from all over the world are mixed 
 in great tanks or boiled in copper kettles and 
 are about as thick as mucilage when spread on 
 the copper rollers and by them transferred to 
 the cloth. 
 
50 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 OUrTlXG ENLARGED DESIGN ON ZINC PLATE 
 
 ENGRAVING 
 
 As we told you before, the 
 ^T[^^ pattern is printed on the 
 
 cloth by the use of engraved 
 copper rollers, and this is 
 a very interesting part of the work. The de- 
 signer makes up out of his head what he thinks 
 will be a pleasing design to print on a certain 
 style of cloth, and paints it carefully in colors on 
 a sheet of white paper, making the figure the 
 size it is to be when printed. This design is 
 given to a man called a sketch-maker who places 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 51 
 
 TRANSFERRING DESIGN FROM ZINC PLATE TO COPPER ROLLER 
 
 it in a large camera which magnifies it until it is 
 say twenty or twenty-five times as large as at first 
 then he carefully corrects the lines so that the 
 design is made perfect, and draws it in pencil on 
 a large sheet of zinc ; next this goes to another 
 man who with a sharp tool called a graver cuts 
 along these pencil lines and makes a groove in 
 the zinc. Then this zinc plate is painted so that 
 each color of the pattern is distinctly marked, 
 and is then placed in a machine called a panto- 
 graph and a girl traces with a little pointer like 
 
52 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COPPER POLLS AFTER DESIGN HAS BEEN ETCHED ON SURFACE 
 
 a lead pencil along the grooved lines belonging 
 to one of the colors. In this machine has been 
 placed a copper roller which has been coated 
 with varnish, and there are rows of little diam- 
 ond points which are set so as to almost touch 
 the roller, and as the girl traces the lines with 
 the little pointer she presses a treadle with her 
 foot and this pushes the diamond points against 
 the roller and they cut through the varnish and 
 draw the pattern brought back to the size it 
 was first drawn by the designer, and repeat this 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 53 
 
 DESIGN ON ZINC PLATE 
 
 figure all the way across the face of the roller as 
 many times as the width of the cloth will allow, 
 if it is a small figure it would be repeated quite 
 a number of times. After she has traced that 
 part of the pattern which belongs to one color, 
 another roller is put into the machine and on 
 that is marked its color, and so on until the whole 
 set of rollers for that design has been prepared. 
 These rollers are next put into an etching trough 
 filled with nitric acid which eats into the copper 
 where the varnish has been cut away by the dia- 
 mond points, leaving a little groove sunken in 
 the surface of the copper. 
 
54 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 A PRINTING MACHINE 
 
 PRINTING. The copper rollers, each with 
 ^W a part of the pattern sunk in its 
 
 surface, are now placed in the 
 printing machine which we have told you about 
 before, and each rests in a pan in which the 
 color to be printed on the cloth has been put. A 
 revolving brush spreads the color on the roller, 
 but there is a sharp knife edge which is fixed 
 lengthwise across the face of the roller and this 
 scrapes off the color so that it remains only in tlie 
 little groove etched for its part of the pattern. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 55 
 
 MACHINE PRINTING TWELVE COLORS 
 
 and as it comes in contact with the cloth the color 
 is transferee! to it in its proper place. These rol- 
 lers have to be very carefully placed in the ma- 
 chine so that each will print in exactly the right 
 place, otherwise one color would over-lap another 
 and spoil the pattern. The white cloth is put 
 into the printing machine in a big roll, and is 
 wound over the surface of the drum of the ma- 
 chine, and as it goes round, each roller puts on 
 its color and the cloth comes off completely 
 printed by going through the machine only once. 
 
56 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 VERTICAL DRYING MACHINE 
 
 The patterns are not printed in just the same 
 colors all the time, today the cloth may have 
 more blue, to-morrow more red, the pattern is 
 printed in all sorts of combinations of colors, 
 but always they must blend and make a pleasing 
 appearance, for no one would buy a piece of 
 cloth that did not look pretty. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 57 
 
 CLOTH BEING FED INTO STARCH END OF TENTER 
 
 STEAMING. Just as you cannot handle paper 
 ^W on which you have written until 
 
 the ink is dry, so this cloth 
 cannot be handled when first printed but must 
 be drawn over a number of large "dry cans" 
 which are copper cans or drums filled with hot 
 steam, which turn slowly and soon dry it. 
 
