THE

CONSERVATION
OF TEXTILES

LAUNDRYOWNERS

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

THE

CONSERVATION
OF TEXTILES

. . . BY . . .
HARVEY GERALD ELLEDGE

AND

ALICE LUCILLE WAKEFIELD

INDUSTRIAL FELLOWS OF

The MELLON INSTITUTE o/ INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

PUBLISHED BY
LAUNDRYOWNERS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION

LA SALLE, ILLINOIS

Extra copies of this Book may be had for $1.00 per copy

upon application to W. E. FITCH,

Manager of the Laundryowners National Association,

Drawer No. 202, La Salle, Illinois

LAUNDRYOWNERS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION

LA SALLE, ILLINOIS

Applications for permission to 'use any of the material in this Book should be
addressed to W. E. Fitch, Manager of thelLaundryowners National Association, Drawer
Ko. 202, La Salle, Illinois.

Mlrdoch-Kerr Press
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Contents

PAGE

Preface 7

The Development of the Power Laundry Industry — Textile
Work of the Department of Chemical Engineering — Causes of
Wear in Fabrics — Attitude of Laundry Industry to Damages —
Failure of Curtains — Impartiality of the Department of
Chemical Engineering.

CHAPTER I.

Fibers 13

History of Clothing — Skins — Rushes — Development of
Fabrics — Development of Spinning — Cotton — Mercerized
Cotton — Schreiner Finish — Linen— Wool — Silk — Artificial
Silk and True Silk— Test for Vegetable Fibers— Differen-
tiation of Artificial Silk — Test for Animal Fibers — Use of
the Microscope — Identification of Fibers by Physical Appear-
ances.

CHAPTER II.

Weaves ^^

Plain — Fancy — Use of "Floats" — Advantages and Disadvan-
tages Accruing from Use of Floats — Ideal Fabric — Variations
from the Ideal — Loose Spinning — Long Floats — Relation
Between Fiber Lengths and Float Lengths — Satin Weave —
Short Fibers and Loose Spinning — Pile Fabrics — Weaving
Flaws — Use of Poor Materials — Influence of the Finishing
Process on Fabrics.

CHAPTER III.

Mechanical Sources of Damage 82

Snagging — Knives — Razor Blades — Bed Springs — Mice —
Poor Tailoring.

CHAPTER IV.

Colored Garments 90

Types of Dyes — Classification of Dyes — Direct — Acid —
Basic — Salt — Mordant — Vat — Sulfur — Aniline.

CHAPTER V.

Corrosive Materials 98

Claim Adjuster — Settlement of Claims — Identification of
Type of Damage — Chemical Tendering — Tendering by
Launderer — Tendering by Wearer — Table of Materials Cor-
rosive to Fabrics (Table I.)— Table of Corrosives Encountered
in Various Professions and Employments (Table II.) — Dis-
cussion of Tables — Tendering by Manufacturers.

Contents — Cont.

CHAPTER VI. PAGE

The Treatment of Stains 129

Treatment of Stained Fabrics — Need of Trained Employee
for this Work — Equipment — Table of Reagents Used in Stain
Removal — Oxalic Acid — Acetic Acid — Hydrochloric Acid —
Caustic Soda — Ammonia — Javelle Water — Hydrogen Di-
oxide — Potassium Permanganate — Sodium Perborate —
Sodium Bisulfite — Oleic Acid — Sodium Thiosulfate — Potas-
sium Cyanide — Removal of Stains (following L N. A. Pro-
cedure Chart, See insert, page 135).

CHAPTER VII.

The Conservation of Fabrics 142

Length of Life of Fabrics — Hotel Fabrics — Collars — Mechani-
cal Effect of Power Machinery — Effect of Standard Wash-
room Reagents — the Model Laundry of the American Insti-
tute of Laundering — Work of the Salvage Branch of the U. S.
Army — Agencies of Responsibility — Retail Merchant — Dyes —
Styles — Education of the Public — Abuse of Fabrics by the
User — Responsiblity of the Laundry.

CHAPTER VIII.
Pure Fabric Legislation and the Department of Chemical

Engineering, J. Clair Stone 153

The Creation of the Committee on Legislation for the Correct
Labeling of Fabrics — Purposes of the Committee — Protec-
tive Legislation — The Interest of the Laundry Industry in
this Endeavor — Educational Responsibilities of the Com-
mittee — The Study of Textile Conservation — 1917 National
Textile Conference — Co-operation of Department of Chemical
Engineering with the Textile Committee — The Laundr>'-
owner's Knowledge of Textiles — Present Activities of the
Committee on Legislation for the Correct Labeling of Fab-
rics — Assistance Required of the Individual Laundryowners.

Foreword

THE chapters in the succeeding pages of this book
present the results of five years of painstaking re-
search into a subject that is of the keenest interest
to laundryowners.

The authors of this book have not only handled their
subject from an analytical and scientific standpoint, but
they have succeeded in putting it together in a truly
readable and interesting literary style.

The subject "The Conservation of Textiles" is one
with which every laundryowner should be familiar. Our
knowledge of textiles has been more of an intuitional
nature than of one of positive understanding of their
origin, compositiop and peculiarities.

A positive and sympathetic understanding of the
goods we are called upon to renovate is of the greatest
importance to ourselves and to the public.

We all are or should be deeply concerned with the
"conservation of textiles." Our reputations as launderers
are at stake — not only that but the reputation and ad-
vancement of our industry are greatly influenced by the
degree of accuracy with which we classify the goods we
are to launder, and by the degree of accuracy with which
we prescribe the treatment they are to receive.

The Department of Chemical Engineering, the
Director and Associate Director of which Department
are the authors of this treatise on textiles, has already
given to the members of this Association its Standard
Formulas for Washroom Practice. It is most fitting now

that we should be told of the nature of the goods to
which these formulas are to be applied. In fact, it seems
that many of us would have understood the formulas
better if we had studied the "conservation of textiles"
first.

Science is not something to be afraid of or ridiculed
or classed as "high-brow stuff." It is nothing more or
less than "organized knowledge and classified common
sense." Through its use and application to social, in-
dustrial and agricultural problems, our greatest progress
as a nation is being brought about.

And so, then, let us take this little book at even more
than its face value. It will help us to know more about
the goods we are handling. It will familiarize us with
certain practices on the part of certain textile manu-
facturers, which practices are detrimental to the interests
of the public and to our interests and cause many of the
claims that are presented to us for payment through
failure of some of these goods.

Let us learn how to use this book intelligently in the
adjustment of claims. Let us read it thoroughly and
preserve it carefully, remembering that there is no similar
book in the world, and that, while it is not a large book, its
preparation represents extensive study on the part of its
authors; and last, but not least, let us remember that the
book comes to you as an enduring testimonial to the
value of organized effort through our membership in the
Laundryowners National Association.

W. E. Fitch.
La Salle, Illinois.

Preface

THE development of the power laundry industry has
been, until comparatively recent times, coincident with

the popularity of the starched, detachable collar. The
time is well within the memory of many men, today
actively engaged in the laundry business, when white,
stiff-bosomed shirts, white cuffs and collars constituted
the chief articles laundered. Conditions have been, and
still are, rapidly changing. In the early periods of the
development of the industry the laundry manager was
required to know the characteristics of few fabrics; one
grade of cotton and one grade of linen, both of plain
weave, were encountered. Dyes did not concern him.
Later, he was required to wash and iron colored shirts
and collars; still later silk and fine flannels. Today, with
the variety of styles in men's shirts and with the laundry
catering to family service, a knowledge of textiles and
dyes is needed by everyone interested in good laundering.
Some suggestions which will prove helpful in securing this
desired knowledge appear in the following pages.

The phase of the activities of the Department of
Chemical Engineering of the Laundryowners National
Association Service Bureau that has attracted the greatest
interest during the period of the last year or so, has been
in connection with textile articles for which claims for
damage have been made against the laundry for one cause
or another. Some of these exhibits show the failure of
the fabric in the typical manner of the natural wearing
function.

The fact that textiles are perishable cannot be too
strongly impressed on the minds of the patron of the

The Conserz'ation of Textiles

laundry, the management of laundries, and the owners
of laundries. It is true that under some circumstances
cloth may be and has been preserved through long periods
of time. Such incidents, however, are rather the excep-
tions that prove the rule. Textile fabrics wear out.
Sunlight, some dyeing materials, water and friction are
their natural enemies. In addition to these natural
enemies, there are incidental enemies which are acquired
by accident or rather by uncommon incident during the
designated use of the fabric. Medicines, household toilet
articles and cosmetics, and industrial materials are acci-
dentally acquired during the ordinary use of the cloth,
which, according to fairly well understood chemical laws,
cause weakening of the individual fibres and a consequent
shortening of the serviceable life of the fabric.

Through correspondence with various members of
the Association and other communications from this
Department, discussion has been presented on many
specific examples of the type of cases mentioned above.
The general interest which has been attracted by the
diagnosis of the cause and responsibility for the condition
exhibited by the many cases of textile failures and the
special interest of some of the members of the Association
have prompted the preparation of this book on the subject
of textile defects and failures.*

The attitude of mind entertained by the management
and personnel of the laundry industry toward these
problems is reflected to the patronage of the industry.
Recognition of the truth of this proposition constitutes
the actuating motive for the elimination of words and
expressions of objectionable connotation from the trade
language. It likewise constitutes the incentive toward
research on problems that are only qualitatively under-
stood. Every thoughtful person knows that the useful
period of service to be had from any textile article is

♦Some of the material pres;nted herein was induded in a paper on this same sub-
ject delivered before the Chicago Convention and published in the 1918 "L. N. A. Year
Book."

Preface

limited. Just how long a period constitutes a reasonable
expectancy for various grades of materials is an un-
answered question. This Department is making an
effort to place at the disposal of the industry some definite
knowledge concerning the wearing qualities of cloth.
Even a casual inspection of any back-yard on washday
noon affords a clear demonstration of the qualitative
facts. Do clothes wear out, is not so much the question
as is, how rapidly should fabrics of a certain quality wear
out under ideal conditions of wearing and washing?

The experience of the housewife who does not send any
of her work to the power laundry has taught her that lace
curtains fail more quickly when the window-shades are
left up, exposing the curtains to sunlight. She has also
observed that the line of failure is determined by the
position of the window-shades and she is therefore very
apt to keep the shades down most of the time in order to
protect her lace curtains. If, however, she is a patron of
a power laundry, she is inclined to forget about the effect
of sunlight on fabrics and, in case the curtain has failed,
she is inclined — not always with intentional dishonesty,
but through prejudice against power laundries — to want
an adjustment with the laundry for alleged damage done
the fabric in washing. The experiments conducted by
the Department have shown just how much tendering a
certain amount of exposure to summer sunlight does to a
fabric in a certain length of time. An interesting contri-
bution to the knowledge of the effect of sunlight is had
from the experience of the British Army with airplane fabrics
when exposed to the tropical sun.* It is a part of the
favorable publicity campaign for the laundry industry to
make the people engaged therein understand more thor-
oughly the facts. Knowledge of the truth is good for all
concerned and especially will a correct understanding of
textile knowledge be beneficial to the salesmen and pro-
ducers of laundry service.

♦Charles Doree and Joseph W. W. Dyer, Journal of the Society of Dyers and
Colour ists, January, 1919.

Tlic Conservation of Textiles

Successful salesmen usually know something concern-
ing the production of their commodity. It is the practice
of the United States Steel Corporation to give their sales-
men a brief course of instruction in the chemistry and
technology of steel. Progressive automobile distributors
make it a practice to send their salesmen to the factories
to learn something of the construction of the machine
they have to sell. It was with the idea of furnishing some
of the information suggested above, and, if possible, of
providing a stimulus to careful study of the production
and sale of laundry service, that the writing of this book
was undertaken. If the purpose is accomplished in the
broader sense, it will be done through the sympathetic co-
operation of its readers.

The readers that the authors have had in mind during
the preparation of the text are first of all the members of
the Laundryowners National Association. In addition to
these, it has been the aim to interest the foremen of the
washrooms and other departments of the laundry plant
organization and especially those persons who come in
contact with the customers, the salesmen and claim
adjusters.

In the accumulation of the information which the
authors have endeavored to present, they have come in
contact with the most progressive men of the industry.
This progressiveness is evidenced by the fact that they
have taken the time and trouble to file their data with
the Department of Chemical Engineering, where it is
available to every member of the Association. In
view of this fact, no feeling of self-complacency should
be inspired in the minds of the thoughtful men of
the laundry industiy to know that, of the exhibits submitted
to the authors' Department, less than five per cent, have
represented cases wherein the laundry has been at fault.

Preface

It should be pointed out in this connection that the industry
is being watched, not only by the patrons but also by the
textile manufacturers, the fabricators of garments and
some of the larger dealers in fabrics. Many of these
maintain their own research departments. Through these
agencies the L. N. A. ofificials, and this Department in
particular, are learning of undeniable instances of the
shortcomings of the industry. The most flagrant cases
of the violation of the rules of good laundry practice are
from the less progressive plants and from those outside the
National Association. These conditions should stimulate
the management of the better plants to more consistent
consideration of helpful advice, not only in the application
of it to their own work, but also in an endeavor to interest
the less progressive. It is quite obvious, as has
been called to the attention of all so many times, that
the good laundry suffers the bad effect caused by the
poor quality of service rendered by the nonprogressive.

In the analyses of textile exhibits this Department
has always maintained an impartial stand, considering
only such evidence as would be acceptable in a court of law.
No attempt has been made to shield the laundryowner
when the evidence submitted showed that he had been
at fault. If, on the other hand, the evidence indicated
the fault of the fabric or abuse of the fabric by the user,
it has been the pleasure of the Department to help the
laundryowner to convince the patron of the facts and
thereby ultimately to increase the store of good will
toward the industry.

Some of the facts presented in the first few chapters
may appear to the busy launderer to be of academic
rather than of practical interest. However, these par-
ticulars are furnished in view of the conviction enter-

The Conservation of Textiles

tained by the authors that the information contained
therein constitutes a helpful background for the appli-
cation of the facts brought out in the technical portion
of the book.

Harvey Gerald Elledge,
Alice Lucille Wakefield.

Mellon Institute of Industrial Research,
University of Pittsburgh,
September, 1920.

CHAPTER I.
Fibers

A SHORT review of the history of clothing will not be
wholly out of place here. The records obtained by
archeologists date back as far as 2600 B.C. and show the
arts of spinning and weaving to be in a late stage of de-
velopment at this time. Beyond this date nothing definite
is known because no records have been found; in fact, no
records are expected of the very earliest stages since these
arts appeared long before man began to express himself
by means of writing.

However, from our present knowledge of man and
the progress of his ideas and intellect from infancy to
manhood, it has been possible to imagine the first steps
taken by primitive man in the evolution of the art of
cloth manufacture. When the first desire or need for
body covering arose, our ancestors took what lay nearest
at hand and clothed themselves with the robes which
nature had furnished their less highly endowed brothers,
the four-footed, fur-bearing animals. To do this, imple-
ments for obtaining the skins were necessary, and the
cleverness displayed in their preparation soon found
expression in another way. Rushes and fibrous grasses
were plaited or woven into mats that were found to be
much lighter and more suitable for purposes of clothing
in certain climates and seasons than were the animal skins.

Continued use of the grasses demonstrated that an
exceedingly wide field of application of heretofore useless
materials had been opened to ingenious minds. Experience
proved that for purposes of covering or decorating the

The Conservation of Textiles

body some plants were more desirable than others. The
desirable features of these plants were found to be confined
to one section of the stalk, the section lying between the
bark and the woody portion ; these features were toughness,
pliability and greater ease of bleaching. Primitive man
was even more prone to personal decoration than civilized
man and early realized that white cloth gave him clearer
and more brilliant colors than gray or cream cloth did.
The fibers that resulted from the manipulation of rushes
and reeds by the ancients are the linen fibers of today, and
by virtue of their descent from reed weaving, and the
fact that reed weaving goes back beyond any other type of
weaving, linen fibers may be called the oldest of the
textile fibers.

Long after grass fibers were first used, but before their
use had reached any great degree of perfection, the pos-
session of herds had brought a knowledge of wool. Wool
originally did duty as a body covering in the natural form
of an undipped skin, and the real value of wool fibers
became apparent only after the discovery was made (by
accident rather than by intent) that by simultaneously
pulling and twisting the clipped wool a long continuous
strand could be obtained. This process of pulling and
twisting (later called spinning) was quickly applied to
other fibers, and, by means of it, many fibers, hitherto
useless for weaving, by reason of their extreme shortness,
were added to the list of useful natural products. Cotton
was the most important of these later additions, but, like
silk, was not used extensively for a long period and was
regarded as a rare luxury. Today, however, the relative
economic values have changed so that cotton heads the
list as the one fiber used most universally and in largest
quantity, while linen, wool and silk take their places in the
order named.

It is interesting to note that these four fibers, known
now for ages, still remain the best and most useful aids to

Fibers

man's physical comfort. They are also the ones in which
the laundry industry is most interested and for that reason
we must know them so well that we will recognize them
wherever we meet them. They are grouped as vegetable
fibers (cotton and linen) and animal fibers (wool and
silk), on account of the sources from which they are
derived. The vegetable fibers are further differentiated
as seed and bast fibers; i. e., fibers from the seed pod and
fibers from that portion of the stalk known as the bast
region, lying between the outer bark and the inner woody
portion.

Cotton. — This fiber (which is useful only when ripe)
belongs to the class of seed fibers and is disclosed in the
ripe burst seed pod as numerous white hairs or fibers at-
tached to the seeds. Before spinning, these fibers must be
removed from the seed and, previous to the invention of
the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, this was done by hand.
Microscopic examination shows the individual fiber to be
a long, slender, flat tube, spirally twisted about its axis.
Figure 1 is a photomicrograph (a photograph taken
through a high power microscope) of cotton showing the
details of its structure. One end will be found closed and
pointed; this is the loose end of the fiber as it grew within
the seed pod. The other end will be«found blunt and ragged
where it has been torn from the seed. The fibers vary con-
siderably both in length and width, the longer ones being
best suited for spinning and weaving because when spun
greater intertwining of the individual fibers occurs,
resulting in a yarn of greater strength than that spun
from shorter fibers. Actual measurements show the
variation in length of the fibers to be, on the average,
from eight-tenths of an inch to one and eight-tenths
inches, although some fibers come as short as one-half
inch. These extremely short fibers are usually combined
with longer fibers to insure for the finished yarn a reason-

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 1. — Cotton,* approximately, x 300 diameters. The appear-
ance of cotton fibers, which is said to be like a "twisted ribbon," is
shown very clearly in this photomicrograph. The middle fiber is an
especially good illustration of this description, although the other two
fibers are of value as demonstrating the fact that all fibers do not twist
to the same degree.

♦Copied from the "Encyclopedia Britannica."

Fibers

Fig. 2. — Cotton, Mercerized Under Tension,* approximately,
X 300 diameters. By treatment with hot caustic soda solution while
under tension, cotton fibers are changed into untwisted cylinders that
reflect the light to a greater degree than the untreated fibers do and,
consequently, possess a higher gloss.

♦Copied from "A Manual of Dyeing," by Knecht, Rawson and Loewenthal.

The Conservation of Textiles

able tensile strength. Such is not always the case, how-
ever, and many damages exhibited by fabrics submitted
to the Laundryowners National Association's Department
of Chemical Engineering for examination are the direct
result of the use of these short fibers alone, without the
reinforcement of a percentage of longer fibers.

Mercerized Cotton. — A variation of the natural cotton
is mercerized cotton. The difference between the two is
physical rather than chemical, although it is brought
about through the action of caustic soda. Mercerization
causes the fiber to become transparent and to lose its flat
spiral form to become a nearly straight cylinder having
an increased power of light reflection and consequently
a higher gloss. This change in form is illustrated by
Figure 2. The mercerized fiber is even stronger than the
raw fiber when the conditions of mercerization have been
carefully guarded and overtreatment avoided. The only
part of the change that is apparent to the eye, unaided
by a magnifying instrument, is the increased gloss.

Schreiner Finish for Cotton. — A high luster, simi-
lar to that appearing on mercerized cotton, can be given
to a piece of cotton cloth by subjecting it to a process
called calendering. This process consists of passing the
cloth between rollers under heavy pressure. One of the
rolls is engraved with obliquely set lines, ruled fiom 125
to 600 to the inch; these lines produce a great number of
parallel, flat surfaces on the cloth, which cause it to acquire
a high luster. If the rollers are heated during the process,
a finish is produced that closely resembles mercerized cot-
ton, and is quite permanent. This finish, however, is lost
to a large degree on washing.

Linen. — Linen is a representative of the bast fibers
and is obtained by fermentation of the whole flax plant.
This process prepares those parts of the stalk that are
undesirable as textile fibers so that further treatment by

Fibers

Fig. 3. — Linen,* approximately, x 210 diameters. The jointed
structure that suggests the description of "bamboo-like" is (juite
ev'ident in the above photomicrograph.

♦Copied from "A Manual of Modern .'^team Laundry Work," by E. Clayton.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 4. — Wool,* approximately, x 210 diameters. The over-
lapping scales that characterize the wool fiber are clearly defined in
this photomicrograph. This feature is not so apparent on used wool
as on the virgin wool.

*Copied from "A Manual of Modern Steam Laundry Work," by E. Clayton.

Fibers

drying and rolling removes them, leaving the long tough
fibers to be used for spinning. When examined micro-
scopically (see Fig. 3), a linen fiber presents a more or
less bamboo-like structure, caused by the occurrence of
several cells in sequence, with nodes or knots at irregular
intervals where two cells are joined at the ends. An
individual cell measures in length from twenty to forty
millimeters (7/lOOths to 15 lOOths of an inch); conse-
quently the long fibers of combed flax linen consist of
a large number of cells attached end to end. These fibers,
by virtue of their greater length, furnish a much stronger
yarn than does cotton.

