“The Town and The Mill” – The Making of Felts and Blankets

Transcript, as narrated by Andy Clarke:

Passing between a series of large cylinders covered with fine wire, the wool is combed out into a wide loose web of parallel fibres. Then it is combed again through another series of cylinders and is divided into narrower strands known as “roving”. Roving is similar to yarn except that it has no twist and is much larger and more loosely constructed. These soft bulky strands of roving are wound on wide spools and the wool is ready for spinning. On the spinning frames the roving is stretched out and the required number of turns of twist is inserted. Spinning is an important operation and the number of twists varies with the type of fabric to be woven. The next thing is weaving. I can see that weave room now. That’s the place where the actual fabric is made. There are five rows of power looms, the widest being a 35 foot machine on which paper-makers’ felts are woven. Then there are batteries of automatic looms on which blankets and cloth are made. One operator takes care of four machines. She keeps the magazines loaded with full bobbins which are fed automatically. Inspection is the next operation and in this department belts and blankets are carefully inspected. In this room also the felts are joined to make an endless belt. Good lighting is needed and like all other Kenwood departments this room is well-lighted and airy with lots of room to move around. Skillful fingers makes a join so that when finished it cannot be detected. The joiner gradually acquires great skill in joining the two ends of a felt together to make a perfect seam. Each end of the felt has a fringe and the operator takes an end from one fringe and the corresponding end from the other, knots them together, and draws the slack part either up or down. When the splicing has been completed and the end sheared, the join is spread evenly over a large area. This joining operation requires great skill and plenty of concentration and there are rest periods, both morning and afternoon for all Kenwood employees. In the new employees wing, with separate quarters for men and women, they can enjoy refreshments, the smoke, or exchange a bit of gossip. But I’m getting off the track. Where was I? Oh yes, I just told you about joining. Well after joining comes fulling which means shrinking the felt or blanket to the proper width or length. The combination of soapy moisture, pressure
from the rollers, and heat caused by friction, shrinks the fabric from a woven mesh into a durable long wearing material. After further washing the fabric, while still damp, is ready for napping. This process creates thousands of tiny air cells which act as insulation and provide that warmth without weight for which Kenwood blankets are noted. The napping is done with small vegetable burrs known as teasels. As the teasels and fabric come in contact, the fibres are gently raised, forming a fur-like nap and leaving the body of the cloth still stout and sound. After the napping process, the paper-makers’ felts and the blankets part company and the felts passed to steam
heated drying drums of special design. You know they have one big dryer there that will take a belt over 25 feet wide and 250 feet long. These felts are used on huge paper-making machines to carry the pulp stock and the wet paper sheets. Modern paper-making requires absolutely flawless felts. After drying, the felts are again inspected. This inspection business is carried to great lengths at Kenwood. In fact, it’s a never-ending process and there’s not much chance of even the tiniest flaw getting past the watchful eyes of these inspectors.