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Textiles & Fibers
About Cotton and How Cotton is Manufactured: Cotton is the white downy covering of the seed of several special of cotton of cotton plant. The value of cotton depends upon the strength, and evenness of the fiber. Very fine yarn can be spun from cotton because of the spiral character of the fibers. This twist of the fibers is peculiar to cotton, being present in no other animal or vegetable fiber. On account of this twist, cotton cloths are much more elastic in character than those woven from linen, the fibers of which are stiff and straight. After the removal of the seed, no other fiber is so free from impurities—5 per cent is the loss sustained by cleaning and bleaching. In its natural condition, cotton will not dye readily because of a waxy substance on the surface of the fibers. This must be removed by washing. Cotton should be picked only when it is fully ripe when the pods are fully burst and the fibers expanded. The unripe fiber is glassy, does not attain its full strength and resists the dye. After picking, the cotton is sent to the ginning factory to have the seed removed. It is then pressed into bales by hydraulic presses. Purified bleached cotton is nearly pure cellulose. It resists the action of alkalis well, but is harmed by hot, strong acids, or if acid is allowed to dry on the fabric. It is not harmed by high temperature, and so may be ironed with a hot iron.
COTTON OPENER AND PICKER The cotton from the bale is thrown into A, carried by the spiked aprons B and C, evened by E, removed from the apron by F (some of the dirt falls through the screen into box G) is beaten by the revolving "knife," N P, more dirt being removed through screen N, then goes through the flue C to the next machine.
Images and text from Textiles and Clothing by Kate Heintz Watson. American School of Home Economics, 1907. |
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