Wool. — Wool and silk, though grouped together as
animal fibers, are produced in entirely different ways.
The term wool is usually taken to mean the hair of the
sheep, although the hair of certain goats (Cashmere,
Mohair, etc.) and of the camel are classed under the same
name. The kind of animal from which it is obtained and
the location on the body determine the quality character-
istics of the wool, which may be short or long, coarse or
fine, dull or lustrous. A long stapled wool fiber is one
that measures over one and one-half inches in length, and
its diameter is usually proportional to its length. Long
stapled wool is generally combed and spun into worsted
yarn and used for the best qualities of coatings, dress
goods, etc., while the short fibers are carded and spun into
woolen yarn, which is subjected to a fulling process subse-
quent to being woven into fabrics, in order to impart
thicker and fuller feel to the fabric.

A close microscopical examination of wool reveals a
cylindrical fiber covered with flattened, horny scales,
which are funnel-like and which overlap each other in the
manner of fish scales (see Fig. 4). The dimensions, uni-
formity and compactness of these scales are generally
conceded to determine the luster and strength of the wool.

The Conservation of Textiles

Wool differs from the vegetable fibers in several
important respects. It possesses greater elasticity and
strength and is more lustrous; it is curly and has the
property of becoming felted under certain conditions,
which are outlined in the L. N. A. charts of Standard
Procedure for Washroom Practice as including the use
of too low a bath with too little soap. This property,
while being useful in certain ways, is a nuisance in others,
and it is well for launderers to keep this fact in mind when
handling woolen articles. The exact physical change that
takes place during the process of felting is still under
discussion, but experiments carried out by the Department
of Chemical Engineering have proved that it is the result
of hard pounding in the wheel rather than of changes in
temperature, which was first given as the cause of the
phenomenon and was said to cause contraction of the
fiber and an interlocking of the scales. The observation
made by this Department upon the cause of felting is
substantiated by the research findings of the United
States Government workers on this problem.*

Silk. — Silk is a substance secreted by several species
of caterpillar for the purpose of forming a cocoon in which
the change from the caterpillar stage to the moth stage of
existence occurs. It is produced by two glands, situated
one on each side of the body, and is carried by ducts to the
head of the caterpillar where the spinneret is located.
Here on coming in contact with the air the two gelatinous
streams solidify and are cemeted together by another
secretion which is produced by glands located near the
spinneret. While all caterpillars spin cocoons in this
manner, the secretions of only a few species form strands
of sufficient strength to make them of value as textile
fibers. When recovering these fibers for spinning, the
cocoons are placed in water at a temperature of 60°C. to

*A full report of this work is to be found in the laundry trade journals for the early
part of 1919.

Fibers

Fig. 5. — Raw Silk,* approximately, x 150 diameters. The above
photomicrograph shows the silk fiber as it is obtained from the cocoon,
before the gum is removed by boiling. Each strand is really two
fibers, the gum serving to cover this double nature.

♦Copied from "A Manual of Dyeing," by Knecht, Rawson and Loewenthal.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 6. — "Boiled-off" Silk,* approximately, x 150 diameters.
The true silk fiber as it appears after the gum has been removed. The
natural high gloss that is developed or uncovered by this process is not
as evident in a photograph as in the fibers themselves.

♦Copied from "A Manual of Dyeing," by Knecht, Rawson and^Loewenthal.

Fibers

soften the cement which binds the two fibers together.
When this softening has taken place the fibers are reeled
onto spools, several strands being reeled together to form
a thread.

Raw silk (unreeled silk or the cocoon proper) is of a
creamy or yellowish color and has very little luster. When
examined under the microscope it appears as two straight,
transparent fibers, absolutely lacking in cellular structure,
cemented together along their whole length (Fig. 5).
When boiled with soap solution, theouter layer of cementis
removed, and the true luster of the fiber is revealed (Fig. 6).
A silk fiber varies from 500 to 1500 yards in length and in
diameter from 0.01 to 0.02 millimeters (4/1000 to 8/1000
inch). Besides the advantage afforded by such ex-
ceptional length, silk is extremely elastic and is the strongest
and most lustrous of the natural fibers. The best silk is
produced by silk-worms reared under artificial environ-
ment and carefully cultivated, and is finer, whiter and
more lustrous than the so-called "wild" silks obtained
from the cocoons of uncultivated worms.

Artificial Silk. — The demand for silk has reached such
proportions that efforts to supply its beauty at a popular
price have led to the manufacture of artificial silks. The
most_important varieties of these fibers are prepared by
the same fundamental formula, which calls for a solution
of some chemical product of cellulose in an appropriate
liquid. Of the two types of artificial silk on the market,
the better known is made from cellulose hydrate, more
commonly called viscose. The other type is manufactured
from cellulose acetate, and sold under the trade-name of
"Lustron." Viscose and cellulose acetate "silks" differ
materially chemically but the physical differences are
not marked. However, the identification of the type to
which an artificial silk belongs may be readily accom-
plished in the laboratory.

The Conservation of Textiles

The process of manufacture of artificial silk is briefly
as follows: A solution of v^iscose (or of cellulose acetate)
in a suitable solvent and of desired concentration is ex-
truded by appropriate mechanical devices in such a way as
to convert the viscous solution into filament form. These
filaments or threads are placed into some medium that
causes immediate coagulation or hardening, and are
reeled from this coagulating material and prepared for
weaving in the same manner as silk, per se. None of the
varieties of cellulose silk possesses the strength and elasticity
of real silk nor its resistance to the process of washing;
they all have to be handled with considerable care and
even with such treatment the results obtained are often not
entirely satisfactory.

This product of the chemical laboratory can hardly
be dififerentiated from real silk by microscopical examin-
ation because of the absolute lack of physical character-
istics that exists in both types of fiber; it happens, however,
that the one physical point of difference lies in the greater
luster of the artificial silk, which shows such an increase over
that of real silk that identification can be made merely
from an inspection of the fabrics. In case any doubt
remains in the mind of the inspector recourse may be had
to simple chemical tests that are infallible.

Differentiation of Artificial and True Silk. — The sim-
plest of these tests is burning and identifying the odor that
results; an odor as of burning feathers indicates real silk, an
odor as of burning wood indicates artificial silk. Another
test, that improves on this test by replacing the factor of
personal judgment with one of purely chemical character,
is conducted by heating a portion of the fibers under
examination in a dry test tube and testing the reaction of
the volatile matter driven off by this treatment with a
piece of moist neutral litmus paper placed at the mouth
of the test tube. If the litmus paper becomes red, the

Fibers

fumes are acid and prove the fibers to be artificial silk; if
the litmus paper becomes blue, the fumes are alkaline with
ammonia and prove the fibers to be real silk.

These are two of the few reliable tests recommended
for the identification of textile fibers. Textile literature
is filled with tests that are said to be good and that have
been praised beyond their actual merits. It is often
quite possible that these tests deserve their reputation for
great delicacy of indication, provided we consider one
important factor, i. e., the relation of the manipulator to
the results. If the delicacy of the test is greater than the
degree of d iicacy of technic that lies within the possi-
bilities of tht average manipulator, the chances are that
the test will fail when applied by other than the man who
has worked it out. The process of evolution has gained for
the originator of the test a knowledge of the reactions
involved and a fineness of technic that is denied to others
who may attempt to use it. It is deemed advisable to
include in this chapter a discussion of the tests that have
the full endorsement of the authors.

Tests for Vegetable Fibers in Mixtiires.—li the presence
of cotton or linen is suspected in a wool or silk fabric, proof
can be obtained by boiling a small piece of the cloth in a
5% solution of caustic soda for five minutes. At the end
of this period the wool or silk will be entirely dissolved
and any cotton or linen that may be present will remain
unaffected by this treatment.

Tests for Animal Fibers. — If, on the other hand, it is
desired to remove the cotton or linen and leave the wool
or silk, the cloth may be saturated with a 2% solution of
sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and then dried in an oven at 100°C.
for an hour. This treatment chars cotton and linen fibers
and they can be readily removed by rubbing the cloth gently
between the palms of the hands. The wool and silk

The Conservation of Textiles

successfully resist the action of the acid. These tests may
be made quantitative by using weighed samples, carefully
washing, drying and weighing the residue. The weight of
the residue divided by the weight of the sample and multi-
plied by 100 equals the percentage of wool or silk in the
case of treatment with sulfuric acid, and of cotton or
linen in the case of treatment with caustic soda. Figs.
7, 8 and 9 illustrate the application of these treatments to
a fabric of cotton and wool mixture. Fig. 7 shows a piece
of the whole cloth that has been dyed with an acid dye
and later bleached to differentiate between the cotton and
the wool. The cotton is bleached white while the wool
retains its color. Fig. 8 shows the cotton threads that have
resisted the action of boiling caustic solution, the open
spaces having been occupied by the wool that was dis-
solved out by this treatment. Fig. 9 shows the condition
of the fabric after treatment with sulfuric acid, and pre-
sents the unaffected wool fibers with the cotton removed.

It is possible to differentiate between the two animal
fibers by chemical analysis, but the procedure is too
complex and the apparatus required too bulky to be at
the command of everyone. There is no chemical means
of differentiating between the vegetable fibers in spite of
the oft-repeated statement that such differentiation may
be made by treating a mixed cotton and linen cloth with
concentrated sulfuric acid for one or two minutes, drying
and washing. The statement is made that the linen will
survive this treatment while the cotton will not. The
degree of solubility of cotton in sulfuric acid approximates
that of linen too closely to permit a separation by this
method. For these reasons, in cases that prove difficult to
decide, it is often desirable to conduct final tests with the
microscope.

Although the examination of a fiber with the micro-
scope is the quickest and most reliable method of identify-

Fibers

P'ig. 7. Wool and Cotton Mixture. This mixture was dyed to
differentiate between the wool and the cotton in the photograph. The
dark portion is the wool and the light portion is the cotton.

The Conservation of Textiles

."I'v' ..'-■^^&^iUiS,Ji

■;:iKiBi

Fig. 8. Cotton that has Survived Treatment with Caustic
Soda. A piece of the fabric pictured in Fig. 7 was boiled in a 5 per cent,
solution of caustic soda for five minutes. This treatment dissolved the
wool and left the cotton as it appears in the above photograph.

Fibers

fjCAjm«.''<

2QU<r,r

Fig. 9. Wool that has Sl kvivkd Treatment with Sulfuric
Acid. A piece of the fabric pictured in Fig. 7 was dipped in a 2 per
cent, solution of sulfuric acid and dried for one hour at 212 degrees
Fahrenheit. It was then rubbed between the palms of the hands. The
cotton was charred by the action of the acid at 212 degrees Fahrenheit
and was removed b\- the rubbing.

The Conservation of Textiles

ing it, there are times when the microscope is inaccessible
and when we must be prepared to recognize fibers from
their characteristic appearance when spun and woven into
fabrics. The characteristic appearance of the four fibers
considered here, as observed without chemical or physical
aids, are distinct, yet the best way to acquire a knowledge
of their differences is to obtain pieces of material, pick
them apart, feel them, and examine them closely for
distinguishing features. There are certain statements
which can be incorporated into such a book as this, like
the fact that mercerized cotton is glossier than natural
cotton, and that silk is glossier than cither natural or
mercerized cotton; that linen has a gloss, but that it is not
so hard or high as that of silk or even mercerized cotton ;
that wool is crinkly and elastic, etc. But what we cannot
do is to describe accurately the difference between the
several glosses or between the crinkle due to the nature of
the wool fiber and that which is acquired in the fabric as
the result of the strain exerted by the crossed threads, so
that the reader may judge all cases unerringly. There are
things that the eye can perceive quickly and the mind
retain readily, but which are difficult of description. The
time required to train the eye and mind to accurate differ-
entiation through observation is actually less than the
time required to make the most accurate, skilled descrip-
tion possible, which at its best would be inadequate because
of the limitations of the written language.

So our advice to a laundry claim adjuster is, not to
go to books for word pictures, l)ut to go to the fabrics
themselves for original pictures. This may mean "shop-
ping" for samples of known quality and construction to
be used as standards, or it may merely mean the exten-
sion of interest to all fabrics that are received at the
laundry; in any case it means keen observation and
accurate memory, combined with a strict avoidance of
"snap" judgments.

CHAPTER II.
Weaves.

WEAVING, by which means rpun fibers are con-
verted into fabrics, consists of intertwining at least
two systems of threads in such a manner that each
individual thread maintains a definite position to the
rest of the threads and the two systems are locked in
their respective positions. The threads running length-
wise of the cloth, parallel to the selvedge, are known as
the "warp," while those running at right angles to the
selvedge are termed the "filling."

Plain Weaves. — In the simplest form of weaving
(what is known as the plain weave) no two adjacent
filling threads cross one warp thread on the same side of
the cloth. While the odd filling threads are going under
one warp thread the even filling threads are going over it.
This order is changed for the next warp thread, the odd
filling threads going over and the even going under. (See
Fig. 10 for details of this construction.) A homely ex-
ample of this method of weaving, and one ' with
which the most of us are familiar, is the "darning" stitch
used in mending. In this process the hole to be mended
is filled with parallel threads placed rather close together;
after this is accomplished, the needle is started across the
hole at right angles to the threads already there, in its
passage picking up every other thread. To return to the
other side of the hole those threads that were not taken
up the last time are "picked up," with the result that both
systems are locked together and a "woven" fabric fills the
hole. The very first weaving was done in this simple
manner, the first system of threads (the warp) being

The Conservation of Textiles

^'-r

-i'

•*^ -i-^^'

W^"^***''

-^1^.

«^

Fig. 10. Plain Weave. A portion of a piece of fabric made by
the "plain weave" pattern. The regular "over one-under one" course
of both warp and the filling is made plain here by enlargement with the
microscope.

Weaves

Fig. 11. "Satin" Stitch. The "under one-over four" stitch,
known as the satin stitch, is used in weaving satins to give the smooth
unbroken surface finish and in fancy fabrics of all kinds to facilitate the
change from background to pattern.

The Couscrvation of Textiles

strung between two poles. It was learned, however, that
the process could be hastened by certain mechanical
improvements that are represented in their highest degree
of perfection by our present-day power looms that weave
so rapidly that one is not able to follow the separate
motions.

Fancy Weaves. — There are many variations of the
fundamental plan, or plain weave, possible, but the two
ideas upon which these variations are based are (1) an
increase in the number of systems of threads involved, and
(2) a lengthening of the "floats." A "float" is that portion
of any thread of one system that crosses another thread
or other threads of the second system. In the plain
weave the floats are only one thread-diameter in length
because the threads of this weave are carried over only
one thread at a time (see Fig. 10). Where the threads are
carried over two or more threads in succession the floats
are two or more thread-diameters in length (see Fig. 11).
The advantage of longer floats is an increased reflection of
light and a consequent increase of gloss. This advantage
is desirable in itself as increasing the esthetic value of the
fabric, but by means of it another advantage is obtained,
that is, the possibility of producing "patterns" in fabric in
solid colors by carrying the floats in opposite directions in
adjacent areas. A comparison of a plain weave cloth
with a damask pattern illustrates the advantages to be
gained by the use of the long floats.

But with the advantages gained by the use of long floats
and by the use of several systems of threads come many
disadvantages as the result of the law of compensation that
governs this world and exacts from us pay for everything.
This law and its rule are evidenced in fabrics by a definite
relation between the fibers employed, the degree of spin-
ning, the type of weave and the strength of the fabric; this
relation is not to be ignored in our consideration of claims

/ leaves

Fig. 12. Uneven Distribution of W.arp and Filling. The
heavy white threads are of cotton and represent the filling of a so-called
silk shirt. The fine threads are silk and are the warp threads. Such a
great difference in weight of the two systems is undesirable from the
standpoint of utility, but enables the manufacturer to offer the fabric
at a much lower price than if enough silk were used to make the fabric
strong.

The Conservation of Textiles

for damage. By all rights the buyer should be cognizant
of this law of compensation and its application to fabrics,
and should know what type of cloth to purchase and how
much wear to expect of it when applied to different uses.
This is not the case, however, and, since it is not, the
laundryowner must acquire the knowledge, in order to
protect himself and incidentally to assist in the move
toward more general enlightenment. If the laundry-
owner is able to accompany his decision of a claim with a
clear simple explanation of the limits of his responsibility
and to point out without prejudice where the responsi-
bility really lies, the average patron will welcome the
information and make use of it in the future.

The Ideal Fabric. — In considering the several factors
that combine to produce the "quality" of a fabric, first
attention goes most logically to the individual threads
involved. These may be heavy or fine, strong or weak,
tightly spun or loosly spun, but in combination as the
warp and filling of a fabric they should be of equal quality
to meet ideal conditions. Ideal conditions are threads
that are composed of fibers of good length (standard of
length varies for each fiber, as indicated in Chapter II)
that have been well spun to give a smooth, even thread of
uniform strength; such well prepared threads combine so
that the warp and filling are of equal size and strength,*
occur in equal numbers per inch and are interlocked to the
greatest degree. These conditions guarantee a fabric of
highest tensile strength, greatest firmness and best wearing
qualities, that can be obtained with the v/eight of thread
chosen. They do not, however, guarantee a fabric of
greatest beauty, as judged by our modern standards.
Beauty"and decorativeness are acquired at the sacrifice of a
portion of one or all of the qualities previously mentioned.

*It is seldom found expedient to follow the specifications for the ideal fabric to the
point of choosing the warp and the filling threads of equal weight. On account of the
strain exerted on the warp that the filling is not called upon to stand, the warp threads
are usually a little stronger than the filling.

Weaves

Variations from the "Ideal." — The ideal cloth may be
made of heavy or of fine threads, the difiference showing in
the weight and strength of the fabric; these quaUties being
uniform for each piece. Variations of this ideal cloth are
produced by combining loosely spun warp with tightly
spun filling (or vice versa) ; by combining heavy warp
with fine filling; by introducing a heavy thread at
given intervals to produce a corded effect, or by omitting
one occasionally to obtain the effect of a "drawn" thread;
by floating the threads more than one thread-diameter;
by decreasing the number of threads per inch in one
system without a corresponding decrease in the other sys-
tem; or by a combination of two or more of these methods
to produce the more extreme "patterns." Each variation
exacts its compensation for added beauty by causing a
reduction of the tensile strength or of the firmness and
consequently of the wearing qualities of the fabric, the
reduction being proportional to the degree of variation.

The loss in wearing qualities is brought about by the
actual reduction of the strength of the individual threads,
as in the case of loosely spun threads or of fine threads;
by the greater friction exerted by one thread on a second
than the second is able to return, as in a combination of
heavy and fine threads or of tight spun and loosely spun
threads; by the increased friction that a long float must
stand as a consequence of its more exposed position; and
by the loss of unity where threads are omitted.

Loose Spinning. — Some illustrations of the consequen-
ces of these variations have been received at the authors'
laboratory from time to time and some interesting results
have been gathered in the form of photographs. Fig. 12
is an extreme example of the use of a heavy filling and
a weak warp, and was taken from a half silk shirt which
had failed to stand careful hand laundering. The warp is
of real silk, which has previously been declared to be the

The Conservation of Textiles

... IM

Fig. 13. A Low Priced Silk Collar. This grade of collar, that
sold at a very popular price, ha.s been found to fail in laundering much
too soon for the amount of wear received. Examination showed it to
be a cotton, real-silk combination, but the silk represented only 20 per
cent, of the weight of the fabric.

Weaves

Fig. 14. Photomicrograph ok Fig. 13. This enlargement of a
portion of Fig. 13 shows the manner in which the manufacturer was able
to make 20 per cent, of silk cover 80 per cent, of cotton to give a high
luster. The silk is absolutely unspun so that it can be spread over as
much surface as possible. The silk fibers as they pass over the cotton
warp threads, are placed in a position of greatest exposure to friction
and are soon worn through.

The Conservation of Textiles

strongest natural fiber, but in this case the natural strength
was sacrificed in an endeavor to save silk by omitting
the throwing* so that a given amount of silk would cover a
greater surface. By carrying the silk fibers parallel over
the heavy cotton filling threads more surface is covered and
a greater luster is obtained than would be possible with
any other treatment of the same amount of silk. The
advantage gained in this direction was entirely counter-
balanced, however, by the great loss in the wearing
qualities of the material. Had the same amount of
cotton and silk been combined so that the tensile strength
of the two systems and the friction of one system on the
other would be more nearly equal, a fabric of greater
strength, but of less sheen, would have been produced. A
similar combination of silk and cotton, which was made
for appearance rather than for wear, is illustrated in Figs.
13 and 14.

The same condition of unthrown fibers, in this case
of artificial silk filling and cotton warp, occurred in another
shirt submitted at about the same time. The condition
of this fabric is shown in Fig. 15. Such deliberate sacri-
fice of quality for appearance suggests intention on the
part of the manufacturer of deceiving the public. It may,
however, be the natural result of a demand on the part of
the public for a fabric of high luster and silky appearance
at an extremely low price. But, whatever the cause, if
the consumer can not or will not see that no gain is made
without an equal or often greater accompanying loss, he
must continue to see his clothes drop to pieces through
wear or laundering and should receive no recompense
from the blameless laundryman.

Long Floats. — Figs. 16 and 17 are illustrative of one of
the disadvantages that accompany the long float. Fig. 16

*Silk is "thrown," or only slightly spun, together when fibers of good quality and
length are used. The short lengths are "spun," to make the sewing and embroidery
threads.

Weaves

Fig. 15. Photomicrograph of a Shirt Fabric. This photo-
micrograph shows a portion of an artificial silic and cotton shirt. This
fabric is weak for the same reason that the fabric pictured in Fig. 12 is
weak, but the difference in weight between the warp and filling of this
fabric is not so great as in the other cas2.