 Next the cloth is put into iron boxes where 
 it is thoroughly filled with hot steam which is 
 done to make the colors "fast," or so that they 
 will not fade or grow dull. 
 
58 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 CLOTH BEING STRETCHED IN TENTER 
 
 WASHING 
 DRYING 
 STARCHING 
 TENTERING 
 
 After this the cloth is well 
 washed, then dried over more 
 dry cans. Now that the cloth 
 is all printed we come to the 
 "Finishing." This clean cloth 
 hrough boxes filled with hot 
 starch and goes immediately into the Tenter 
 frames. These are about a hundred feet long 
 and three to four feet wide and consist of long 
 lines of hot steam pipes. On each side of the 
 
 is next drawn 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 59 
 
 TENTER— DELIVERY END 
 
 frame is an endless chain having "clips" which 
 grip hold of the edges of the cloth as it is fed 
 into them, and as the cloth slowly goes the whole 
 length of the frame it is thoroughly dried and 
 the tension on the chain brings the cloth out all 
 exactly the same width. 
 
60 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 CALENDERING OR "IRONING" 
 
 Calendering Our printed or dyed cloth has 
 
 "^W now been washed, starched and 
 
 dried; next we must iron it. 
 Think what a task it would be to iron by hand 
 as your laundress does, all the four or five 
 million yards of cloth which a large Print Works 
 handles each week. Instead of a hand iron we use 
 great polished steel rolls set in a frame, and 
 their weight brings a great pressure upon the 
 cloth as it runs between the rolls, and this gives 
 it a final finish. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 61 
 
 FOLDING FINISHED CLOTH INTO PIECES OF ABOUT 40 YARDS. 
 
 FOLDING. You will recall that the first 
 
 '^]^ thing we did in getting the gray 
 
 cloth ready to print was to sew 
 many pieces together to make a long roll. Now 
 that the cloth is all finished we need to get it 
 back again into pieces of a size such as you see 
 on the shelves of a dry goods store. A roll of 
 finished cloth is put into a folding machine 
 which unwinds it and folds it into layers a yard 
 long, and each forty yards or so it is cut off and 
 then this "piece" is folded by hand into con- 
 
62 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 DOUBLING AND WINDING 
 
 venient shape. Sometimes it is doubled and 
 wound into pieces half the width of the cloth, 
 and this makes a very compact bundle. Paper 
 bands are strapped around each end of the piece 
 and a "ticket" is pasted on it which shows its 
 trade name, and tells the number of yards con- 
 tained in the piece. A trade name sometimes 
 becomes quite valuable, a cloth gains a reputa- 
 tion for fine quality and in time its name be- 
 comes a household word. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 63 
 
 PUTTING PAPER BANDS AND TICKETS ON FINISHED CLOTH 
 
 PACKING. To have the cloth reach you 
 
 ^Jl^ fresh and clean and unwrinkled 
 
 it is wrapped up in paper and 
 carefully packed in a wooden case which has 
 been lined with paper. Each case is made to 
 order and of just the right size to hold the 
 pieces of cloth to be packed in it. Sometimes 
 where cloth is shipped to foreign countries it 
 must be packed in waterproof cloth, or wrapped 
 in bales of a size that can be carried on the 
 
64 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 PACKING CLOTH IN CASES FOR SHIPMENT. 
 
 backs of mules or camels, for it is not every- 
 where the railroads or ships can transport goods, 
 but wherever civilized human beings live they 
 must have clothes, and a large part of the hu- 
 man race wears cotton. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 65 
 
 MANUFACTURE 
 
 OF WOOL 
 
 INTO CUOXH. 
 
66 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 PvAW WOOL 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 67 
 
 A FLEECE FROM ONE SHEEP. 
 
 THE MANUFACTURE OF 
 WOOL INTO CLOTH. 
 
 All of us are familiar with pictures of Sheep 
 grazing in green pastures, and have noticed how 
 their bodies are nicely covered with a soft nat- 
 ural growth of hairy fibres. These hairy fibres 
 are what is called "Wool". 
 
