Thomson's “Sizing of Cotton Goods”

Abstract

IN weaving cotton cloth it is necessary that the warp, which has to withstand a considerable strain in the process of manufacture, should be artificially strengthened by “sizing,” that is, by dressing the thread with some adhesive material so as to enable it to resist the pulling and wearing action of the healds and shuttle. In the earlier days of cotton manufacture the weaver contented himself with the use of a mixture of flour-paste and tallow; the first ingredient gave the thread the desired extra strength, the second removed the harshness which the use of flour alone would have given. But the manufacturer soon discovered that by a judicious selection of the components of his “size,” and by alterations in the mode of applying it, he could confer upon the cloth the appearance of being fuller and stouter than it actually was, judging from the amount of cotton contained in it. The great scarcity of the raw material during the cotton famine which sprung out of the American civil war had a powerful effect in developing the ingenuity of a certain set of manufacturers, and there is no doubt that their machinations have had a lasting influence upon the mode of manufacture of grey cloth. As the weight of a piece of calico is one of the chief elements in determining its value, attempts were quickly made to increase that weight by mixing such bodies as powdered heavy-spar, or, worse still, of deliquescent salts like the chlorides of magnesium and calcium, with the sizing material. Occasionally the manufacturer in thus attempting to palm off water or a worthless mineral in lieu of good cotton over-reached himself and a just retribution overtook him in the shape of heavy damages for mildewed or rotten goods.

The Sizing of Cotton Goods.

By Wm. Thomson. (Manchester: Palmer and Howe.)