The Conservation of Textiles

% *i

Fig. 16. Photomicrogr.\ph Showing Long Floats. The area
pictured here shows floats of varying length, some being as long as 18
thread-diameters. Such great length exposes the threads to undue
friction that causes the fabric to fail much sooner than is economically
desirable.

J V eaves

^ ipi.

i f. i

Fig. 17. DisPL.vcED Floats. The reason for presenting this
photomicrograph is to demonstrate the looseness of a fabric in which
long floats occur and the ease with which they are displaced during
wear.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 18. Damask Pattern in Cotton. This is a portion of the
fabric that furnished the photomicrographs of Figures 16 and 17. The
long floats occurred in the floral pattern, which was the part of the
fabric that first showed the effects of wear.

Weaves

Fig. 19. A Worn Portion of the F"abric Pictured in Fig. 18.
When this damage appeared in a pair of pajamas, the owner claimed
abuse by the laundry. The series of photographs, Figures 16, 17 and
18, demonstrates why the launderer was justified in refusing payment
of this claim on the grounds that the fabric had not been wisely chosen
for the wear it was to receive.

The Conservation of Textiles

shows a portion of a fabric that contains some unusually
long floats, some of which were 18 thread-diameters or one-
fourth inch in length. Fig. 17 shows the looseness of weave
that results when so many long floats occur at one place,
and the distance that each float can "slip" from its posi-
tion. This slipping was accompanied by such friction that
the fabric gave way at the spots where these floats occurred,
while the remainder of the fabric, which was of plain weave,
retained its original strength. Fig. 18 is a photograph of a
portion of this fabric that showed no damages but pos-
sessed all the inherent weaknesses described and waited
only for the requisite friction or strain to demonstrate them.
Fig. 19 is a photograph of an area that failed in several
places, and showed the damages to follow the design. An
interesting and illuminating observation to be made in con-
nection with these photographs is that this material was
made up into pajamas. The wear to which it was subjected
in this role was out of all proportion to the wear that it
could stand. In such a case, it is difficult to decide whether
the manufacturer of the cloth, the designer of the garment
or the purchaser is to be blamed for the failure of the fabric.

This type of failure is aggravated when the fabric is
made from all cotton fibers. In this connection it is well
to remember that the threads used in fabrics are composed
of numerous short lengths twisted together. The action of
friction is, therefore, less a matter of wearing through the
individual fibers than it is a matter of rubbing these fibers
apart. In linen fabrics the fibers are comparatively long
furnishing fewer fiber ends per inch of finished thread and
reducing the possibility of their being rubbed apart during
use. Cotton fibers are, on the contrary, short and many
more are included in an inch of spun thread. Therefore,
when a portion of a cotton thread is exposed to extra fric-
tion, the time required to sever the thread is greatly re-
duced. Figs. 20 and 21 are photographs of failures in cot-
ton damask that are to be accounted for only by the fact

JVeaves

Fig. 20. K.MLUKK IN Table Linen Due to the Use of Short
Fibers in Long Floats. When short fibers are used in spun threads,
the number of fiber ends per inch is greater than when long fibers are
used. By weaving short fibers in a plain weave pattern the greatest
wearirlg quality is obtained from them. Long floats permit the fiber
ends to be rubbed apart, eventually causing a break in the thread.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 21. Failure in Tablecloth. This failure is also due to the
use of short fibers and is explained under Fig. 20. It is given a special
place in this book, however, because it is typical of the failures that
occur along the border of cotton damasks.

Weaves

that the floats were too long in comparison to the length of
the fibers that were used in preparing the fabric.

Fig. 22 illustrates the ease with which the "satin"
weave slips out of place. This is a common occurrence in
shirts that are made with stripes produced by this method
of weaving, and results from the looseness that is incident
to the "over four-under one" method of combining the
warp and the filling. Where the filling is of cotton this
slipping does not occur quite so readily because the surface
of the filling threads ofTer a higher friction to the silk threads
due to their rougher finish. Similar slipping will occur even
in a plain weave, all-silk fabric wherein the number of
filling threads per inch is too low to produce a firm fabric.
Such slipping is not a true damage, since no threads are
broken or even stretched during the change of position; it
can often be remedied by gently rubbing the fabric between
the fingers, all motions being planned to return the indi-
vidual threads to their original positions.

Short Fibers and Loose Spinning. — Another example
of weakness due to the method of weaving, this time oc-
curring in a woolen fabric, presents itself in the form of a
pair of blankets. The process of laundering, which the
laundryowner claimed was carefully conducted along
approved methods (this claim was fully substantiated by
the soft, unfelted appearance of the blankets), had reduced
the blankets to shreds, the damaged portions showing the
filling gone and only the warp remaining, as illustrated by
Fig. 23. Close examination showed that the exhibit had
presented an appearance of great weight and softness to
someone not acquainted with the tricks of the weaving
trade. To the initiated, however, it appeared as it actually
was, — a fabric composed of a three-ply cotton thread, with
which enough wool had been spun to partially cover its
identity, as the warp and a loosely spun woolen thread as
the filling. Woolen is here used in the light of the expla-

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 22. The Satin Stitch in Silk F.vbrics. This photomicro-
graph illustrates a source of wear and a type of damage that is quite
common in silk fabrics that have satin stripes in them. The extremely
smooth surface of the silk threads offer no great resistance to each
other so that they slip out of position with the application of very little
force.

IV eaves

nation given in a foregoing chapter tiiat woolen yarn is
made of the shorter fibers. Further than this the carding
process which raises the nap and gives the blanket its soft,
fuzzy appearance had of necessity reduced the actual
weight of the filling yarn so that it was extremely weak.
The expression "of necessity" is used advisedly since the
amount of wool contained in the warp was so small as to
be practically negligible. The appearance of the true
fabric of the blankets is shown in Fig. 24, in which the nap
has been clipped to expose the details of structure. Such
a procedure is denied the prospective purchaser, but there
are ways of examining a fabric that will furnish conclusive
evidence, without injury to the article, which everyone
should apply.

"Pile" Fabrics. — "Terry" or loop-pile fabrics offer an-
other possibility for damage (see Fig. 25), that is quite
often said to be the launderer's fault by the uninformed
patron. The bath towel is the one member of this class of
fabrics that we are most often asked to renovate, but other
members that are handled less often are bath mats, counter-
panes and other piled fabrics of domestic application.
These fabrics are produced from two separate systems of
warp threads, (a) the ground warp threads that go to form
the true fabric, and (b) the pile warp threads that form the
loops on the surface of the fabric which are placed on sepa-
rate warp beams. The usual method of weaving employs
the ground and pile warp in equal proportions, arranged in
the loom alternately or in alternate pairs. In each case
the final result is the same to all practical purposes. Dur-
ing weaving the ground warp is held tight, but the pile
warp is permitted to be quite loose so that it may be looped
up to form the pile with great ease. Terry fabrics are said
to be one, three, four, five or six-thread terry fabrics, ac-.
cording to the number of filling threads that are inserted
for each cross row of loops.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 23. Failure in Blanket. This blanket, claimed to be
worth S12.00 at the time when this amount of money should have
bought a really good blanket, was laundered after a season's use by a
power laundry with the result that it was reduced to shreads as illus-
trated in this picture. Examination showed the blame for this condition
to fall to the construction of the fabric rather than to the laundering.
Fig. 24 displays the details of this fabric.

J V eaves

A <?

«*y

Fig. 24. Photomicrograph of Failure in Blanket. In order
to obtain this photograph the nap was clipped from a portion of the
blanket that had not been damaged. This made it possible to observe
the condition of the threads that had been used in weaving the fabric.
The warp, which runs across the page, was found to be a well spun,
three-ply, cotton thread with a small amount of wool spun with it to
mask its identity. The filling was a loosely spun wool thread made
from short fibers. The nap had been combed from this portion of the
fabric and had left a much weakened filling which had broken under
the weight of the whole fabric when wet. The diagram in the upper
right hand corner shows the degree of twisting that the two systems
of threads had been given. The warp and 'filling threads were super-
imposed along the line A-B, and the lines C-D and C-E were obtained
by paralleling the course of the fibers of the threads. The angle BCD
represents the degree of twist in the filling; the angle BCE, the degree
of twist in the warp.

:)0

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 26 represents a Terry fabric of the simplest con-
struction possible. Here the ground and pile warp threads
are alternated and are woven with the filling in the plain
weave manner. The result is that a minimum of contact be-
tween the pile warp and the ground fabric occurs. When
the ground fabric is more closely beaten up than that which
furnished this figure, the pile threads are held a little more
closely, but this type of weaving is not designed to pro-
duce a good firm Terry fabric; it is used only in the very
poorest grade of toweling. The better grades of toweling
are woven on the three, four, five or six-thread plan, of
which the 6-thread plan is the best because of the increased
contact between the pile warp and the ground fabric. The
six-thread plan is, indeed, excellent because in it the pile
warp actually is woven into the ground fabric, not merely
looped into it.

Figs. 27 and 28 present samples of the three-thread
Terry fabric. The plan necessitates the individual threads
traveling "over two-under one." Consecutive ground threads
weave in contrary manner to each other as do consecutive
pile threads; that is, while one thread (of ground or pile
warp) is going over two-under one, its next neighbor is
going under two-over one. In this way the ground fabric
is regularly woven and the pile threads alternate in looping
on the face and the. back of the fabric, producing a double
piled cloth. Variations of the arrangement of the warp
threads — that is, alternating them singly or in groups —
make differences in the desirability of the finished fabric.
Fig. 27 is arranged so that a pair of pile warp threadsalter-
nate with a single ground warp thread, making the pile
loops of double threads instead of single as in Fig. 28,
where the ground and pile warp threads alternate singly.
Fig. 29 shows even a greater grouping of pile warp than
does either of the other two illustrations. Here the pile
warp occurs in groups of six which are placed with the

Weaves

^^^R??!^

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^HB^ . N

- li

^^^K ^

<••,"

^^^^B>

*■ -^

tt'^H^B

■' *l

J-

Fig. 25. Typical F.mlure of Bath Toweling. Loops of the
pile are caught and the pile warp is pulled out for some distance, giving
long threads that becoinc intertwined and knotted on the surface of the
towel as illustrated,

The Conservation of Textiles

■ •iwtiKi,;
'•Mifi.i;,; *

'■- IIH»I,,,

<>' •■ ■ >t iikI

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Fig. 26. Poor Grade Bath Toweling. (Terry Fabric.) The
background weave is the simple plain weave. This is a very poor
foundation for pile fabrics at the very best, but when it is as loosely
woven as in this exhibit, the result is that the pile "pulls" and the
towel assumes the appearance of Fig. 25. The pile warp threads
have been removed so that their relation to the whole fabric can be
observed.

Weaves

Fig. 27. Medium Grade of Terry Fabric. This towel was
submitted for examination to the Department of Chemical Engineer-
ing because of damages similar to that shown in Fig. 25. The reason
for its appearance is that it is woven on what is known as the "three-
pick" Terry pattern. In this pattern the warp threads are carried over
two-under one, with the result that the pile loops are held in place by
single filling threads only. A good firm pile can be obtained by
weaving the pile warp threads into the ground fabric for a distance
of three or four filling threads. This plan is followed in the true
Turkish or Osman toweling.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 28. "Martex" Toweling. This fabric was purchased for
the purpose of comparing a "Marte.x" fabric, said by the retail merchant
to be the best grade of bath toweling, with the fabric shown in Fig. 27.
Although the fabric as a whole was finer in this sample, the same
method of weaving had been used to produce the two.

IVeai'es

Fig. 29. A V'erv Good Type of Three-pick Terry Fabric.
This fabric was also purchased to compare with that of Fig. 27. The
ground fabric was found to be woYen on the same three-pick plan, but
the distribution of the pile warp threads ditTered. In this exhibit they
are introduced in groups of six, at intervals of six ground warp threads.
This results in ridges of pile that parallel the warp. "Pulling" is
avoided by the fact that the six loops become so entangled that they
form a knot, making withdrawal impossible.

The Conservation of Textiles

ground warp in the following oider: The face-pile waip
threads, one ground warp thread; the back-pile warp
threads, four ground warp threads. This causes
the pile to occur in ridges that run lengthwise of
the fabric. An advantage that is gained in this grouping
of six-pile warp threads together is that the six loops
formed at each point become entangled so that withdrawal
of the thread is impossible. The beauty of the finished
fabric is greatest in Figs. 27 and 28, but the utility and
length of life of Fig. 29 are very much the greatest.

Weaving Flaws. — Knots or heavy threads constitute
another fault that occurs quite frequently in the cheaper
fabrics or "seconds," ofifering a starting point for very
serious damages. A knot may result from a break that
has occurred in the weaving process and has been repaired
by tying the two ends together; oi it may result from an
entanglement of the yarn. Whatever the cause, it will
stand out on the surface of the fabric (as in Fig. 30) and
receive a great deal more hard usage than the threads
about it in their less prominent positions. Eventually it
will be rubbed off accidentally or picked off deliberately; in
which case it leaves behind it a broken thread. One
broken thread does not sound like a great misfortune
but it upsets the nice balance of stress that has obtained
in the fabric and the neighboring threads are forced to
bear a greater burden in consequence. The final result
is an ever enlarging number of broken threads which
present the appearance of Fig. 31. It always happens
that these broken threads are confined for some time to
one system, paralleling the thread that originally con-
tained the knot and first gave way. Fig. 32 is an enlarge-
ment of one of the small holes to be seen in Fig. 31; it
shows one of the threads of the other system broken,
illustrating the beginning of enlargement in the remaining
direction.

Weaves

Fig. 30. Common Flaw in Fabrics. Knots similar to the one
shown in this photograph are the cause of many damages that appear
in fabrics. When this knot is rubbed or picked off a thread is broken
and a hole is started.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 31. Typical Wear in Sheeting. Such holes as these will
result from the. removal of knots from the surface of a fabric.

Weaves

Fig. 32. Photomicrogr.vph of Damage Exhibited in Fig. 31.
This photomicrograph illustrates the development of a hole from a small
inception like that suggested under Fig. 30. The damage proceeded
for some time in one system only, but finally began to affect the second
system. This photograph shows the first break in the second system
in the development of this hole.

The Conservation of Textiles

Heavy threads — that is, threads that are spun un-
evenly so that occasionally a thickened, loosely-spun length
is encountered — (see Fig. Z2) — are seen very often in the
ess expensive, coarser table linens. One of the chief
'ndoor sports of the diner (of which he is quite unconscious)
is to pull out these heavy portions as he sits at the table
and converses. This move is, it is judged, actuated by a
desire to improve the looks of the cloth, to change it from a
coarse, uneven thing to a fine, even piece of workmanship.
But, alas, this subconscious urge toward improvement
merely places the opening wedge of destruction. The
damage that results from the broken thread is the same
in a table cover as in a bed sheet, which is the fabric
pictured in Fig. 31.

Figures 34 and 35 present another type of flaw met
with in fabrics and the effect that washing has exerted
upon it. Fig. 34 shows a weaving defect in a handker-
chief, after the sizing has been removed. Just how serious
this defect was, is demonstrated by Fig. 35, taken after the
handkerchief had been laundered eleven times. This
handkerchief, having been bought for experimental pur-
poses only, was not used between washings; had it received
normal wear between trips to the laundry the efifect of
laundering would have been exaggerated.

Fig. 36 illustrates the beginning stages of a damage
resulting from another very common defect in damask
patterns, both cotton and linen; that is, long floats that
are unconnected with the development of the pattern.
The tablecloth that furnished this illustration was in very
good condition, apparently in every place except the spot
in Fig. 36 that appeared as a "thin" spot. Examination
disclosed the ends of threads on either side of this thin
spot, which indicated broken threads. Very close ex-
amination established the fact that the "thin" effect was
produced by the removal of those threads that corre-

Weaves

Fig. 33. The "Heavy Thread" Flaw in Fabrics. The heavy
thread that occurs in fabrics as a result of uneven spinning and which
is unrelated to the development of the pattern or design is a flaw and,
as such, is unsightly and undesirable. It may cause damage by wear-
ing out the finer threads which cross it or by being pulled out of the
fabric itself, causing a break therein.

The Conservation of Textiles

Handkerchief sold as a Second

Note defect after removal
of sizing

Fig. 34. A Tvpic.vL Weaving Flaw. A flaw such as is pictured
in this figure places the fabric bearing it among the "seconds." These
flaws are often small and hidden by the sizing, but they always con-
stitute a weak spot that will give way before any other portion of the
fabric does. What happens to such flaws in the laundering is shown
in Fig 35.

Weaves

Handkerchief sold as a Second
Appearance of defect after
eleven washings

Fig. 35. The Effect of Laundering on a Weaving Flaw.
The fabric pictured in Fig. 34 was purchased for the purpose of de-
termining the effect of laundering on weaving defects. After being
laundered eleven times, without being used between trips through the
laundry, the defect had assumed the appearance shown above. Had
the handkerchief received customary usage between launderings, the
damage would have enlarged with greater rapidity.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 36. Damaged Table Linen. This damage showed up as a
"thin" spot. Examination demonstrated this thinness to result from
the fact that every fifth thread had been removed for a distance of half
an inch. The reason that these threads had been removed proved to
be that they had never been incorporated into the fabric at the spot,
but had been "floated" for a space. The thread at the upper part of
the spot is the last one to withstand the wear and connects the former
condition of this area of fabric with its present condition.

Weaves

l«ii||RPRPI^iPpni|WPPPTiPf^^

' A. .i f- * ' ' ' '

Fig. 37. Damaged Table Linen. This is a smaller "thin" spot
that occurred in the same cloth with that shown in Fig. 36. The thin
spot in this photograph is not such important data as are the long
floats that occur in several areas about it. This evidence substantiated
the story suggested by the one remaining float in Fig. 36.

The Conservation of Textiles

sponded to the broken ends, which allowed more light to
filter through the cloth. The reason why these threads
were broken and why none of the others was, is explained
by the one thread that remains at the upper part of the
spot. It is nearly worn through by friction but it still
remains as a continuous thread and offers proof of the
conclusion that originally these threads had been "floated"
for a distance of one-third inch or 32 thread diameters,
instead of covering that distance in the regular "over-four-
under-one" stitch used in the cloth. This mistake is quite
patently due to a moment of poor operation on the part of
the loom.

Fig. 37 shows another spot that was found in support
of this conclusion. The thin spot itself furnished very
little contributing evidence, but the surrounding areas of
long unnecessary floats were just the proof that was most
desired. Flaws of this type are watched for as the fabric is
woven and material that contains them is considered of
inferior quality and classed as "seconds." Legitimately
the "seconds" do not command as high a price as "firsts,"
but the dressing that is given damasks is of a type to
render these flaws practically unnoticeable. This state-
ment is not meant to imply that the manufacturer de-
liberately covers them up. It merely states that they are
covered up and suggests that this is done by a process that
we demand to be given the fabrics we purchase, and that
it may be an aid to dishonest selling or indifTerent pur-
chasing.

Fig. 38 represents a type of damage that is, at first
glance, hard to recognize as the result of improper weaving.
This type of damage can occur in any grade of fabric and is
not dependent upon the length or kind of fiber used, the
degree of spinning, the weight of fabric produced, or any
other of the faults that have been found to be due to the
intimate parts of the fabric itself. Instead, the fault lies

Weaves

mtm

Fig. 38. Shrink.\ge in Table Linen. The shrinkage is confined
in this exhibit to a group of warp threads near the selvedge. Such
localized damage can not be regarded as the result of improper launder-
ing even when one is ignorant of the real cause. The real cause is that
the affected threads have been held under greater tension on the warp
beam than the other warp threads have. This tension was continued
during the finishing process until the sizing had dried and a straight
fabric was insured. Laundering has merely removed this tension and
has permitted the threads to assume their normal positions.

The Conservation of Textiles

^i '♦^T7

^^'V^l^r "l^

3:i

'3!

Fig. 39. A "Scratch-up." The thread end appearing in this
figure is one end of a warp thread that has broken during weaving.
The original course of this thread is that taken across the page; after
breaking, the thread end was carried across the fabric with the filling.
Such a condition constitutes the damage known to the fabric manu-
facturer as a "scratch-up." It will be seen that the affected warp
thread has been removed beyond the point where the break occurred.

Weaves

with the mechanical setting-up of the threads from which
the fabric has been w^oven. The warp threads, indicated
by the arrow, and which are several inches shorter than
the others in the tablecloth, have shrunken because they
had been held under greater tension than the unshrunken
warp threads duiing the weaving process. When removed
from the loom, the cloth was sized and finished so that they
appeared as long as the whole cloth; but, on laundering,
the strain that had been exerted on them was removed and
they were permitted to resume their true proportions.
This shrinkage occurs legitimately in all fabrics to a slight
extent; but where it occurs to the extent demonstrated in
the photograph under discussion, it is a condition that
could have been avoided by the manufacturer and is, there-
fore, his responsibility.

Another fabric that has caused considerable worry for
the launderer is the heavy cotton material called Bedford
cord. This cloth is formed of cords or welts that lie side
by side, parallel to the selvedge. These welts are made to
stand out in relatively high relief by the employment of
padding threads which are held in place by certain of the
fillingthreads that are carried across behind them. The so-
called damage that appears in this material occurs in the
padding threads which loop out between the threads
which pass behind them. Such a condition can not be
avoided in a heavily loaded commercial wash wheel when
a fabric of this type is being washed. Had the
padding threads been backed by a true fabric, made
like the facing, or in other words had the material been
made "double-faced" by the introduction of extra warp
threads to engage the filling threads that cross behind tKe
padding, such a condition would have been impossible.
Double-faced fabrics are, however, expensive; more
expensive than the average person can afford for an
everyday wash fabric. Therefore, the trouble with Bed'

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 40. Towel Crash. This is a portion of a crash towel that
appeared to be a good grade of unbleached linen crash. Seven hundred
of these towels, owned by a linen supply company, were laundered be-
fore distribution and failed to survive the process. The failure was con-
fined to the filling threads which, on examination, proved to be made of
paper stock. This material, when spun into threads, has the appear-
ance of coarse linen and is quite strong when dry, but has practically no
strength when wet.