 This covering of a sheep's body, called a 
 
68 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 VARIATIONS IN AVOOL FIBRE, 
 
 "Fleece" is carefully sheared or cut off about 
 once each year, and supplies the mills with the 
 wool or the raw material from which to make 
 yarns and attractive cloths, both "Woolens" and 
 "Worsteds". The fibres of the fleece, as clipped 
 from the sheep's body, vary greatly ; coarse, fine, 
 strong and tender locks all being present in the 
 Wool in its natural condition, and until sorted 
 are unfit for making into yarns and cloth. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 69 
 
 SORTING WOOL FOR QUALITY AND LENGTH OF FIBRE 
 
 SOR TING The first process in worsted man- 
 
 ^I^ ufacturing is that of sorting or 
 
 classifying the fibres according 
 to their length, fineness and soundness. The 
 choicest wools grow on the shoulders and sides, 
 and the poorest are to be found around the head, 
 throat and chest. 
 
 Worsted yarns and cloths are made from 
 long-fibred wools. 
 
70 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 FEEDING SORTED WOOL INTO WOOL WASHER 
 
 SCOURING. In its natural or unwashed con- 
 ^Jl^^ dition, wool contains a greasy 
 
 substance known as yolk, which 
 is a compound of potash and animal fat. A large 
 amount of earthy matter also clings to the fleece^ 
 and there is so much of these foreign substances 
 present in some wools that in the cleansing pro- 
 cess they sometimes lose as much as two-thirds 
 of their original weight. All this foreign mate- 
 rial must be removed from the wool before we 
 can spin it into good yarn. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 71 
 
 gfi^mrML^ 
 
 
 WOOL WASHER SHOWING RAKES FOR MOVING WOOL 
 
 A modern wool-scouring machine consists of 
 four iron bowls or tanks, about 4 feet wide, and 
 each ranging in length from twenty to forty feet. 
 Three of these bowls are filled with a solution of 
 warm water and soap, the fourth bowl contains 
 warm water only. Through the length of these 
 bowls the wool is gently pushed forward mechan- 
 ically by rakes, and after passing through squeeze 
 rollers is delivered onto the wire apron of a dry- 
 ing machine, and comes out at the opposite end 
 in a clean and dry condition. Hot air is used 
 in the drying machines for drying the wool. 
 
72 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WOOL WASHER 
 
 In order to thoroughly dissolve and remove 
 the foreign substances in the raw wool we have 
 to use strong soaps made up largely with potash 
 or soda, and this strong soap dissolves also much 
 of the natural oil in the wool, so when the clean 
 wool comes out of the drying machine we add 
 olive oil to lubricate it and make it work more 
 easily. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 73 
 
 CLEAN WOOL FROM SCOURING 
 
74 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WOOL ON CARD CYLINDER 
 
 CARDING The scoured wool is next taken 
 
 ^Jl^^ to a Carding machine to have 
 
 the fehed locks not simply 
 opened and unsnarled but actually divided into 
 their component parts, the fibres being in fact 
 separated from each other. This machine 
 consists of a number of cylinders of various sizes, 
 turning in opposite directions and at different 
 speeds. These are all covered with fine, limber 
 wire teeth called "card clothing" and the wool 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 75 
 
 WOOL COMBER 
 
 as it is brushed between these cylinders is all 
 loosened up by the struggle which takes place 
 between the contending wire surfaces, each trying 
 to retain its hold on the wool fibres. The wool 
 as it is delivered from the Card is in the form 
 of a "sliver" or rope-like strand about the thick- 
 ness of a man's wrist, and several of these slivers 
 are pressed together into the form of a large 
 ball, and placed on the creel of the Combing 
 machine, which is the next process. 
 
76 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 COMBED WOOL 
 
 COMBING There are two objects in view 
 
 ^Jl^^ in combing the wool, first to 
 
 straighten out the fibres and lay 
 them side by side ; and, second, to take out the 
 short curly fibres present in the wool. This is 
 done by stretching the wool between the pins of 
 two adjoining circles, (one large and one small) 
 at the point where they touch, and as the dis- 
 tance between them grows larger, th« fibres are 
 gradually drawn out between the teeth of the 
 two sets of circles. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 77 
 
 WOOL DRAWING— FIRST PROCESS 
 
 The fringe of long wool left hanging over the 
 edge of the circles is drawn off by a pair of press 
 rollers, and deposited in a can in the form of a 
 sliver ; this is afterwards wound into a ball 
 which is called "Top". The short fibres re- 
 maining in the circles are taken out by steel 
 blades and constitute what is called the "Noil." 
 
