Spirals and Waves in Wool

Abstract

ALL the Merino wool imported from Australia and South Africa is characterised by a conspicuous waviness throughout the individual lock or staple (Fig. 1). When drawn out, each separate fibre exhibits a regular series of convexities and concavities, and it is the adjustment of these to one another which gives the waviness to the complete lock. They are permanent structural features, returning after the elastic fibre has been stretched. The degree of the waviness, whether close or open, shallow or deep, varies in individual fleeces, and affords a ready means by which the farmer and manufacturer estimate the fineness or coarseness of the wool, from which the ‘spinning count’ is largely determined.