Weaves

ford cords will continue to occur unless the launderer
changes the method used in handling this type of
fabric. It is possible, and also advisable, to wash gar-
ments made from Bedford cord by hand or in small
vacuum-type washers wherein the mechanical rubbing is
reduced to a minimum.

Use of Poor Materials. — The damages so far discussed
have been due to weaknesses in construction rather than to
weaknesses of material. That weakness of material does
occur, however, is evidenced by Figs. 40 and 41. Fig. 40
is a reproduction of what appears to be a good grade of
crash. But 700 towels made from this material fell to
pieces when laundered for the first time in preparation for
distribution by a towel supply company. On examination
the failures proved to be confined to the filling only. It
was found that the warp was a good three-ply cotton thread
that would stand heavy wear, but that the filling was noth-
ing more than "cooked rope" or paper stock. Cooked
rope is a term used by paper manufacturers to designate
the material that results from cooking jute and hemp
fibers in an alkaline bath. Jute and hemp fibers are strong
but when untreated or "uncooked" are quite harsh. This
characteristic is very evident in burlap, a fabric made from
these untreated fibers, and is due to the large amount of
resinous material present in the fibers. Cooking with an
alkaline material removes the resin content, but in doing
so it also reduces the strength of the fibers. There seems
to be a definite relation between the amount of resin pres-
ent and the strength of the fiber, because complete removal
of this material leaves the fibers worthless as textile ma-
terial. The weakness of the threads made from "cooked
rope" or paper stock is not evident when they are dry but
is immediately apparent in the presence of moisture. This
is a phenomenon that has been made familiar to us all in
our experiences with heavy wrapping papers.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 41. Failure in Artificial Silk. This shirt, in cotton warp
and artificial silk filling, shows a failure in the sleeve only. No accom-
panying tenderness appears in any other part of the shirt to suggest
that the damage has occurred during laundering. The tenderness has
been caused by mistreatment of the fabric while it was still in the piece
at some time during the finishing process. The fact that the tenderness
is confined to the left sleeve is explained as the result of using two pieces
of cloth to cut the garment. One piece was good, the other was weak.

JVeaves

Supplementing this towel exhibit and further exem-
plifying the tendency of the manufacturers of textiles to-
wards adulteration, is a bath rug. This rug, gieen and
white and brown, in a rather pleasing mottled effect, was
evidently bought for a cotton and wool mixture. Launder-
ing, however, had reduced it to a sad state of disintegra-
tion, the cause of which lay not in the laundry or in the
laundering process but rather in the composition of the
article itself, as discovered through a critical examination.
Such examination demonstrated the fact that the warp was
cotton, but that the filling which at first glance appeared
to be composed of three-fourths and cotton one-fourth
wool was really three-fourths twisted paper and one-fourth
wool. The paper was of a soft unglazed grade which twisted
readily into an even pliable rope, giving an effect quite
similar to that of loosely spun cotton thread when woven
into a fabric and examined only perfunctorily by the pur-
chaser. It was entirely in keeping with the quality of this
material that the wool content should be introduced in the
form of loosely spun shoddy yarn. In a manner the per-
spicacity exhibited by the manufacturer in taking this
action is admirable — it can at least be said that no good
wool was wasted in the production of these articles.

Fig. 41 shows a shirt, of which only one sleeve is dam-
aged, but which has been reduced to shreds in this portion
during the laundering process. No other portion of the
shirt is affected, not even the cuff on the damaged sleeve.
Examination showed that the fabric of the garment that
had remained whole was a good piece of material of cotton
warp and artificial silk filling, and showed no evidence of
chemical action. The damaged sleeve, on the contrary,
although of similar construction (that is, of cotton warp
and artificial silk filling, in the same pattern) showed evi-
dence of chemical action. There is no method known to
the chemist by which complete destruction of one definite

The Conservation of Textiles

portion of a garment can be brought about without some
small area of damage appearing in some other portion of
the garment. In this case, had chemical action taken place
after the garment had been assembled, traces of this action
would have been found at the left shoulder and cufif. On
the contrary, such evidence was confined completely to the
fabric of the sleeve proper. The explanation for this dam-
age is mistreatment of the yarn or of the pieces in the fac-
tory. Two pieces of the same pattern have been used to
make the garment, one being good and strong, and the
other being poor and weak.

In connection with this discussion it is well to state
that the launderer may readily ascertain the extent of a
damage of this type by testing the tensile strength of the
fabric at various parts of the garment. This test can be
made qualitatively by grasping the fabric firmly between
the fore-finger and thumb of both hands and applying a
steady strain to the threads by pulling the hands apart,
keeping the threads straight during the process. Such a
test was all that was needed to establish the fact that the
damage in Fig. 41 was confined to the fabric of the left
sleeve.

The finish that is applied to a fabric by the manu-
facturer before he permits it to be marketed is a factor
that is of greatest importance to the consumer and the
launderer. By means of the art of finishing, a fabric
may be made to appear decidedly more desirable than it
actually is. Cotton and linen fabrics are loaded with
excess starch or even clay to give them weight and body;
this weighting is removed in the first laundering and the
impression is left with the owner of the article that the
laundering process is hard on fabrics. Similar methods
are used with silk fabrics, but in this type of fabric the
weighting material is more often a salt of tin than any
other compound. When excessive amounts of tin salts

IV eaves

are used the threads lose their pHabiUty and break very
quickly under the stress of wear. The heavy silk dresses
of our grandmothers, that stood alone and wore a lifetime,
are not duplicated today at popular prices. The reduction
of the cost of silk fabrics means an equal reduction of the
amount of silk used; the resultant loss of weight is made
up in weighting material. Therefore, when a modern
silk fabric splits, it is necessary to consider the original
cost and the length and degree of service it has rendered
before placing the blame for damage to the credit of any
one influence.

CHAPTER III.

Mechanical Sources of Damage.

A PERUSAL of the preceding chapter might lead one
to the beUef that all the troubles of the laundry were
due to flaws in weaving and mistakes of the manufacturer
and that claims could be readily disposed of by referring
them to the manufacturer. Such is not the case, how-
ever, because the user of the garment and the launderer
must each come in for his share of the responsibility in
the conservation of the handiwork of the textile producer.

There are innumerable ways in which a garment may
be damaged both by chemical and mechanical action, during
use and laundering. This chapter will be confined to a
discussion of the mechanical possibilities of damage. The
chemical possibilites are considered later in detail in
Chapter V (page 98).

During wear many things are apt to occur of which
the wearer may or may not be aware and which soon slip
the memory. The use of pins in garments offers many
opportunities for introducing rents; the clothing may be
snagged on any roughness of furniture. Maybe the cloth
is only caught by a few threads which are carefully re-
moved before they are completely severed, but at the
least estimation the damage done is great. It will require
only a little strain, such as the weight of the fabric itself
when wet, to break the weakened threads.

Table linens are subject to cuts, which may occur
from cutting bread at the table without using a bread
board. (This is not, of course, the general practice, but
it occurs in every home in moments of haste or carelessness.)
Or the table knives may be used to draw line-pictures on

Mechanical Sources of Damage

the soft padded surface of the dinner table, in which case
the damage done may not be intense enough to show up
immediately, but will always be present. Reckless chil-
dren can cause damages in many ways that cannot be
proved on countless occasions because of the absolute
ignorance of the occurrence in which their elders remain.

Another source of cuts in linens, this time in toilet
towels, is razor blades. Many men who shave themselves
use a towel to dry their razor blades on after the operation
is over. In spite of careful manipulation, this use of a
fabric exposes it to the danger of being cut, and in nine
cases out of ten a cut of some degree is made. This practice
has caused so much trouble in hotel linens that many
hotels have begun to furnish special cloths for this purpose
with the request that they be used in preference to the face
towels.

Figs. 42, 43, 44 and 45 illustrate the appearance of
cuts in fabric both while still distinct and after they have
been laundered. In Fig. 42 the cut has affected only one
system of threads; Fig. 43 shows a diagonal cut that
affects both warp and filling. After laundering. Fig. 42,
will appear like Fig. 44, while Fig. 43 will appear like
Fig. 45. It is quite apparent from even a casual obser-
vation of these photographs that laundering merely
accentuates this type of damage as it does in all cases of
failures that are not corrected before delivery to the
launderer.

Bed springs, finished with sharp ends protruding and
provided with no covering to protect them from dust or
the bed clothes from being snagged; clothes chutes not as
smooth of finish as is desirable; mice, having, as they do,
free access to every part of the house ; these are only a few
of the ways in which fabrics may receive the damage
which only appears after the clothes have been returned
from the laundry, and for which the user is to blame
rather than the launderer or the laundry process. Care

The Conservation of Textiles

K r • *

• «

^..•^ »> f ■ *

"%. IV .41 ^- -» iht-^i|r 1 • ^

Fig. 42. A Cut, Running Parallel to O^ne System of Threads.
This photomicrograph shows the characteristics of a cut in which only
one system of threads is implicated. The blunt, even ends of the threads
are very typical of a damage that has resulted from the action of a
sharp edge.

Mechanical Sources of Damage

Fig. 43. A Diagonal Cut. The diagonal direction of this
damage places it immediately in the class of mechanical damages. The
blunt, clean cut ends of the threads modifies this general classification to
the extent that the damage is specifically called a cut without hesitation.

The Conservation of Textiles

taken on the part of the housewife to mend everything
before sending thQ goods to a commercial plant would
eliminate many of the complaints to which the launderer
has to give audience.

Another type of failure in garments that the laundry
is usually unjustly blamed for results from poor tailoring
methods. One of the most interesting cases of this type of
damage ever submitted to the Department of Chemical
Engineering for examination was a Palm Beach suit of
a heavy grade of pongee in which the only damages ap-
peared along the seams where the fabric had pulled out of
the stitching in many places. Examination disclosed that
the reason this pulling had occurred was that not sufficient
seam allowance had been made. Pongee is easily frayed
and if permanence is desired for seams made in it, the raw
edges must be reinforced against fraying by binding or
overcasting, or unusually big seam allowances must be
made so that fraying will not endanger the seam. The
suit under consideration, wherever pulling had occurred,
showed seam allowances of one-fourth inch, with no
attempt made to prevent fraying.

In the laundry the possibilities of mechanical damage
lie in the chance of buttons being caught in crevices of the
cylinder of both the washing machine and the drying
tumbler; of snagging on pins that have become caught in
these machines; or on rough places in the wheels that
result from unfinished cutting of the parts, or from wear
of the wooden parts that has exposed sharp corners of metal
parts; and by careless handling of the garments. Every
one knows that carelessness is possible and probable under
present labor conditions, in every plant; therefore, the
greatest care on the part of the laundryowner to instill
respect for fabrics into the individual employee and in-
sistance on the observation of care in handling them is the
only remedy for this group of damages, which is in truth, a
group of avoidable damages.

Mechanical Sources of Damage

*tf^0$^

Fig. 44. The Result of Laundering a Cut Affecting One
System of Threads. The sharply characteristic features of a cut are
no longer present in this photomicrograph which presents the same
damage that appears in Fig. 46. The difference that occurs in the two
figures is due to the fact that the fabric has been washed between
photographs.

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 45. The Result of Laundering a Diagonal Cut. This
figure shows that laundering is nearly as effective in removing the
characteristic features of a diagonal cut as it is in removing them from
a cut that parallels the threads. It is often possible to hold such a
spot to the light, however, and discover traces of its diagonal character
that are still too evident to dispute.

Mechanical Sources of Damage

Mechanical damages of any source are characterized
by features that are readily distinguished from the features
of chemical damages in the laboratory and it is an easy
task for one to learn these characteristic features and apply
them to the cases of damage as they arise within the plant.
If the cooperation for which we hope is extended by those
who receive copies of this book, claims of this type may be
equitably handled and an important objective of the
laundrv industrv will have been attained.

CHAPTER IV.

Colored Garments.

The Relationship Between Dyes and Laundering*

OOME familiarity with dyes, with their manufacture and
^ appUcation to fabrics, is of the utmost importance if
launderers hope to handle colored garments successfully in
the power laundry. Of course, a man may trust to luck
and success may attend his efforts for a fair percentage of
the time, but the day always comes when the combination
presaging failure obtains and he is unable to prevent its
occurrence because he does not recognize his danger. And
one mistake or failure on the part of the launderer always
overshadows in the mind of the public several successes;
which is the way of human nature.

No industry stands absolutely alone without some
alliance to other industries, and the man who is well
informed concerning all things related to his business will
be able to realize his limitations in all directions and so
avoid disaster. The expression "well informed" does not
presuppose knowledge to the degree of expertness; it
merely suggests such information as is necessary to an
adequate appreciation of the application of all minor
interests to one major interest. It is our endeavor to set
forth in this chapter that portion of the vast subject of
dyes and dyeing which is pertinent to the laundry industry.

*The authors desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor L. A. Olney, of
the Lowell Textile School, and Dr. J. Merritt Matthews, of the Grasselli Chemical Com-
pany, for help received in connection with this chapter; their ability to present the sub-
ject of dyes in so simple and readable a manner is largely due to the clearness of per-
ception gained through contact with these men. They are also indebted to the Ameri-
can Dyes Institute, which, by its generous co-operation, made possible a criticism of
this work before publication, thus ensuring accuracy as well as simplicity of statement.

Colored Garments

There are two general types of dyes, viz., natural and
artificial. Natural dyes are coloring materials that are
produced by the natural functioning and growth of certain
plants and animals and comprise the first dyes known
to man. Artificial dyes are the result of increased chemical
knowledge and can be manufactured with so much greater
ease and accuracy to produce such a greater variety of
colors that they have come to replace the natural dyes
almost completely. There are two ways of classifying dyes,
each of which is of interest and use to a certain group of
men. The one that the chemists use, which is based upon
the color-producing groups present in dyestuffs, is the
one most recently developed and is admitted to be the
better because it is more logical and can be applied to the
present day mass of dyeing materials with less confusion;
however, the use of this classification requires a very
intimate knowledge of chemistry that can be acquired only
by long and arduous study. The second classification,
which is based upon the affinities of the dyes for and the
methods of their application to animal and vegetable
fibers, is much more intelligible to the layman, in spite
of the fact that under this classification one dye may
appear in more than one group, due to its capacity for
being applied to different fibers under diff^erent conditions.

This classification divides the dyestuffs according to
their reactions and methods of application in the following
manner : —

Direct dyes.
Mordant dyes.
Vat dyes.
Sulfur dyes.
Aniline dyes.

Direct Dyes. — The dyes of this class are taken out of
the dye bath directly onto the fiber. According to the

The Conservation of Textiles

character of the fiber being dyed the dye bath may be
acid, alkaUne or neutral, but in any case the process of
dyeing is brought about by the actual absorption of the
dye by the fiber. These dyes are all "salts" in the chemical
sense that they are products of chemical action between
acid and alkali groups, but their nature is more complex
than the ordinary salt with which we are familiar and
many of these salts possess acid or alkaline radicals in
addition to the ones that are involved in the reactions that
produce the dyes. Those "salts" or dyes that possess an
acid radical or group of this kind are called acid dyestuffs;
those that possess an alkaline gioup are called basic dye-
stuffs; those that possess neither an acid nor an alkaline
group are called salt dyestuffs.

The acid dyestuffs dye animal fibers directly from an
acidified bath, forming direct chemical combinations with
the fiber material. Silk and wool, being nitrogenous or
protein materials, are characterized by both an acid and a
basic group. The acid group of acid dyestuffs reacts with
the basic group of the fibers just as the acid group of any
simple acid reacts with the basic group of a simple alkali to
form a salt. In the case of reaction between wool and a
dyestuff, the product of reaction is insoluble in acid or neu-
tral solutions, but in alkaline solutions the attraction
between the dyestuff and the alkali of the bath is greater
than the attraction between the dyestuff and the alkaline
group of the fiber and a loosening of the dye results. This is
true because the alkaline group of the fiber possesses less defi-
nite alkaline characteristics than the alkaline group of the
solution. Vegetable fibers do not possess the complexity of
form that enables the animal fibers to produce insoluble
compounds with the acid dyestuffs, so where washing is
desirable this type of dye should not be chosen to dye
cotton and linen fabrics; the use of acid dyestuffs on cotton
explains why some of the cheaper fabrics loose their color
on being placed into water.

Colored Garments

The basic dyestuffs, possessing an alkaline group, react
with the acid group of animal fibers to form a compound
that is insoluble in neutral or alkaline baths but which are
stripped from the fibers to some extent by treatment with
an acid solution. This stripping is accomplished in the
same manner as the stripping of an acid dyestuff with an
alkaline solution, through the greater attraction of the
acid of the solution for the dyestuff than the attraction of
the acid radical of the fiber. This class of dyestuffs is also
undesirable for dyeing vegetable fibers, only staining theni
in a superficial manner that is corrected by simple treat-
ment with water. The action of basic dyestuffs on cotton
and silk is to be seen in the laundry quite often when the
silk ribbons used as trimmings for lingerie all come out
of the blueing bath irrevocably blue, w^hile the cotton fabric
is still a pure snowy white.

The salt dyestuff differs from the acid and basic dye-
stuffs in that they dye a vegetable fiber direct from a neu-
tral or alkaline solution. They also dye animal fibers in
acid, neutral or alkaline solutions. The chemical reason
for this difference in action toward vegetable fibers has
not been satisfactorily determined as yet, so we who are
mainly interested in the action need only accept the fact
as it stands. Whether dyed upon animal or vegetable
fibers this class of dye tends to "run" or "bleed" in slightly
alkaline solutions.

The whole class of direct dyes is unsatisfactory for use
on wash goods, (where this term signifies cotton and linen
fabrics), and will cause trouble in varying degrees for the
launderer when encountered. There is some little conso-
lation, however, in the fact that they are seldom used today
on other than the cheapest fabrics, and such fabrics are
still more seldom purchased by the class of people who
patronize the power laundry. When they are encountered
on cotton fabrics there is no method of laundering that will
not affect them. It sometimes happens that the addition

The Conservation of Textiles

of some salt to the water makes them less soluble, but the
salts that are accessible are seldom of very great assistance
in this manner and those salts that are of assistance are
too hard to use to make them desirable for the launderer.
When these dyes appear on wool or silk fabrics they should
be laundered with neutral soap and warm water, the stand-
ard process recommended by the Department of Chemical
Engineering of the Laundr>'owners National Association.
Therefore, if the recommendations of this Department are
carried out the trouble experienced with this class of dyes
will be reduced to a minimum.

It has been stated earlier in this chapter that one dye-
stuflf may be listed under more than one class-heading,
according to the method of application used and the affin-
ity that the dyestufif exhibits for the fiber under the existing
conditions. Some of the dyestufifs, notably the basic dye-
stuffs, that under the conditions described for direct dyes
are not fast on the vegetable fibers become exceedingly fast
and desirable when the fabric is given a "mordanting"
treatment before dyeing. A mordant is a material that
reacts with the dye to form an insoluble compound; when
a fabric, with which no reaction occurs by direct dyeing,
is first impregnated with a mordant and then treated with
the dye, the insoluble compound is formed on the fabric.

The mordants used in the application of these dyes
are albumin; acids and acid salts, which include the iron,
aluminum and chromium salts of the strong acids (hydro-
chloric and sulfuric). The mordant used often has a de-
cided effect on the color produced; for instance, alizerine
gives a red color with aluminum mordant and a purple
color with an iron mordant, while certain other red dyes
are changed to dark blue or black by chromium salts. In
cases where whole pieces of material are dyed a solid color
the mordant may be applied in a "first bath," the dyestuff
being applied separately; or through later developments,
the mordant may be added to the dyebath itself and the

Colored Garments

dyeing process completed in one operation. Printed calicos
are prepared by printing the dyestuff on the fabric in the
form of a thick paste, which is then steamed into the cloth.
The cloth may be treated with a solution of the mordant
either before or after this process. Several exhibits of
striped shirts in which the color has faded only in spots and
has been unaccompanied by tendering even in the slightest
degree, have been examined in the laboratory of the authors.
The cause of this uneven fading has been that the mordant
has been unevenly applied to the printed fabric and only
portions of the pattern have been properly "fixed" on the
fibers.

The salts used as mordants are all salts of strong acids
and under certain conditions decompose to give the free
acids which are capable of tendering the fabric. Proper
dyeing methods recognize these possibilities and so far as
possible eliminate the provocative conditions; it often hap-
pens that even in the best of plants some slips will occur
that will pass unnoticed, and a piece of cloth will be put
on the market that is markedly defective. Figs. 51 and 52
demonstrate a case where this is true. The black threads
used in this shirting cloth were dyed in the yarn and later
woven into the fabric. The dyeing process, through im-
proper or careless application, affected the tendering of
these threads to the extent that the friction of wear alone
was sufficient to remove them. Laundering proved fatal
to all the tendered portions, as is shown in Fig. 52, which
presents the condition of the fabric that suggested the
damage claim against the laundry. Strange to relate the
owner of this garment was a superintendent of a large
textile mill.

The mordant dyes, when properly applied, will give
the launderer no trouble under ordinary conditions of
laundering. They are, furthermore, as a rule hard to strip
from the fabric, but certain ones are affected by oxidizing
bleach and others by reducing bleach. The standard wash-

The Conservation of Textiles

room foimulas of the Laundryowners National As-
sociation do not recommend the use of bleach
on colored fabrics, and the only occasion on
which the launderer will be called upon to apply
an oxidizing or reducing material to the mordant
dyed cloth is when some fabric, dyed with one of the direct
dyes, has "bled." In such cases it is well to test the action
of the bleaching material on some portion of the fabric
that is hidden from general observation. It is considered
pertinent to introduce at this point a discussion of the pro-
prietary compounds that are recommended as removing
all stains. It should be recognized that the process of oxi-
dation is the exact opposite to the process of reduction and
that one compound cannot combine the advantages of
both processes, and therefore can not be expected to per-
form the impossible task of removing stains of every chem-
ical type.