78 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 TWO SPINDLE DRAWING FKAME 
 
 DRAWING The Drawing process which 
 
 "^l^ follows the Combing, consists 
 
 of six to nine operations, in 
 each of which a number of slivers are placed 
 side by side and then drawn out smaller. This 
 is done by passing the strands of wool through 
 two sets of rollers, the first running slowly and 
 the second or delivery set turning quickly, and 
 the faster it runs compared with the first set 
 the more it '''draws" the wool out and the smaller 
 it becomes. For example, six slivers are united 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 79 
 
 FOUR SPINDLE DRAWING FRAME 
 
 as one, and one yard of this combined sliver is 
 stretched or drawn to eight yards in length, so 
 that the new strand is only six-eights as thick 
 as one of the individual slivers from which it is 
 drawn. 
 
 This idea is carried out in every operation, 
 until at the last machine the sliver is small 
 enough to be suitable for placing in the creel of 
 the spinning frame ; in this state it is called 
 "Roving." 
 
80 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 FRENCH SYSTEM DRAWING FRAME 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WORSTED ROVING FRAMES 
 
82 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WORSTED CAP SPINNING FRAMES 
 
 SPINNING Up to this point of manufacture 
 
 "^l^ the sliver has little or no ad- 
 
 hesiveness, or the quality which 
 makes the fibres cling together. Roving has 
 the form of a thick thread, but lacks strength, 
 and easily breaks apart when strained or pulled. 
 This weakness is due to the small amount of 
 twist which has been put in, the fibers being 
 simply laid side by side and given the slightest 
 amount of twist, just enough to hold them to- 
 gether. On the spinning frame the roving is 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 83 
 
 A "CAP" SPINNER 
 
 drawn down to the size of yarn wanted, and an 
 amount of twist put into it which forces the 
 separate fibres into such close contact with each 
 other that the thread becomes strong, elastic and 
 firm. There are two types of spinning frames, 
 Cap and Mule. On the cap frame there is a row 
 of spindles in fixed bearings on each side of a 
 long frame, and the yarn is spun on a wooden 
 bobbin turning on the spindle which has a metal 
 cap on the top; the other and older type is call- 
 ed a Mule, and this is a long carriage holding 
 
84 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WORSTED "MFLE" SPINNER 
 
 over a thousand spindles in a line, and the yarn 
 is spun on paper tubes which fit snugly on the 
 bare spindles. This carriage moves back and 
 forth, first drawing out the yarn, and then re- 
 versing it winds it up on the spindles as it 
 returns, and the spinner is kept very busy 
 travelling back and forth on the watch for 
 broken ends which he must at once piece up so 
 as to spin as much yarn as possible each day. 
 You have all seen pictures of an old-fashioned 
 spinning wheel such as our great-grandmothers 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 85 
 
 WORSTED FILLING YARN ON BOBBIN AND IN LOOM SHUTTLE 
 
 used to spin the yarn from the wool grown on 
 the backs of their own sheep. This had one spindle 
 only, and a glance at the picture of a modern 
 spinning mule clearly shows how much more 
 yarn can be spun in a day by one operative 
 than was made in the olden days of hand labor. 
 Warp yarn has to be starched and wound onto 
 loom beams, while the filling yarn, as spun on 
 bobbins or tubes, is now ready to go into the 
 shuttle. 
 
86 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 WARPING The Warp yarn is spun on 
 
 ^I^ wooden bobbins on the "Cap" 
 
 frames, or in the form of Cops 
 on the paper tube on the bare spindles of the 
 mule frames. Next it is wound off onto spools, 
 and a thread from each of several hundred 
 spools is wound onto a large beam as shown in 
 the picture, which is called a Warper beam. 
 Then the threads from several such beams, after 
 being starched and dried on the Slasher, as 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 87 
 
 WEB DRAWING 
 
 shown on pages 28 and 29 are wound on a 
 smaller beam holding just the number of threads 
 wanted in a given cloth, and taken to the Web 
 Drawing room, Here each single thread is 
 drawn through an eye in the centre of the harness 
 or wire heddle, which controls its place in the 
 making of the pattern in the woven cloth, then 
 through a reed, which is like a long comb and 
 it is all ready to go into the loom. See also 
 picture on page 30. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 BROAD WORSTED LOOM 
 