Vat Dyes. — The vat dyes are a class of color materials
that are themselves insoluble in water and to be applied
to the fabrics have to be changed to a soluble form by the
process of reduction. After the fabric is evenly treated
with the soluble reduced form, it is exposed to the air so
that reoxidation may take place, forming a coating of the
insoluble color on the fibers themselves. This type of dye
is fast to water, soap, alkalies and acids, and to light and
bleaching, and cause no trouble to the launderer.

Sulfur Dyes. — The sulfide or sulfur dyes are charac-
terized by the ability to dye vegetable fibers direct from
a bath containing sodium sulfide. The resulting colored
fabrics are remarkably fast to washing and offer little cause
for worry on the part of the launderer. The one exception to
this statement is when the fabric is subjected to the action
of javelle water, which acts on the dyestuffs even in weak
solutions destroying their color. One source of annoyance to

Colored Garments

the launderer that is pecuHar to this class of dyes is their
tendency to oxidize with the formation of free sulfuric
acid, which exerts a tendering effect on fibers of vegetable
origin. The results of experimental work on these dyes,
planned to obtain data that would be of assistance in over-
coming this tendency, show that the sulfur content that
is oxidizable to form free sulfuric acid is the sulfur upon
which the dyeing powers of the compounds are dependent.
Therefore, the sulfur dyes are used with all precautions in
the eflfort to avoid the formation of sulfuric acid, but the
dye can not be guaranteed to retain its original state.
Printed striped shirtings that become tendered along the
line of the stripes are frequently dyed with sulfur dyes.
This is another type of damage that is not to be credited
to the launderer.

Aniline Dyes. — Anilineblack is given a special classifica-
tion becauseof its great importance as adyestuff and because
of a slightly different technicof application. It is a material
that forms an insoluble compound on the surface of the fiber
by an oxidation process, but the oxidation is not brought
about by the simple method of exposing the treated fabric
to the air. Instead, chemical reaction of compounds that
do not enter into the final product of reaction except as
occluded material, is necessary to the production of the
oxygen that brings about the conversion of the aniline
black to an insoluble compound. This color is the most
difficultly removed of all dyes; in fact complete stripping
from the fabric is impossible without detriment to the
fabric.

CHAPTER V.

Corrosive Materials.

Damage to Fabrics Due to Chemical Action of Corrosive
Materials.

NO person in the laundry plant organization has a greater
opportunity for the application of common sense,
supported by broad information, to his task than has the
claim adjuster. His mental ecjuipment should consist of an
understanding of human nature, a knowledge of the funda-
mentals of applied psychology, in addition to thorough
information as to what normally goes on in the plant and
as to what may, with a degree of probability, happen by
accident to influence the quality of laundry service ren-
dered by the establishment employing him. The laundry
claim adjuster has an important function to perform, and
it is the wish of this Department of Chemical Engineering
to help him. It should be realized that in adjusting a claim
for damage a great deal more than the money involved
in the transaction is at stake. Good will is created and
fostered by the proficiency of the entire laundry being kept
on such a high plane that there will be the minimum num-
ber of occasions for claims for damage. This high ideal
may be approached, never quite realized, by good man-
agement and careful co-operation between the various de-
partments of the laundry. Next to this ideal condition as
a means of removing prejudice and maintaining favor is the
equitable adjustment of the claims that do inadvertently
occur. Adjusting claims to please the patron regardless of
the merits of the case on the fallacious policy that the patron
is always right, tends only to accentuate the prejudice that
exists against the power laundry and in many instances

Corrosive Materials

encourages the dishonest patron to take advantage of the
laundry.

The claim adjuster can not be urged too strongly to
exert his influence for careful examination of articles as
they are received at the plant. When he once realizes
the great amount of interesting and important data that
can be lost between the time of arrival and the time of
sorting for delivery he will begin to insist on finding every
article that presents a possiblity of developing a damage
while it still bears the deciding evidence.

If the laundry is not at fault in a given case it is better
for the industry in general, if not immediately, for the
individual laundry to spend twenty dollars in time, thought
and effort to convince the patron of the facts than to spend
ten dollars to dispose of the case in the easier way by
paying the claim. In addition to sacrificing a generous
portion of good will, paying an unjust claim deprives the
laundry of just that much resource which could be ex-
pended in improving the quality of the service it has to
sell. The efforts required in applying the suggestions
herein presented should not be denied, therefore, on the
score of time economy.

Where it is considered advisable to satisfy the patron's
ideas of just settlement, payment should be made only
after the greatest effort has been put forth to convince
the patron of the true facts in the case. One laundry-
owner, with whom one of the authors has discussed this
very point, handles matters of this kind in the following
manner. When Mrs. X presents a claim for a damaged
dresser scarf Mr. Laundryowner submits the exhibit to
the Department of Chemical Engineering. Upon the
receipt of a report that the tendered spot has resulted
from the action of a certain medicine that had been spilled
on the scarf, he presents the report to Mrs. X. If she is
reluctant to accept this explanation and if he desires to
retain her patronage, he pays her claim, making it clear to

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 46. Corrosion by Acid. The damage exhibited in this
photograph effects several layers of the fabric. The sheet, when re-
ceived, was folded as it had been on coming from the flat work ironer,
the damage extending through almost all the layers of the fabric. The
definite relation of the several holes was enough evidence that the
damage had occurred subsequent to folding in the laundrj'. The
presence of sulfuric acid in the fabric supported this conclusion and
indicated that the damage had occurred subsequent to the occasion of
the last laundering.

100

Corrosive Materials

Fig. 47. Corrosion by Acid. This photograph shows the dam-
age exhibited in Fig. 46 as it appeared when the sheet was opened. In
deciding where the responsibility for damage lies, the space relation of
the damages is considered. If exhibits are received after they have
been unfolded and folded along new creases, the first folding may be
reconstructed. In many cases such procedure superimposes the
damages and demonstrates the time of damage as subsequent to
laundering. If no such relationship is observed the conclusion may
be drawn that the damage occurred during use or at some other
period when the article is not folded for storage.

101

The Conservation of Textiles

her, however, that payment does not indicate that he
accepts the responsibihty of the damage. He explains
that he makes adjustment according to her ideas to show
that it is not the money consideration, but the principle
of fair dealing involved, that has influenced him to exert
such effort to ascertain the true cause of damage.

It has been shown in previous chapters how defective
weaving or mechanical abuse may be the cause of a pre-
mature failure of a fabric. Information accompanied by
photographs of actual exhibits of chemical corrosion
examined by the authors, helpful in arriving at the correct
conclusions, is presented in this chapter. In cases of
doubt the services of the Department of Chemical Engineer-
ing are at the disposal of any member of the Laundry-
owners National Association.

In the laboratory it is a comparatively simple matter
to decide quickly and definitely whether a certain textile
failure has resulted from chemical or mechanical action.
It is not always possible, however, to identify the corroding
material. This limitation will be understood when one
considers that the damage is not usually brought to the
chemist's attention until after the fabric has been laundered
and the corroding substance if soluble is thereby removed
and the ev^idence which would lead to the identification
is destroyed. Sometimes the corroding material is also
a staining material and leaves unmistakable evidence for
the chemist to employ. In the absence of chemical evi-
dence as to the identity of the corroding material, recourse
is had to the knowledge of common household and industrial
materials that will produce tendering on textiles. Some
of these, by way of suggestion, are presented later.

There are also many facts to be observed in examining
a corroded fabric which may be helpfully applied as cir-
cumstantial evidence. Such facts pertain to the outline
and relative location of the holes or tendered areas of the
fabrics. (See Figures 46, 47, 48 49 and 50.) If the fabric

102

Corrosive Materials

Fig. 48. Circular Corrosions. Another type of corrosion is
illustrated here. In this case the corrosion has occurred in a ring, the
enclosed and surrounding areas of fabric being less definitely damaged.
Such ring damages can occur only by placing a bottle or similar vessel
on the fabric without cleaning the outside to prevent the corrosive
material from running down onto the fabric. This article was laundered
between the time of damaging and the time of photographing; the
fact that the damage was very limited in area is proved by the fact
that the fabric immediately within the ring was strong enough to
withstand laundering.

103

The Conservation of Textiles

is of the same material, both in warp and filling, and the
corroding material a thin fluid and the fabric dry or nearly
so when the corrosive is acquired, the resulting hole or
tendered area will be nearly circular in outline. If, on the
other hand, the corroding material is of a pasty consis-
tency, the hole or tendered area will have a position and
shape corresponding to the original smear. That is to
say, the application of a pasty corrosive material to a
fabric will usually result in a tendered area of an irregular
outline.

If the holes, in case there are more than one in the
piece, are located so that by folding the fabric in a certain
way the holes may be superimposed so that each area will
be concentric with the next underlying area, this fact of
itself constitutes evidence that the corroding material
was acquired while the fabric was folded in just the manner
required to superimpose the holes. Such cases are of
common occurrence and are illustrated by Figures 46 and
47. Evidence of this character has often been of assistance
in determining at whose hands the damage was acquired,
as for instance, in one case a bed sheet was folded just as
it is usually folded when received from the flatwork ironer,
and in another a table cloth was folded in a careless manner
as it might have been folded w^hen removed soiled from
the table. The first case indicated that the damage was
done after the piece left the ironer and before it was used
by the patron. The second case indicated that the damage
was done after the article has been soiled, before it had
the last laundering and not while the cloth was spread for
use. Yet another table cloth showed numerous holes
without any symmetrical relation to each other, indicat-
ing that each hole was the result of an individual drop of
the corrosive while the cloth was spread out, perhaps in
course of use.

When a fabric is composed of wool warp and cotton
filling, or vice versa, and the cotton is tendered in limited

104

Corrosive Materials

Fig. 49. CiRCUL.\R Corrosion. The article in Fig. 48 is shown
folded in the position in which the damage occurred. This photograph
has been taken of the article spread out so that the extent of the damage
may be observed. The most definite damages occur in the upper left
hand quarter of the picture, but breaks that indicate a circular tendered
area are to be seen in both right hand quarters.

105

The Conservation of Textiles

areas, while the wool is unchanged, wc know at once that
the corroding material was an acid because acids have
little effect on wool and a pronounced effect on cotton. Or,
if in such a combination of warp and filling the wool has
been tendered and the cotton unaffected, we would know
that the tendering agent had been of a strong alkaline na-
ture because alkalies dissolve wool and scarcely affect cot-
ton. (See Figures 7, 8 and 9, Chapter I.) In a combination
such as described for these two cases, linen may be substi-
tuted for cotton and silk for wool, the effect of acid being
the same on linen as on cotton and the effect of alkalies on
silk the same as on wool. The manifestation of this sort
of chemical tendering is a tendency to slitting and often one
set of yarn disappears entirely leaving an appearance of
drawn work as shown in figures 8 and 9.

Chemical tendering, as is true of all mistreatments that
work against the possibility of the greatest service of a
fabric, may be due to the errors or mistakes of the manu-
facturer, the user, or the launderer. F"ollowing a modifica-
tion of a biblical injunction, we will first consider the motes
that are in our own eyes and then proceed to the beams
that obscure the correct vision of the other two agencies of
responsibility.

The Launderer. — If the tendering is in local spots or
areas, the possibility that the regular laundering process
is to be blamed is at once precluded, because it is impossi-
ble to produce such results while the fabric is in a bath in
the wheel. Contrary^ to a popularly expressed belief not
even particles of undisintegrated bleaching powder from
the bleach jar when applied in the wheel can make a ten-
dered area that can be detected without the aid of careful
laboratory tests. This statement must not be construed
as a license for the use of improperly prepared bleach liquor,
because the effect of such a liquor is accumulative and does
in time shorten the life of a fabric.

106

Corrosive Materials

Caustic soda or strong acids will not produce local ten-
dered areas when applied to goods in the wheel. Progres-
siv-e lessening of the tensile strength of fabrics may be
caused by the use of these materials in the wheel, but the
damage does not appear in the form of local well defined
tendered areas or holes. It should be remembered in this
connection that the findings of the authors indicate that
the prudent laundryowner will keep caustic soda, sul-
furic acid and sodium bisulfate out of his plant or, if special
conditions require the use of caustic soda or sodium bisul-
fate, the quantities should be carefully controlled and
thorough rinsing be rigidly employed after their use. Sul-
furic acid has no legitimate place in any laundry. While
a consideration of these established facts shows that the
source of a hole of chemical origin or a local tendered spot
can not be attributed to the careless use of these materials
in the wheel, complete exoneration of the washroom cannot
be given on the basis of them alone. We will look further.

It is a common fault to be observed in many laundries
that garments of odd character, not sufficiently extensive
in numbers to make a washing load for each lot, are thrown
in a corner on the washroom fioor until there is an accumu-
lation of volume to suit the washman's convenience or his
fancy as to what constitutes a load of economically wash-
able size. Pieces awaiting individual attention (hand wash)
are likewise often thrown aside on the floor. When in such
a location these goods are subject to dam^ige not only by
the possibility of being ground between an iron castor wheel
and the cement floor, but in many instances they receive
spatterings from the bleach jar or sour container or from
the washman's pail as he is transferring these reagents to
the wheel. Sours other than acetic acid if spilled on cotton
or linen and allowed to dry thereon will always produce
tendering and in most cases holes. Bleach solution of the
strength usually employed in the laundry for a stock solu-
tion, if spilled on any fabric and allowed to concentrate by

107

The Conservation of Textiles

normal evaporation, will usually produce tendering. Strong
soda solutions if spilled on silk or wool and allowed to dry
thereon will cause tendering. Eliminate these possibilities
and the washroom may be cleared from all blame as far as
holes caused by direct chemical action are concerned.

The policy of using the washroom floor for the recep-
tion of this class of goods cannot be too strongly condemned.
In order to minimize these possibilities, bins should be pro-
vided for the reception of the class of articles mentioned
above which accumulate in the washroom for deferred
attention, and the laundry management should insist upon
the use of these bins for the purpose for which they were
designed.

Instances of holes being caused in fabrics during their
sojourn in the laundry have come to our attention. These
have sometimes resulted from the excessive use of stain
removers and at other times from the failure to properly
rinse the fabric after the treatment with these reagents.
There exists also the possibility of the stain removing
reagents being spilled on goods that are lying about on
the table used for the stain removal treatment. If a
special bench for this work is not available, care should
be taken to see that no customers' goods are adjacent to
the working place at the time. Of the stain removal
materials prescribed in the chart (see insert in Chap. VI of
this book, also L. N. A. charts), javelle water, potassium
permanganate and oxalic acid, if not properly handled,
are corrosive to cotton and linen. Javelle water should
not be used on wool or silk. Potassium permanganate
in concentrated solution, or if not properly rinsed after
having been applied, is corrosive to silk and wool. The
proprietary outfits of stain removing materials often
contain solutions of hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids.
These are corrosive to cotton and linen if left to dry on
the fabric. As a general proposition, fabrics should be

108

Corrosive Materials

well rinsed with pure water after having been treated
with any stain removing material.

While the authors feel that the two possible sources
of chemical damage just discussed, carelessness in the
washroom and the improper manipulation of stain re-
movers, are usually guarded against in most laundries,
it is considered in place that emphasis should be laid on
them as possible contingencies against which to be pro-
vided. Carefulness in the plant will support the claim
adjuster and give him an attitude of confidence which will
be reflected to the patron. Notwitstanding the fact, as
stated elsewhere, that less than five per cent, of all exhibits
of all kinds of damage to fabrics that have been submitted
to us have represented cases in which the laundry has
been at fault, we feel that the strength of this statement
should be taken with some reservation because of the
high probability that we have to deal in these matters
with only the more progressive plants. It is to the interest
of every individual laundryowner that the faults of the
entire industry should be eliminated as nearly as possible.
In this alone lies an incentive for every member of the
Laundryowners National Association to be a booster for
the extension of the membership. The higher the standard
of perfection attained by the average laundry, the better
it will be for the industry ; by such accomplishment adver-
tising becomes more eflfective, and existing prejudices
become more easily displaced by the facts in the patron's
mind.

Holes of a chemical source or local tendered spots in
fabrics may be compared to acute diseases of the human
body, while conditions in the plant under which progressive
depreciation of the tensile strength occurs, due to incorrect
laundry methods, are not unlike chronic diseases of the
human body. Instances of the first example are forced
upon our attention while the causes of the second con-
dition go unnoticed for a time, the cause persisting and

109

The Conservation of Textiles

finally, unless remedied in time, leading to disastrous
results. As an index of the presence of conditions causing
the progressive but untimely failure of fabrics, every
laundry should keep up the practice of continually running
control pieces through with each typical class of work. A
set of specially marked collars, for instance, should be
kept continually going through the process and suitable
record kept of the number of treatments they survive.
Similar arrangements should be contriv-ed with big com-
mercial flat work contracts. The procedure here sug-
gested is not unduly expensive when properly organized,
and is many times repaid by the feeling of confidence
it affords the management if the laundry methods are good
and, what is more important, by the help it offers in
detecting violations of good practice when they do occur.
The price of producing laundry service satisfactory as to
appearance, sanitation and coordinate conservation of
the life of the patron's goods, is eternal vigilance.

THE wearer's responsibility.

As the reader has already been led to see, the larger
number of instances of damaged fabrics bearing holes or
local tendered spots constitute those wherein the wearer
or user is to blame for the exhibited condition. In these
cases the patron must be, if possible, convinced of his
responsibility. The claim adjuster must not only feel
secure, yet withal open minded, in his conviction that the
laundry is not at fault, but he should also be familiar
with the possible sources of damage to which the owner
may have submitted the fabric. If there is any doubt
in the mind of the claim adjuster as to whether the damage
is of chemical or mechanical source, he should first of all
avail himself of the Laundryowners National Association's
Department of Chemical Engineering. Having the infor-
mation that the case represents a chemical corrosion, the
following tables will be found useful.

110

Corrosive Materials

TABLE No. 1.

TABLE OF MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name.

Acids

Chloracetic

Dichloracetic

Trichloracetic

Chromic

Hydrochloric

Common Name.

Muriatic acid

Nitric

Oxalic

Sulfuric

Aqua fortis

Oil of vitriol

Use.

Dentists and chiropodists.

In dyeing, tanning, metal pol-
ishes, veterinary practice and
to some extent in medicine as
an escharotic.

Widely used in arts and indus-
tries. In medicine, certain
cases of dyspepsia. On farm
and dairy in doing the Bab-
cock test for butterfat in
milk. In soldering. Many
other uses. Often a household
material.

In manufacture of certain ex-
plosives and dyes. In medical
and veterinary practice in
treating warts, malignant
growths, etc.

In metal polishes, stain re-
movers, ink eradicators. To
some extent in medicine.

Common industrial material.
In dilute form in many med-
ical preparations. For gastro-
indigestion, treatment of
goiter. Exciting liquid in
lead storage battery. Pick-
ling of steel and iron in prepa-
ration for galvanizing, tin
plating and porcelain enam-
eling. Many other uses. See
next table Even most dilute
solutions if allowed to dry on

111

The Conservation of Textiles

TABLE No. 1— Continued.
TABLE OF MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name. Common Name. Use.

cotton and linen will produce
tendering. Used in carbon-
izing wool, a process whereby
wool is freed of burrs, woody
splinters and vegetable fibres.
Alkalies

Potassium hydroxide Caustic potash In making soap.

Sodium Hydroxide Caustic soda In making soap. A solution

of caustic soda is the exciting
liquid in the nickel iron stor-
age batteries which are popu-
larly used on electric trucks.

Salts —

Aluminum chloride In treating petroleum. As a

disinfectant.
Aluminum nitrate In the leather industry.

Aluminum sulfate Coagulant for treating and

clarifying muddy water.
In leather and paper indus-
tries. In medicine and veter-
inary practice as a powerful
astringent, treating ulcers, en-
larged tonsils, in treating na-
sal tumors (polypi).

Antimony trichloride In making patent leather, in

bronzing metal for gun bar-
rels, in blackening zinc sur-
faces. A remedy for snake
bites. In treating poisoned
wounds.

Copper sulfate Blue vitriol Exciting material in galvanic

battery. As a preservative

for wood. Treating water in
swimming pools. In dyeing,
manufacturing green and blue

112

Corrosive Materials

TABLE No. 1.— Continued.
TABLE OF MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name.

Common Name.

Iron chloride

Ferric chloride
solution, tincture
of iron

Iron nitrate

Iron sulfate

Copperas or
green vitriol

Lead nitrate

Potassium aluminum Alum
sulfate

Use.

pigment. In medical practice
treating chronic diarrhea, and
externally for treatment of
callous wounds. Household
for treating warts, hair dye,
etc. Much used in veterinary
practice.

In photo-engraving. Mordant
in dyeing. To be found in
most accident kits to be used
to stop hemorrhages (styptic).
As an astringent in many
gargles for sore throat. Often
a constituent of tonics. Used
by dentists, chiropodists, bar-
bers and manicurists, to in-
hibit bleeding.

As mordant in dyeing and
calico printing, for weighting
silk and dyeing it black.
Used to some extent in medi-
cal and veterinary practice.

In dyeing, tanning and pho-
tography. In medicine as
tonic. Externally in treating
skin diseases. A common
medicine given to chickens
and hogs.

Used in patent preparations
for chapped hands and cracked
lips.

In dyeing and printing, in
manufacturing dyes, paper,
vegetable glues, marble ce-
ment, porcelain cement and

113

The Conservation of Textiles

TABLE No. 1.— Continued.
TABLE OK MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name.

Common Name.

Potassium perman-
ganate

Sodium bisulfate

Nitre cake

Sodium bifluoride
Stannic chloride
Silver nitrate

Zinc chloride

Salt of tin
Tin chloride

Lunar caustic

Use.

in tanning. Common house-
hold material. Dried or burnt
alum is used by barbers as
caustic and styptic.

Bleaching and stain removing.
A common household antisep-
tic and prophylactic. A rem-
edy for snake bites and anti-
dote for other organic poisons.

Common household material
usually purchased under trade
name, such as "sani-flush,"
used for cleansing porcelain
sanitary fixtures. For pick-
ling iron and steel preparatory
to enameling, galvanizing or
tin plating. Substitute for
sulfuric acid. Has been used
in drinking water to prevent
typhoid fever in the field.

Preservative,
glass.

For etching

In dyeing, tanning and
weighting silk.

In photography, and in prepa-
ration of other silver salts. In
medicine, antiseptic in treat-
ment of ulcers and morbid
growths.

In dental cement, preserva-
tive for wood, flux for solder-
ing, etching metals, and in
oil refining. Used in proprie-
tary preparations sold for
checking excessive perspira-

114

Corrosive Materials
TABLE No. 1.— Continued.

TABLE OF MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name,

Zinc sulfate

Common Name.

White vitriol

Pharmaceuticals.

Astringent and
caustic mixture

Antiseptic solution
of pepsin

Aqua Hydrogen
dioxide

Compjound infusion
of rose

Fluid extract of
senega

Fluid extract of
taraxacum

Hydrogen
peroxide

Use.

tion under armpits. Used in
treating scrofula, and other
diseases.

Antiseptic in medical and vet-
erinary practice.

Note: — Statements apply-
ing to pharmaceutical prepa-
rations must not be construed
as being recommended by the
authors.

Corrosive components are
zinc sulfate and copper sul-
fate. Applied locally to ma-
lignant growths.

Corrosive component is hy-
drochloric acid. Adminis-
tered in some cases of indi-
gestion.

Corrosive component is sul-
furic acid. Used as antisep-
tic, prophylactic and deodor-
ant.

Corrosive component is sul-
furic acid. Used in throat
gargles and as a masking fla-
vor and colorant in many
preparations.

Corrosive component to silk
and wool is caustic potash.
Used as a cathartic.

Corrosive component to silk
and wool is caustic soda.
Used as cathartic.

115

The Conservation of Textiles

TABLE No. 1.— Continued.
TABLE OF MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name.

Liquor cresoli
compositus

"Lysol"

Common Name.

A proprietary

Use.

Corrosive component to silk
and' wool is caustic potash.
Used as germicide.

Similar to liquor cresoli com-
positus.

Liquor picis alkalinus Corrosive component is caus-
tic potash. Used in treatment
of eczema and other affections
of the skin.

Liquor acidi arsenosi Hydrochloric
acid solution
of arsenic

Corrosive component is hy-
drochloric acid. In intermit-
tent fevers and in skin dis-
eases.

Liquor chlori com- Compound so- Corrosive components are free
positus lution of chlorine chlorine and hydrochloric

acid. Gargle.

Liquor hydrargyri
nitras

Solution of mer- Corrosive component is nitric
curie nitrate acid. In treating cancer,

chancres, acne and boils.

Liquor sodae
chlorinatae

Javelle water or

Dakin-Carrol

solution

Corrosive component is sodi-
um hypochlorite. Treatment
of wounds. Used mostly in
severe hospital cases. Some-
times in treatment of sore
throat.

Refrigerants

Fever drops Often contain one or more of

the following acids: Sulfuric,
nitric, phosphoric or hydro-
chloric. Administered in cases
of fever to reduce body tem-
perature.

116

Corrosive Materials

TABLE No. 1.— Continued.
TABLE OF MATERIALS CORROSIVE TO FABRICS.

Chemical Name. Common Natne. Use.

Syrup of phosphate Corrosive component is iron

iron, quinine and sulfate or iron chloride. Tonic

strychnine commonly administered in

convalescence.

Other Preparations.

Cleansers for porce- See under sodium bisulfate.

lain toilet fixtures

Corn and Wart These preparations usually

removers contain one or more of the fol-

lowing acids; trichloracetic,
nitric or chromic.

Cuticle acid Manicurist Corrosive component is oxalic

preparation acid.

Cuticle remover Trade name Corrosive component is caus-

"Cutex" tic soda.

Foot ease Tiz, Allen's Corrosive components are

Foot Ease, etc. alum or zinc chloride or other
astringent materials.

Metal polishes Corrosive components are ox-

alic acid, sodium bisulfate, ni-
tric or sulfuric acids.

Wrinkle cradicators Corrosive components are

alum, zinc chloride, zinc sul-
fate and other astringent salts.

117

The Conservation of Textiles

TABLE No. 2.

TABLE OF CORROSIVES ENCOUNTERED IN VARIOUS PROFESSIONS
AND EMPLOYMENTS.

Industry, Profession or Trade in
Which Claimant is Engaged.

Automobile manufacturing

Barbers

Canning factory.

Coke (By-product recovery
process)

Chemical Industries

Chemist
Chiropodist

Dentist
Detinning plants

Doctor (medical or veterinary)
including hospital employees
and nurses

Corroding Materials Which Might
Be Encountered.

Sulfuric acid in storage batteries. Caus-
tic soda in nickel iron batteries. Pick-
ling baths for preparing metals for
nickel plating, silver plating, etc.
Antimony trichloride for making gun
metal finish. Soldering fluxes, etc.

Silver nitrate for antiseptic, alum and
ferric chloride to inhibit bleeding.

Fluxing materials for soldering, such as
zinc chloride and hydrochloric acid.

Sulfuric acid for the recovery of am-
monium sulfate, also laboratory rea-
gents.

Products produced, all the mineral
acids and the salts mentioned in pre-
ceding table. Also the mineral acids
are used in the manufacture of such
acids as acetic, oxalic, formic and others
of the organic acids.

Many laboratory reagents.

Trichloracetic acid, nitric acid and any
of the styptics as ferric chloride, alum,
etc.

Trichloracetic acid for treating cases
of pyorrhea, ferric chloride to inhibit
bleeding, phenolsulfonic acid, sulfuric
acid and silver nitrate, etc.

Hydrochloric acid is used in dissolving
tin and zinc from scrap metal.

Any of the pharmaceuticals mentioned
in previous table.

118

Corrosive Materials

TABLE No. 2.— Continued.

TABLE OF CORROSIVES ENCOUNTERED IN VARIOUS PROFESSIONS
AND EMPLOYMENTS.

Industry, Profession or Trade in
Which Claimant is Engaged

Dyeing, Textile finishing
trades

Electrical machinery

Embalmer

Engraving

Explosives
Farmer

Fertilizer factory

Flour mills

Funeral Director

Corroding Materials Which Might
Be Encountered

Bleaching materials, Mordants and
stripping salts.

Fluids for storage batteries, fluxing
materials for soldering and brazing,
also various metal polishing materials.

Mercuric chloride, zinc chloride, zinc
sulfate and aluminum sulfate are used
in the embalming fluids.

Sulfuric, nitric and hydrochloric acids
and ferric chloride.

Sulfuric and nitric acids.

Medical and veterinary preparations,
insecticides, etc.

Sulfuric acid in making superphosphate.
Sulfuric acid for treating fish scrap.

Nitric acid as a source of nitric oxide
fumes for bleaching, also bleaching
powders and mineral acid as source of
chlorine for bleaching flour.

See Embalmer.

Gas plant (artificial or coal gas) Sulfuric acid for reclaiming ammonium

sulfate.

Glass factory
Glucose and starch
Hotels

Sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids for
etching designs and finishing cut glass.

Hydrochloric and sulfuric acids in
making glucose and corn syrup.

Ordinary household hazards. Strongly
acid cleaning solutions for sanitary
porcelain fixtures. Metal polishes.
Caustic soda for the mechanical dish-

119

The Conservation of Textiles

TABLE No. 2.— Continued.

TABLE OF CORROSIVES ENCOUNTERED IN VARIOUS PROFESSIONS
AND EMPLOYMENTS.

Industry, Profession or Trade in
Which Claimant is Engaged

Iron and steel galvanizing, tin
plating, porcelain enameling

Leather

Mortician

Musical instruments

Paper and wood pulp

Petroleum Refineries

Plumbers

Photographers

Restaurants

Smelters

Soap factories

Soap

Trade and Transportation Dis-
pensers, in drug and other
stores handling materials men-
tioned in previous table, freight
handlers.

Undertaker

Corroding Materials Which Might
Be Encountered

washer. The medicines and toilet ma-
terials of the guests as listed in previous
table.

Sulfuric acid and sodium bisulfate for
pickling.

Corrosive mineral salts such as alumi-
num nitrate, antimony trichloride,
iron sulfate, chromic acid, etc.

See Embalmer.

Metal polishes, soldering fluxes, etc.

Bleaching powders, caustic soda, and
sodium bisulfate.

Aluminum chloride, sulfuric and nitric
acids, zinc chloride.

Mineral acids and soldering fluxes.

Iron sulfate, o.xalic acid, silver nitrate.

Caustic soda for the mechanical dish-
washer, metal polishes.

Many of the smelters of the sulfide
ores of lead, zinc and copper produce
sulfuric acid as a by-product. Also in
bleaching ores, chlorine, strong mineral
acids, and sodium cyanide.

Caustic soda and caustic potash.

Also reagents in analytical laboratories.

From spilling of corrosive materials
from broken or leaking containers.

See Embalming.

120

Corrosive Materials

In table number one is presented a list of materials
that are corrosive to fabrics. The materials placed in the
first column are suggestive of those which may be en-
countered in the industries, arts, medicine and in the house-
hold. A comprehensive enumeration of all such materials
would be beyond the scope of this book, but if the ones pre-
sented are carefully studied an adequate idea of the clothes
hazard in every day life must be impressed on the reader.
The laundry salesman and claim adjuster, fortified with
this information, will have a tremendous advantage in
representing the interests of the industry. It is thought
also that the data collected therein may be used to advan-
tage in the preparation of dignified constructive publicity
and advertising material. The second column gives the
common name, while the third gives the uses of the ma-
terials.

Table number two presents an alphabetic arrangement
of the various professions, trades and employments with
the corrosive materials which constitute the clothes haz-
ards in each particular one. Having found in any par-
ticular case the employment or activities of the owner of
the fabric under consideration, reference to this table will
furnish suggestions as to the probable source of the corro-
sion. In these included in the industrial occupations it
should be pointed out that it is not the actual workers that
are so frequently involved in laundry claims. Such per-
sons are usually conscious of the clothes hazard of their
occupation and therefore are less apt to entertain prejudice
against the laundry in the event of a failure of the fabric
in garments worn in their work. It is rather those persons
who are engaged in these industries in supervisory capacity,
or who only incidentally or occasionally are about the
works where the corrosive materials are exposed, that the
laundry claim adjuster has to deal. By such a person the
corroding material will be acquired by accident, the ten-
dering will develop slowly, not showing till after the laun-

121

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 50. Corrosion' by Acid. This photograph shows a damage
similar to that in Figs. 46 and 47. In this case methyl orange indi-
cator has been put on the fabric to test for the presence of acid. The
presence of acid is indicated by the dark stain which was red in
actuality. The action of the acid has removed a portion of the
fabric and tendered adjacent areas as. is indicated by the slits that
occur near the edges of the holes. Washing will remove this tendered
area. The photograph shows that four layers of cloth have been
affected, each one as we descend showing a smaller damaged area.
This is in accord with the principle that each layer receives less liquid
than the one preceding it and is affected to a correspondingly less
degree.

122

Corrosive Materials

dering. at which time he will have forgotten the incident
and as a natural consequence will likely blame the laundry.
The extent of the sources of possible damage to fabrics
during the course of wear and use is not generally appreci-
ated by the laundry patron. Herein lies an opportunity
for progressive instructional publicity among the patrons
and especially and first among the laundry employees.

The Manufacturer. — Local holes or tendered spots due
to the chemical action of corrosives employed by the man-
ufacturer are not of frequent occurrence. According to
the experience in the authors' laboratory the greater num-
ber of cases in which the manufacturer has been found to
be responsible for exhibited unsatisfactory service from a
fabric have been of the nature of spinning and weaving
defects such as those described in Chapter III. The cases
of chemical corrosion for which the manufacturer has been
found to be responsible have been in cases of over-bleaching
white goods, including the souring treatment, the excessive
or improper use of mordants, in the corrosive action of
certain dyes and in the failure to thoroughly treat printed
goods in which the figures of the design have been effected
by the use of stripping salts.

In the bleaching of piece goods the bleacher employs
much more drastic treatment than is accorded the fabrics
in the power laundry process. He must of necessity employ
stronger souring bath than is permissible in the laundry.
He has some advantages not possessed by the operator of
a power laundry plant. He is not required to repeat the
process; his bleaching is done in equipment that allows the
exclusion of air during the boiling in the alkaline bath
while such precaution though desirable cannot be exer-
cised by the commercial laundry. In spite of these advan-
tages exhibits of cotton goods tendered in the bleachery are
sometimes encountered. In such cases the tendering is
usually evenly distributed and, without chemical or tensile

123

The Conservation of Textiles

Fig. 51. Texdering Due to the Dyeing. The dyeing process
used on the black yarn in this fabric resulted in a tendering of the yarn.
The black threads were readily removed by rubbing between the
fingers, and wear and laundering resulted in the removal of the stripes.

124

Corrosive Materials

4- f ^^

k ft. i

*■ I

') »

Fig. 52. Tendering Due to Dyeing. This photograph shows
the same fabric that appears in Fig. 51 after the black stripe had been
removed by laundering or rubbing. Such damages can not be credited
to the laundry process.

125

The Conservation of Textiles

strength tests, the true condition of the fabric is not easily
detected. There is one way, however, in which such con-
dition is evidenced in the course of laundering. That is in
the case of ready-made white garments, usually white
shirts in which one piece of the pattern of the garment
shows failure while the remaining portions of the garment
are in good condition. This comes about by the use of one
bolt of cloth for one portion of the garment and of another
bolt for the remainder, one of the bolts being of good cloth
while the other (of the same design, of course) has been
tendered during the bleaching process. For instance, we
examined a shirt recently which showed failure in one
sleeve and the section forming the right front, while the re-
maining sections were sound. Chemical tests showed that
all the cloth in the affected sleeve and right front section
was evenly tendered. Tensile strength tests also showed
even tendering on the sleeve and right front section. There
could be no condition under which these results could have
been brought about other than the treatment of these two
pieces of the garment before the shirt had been sewed to-
gether. Cases similar to this one are occasionally encoun-
tered in the authors' laboratory.

The improper use of mordants are more frequently en-
countered. Generally this character of failure will be
found in striped goods such as shown in Figure 51, wherein
the stripe is effected by means of colored warp which has
been dyed in the yarn. In the case represented by this
figure, the black yarn had been tendered in the dyeing pro-
cess before the cloth was woven. The remaining warp and
all the filling was of good quality. No laundry process
could have produced such an exhibit because all the yarn
was of cotton and any reagent that would have affected one
set of yarns would have had a similar effect on the other
set. The black stripe yarn was so friable that the first
washing of the garment produced the appearance of drawn
work shown in Figure 52. The same effect could be pro-

126

Corrosive Materials

• « • * •** * # # f # ♦ r ^^•i* ^.»
% •># # . * •«••»•♦♦'.'*

• * * *

.** ^*>^ * 17 • »

« • %

* • «

« * •

• • ♦
• • • •

'Ate ««[^ « *

Ik « Ik

Fig. 53. CoRROSiox by Stripping Salts. The improperly
governed action of stripping salts on fabrics is demonstrated in this
photograph. This fabric possessed a blue background and a pattern
in white dots. The whole fabric had been dyed blue and the white
dots made by stamping on stripping salts. These salts were not
removed after the desired decoloration had taken place and extended
their activities to the fabric itself. The tendered areas were dissolved
in the first laundering, leaving the fabric in this condition. The
responsibility in this case lies wholly with the dyer.

127

The Conservation of Textiles

duced on any of the black stripes by simply rubbing the
goods between the fingers. Such tendering of dyes in the
yarn warp may be caused by the use of excessively strong
mordant solution, by failure to sufficiently rinse the yarn
at the end of the dyeing operation, or by the use of certain
dyes, notably the sulfur dyes that have an inherent ten-
dency to produce tendering which under some conditions
becomes more pronounced.

The figures in some printed goods, such as bandana
handkerchiefs and the star field of cheaper grades of our
national flag, are produced by first dyeing the piece for
the background color and later printing on in pasty form
certain so-called stripping salts which will discharge the
background color leaving the figure white. The stripping
salts are of a corrosive nature and soon tendering of the
figure areas will at best occur, and if, as sometimes happens,
the stripping salts are too strong or are not thoroughly
removed after having served the purpose for which they
were applied, pronounced tendering will result and the
white figures will crumble away leaving holes in the cloth
where the white figures ought to be. Such a case is
pictured in Figure 53. This fabric was a blue handker-
chief with white figures. After the first laundering the
blue portion of the cloth was as strong as it was originally,
but the white figures had almost entirely disappeared.

128

CHAPTER VI.
The Treatment of Stains.

IT IS thought advisable to include in this book the
Procedure Chart for the Removal of Stains from Wash
Goods, together with a more complete discussion of the
preparation of the solutions involved and their application
than was possible to present in the limited space of the
wall chart.

Our best advice to the laundryowner is that he choose
one of his employees who shall handle all stained fabrics
which require special treatment. Such a procedure can
not be urged too strongly because the propei treatment
of stains is dependent upon an intimate knowledge of
their physical and chemical characteristics and a thorough
training in the technic of the application of this knowledge.
The physical characteristics of stains are differentiated by
such slight degrees in so many cases that word-pictures
make an impossible medium for instruction; rather a keen-
ness of perception and a large power of retention, combined
with the consistent application of these faculties are nec-
essary for the development of a good "stain identifier."

Having provided oneself with a trained observer, or
with a person capable of being trained to observe, the
thing to do is to provide a special work bench for the
application of the specific knowledge of stain treatment.
Only a small bench will be necessary, say the size of an
ordinary kitchen table, but it should be given up entirely
to the work under discussion and should be specially
equipped. It would be well to remember, when choosing
the location of this bench, that at times inflammable
materials will be used and that no flames should be in the
vicinity.

129

The Conservation of Textiles

In the first place it should be placed in the best light
obtainable. This is desirable that slight color differences
may be noted and that final results may be accurately
judged as complete or partial removal. If only partial
removal has been effected, efforts may be renewed along
different lines until the stain is completely removed or
until the worker is convinced that the only results possible
have been obtained.

The equipment should include all the reagents used in
the identification and removal of stains and any apparatus
that will facilitate their application. The reagents to be
desired are presented in the table on page 131.

There should be "stock" bottles of each reagent;
that is, bottles in which the reagent is kept in its original
condition and strength. These will be handled only when
the solutions to be used in stain treatment are made up.
There should be the bottles of solution that are to be kept
on hand as "indicators" and as "testors."

The solutions should be carefully prepared. There is
no need for using excessively strong solutions because the
lessening of the time factor by this method means a cor-
responding increase in the tendency of the solution to
tender the fabric. It is just as profitable for the person
who is removing stains "to increase the dose" as it was
for the man who increased the dose of headache tablets,
and died as a consequence. In both cases the physical
condition of the object under treatment is made worse
instead of better.

Oxalic Acid. — One ounce of oxalic acid crystals are
dissolved in a gallon of water. This solution works more
rapidly when warm. Always rinse carefully in clear water
after using this acid; if traces of it are left in the fabric it
becomes concentrated as the moisture evaporates and
tenders the cloth.

130

The Treatment of Stains

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131

The Conservation of Textiles

Acetic Acid. — This acid is usually found in the laundry
as commercial 56 per cent, acetic. It can be used in this
strength without damage to the fabric, but it is preferable
to dilute it with an equal amount of water. As this acid
is volatile, that is, as it evaporates with the water, concen-
tration does not occur with drying and tendering does not
result from insufficient rinsing.

Hydrochloric Acid. This acid should be used in weak
solutions, not exceeding a 10 per cent, solution. This per-
centage may be purchased from the drug store, and care
should be taken to express the percentage desired as it is
prepared for pharmaceutical purposes in 10 per cent., 25
per cent, and 37 per cent, strengths. Careful rinsing is
urged with this acid for the same reason that is given
under oxalic acid.

Caustic Soda. — A 5 per cent, solution is prepared by
dissolving an ounce of the solid in a pint of water. This
solution is to be used on cotton and linen fabrics only and
followed by a good rinsing. The concentration of the 5
per cent, solution is not detrimental to these fibers but in
greater concentrations tendering is effected.

Ammonia. — The ammonia sold by druggists is about
a 10 per cent, solution. It will never be found necessary
to use it in this strength and dilution with ten times its
volume of water is advised.

Javelle Water.— This reagent is so well known in the
laundry that no other discussion will be given than
that it is prepared as directed in the L. N. A. "Standard
Formulas for Washroom Practice," Chart No. 1. The
stock solution resulting from this formula should be
diluted at least fifty times before using on fabrics. If
rinsing is done with dilute acetic acid water the activity
of the bleaching solution will be killed.

132

The Trcatmcni of Stains

Hydrogen Dioxide. — Commonly called hydrogen per-
oxide, and purchased at the drug store, this reagent may be
used full strength. The commercial grade of hydrogen
dioxide usually contains a considerable percentage of free
sulfuric acid; for this reason great care should be used in
rinsing after this reagent has been used. Due to the
presence of this small amount of acid that has produced
corrosion when used ignorantly, the idea has sprung up that
hydrogen dioxide itself is corrosive. This is not the case,
however, and no hesitancy should be felt in using it as a
stain remover.

Potassium Permanganate. — One ounce of the crystals
is dissoK^ed in a gallon of water. A stronger solution is
capable of burning the fabric as effectively as a flame, so
should never be used.

Sodium Perborate. — This reagent may be used in so-
lutions of any strength, or made into a paste with water
and spread on the fabric to be treated.