 WEAVING Every kind of woven cloth, 
 
 ^ir whether plain or figured, re- 
 
 sults from interlacing two dis- 
 tinct series of threads together. The threads 
 which run lengthwise in the piece are called 
 the warp or web; those which run across from 
 side to side are called filling. The machine on 
 which the interlacing is done is called a loom, 
 and in it the warp threads are arranged in 
 parallel order at equal distances apart. Each 
 single thread is drawn through the eye of a 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 89 
 
 A PIECE OF WORSTED DRESS GOODS AS IT COMES FROM LOOM 
 
 harness. As the loom operates certain harness 
 shafts are lifted up and at the same time others 
 are pushed down, this leaves an opening be- 
 tween the two series of threads, and through 
 this opening a shuttle is thrown carrying or un- 
 winding behind it the filling thread, then the 
 harnesses reverse, and the filling thread is 
 caught and held between the warp threads, and 
 the way the warp threads are arranged makes 
 the pattern or figure in the woven cloth. 
 
90 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 INSPECTING CLOTH 
 
 DYEING and Cloth taken from the loom is 
 FINISHING. inspected, and any faulty places 
 are mended. To make its sur- 
 face smooth and clean the cloth is sheared by 
 swiftly revolving knife-blade cutters and then 
 singed over red-hot plates or through gas flames. 
 To prepare it for dyeing it is boiled, steamed and 
 scoured. 
 
 There are two main kinds of cloth dyeing, 
 warp dyeing and piece dyeing. In the latter 
 type the cloth is woven from yarns in their 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 91 
 
 PRESSING AND WINDING FINISHED DRESS GOODS 
 
 natural color, and then the whole piece of cloth 
 is drawn through the dye kettles and comes out 
 a solid color, even throughout. See picture on 
 page 39. In warp dyeing, the warp threads in 
 the form of a rope are put through the dye, then 
 the warp threads are put onto loom beams and 
 the colors arranged as wanted. 
 
 A Navy-blue Serge may be thought of as piece 
 dyed, while Ginghams or Scotch Plaids are warp 
 dyed, or more properly yarn dyed. 
 
92 
 
 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 BANDING AND TICKETING PIECES OF DRESS GOODS 
 
 After worsted cloth intended for ladies' dress 
 goods has been dyed, the processes of finishing 
 and preparing for the market are not far 
 different from those described under the head 
 of Cotton. The cloth goes through the Tenter 
 frames where it is brought to its correct and 
 uniform width, next pressed between hot plates or 
 between a hot cylinder and bed, then doubled, 
 measured and wound onto boards. Paper bands 
 are strapped around each end of each piece, a 
 ticket is attached to it showing its length and the 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 93 
 
 PACKING ROOM 
 
 trade name under which it is known, each piece 
 wrapped in paper to keep it clean, and it is then 
 all ready to be packed into wooden boxes and 
 shipped to the drygoods store. The fleece of 
 wool which grew on the back of a sheep in 
 Montana, or it may be in Australia, has made 
 its journey through the mill in Massachusetts 
 and the cloth for your new dress is now in the 
 store waiting for you to come and buy it. 
 
94 PACIFIC MILLS 
 
 The Pacific Mills have the largest print works in 
 the world, with an unrivaled output of printed, 
 dyed and bleached cotton goods, and are also 
 the largest manufacturers of cotton-warp and 
 all-wool dress goods. 
 
PACIFIC MILLS 95 
 
 INTERESTING FACTS- 1918 
 
 The Pacific Mills have 177 acres of floor space. 
 
 10,300 operatives are employed: about 6,500 
 males and 3,800 females. 
 
 The weekly payr611 paid in silver dollars piled 
 one upon another would be more than twice the 
 height of Washington Monument. 
 
 The annual payroll exceeds $7,500,000. 
 
 654,192 cotton and worsted spindles and 15,637 
 looms are in operation. If these looms were 
 placed end to end, they would make a continuous 
 line over 24 miles in length. 
 
 140,000 tons of high-grade soft coal are 
 burned in the boilers annually. 
 
 The normal product of over 200,000 acres of 
 cotton (or about 82,500 bales) and the wool 
 from 2,366,400 sheep are woven every year. 
 
 500 miles of cloth are finished and packed 
 ready for shipment each day. 
 
 The annual output of finished cloths would 
 reach more than five and one-half times around 
 the world. 
 
The pictures in this book are selected from photographs taken 
 in our mills by J. MoKTiMER Cochrane ol the Key'stone View Co., 
 Meadville, Pa. as part of their series of educational stereograpliic 
 views for use in Schools, etc. 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
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