Sodium Bisulfite.- — ^A saturated solution of this reagent
is prepared by adding it to the water until no more will go
into solution. Sodium bisulfite is used alone and in con-
nection with powdered zinc. When zinc is used it should
be put into small bags so that it will not settle on the
fabric and leave a stain that can only be removed with an
accompanying damage to the fabric.

Oleic Acid. — This reagent may be purchased under
the trade name of "Red Oil," but an effective substitute for
it can be prepared in the plant by dissolving some soap in
hot water, precipitating the fatty acids by acidifying with
strong acid, heating till separation is complete and then
cooling. After cooling, the fatty acid will be found as a
solid cake on the surface of the water.

133

The Conservation of Textiles

Sodium Thiosuljate. — Used in saturated solution, pre-
pared by adding crystals to water until no more can be dis-
solved.

Potassium Cyanide. — One ounce of the crystals is dis-
solved in a gallon of water. This reagent is one of the
most deadly poisons known; therefore great care is to be
observed in its use. If any is gotten on the hands they
should be kept away from the rest of the body and from
the clothing until they can be washed well. The solution
should be thrown out immediately after the treatment is
completed, the utensils used with it washed thoroughly,
and the bench cleaned of any splashings it may have
received. If these precautions are observed no fear need
be entertained concerning the use of this reagent.

The successful application of these solutions requires a
few common utensils that are listed herewith:

Hotplate (electric or gas),

Nest of enameled bowls,

Scales,

Glass rods (with rounded ends).

White blotting paper.

The actual discussion of the treatment of stains had
best be made to follow the Procedure Chart for the Removal
of Stains from Wash Goods, and will occupy the remainder
of this chapter.

Albumin. — The regular standard washing process in-
cludes a lukewarm first bath for the purpose of dissolving
any albuminous materials that may be present.

Blood. — The albuminous portion of this stain is re-
moved in the first bath of lukewarm water; the stain

134

Procedure Chart for the Removal of Stains
From Wash Goods

K,™or^*,N 1 corroN | Lm.» | wool ^

COLORED CABMH^

ALBUMIN.

R.rT.ov«l in th. .l>ndiud •■■.hint pro«».

™.™.0,«l.™™,.„d.

BLOOD.

Romo.«linlh.)t.nd«rd«..hinep«c.... Th. .lainof th.h.minlobm 1 R.mov.d in Ih. .t«nd«d •■"h'n« Pro«". TTi. .lain ol h.mof lohln

fRov;sES'TKlr?Bi'i&

:^"'"^

p„.^;7K:;^tr„t^";""^L"r^u,r■;vsr'£o;^

Betin with th. •ImpL.t

COCOA AND CHOCOIATE.

R,m«v«l in Ih. .t«,d«d w..hir., pr«....

pro

COFFEE.

CREAM AND ICE CREAM.

„.„.... ,„,H. ........ ...M.„™...

MULTICOLORED

ECC.

^ K™„..,„.H. ...... ...K,.„^„..

FRUIT.

— — ,,;b^eB'^^^-^^^

CRASS.

^.Xz::ij^t^j::^^'xv::.." - •'-—■— ..^Kr^^j-i^a;^" - — -■ - — - -•■ -

^^^Mmi^SiMH :^^^^;b^^^---^^'^

CUM OR RESIN.

..^^yi'z^is;ip^z^^::^;^r^s^;i:^iS:iS^s^

WRITING.
INDELIBLE PENCIL.

=;S'!{HHHH;^s:S^3t=2i^1| ................................... .o,so..

IRON.

5«lNKSIIRONi.

IEAT«ER.

.u,»';'X'S'sj,';:i's;r,™ir. t".-,.;"""-' — '""■ '— ■■■ ''"'•■ | -<• ■^•'^ <■ ■». — k^* <• >—■... .. u,. ,.«..

MACHINE OIL

..h.r'™*.'5;rdrr.i:.rs:r'-VS":.™r«'"^^^^^ " • '~'"'' — " ™'— ■'- —• '"- »

iH^^W

MILDEW.

..£•;;lJ*;^:v£^=•i,Hfc;?-;^;t:S;:^s'=..3K|

MUD.

o,.,^?,:v;:is^^3,:^-:;xr;:;.:r:l^;?^i';r':;s

-.,.'i r.,7^^^■;..^„,i''i;nr.;;^^^':L!;'Kax^::i!■. i™."- 1 ,.„.';.'j';;^.':„;r,r' -" °- - -"'""■ -""•"«■-• "'"-"

iiSS-SrJ^^S

h-,"!''.' .'"^^."1^ """"', '" "" ■""''■"' "■■'''"■ ■"°""' '"'

SYRUP.

TAR OR TARRY.

TEA.

TA»»V_.MS,DUI!

,j^-^£^-^.::£z^vSsL':^^

mM^mB&SM [Edgpss^s

««»■<=»-

""^""""

.u.«..ful, ".»n.n. 1. not .iw.y.

ssimK;*^.

:::SiiHS:-=SS^:£^— -— --^^

Preparation of Solutions Recommended for Use Above

The Treatment of Stains

proper, which is due to the hemoglobin or coloring matter
of the blood, is removed in the bleach bath. If the fabric
is of the kind that can not be treated with javelle water
the stain may be treated with hydrogen dioxide.

Bluing. — Bluing is of three kinds, ultramarine blue
that gives the desired color by depositing small insoluble
particles of blue on the fabric; prussian blue that dyes the
fabric with a soluble dye; and aniline blue that dyes the
fabric with an insoluble dye. Ultramarine blue, which
only gives trouble by being used too heavily, may be
removed by simple washing; Prussian blue, which in an
alkaline bath is changed to iron oxide and gives a rust
stain, has to be treated with oxalic acid solution. The
aniline blues, if used too freely, dye the fabric permanently
as far as the ordinary solvent, water, is concerned, and
must be removed by treatment with oxidizing or reducing
agents, according to the nature of the dye used. Javelle
water or potassium permanganate solution is used to
oxidize these blues on cotton or linen fabrics, while
potassium permanganate solution or hydrogen dioxide
is used on silk and wool. Sodium bisulfite solution and
zinc may be used on both the animal and vegetable
fibers as a reducing agent. The potassium permanganate
solution treatment is not complete in itself, as it leaves a
brown stain of manganese dioxide in the cloth which must
be removed by treatment with oxalic acid solution. If it
is found necessary to repeat the treatment the excess
oxalic acid should be washed from the fabric before more
permanganate solution is applied. It is always well to
observe the precaution of rinsing from the fabric any
excess of solution when two solutions are alternated,
because the excess of solution present reacts to neutralize
the effect of the other solution in a manner that has no
effect in the removal of the stain. There is no need for
such useless reactions.

135

The Conservation of Textiles

Cocoa and Chocolate. — These stains occur in most cases
on white table linens and, when too deep to be removed by
the water and soap, are removed by the bleach bath.

Coffee. — Javelle water, applied in the bleach bath,
removes this stain effectively.

Cream and Ice Cream. — The principal ingredient that
causes trouble in this type of stains is the butter fat present.
When this is removed with hot water and soap the stain
is usually gone completely. In the case of an ice cream
that has fresh fruit juice or a food dye present as coloring
matter the stain will be removed by javelle water.

Dyes. — The treatment for a dye stain has always to be
determined by a few tests on some portion of the stained
fabric. The first trial may be made with javelle water;
then with permanganate solution, then with sodium
bisulfite solution and zinc. The kind of material involved
and the dye itself have to be taken into consideration for
the successful treatment of this type of a stain. The
removal of hat dyes is facilitated by treatment with 95
per cent, ethyl alcohol, in which the greater portion of the
dye is soluble. A residual stain may have to be treated
with one of the oxidizing or reducing agents prescribed on
the chart.

Egg. — This stain is partly albuminous, partly fatty,
and, in most cases, will be removed by a formula that
includes a lukewarm first bath and hot suds.

Fruit. — Fruit stains can readily be removed by treat-
ment with javelle water; for that reason the stains appear-
ing in cotton and linen garments are said to be removed in
the standard washing process. Silks and wools are to be
treated with the reagents given in the chart that are not
detrimental to them.

136

The Treatment of Stains

Grass. — This stain is also removed from cotton and
linen by treatment with javelle water. Silks and wools
are treated with a mixture of equal parts of ethyl alcohol
and ethyl ether. This is a solvent for the green dye
present in grass.

Grease. — The av^erage grease stain is removed in the
standard washing process. Any stain that survives this
treatment may be softened with oleic acid and lard and
washed in a hot solution of soda ash. If the grease has
contained a mineral staining agent like iron or some type
of dyestuff it can be treated specially as described under
these headings. The best treatment to be accorded to
silks and wools is with one of the many grease solvents
given on the chart. The solubilities of the different types
of grease vary with the different solvents, and it is often
necessary to experiment with several solvents before the
more efficacious is found.

Gum or Resin. — The type of the gum or resin decides
the solvent that should be used. Common chewing gum
is soluble in carbon tetrachloride; varnish is soluble in
alcohol; resins are soluble in ether, alcohol and tur-
pentine, the source of the resin determining which
solvent is best. Since there is no way to decide which
resin is present, the method of trial and error must be
applied to discover which solvent is to be used.

Ink. — Iron inks are best removed by treatment with
warm oxalic acid. If such treatment does not remove the
stain completely it is possible that the ink has been a
mixture of iron ink and an aniline dye, in which case a
second treatment with javelle water is necessary. India
ink and printers ink are both suspensions of carbon in a
gum-like medium, and should be removed in the regular
laundering process. If such treatment is not effective the

137

The Conservation of Textiles

stain may be loosened with lard and laundered again.
Silver nitrate inks have to be treated with sodium thio-
sulfate or with javelle water. Javelle water converts the
silver to an insoluable colorless salt that has to be removed
by treatment with dilute ammonia water. If this pre-
caution is not taken the silver may again oxidize to the
colored salt and the stain reappear. Indelible pencils
contain both graphite and an aniline dye; the dye can be
removed by treatment with javelle water, while the graphite
will be washed away mechanically.

Iron. — The specific treatment for iron stains is warm
oxalic acid solution.

Leather. — Javelle water has been found to remove
these stains from the cotton and linen fabrics, but in the
case of silks and wools the stain is permanent.

Medicines. — The medicines containing organic ma-
terials are usually removed in the regular laundry process;
any stain surviving this treatment can be treated with
javelle water. The medicines containing salts of the
heavy metals, like iron, silver, etc., may be treated with
potassium cyanide. The cyanides of these metals are
water soluble and are removed by means of this solvent
after conversion has taken place.

Mildew. — These stains are usually removed in the
standard washing process, but heavy stains may have to
be treated alternately with javelle water and oxalic acid.

Mud. — ^The mud itself is removed in the regular water
washing but a residual stain of iron is often encountered.
This is treated as all iron stains are, with warm oxalic acid.

Paint and Varnish. — These stains are best removed
before laundering. They may be loosened by treatment

138

" The Treatment of Stains

with oleic acid and then laundered or they may be treated
with one of the solvents that are given in the table of
reagents. The character of the paint determines the
treatment applied. Paints are composed of some vehicle
and a pigment; the vehicle hardens or sets by the evapora-
tion of some volatile ingredient or by the absorption of
oxygen from the air, depending upon its chemical nature.
The pigment can be removed mechanically after the vehicle
carrying it is dissolved again.

Perspiration. — This stain, being water borne, is usually
removed by simple soap and water washing. If it is con-
nected with the running of a dye, treatment for the dye
must be applied. Colored goods that have been discolored
by perspiration may sometimes be restored by sponging
with weak acid or alkaline solutions.

Scorch. — Scorched cotton or linen may be restored by
treatment with javelle water alternated with oxalic acid
solution, provided the scorch has not completely destrpyed
some of the fabric. The same results may also be obtained
with potassium permanganate and sodium bisulfite
solutions. Light scorches on silk and wool may be partially
restored by treatment with permanganate solution, but
nothing can be done for heavy scorches on these fabrics.

Syrup. — -Syrup stains are usually removed in the
standard washing process because the medium of the
stain, the sugar, is removed. If a fruit juice has been
present, some stain may survive this process but the
treatment described under Fruit will remove it satis-
factorily.

Tar and Tarry. — See treatment of paint.

Tea. — Tea stains are usually removed in the washing
process, but the occasional heavy one should be treated

139

The Conscrvaiion of Textiles

with javelle water when it appears on cotton and Hnen
and with potassium permanganate or hydrogen dioxide
when it appears on silk or wool. This stain is, in most
cases, the result of the tannin present in the tea but in
some cases is due to a dye that is added to give a darker
color to the infusion.

Tobacco. — The stains from tobacco are usually soluble
in the standard washing process, but occasionally stains
that require longer treatment are encountered. They may
be treated with the oxidizing agents that are permissible
with the type of fabric involved or they may, in case of the
tarry residue from pipes, be treated with ethyl alcohol.

Turmeric. — This is oneof the seven dyes permitted by
the U. S. Pure Food law to be used in food stuffs. They
are usually to be removed by treatment with javelle water
or permanganate solution, but in cases that do not respond
to this treatment amyl alcohol will be found efTective.

Verdigris or Copper Stains. — This stain, if not removed
by the usual laundry process, has to be treated quite
drastically with dilute hydrochloric acid. If only a weak
solution of acid is used and care is taken to remove all
traces of it afterwards, no ill results will be noticed.

Walnut. — This stain is one of the worst encountered
on fabrics. It can usually be reduced to a light gray color
on cotton and linen by treatment with javelle water, but
when it appears on silk and wool no treatment can be
recommended.

Wax. — The most satisfactory method of removing
waxes from fabrics is to place the spot on a piece of blotting
paper and apply a warm iron. The heat liquifies the wax
and the blotting paper absorbs it. If traces remain after
this treatment they may be sponged away with one of the
organic solvents.

140

The Treatment of Stains

In conclusion, it is appropriate to suggest that inspec-
tion of garments for stains be rigidly maintained in the
receiving room. Many times stains are set in laundering
and offer a much greater problem for removal then they
otherwise would.

141

CHAPTER VII.
The Conservation of Fabrics.

ADEQUATE, definite information regarding the length
of time a fabric should last under normal conditions of
use is almost entirely lacking. This is true in the first
place because of the infinite variation in the quality of
cloth and in the second place because of no accepted
meaning of the expression "normal conditions of use." A
number of observations on the life of certain hotel linen
supplies have been recorded in various reports from the
authors' laboratory. We have, also, a series of observa-
tions of the life of standard brands of collars, and compara-
tive tests of the effect of power laundry practice compared
with that of the housewife and the Chinese laundry. We
have observed and recorded the effects of the various
processes in laundering, such as the mechanical effect of
the power washing machine operated under conditions
outlined in the Manual of Standard Washroom Formulas
published in May, 1918, number of the Bulletin of the
Laundryowners National Associaion. We have deter-
mined the effect of each of the standard washroom reagents
under the best conditions and under the less favorable
conditions. It is a discouraging observation resulting
from a recent test, that the membership of the Association
has not made a very marked success in the endeavor
toward standardization of washroom methods. In the
test referred to a number of the same brand of new soft
collars were sent to a number of different laundries over
the country and upon their return the shrinkage was
measured. The results were distinctly at wide variance.
This is, by the way, to illustrate that complete protection of

142

The Conservation of Fabrics

laundries from unjust claims can not be had until plant
operation methods in general are placed on a better plane.
The old saying that the good suffer with the evil is truly
applicable to laundries.

In the October, 1918, number of the Bulletin of the
Laundryowners National Association, and in Chapter V
of this contribution, a method was proposed wherein all
laundries of the association could assist in the collection
of the needed data as to the expectancy (to borrow an
expression from life insurance literature) of various standard
fabrics and garments. There has been little response to
this suggestion up to the present time, very likely due to
the difficulties involved in mixing research work of this
character with the commercial plant operation. Obviously
these data cannot all be obtained in the laboratory. The
most marked progress in this direction awaits the establish-
ment of the Model Laundry of the American Institute of
Laundering. Some useful information regarding the life of
certain fabric articles worn by soldiers may be secured later
through some observations that have been started by the
Salvage branch of the U. S. Army. It will be a marked
achievement when we can say that a cloth weighing so
many ounces per square yard and having so many "ends"
and so many "picks" and such and such tensile strength
when used for a certain purpose will survive so many
launderings. We will then be in a position to give recom-
mendations to some of the large users of textiles and to
assist hotel managers in preparing specifications for the
linen supply of their establishments.

Having all the information that it will be possible to
get regarding what does constitute a good textile fabric,
the laundryowner will still further need a means of pro-
tecting himself against articles which appear to be of good
quality, but which, as a matter of fact, are defective in one
way or another as described in previous chapters. This
means will be found in bringing about a greater discrimin-

143

The Conservation of Textiles

ation in purchasing on the part of the users of textile
fabrics. The thought also suggests legislation for the
correct labeling of fabrics, but this will be discussed else-
where

The Three Agencies of Responsibility. — Evidence af-
forded by a large number of exhibits that from time to
time have been submitted to the authors' Department,
show conclusively that if the textile articles were purchased
wisely, with the adaptibility to the proposed use definitely
in mind, and that if these fabrics honestly repiesented
the quality they appear to represent, and if the fabrics were
not abused during the course of use or wear, claims for
damage against the laundry would be reduced ninety-five
per cent. That is to say that less than five per cent, of the
damage claims with which the authors have had to do are
attributable to causes for which the laundry held direct
responsibility. This statement should be taken in the
light of the fact that in cases wherein the laundry is
obviously responsible the exhibit would seldom be sub-
mitted to the authors. When we find evidence, as we
sometimes do, that the responsibility is probably charge-
able to the laundry, the laundryowner is plainly
advised to that effect. At the same time are presented
any suggestions that we may be able to ofifer, the consistent
application of which would tend to preclude the recurrence
of the trouble.

The three agencies of responsiblity for the satisfactory
conservation of textile fabrics are plainly the manufacturer,
including the manufacturer of the cloth as well as the
fabricator of the garment; the owner of the article whose
responsibility includes the exercising of discretion in making
the purchase, in which responsibility, to some extent the
retailer shares, as well as in the exercising of due precaution
in protecting the article from severe mechanical strains
and from strong alkaline and oxidizing materials if it be of
animal fiber, and from acids and oxidizers if it be of vege-

144

The Conservation of Fabrics

table fiber; and the launderer whose duty, obviously, is
to renov^ate the textile with the least possible depreciation
of tensile strength consistent with the standard of quality
of work demanded by the trade. This responsibility of
the launderer is implied by the mere acceptance of the
soiled linen. The authors again feel constrained to urge
careful examination of fabrics on their arrival at the
laundry plant so that the limits of the responsibility of the
launderer may be accurately defined.

To obtain the harmonious functioning of these three
agencies is an objective worthy of the efforts of a great
trade organization. If we, as members of the trade, are
sincere in our expressed belief that the industry constitutes
a public utility and that the only commodity distributed
is service, it follows without argument that the conserva-
tion of the life of the fabric laundered is the matter of
prime importance. If this matter is cared for persistently
the questions of the success of any individual enterprise
and of adequate profits will be automatically included and
the advancement of the industry to a more comprehensive
contact with the homes will be assured. Certainly we
should coordinate the scientific knowledge concerning the
other aspects of the service so that adequate but fair
revenue will be secured to sustain the business on a sound
financial basis. Leaving out for the present the con-
sideration of financial features, as important as they are,
let us consider in what way we, as an Association, may be
able to improve the conditions over which the two agencies
other than ourselves have the more direct control. This
means the exertion of cooperative influences on the organi-
zations and individuals controlling the factors outside the
laundry that affect the life of fabrics. In this we will con-
sider the retailer as merely an agent of the producer,
textile manufacturer and garment fabricator. Emphasis
should be placed on the responsibilities of the garment

145

The Conservation of Textiles

maker, for the laundryowner has suffered quite as much
on account of his shortcomings as on account of those of
the spinners and weavers. This is notably true in the
case of palm beach suits, wherein cases of poor tailoring
are as frequently evident as are cases of poor quality of
cloth. The producers of textiles are not usually accessible
to the users or laundryowners while the retailer is. It
would therefore appear that the sympathetic understanding
of the retailers should be cultivated.

The Retail Merchant. — There is a national association
of retail dry goods merchants. Some of the membership
of the Laundry Association in every town and city are in
contact with members of the retailers' associations through
Rotary Clubs and other organizations nearly every day.
It is the business of the retailer to serve the same
clientelle that is served by the laundry. He should,
therefore, be shown just wherein his interests overlap
those of the laundryowner. Such mutual under-
standing that is sure to result from the right kind of
contact will assist in the movement for legislation for the
correct labeling of fabrics. It is our purpose in the
following paragraphs to present some suggestions which,
if carefully and tactfully put into execution by the laundry-
owners in the various communities, would lead to im-
provements in both trades and finally would result in a
great benefit to the public.

If the laundryowner would have the sympathetic
interest of the retailer he must give sympathic hearing to
the troubles of the retailer. Always there are two sides
to every question. We must realize that all the materials
that enter into a textile fabric cannot be invariably of the
best quality. Furthermore, the fallibility of human hands
is a condition obtaining in the textile and garment indus-
tries as well as in the laundry industry. We must be fair
and open minded. We know that large quantities of
shoddy must be used or, otherwise, there would not be

146

The Conservation of Fabrics

enough wool to meet the demands. We know that the
cotton that must be made into cloth cannot all be grown
in the Mississippi Delta. Some of it must be grown on
the uplands of our Southern states where nature does not
produce the long staple variety. In spite of these facts,
however, we should, by vividly portraying the reasons,
bring it about that the short staple should be used in the
tightly spun and tighly woven fabrics in which its use is,
from a conservation standpoint, satisfactory, instead of in
other designs of cloth in which its use, for reasons pointed
out in Chapter II, constitutes almost criminal waste.

Also we must realize that the operations of spinning,
weaving, bleaching, and dyeing in the textile mills are not
without their difficulties. Mistakes will occur to some
extent in these operations. It, therefore, follows that in
order to avoid an unbearable loss or a prohibitive price for
the perfect product of the mills some defective fabrics must
be marketed. Our Committee on Legislation for the
Correct Labelling of Fabrics has realized this circum-
stance all along. The Committee does not wish to restrict
the honest producer. Its object is rather to bring about
conditions under which deceptions could be less readily
perpetrated on the dealers and in turn on the buying
public so that the laundryowner as a consequence would
be relieved from the blame that is unjustly attributed to
him from these sources. Elsewhere we have pictured a
"scratch up." (See figure 39.) "Scratch ups" occur in
seconds which are sold over the bargain counters. If it
were required that seconds be labeled as seconds so that
the buyer would know that the cloth contained some
defect or other a great measure of protection would be
afforded the purchaser. Protecting the purchaser in this
case would also be protecting the laundryowner.

Some dyes, as has been pointed out in Chapters IV
and V, are known to have a marked tendency to tender
fibers. It should be the laundryowner 's endeavor to

147

The Conservation of Textiles

familiarize the retailer as well as his own employees and
the laundry patrons with these facts.

Styles in fabrics constitute a factor influencing con-
servation, which under present conditions, is even more
than any of the other factors without the range of our
control. The buyers for the large dry goods stores,
however, are able to mitigate to a large extent some of the
evils resulting from ill adaption of cloth to the purpose of
the garment. For instance, through the accumulated
effect of constructive advertising on the part of the laundry-
owners and other general public — education on textile
matters, which by the way, has already acquired con-
siderable momentum through such instrumentalities as the
domestic science schools and popular journals devoted to
the household arts, — combined with the sort of cooperation
between the laundryowners and the retailers as suggested
herein and in the July, 1920, number of the Laundryowners
National Association Bulletin, the buyers for the retail
store could be lead to select for their stocks fewer jacquard
designs in light mercerized cotton cloth for pajamas. (See
figures 16, 17, 18 and 19.) Also, through such instru-
mentalities as are suggested here the purchasers of table
fabrics would come to the realization that jacquard designs
in cotton and mercerized cotton table cloths must, to be
serviceable, be made of yarn tightly spun from long staple
cotton and be woven in patterns requiring comparatively
short floats. When the managers of homes, hotels and
restaurants come to be more descriminating in the pur-
chase of table fabrics a great source of annoyance will be
removed from the laundryowners.

To help spread popular interest in discriminative
buying of textiles is a privilege which should be exercised
by every man in the laundry industry. He should not
neglect the opportunities afforded by his membership in
business men's organizations. The illustrations contained
in this book are available to members of the Laundry-

148

TJic Conservation of Fabrics

owners National Association in the form of lantern slides.
They should be used for the good influence that the infor-
mation therein portrayed will have on both the sellers
and users of fabrics. When this is done the avowed ideal
of the industry to effectively serve their patrons will be
more quickly attained. The tune must be raised by the
laundryowners themselves, then others will sing their
praises.

In association work, however, we are repeatedly re-
minded that we must deal with people and conditions
largely as they are and that perhaps we can afford to
spend only a comparatively small portion of our efforts in
trying to promote the ideal. Our first interest, therefore,
is to fortify the laundry management and the plant personnel
with the facts presented in the preceding chapters, so that
in case of unjust damage claims it will be more easy to
point out to the patron just why the responsibility is his
or that of the manufacturer of the fabric or garment.

Abuse of Fabrics by Users.— Difficulties in the way of
the attainment of ideals should not deter the conscientious
from persistent effort. The adjustment of claims on the
basis of accurately determined evidence will lead, in time,
to a better understanding on the part of the users of
fabrics, of the ordinary and accidental hazards. It is not
within the scope of this book to discuss the advertising
and publicity needs of the laundry industry but some
phase of the requirements, if not the details of the methods
to be employed, can not escape our attention. Certainly
the industry could profit by receiving better cooperation
from the patrons. It is distinctly to its advantage to
have spread a better knowledge regarding the proper care
of fabrics in use. This is true not only of fabrics that
are included in the family wash but especially so con-
cerning the so-called commercial work. Restaurant,
small hotel and linen supply goods are notably abused.

149

The Conservation of Textiles

The use of dish towels for general mopping purposes
in the kitchen after they have become too soiled for their
further use for the purpose for which they were made,
thereby rendering necessary drastic treatment in the
washing process, shortens the life of this particular article
more than any other one factor. Likewise the transference
of slightly soiled table napkins (notably cheap restaurant
practice) to the use of common wiping rags is one of the
great causes of short life for this article. The use of toilet
supply towels for wiping shoes curtails their maximum
length of service. The autombile storage battery, certain
toilet articles and medicines which are enemies to textiles
are enumerated in Tables I and II in Chapter V. Re-
gardless of the advertising or publicity methods to be
employed, it is the duty of the laundry trade to acquaint
the patrons regarding these factors outside the laundry
that operate against the maximum life of garments and
household linens.

In households wherein the laundering is done in the
home it has been observed that greater care is usually
taken to avoid severe staining and exposure to other
wearing hazards. The fact that the responsibility of
laundering is taken from the home seems to prove conducive
to carelessness in the use of household textiles.

Responsibility of the Laundry. — The experiments of the
authors to determine the best methods of washroom pro-
cedure,, the results of which were published in the May,
1918, number of the Bulletin of the Laundryowners
National Association, were conducted with the idea con-
stantly in mind of causing the least wear and tear to the
fabrics consistent with the quality of work demanded by
the patrons. The summation and suggested application
of all this work was presented in the Bulletin but some
features were given more detailed account elsewhere,
especially in the June 14, 1917, number of the Scientific

150

The Conservation of Fabrics

American Supplement. Some things, however, will bear
repeating here. The greatest degree of selective treatment
consistent with commercial plant operation should be made
with respect to strength and texture of the cloth to be
laundered and with respect to the extent of soiling they
bear. In this point lies the greatest advantage which the
washwoman has over the power laundry. Our experience
shows, however, that she has compensating disadvantages.
In respect to selective treatment the power laundry can
only approach the latitude enjoyed by the laundress, if
indeed she be a good laundress. When a good laundress
picks up a fragile garment she handles it with special care
and as a result she is able to get from a fabric that is nearly
worn out a few more periods of service than if the same
garment were washed as it would have to be washed in
a commercial laundry. For the consolation of the trade
it may be well to state that such good laundresses are
hard to find. In the case of fine goods most laundries now
make careful selection and accord the fabric the treatment
it requires.

The selection with respect to the dirtiness of the
fabric to be laundered is not, according to the authors'
observations, so thoroughly carried out in the power
laundry as is usually the case with a careful washwomen.
The extended use of the home washing machine is taking
away from home laundering even this advantage, excepting
to the degree, as pointed out above, that in such households
the incentive to care for the clothes in use is generally
accentuated. We have urged that commercial fiat work
that is slightly soiled should be given a shorter treatment
than is necessary for the regular run of flat work.

In addition to correct washing formulas, proper
classification for selective treatment and rigid inspection
for defects and corrosions detectable on the soiled goods
before they are laundered, good laundry management also
implies the selection of dependable workmen. We have

151

TJic Conservation of Textiles

all observed damages which were the results of careless
handling of the goods in transferring them from the washer
to the extractor and from the extractor to the truck.
Slipping driving-belts on the washing machine that cause
the tangling of the goods should be guarded against.
Improper loading of the extractors often results in torn
fabrics. Some cases of tearing by too vigorous a pull of
the garment over the press, especially on the shirt bosom
press, have come to the authors' attention. Exposed or
projecting bolt or screw heads, lodged nails and pins and
the catching of marking pins are sources of occasional
damage to fabrics that should be looked for and avoided
in the wheels and tumblers. These are details that
should never be overlooked. The magnitude of the job
of running a laundry successfully is recognized, but we
believe all the suggestions herein presented are pertinent
to the production of good laundry service, the only kind of
service that is worthy of merit and that will receive
praise from the patrons.

152

CHAPTER VIII.

Pure Fabric Legislation and the Department
of Chemical Engineering.

At the Twenty-ninth Convention of the Laundry-
owners National Association, held in Detroit in 1912, by
action of the Executive Committee, there was created a
standing Committee on Legislation for the Correct Labeling
of Fabrics. The contributor of this chapter has served as
Chairman of this Committee since its establishment. The
purposes, both primary and incidental, are on record in the
various numbers of the L. N. A. Year Book*, to which
those readers who are interested in the detailed history
of the efforts toward pure fabric legislation are referred, but
it is in place to point out here some of the salient features
of the progress of the work.

As the designation of the Committee implies, the primary
objective of the work undertaken was to secure protective
legislation which should result in minimizing the possibility
of deceptive practices in the manufacturing and distribution
of textiles and garments. While the interest of the laundry
industry in such an endeavor would appear to be quite
obvious, it developed that the committee had to assume an
incidental function, certain educational responsibilities, not
only in its relations with the public and members of Con-
gress, but also in connection with the Laundryowners
National Association membership. So that, as often hap-
pens in a pioneering enterprise, the incidental or secondary
purpose attracted the major efforts, which were productive
of the most substantial benefits. The work of this committee

♦Especially 1916 number L. N. A. Year Book, Page 74.

153

The Conservation of Textiles

on textile defects marked the beginning of the study of
textile conservation by the Laundryowners National Asso-
ciation.

When in May, 1917, the Laundryowners National
Association was invited to send a representative to partici-
pate in the National Textile Conference, held under the
auspices of the U. S. Bureau of Standards, the files of the
Committee were turned over to the Department of Chemical
Engineering of the L. N. A. Service Bureau, the Director of
which was appointed to represent the laundry industry in
the Textile Conference. Since textile research is essentially,
though not entirely, of a chemical nature, to turn the re-
search work of the Committee over to the Department of
Chemical Engineering seemed to be the logical procedure.

The results of the continuation of this work are pre-
sented in the preceding chapters. This does not mean that
the work is finished, but w^e have in this book, for the first
time, a comprehensive and usable presentment of the avail-
able information on the subject of conservation of textiles.
An assimilation of the information by the personnel of the
industry, and from them a diffusion of the knowledge to the
general public through the medium of advertising and that
other great medium of publicity, personal contact, will be
of inestimable value to the users of textiles, a group as com-
prehensive in extent as society itself. The indirect benefit
which will accrue to the industry through the spread of the
habit of the discriminative purchasing and using of fabrics
cannot be over-estimated.

The Laundryowner and his employees must know
textiles in order to properly perform the duties he has
assumed from the public. He must also know textiles in
order to protect the industry from the impositions that
might be placed by the uninformed or dishonest among the
users, manufacturers and distributors of fabrics. Many
ways in which the information herein presented may be used
to the ends indicated have been pointed out in the pre-

154

Pure Fabric Legislation

ceding pages. Others will be suggested to the minds of the
careful reader. Books are helpful only when they are
carefully read and the information obtainable from them is
thoughtfully applied.

While the Committee on Legislation for the Correct
Labeling of Fabrics has been relieved of its research respon-
sibilities, it is still alive to its original primary purpose.
The interests of the public, the honest producer and dis-
tributor of textiles, as well as the interests of the laundry
industry, still demand legislation of some sort that will pro-
mote the use of truth in selling fabrics. Every laundry-
owner in every community can help to bring this legisla-
tion about.

First, he must, through his associations with the re-
tailers and the public, let it be known in a modest way
that he possesses information on the subject of textiles;
that he knows good textiles and how to launder them,
and furthermore, that he recognizes faults in fabrics and
some of the commonly practiced deceptive tricks. The
matter of deceptive practices in the making and selling of
fabrics should not, however, be emphasized to the extent
of distracting attention from the more common defects
in textiles which are naturally incident to manufacturing
processes. The impression should be conveyed to the
public, as well as to representatives in Congress whose aid
in the furtherance of this matter is sought, that there is no
intention on the part of the supporters of the proposed
textile law to restrict the market or to hamper the honest
producer or dealer. The object of the legislation sought
is to promote greater care in the weaving and dyeing of
fabrics and to protect the interest of the honest producer
and dealer as well as the consumer and launderer by re-
quiring a label on all textiles sold under interstate commerce
regulation and that this label must state the truth and only
the truth.

155

The Couscri'ation of Textiles

The Textile Committee welcomes this splendid book and
asks for the co-operation on the part of the Laundryowners
National Association which the use of the information
contained herein will unquestionably facilitate.

J. Clair Stone, Chairman,

Committee on Legislation for the
Correct Labeling of Fabrics,
Laundryowners National Association.

Elk Laundry Co.

St. Paul, Minnesota.

156

Index

PAGE

Abuse of fabrics by users 149

Acid corrosion of fabrics 100, 101, 103, 104, 122

Acid dyes 92

Aniline dves 97

Animal fibers 27, 30, 31

Artificial and true silk, differentiation of 26

Artificial dyes 91

Artificial silk 25

Artificial silk, indentification of 25

Artificial silk, manufacture of 25, 26

Artificial silk, physical characteristics of 26

Basic dyes 93

Bedford cords 75

"Boiled-off" silk, structure of 24, 25

Cellulose acetate 25

Cellulose hydrate 25

Chemical Engineering:, department of 7, 154

Circular corrosion of "fabrics 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 122

Claims, settlement of 98, 99

Classification of dyes 91

Classification of fibers 15

Clothing, history of 13

Committee on fabric legislation, relation to the Department of

Chemical Engineering 154

Committee on legislation for pure fabrics 153, 156

Committee on pure fabric legislation, chairman of 156

Committee on pure fabric legislation, duties of 153, 154

Conservation of fabrics 142 to 152

Conservation of fabrics, by user 149

Conservation of fabrics, responsibility of laundry 150

Conservation of fabrics, retail merchant in 146

Corrosion by dyes 95, 124, 125

Corrosion of fabrics, responsibility of launderer for 106-110

Corrosion in fabrics, responsibility of manufacturer for 123-128

Corrosion in fabrics, responsibility of wearer for 110, 11 1-120

Corrosion of fabrics 98-128

Corrosion of fabrics by acid 100, 101, 103, 104, 122

Corrosion of fabrics by stripping salts 127, 128

Corrosion of fabrics, circular 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 122

Corrosive materials 98-128

Corrosive materials to fabrics Ill

157

Index — Cont.

PAGE

Corrosives encountered in various professions 118

Cotton 15-18, 80

Cotton fibers 14, 15, ' 16

Cotton, mercerized 17, 18

Cotton, origin of 15

Cotton, schreiner finish on 18

Cotton, sizing of 80

Cuts 82, 84, 85, 87, 88

Damages 62-75

Damages, detection of cause of 102, 104, 106, 122

Damages in Bedford cords 75

Damages in pile fabrics 53, 57

Damage in terry fabrics 53, 57

Damages, mechanical 82-89

Department of Chemical Engineering 7, 154

Department of Chemical Engineering, relation to Committee on

Fabric Legislation 154

Detection of causes of damages 102, 104, 106, 122

Development of power laundry industry 7

Differentation of artificial and true silk 26

Direct dyes 91

Duties of committee on pure fabric legislation 153, 154

Dyes, acid 92

Dyes, aniline 97

Dyes, artificial 91

Dyes, basic 93

Dyes, classification of 91

Dyes, corrosion by 95, 124, 125

Dyes, direct 91

Dyes, mordant 95

Dyes, natural 91

Dyes, relation to laundry industry 90

Dyes, salt 93

Dyes, sulfur 96

Dyes, vat 96

Fabrics, abuse, by users 149

Fabrics, action of sunlight on 9

Fabrics, agencies of responsibilitiy in conservation of 144

Fabrics, circular corrosion of 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 122

Fabrics, conservation of 142-152

Fabrics, corrosion of 98-128

Fabrics, corrosion of, by acid. 100, 101, 103, 104, 122

Fabrics, corrosion of, by stripping salts 127, 128

Fabrics, damage in terry 53, 57

Fabrics, damages in pile 53, 57

Fabrics, finish of 80

158

Index — Cont.

PAGE

Fabric, ideal 38

Fabric, legislation for pure 153, 154, 155, 156

Fabrics, materials corrosive to Ill

Fabrics, mixed 29

Fabrics, paper 76, 77, 79

Fabrics, pile 53

Fabrics, structure of pile 53, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61

Fabrics, structure of terry 53, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61

Fabrics, terry 53

Fabrics, three-thread pile 56, 59, 60, 61

Fabrics, three-thread terry 56, 59, 60, 61

Fabric, variations from the ideal 39

Failures in textiles, responsibility for 8, 9

Fancy weaves 36

Felting of wool 22

Fibers, animal 27, 30, 31

Fibers, classification of 15

Fibers, cotton 14, 15, 16

Fibers, effect of length 48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55

Fibers, linen 14

Fibers, origin of 13

Fibers, preparation of linen 18

Fibers, silk 22, 23, 24, 25

Fibers, vegetable 27, 30, 31

Fibers, wool 14

Finish of fabrics 80

Finish, schreiner on cotton 18

Flaws in weaving 66, 68, 69

Floats, advantages of 36

Floats, disadvantages of 36

Floats, long 70, 71

Heavy threads 66, 67

History of clothing 13

Ideal fabric 38, 39

Identification of artificial silk 25

Knots 62, 63, 64, 65

I.aunderer's responsibility for corrosion in fabrics 106-110

Laundry industry, relation to dyes 90

Laundry, responsibility for conservation of fabrics 150

Legislation for pure fabrics 153, 154, 155, 156

Length of fibers, effect of 48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55

159

Index — Cont.

PAGE

Linen fibers 14

Linen, origin of 13

Linen, preparation of fibers 18

Linen, sizing of 80

Loose spinning 39, 51, 54, 55

Linen, structure of 19, 21

Long floats 70, 71

"Lustron" 25

Manufacturer's responsibility for corrosion in fabrics 123-128

Materials corrosive to fabrics Ill

Mechanical damages 82-89

Mercerized cotton 17, 18

Mordant dyes 95

Mordants 94, 95

Mordants, improper use of 124^, 125, 126

N
Natural dyes 91

Overbleaching 123

Paper in fabrics 76, 77, 79

Perishability of textiles 7

Physical characteristics of artificial silk 26

Physical characteristics of wool 22

Pile fabrics 53

Pile fabrics, damages in 53, 57

Pile fabrics, structure of 53, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61

Pile fabrics, three-thread 56, 59, 60, 61

Plain weave 33, 34

Power laundry industry, development of 7

Professions, corrosives encountered in various 118

Pure fabric legislation 153, 154, 155, 156

Pure fabric legislation, duties of committee on 153, 154

Pure fabrics, committee on legislation for 153, 156

Raw silk, structure of 23, 2^

Removal of stains, procedure chart 13"*

Research in textiles, importance of '

Research in textiles, incentive toward °

Responsibility for conservation of fabrics 14^

Responsibility for failures in textiles 8, 9

Responsibility of launderer for corrosion in fabrics 106-110

160

Index — Cont.

PAGE

Responsibility of laundry in conservation of fabrics 150

Responsibility of manufacturer for corrosion in fabrics 123-128

Responsibility of wearer for corrosion in fabrics 110, 111-120

Retail merchant in conservation of fabrics 146

Salt dyes 93

Satin weave 35

Satin weave, slipping of 51, 52

Schreiner finish on co ton 18

"Scratch-up" 74

Settlement of claims 98, 99

Shrinkage 72, 73

Silk, artificial 25

Silk, difi"erentation of artificial and true 26

Silk fibers 15, 22, 23, 24

Silk, manufacture of artificial 25, 26

Silk, origin of 22

Silk, preparation for spinning 22

Silk, structure of "boiled-off" 24, 25

Silk, structure of raw 23, 25

Silk, weighting of 80

Sizing of cotton 80

Sizing of linen 80

Slipping of satin weave 51, 52

Snags in fabric 82, 83, 86

Spinning, early stages of 13

Spinning, loose 39, 51, 54. 55

Spinning of silk, preparation for 22

Stains, procedure chart for the removal of (insert) 134

Stripping salts, corrosion of fabrics by 127, 128

Structure of linen 19, 21

Structure of pile fabrics 53, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61

Structure of silk, "boiled-off" 24, 25

Structure of silk, raw 23, 25

Structure of terry fabrics 53, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61

Structure of wool 20, 21

Sulfur dyes 96

Sunlight, action on fabrics 9

Tensile strength 80

Terry fabrics 53

Terry fabrics, damage in 53, 57

Terry fabrics, structure of 53, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61

Terry fabrics, three-thread 56, 59, 60, 61

Textile research, activities of the Department of Chemical En-
gineering in 7

Textile research, importance of 7

Textile research, incentive toward 8

Textiles, ideal in 38

161

Index — Cont.

PAGE

Textiles, importance of research in 7

Textiles, incentive toward research in 8

Textiles, perishability of 7

Textiles, responsibility for failures in 8, 9

Textiles, uneven shrinkage in 72, 73

Textiles, use of poor materials in 76, 77, 78, 79

Three-thread pile fabrics 56, 59, 60, 61

Three-thread Terry fabrics 56, 59, 60, 61

Uneven shrinkage 72, 73

Users abuse of fabrics 149

Vat dyes 96

Vegetable fibers 27, 30, 31

Viscose 25

Washing of wool 22

Wearer's responsibility for corrosion in fabrics .110, 111-120

Weaves, fancy 36

Weaves, plain 33, 34

Weaves, satin 35

Weaves, slipping of satin 51, 52

W^eaving, early stages of 13

Weaving flaws 66, 68, 69

Weighting of silk 80

Wool, comprehensiveness of term 21

W'ool, early use of 14

Wool, felting of 22

Wool fibers 14

Wool, origin of 21

Wool, physical characteristics of 22

Wool, structure of 20, 21

W^ool, washing of 22

162

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