nd of a bright color. They
are chiefly used by sail spinners, and in the manufacture of low grade
cloths of a cheviot class. White flocks are suitable for blending with
wool, and as a rule command a fair price. Raising flocks are those
obtained from the dressing or raising gigs, and are applied to
purposes similar to those for which fulling flocks are used. Cutting
or cropping flocks are the short fibers which are removed from the
cloths in this operation. They are practically of no value to the
textile manufacturer, being unfit for yarn production, but are used
chiefly by wall-paper manufacturers in producing "flock-papers," which
are papers with raised figures resembling cloth, made of poor wool,
and attached with a gluey varnish.

[Illustration: CARD ROOM

1. Automatic Feed.
2. Bur Guards.
3. Bur Tray.
4. 1st Top Divider.
5. 2d Top Divider.
6. Workers.
7. Strippers.
8. Doffer Cylinder.
9. Main Cylinders.
10. Main Card Drive on 2d Main Cylinder Shaft.
11. 1st Lickerin.
12. 2d Lickerin.
13. 3d Lickerin.
14. 4th Lickerin.
15. Fancy Hood.]

CHAPTER IV

WORSTED YARNS

=Carding.= After the wool is washed it undergoes a number of
operations before it is finished into worsted or woolen yarn.[12] The
first step in the manufacturing of worsted yarn is to pass the washed
wool through a worsted card which consists of a number of cylinders
covered with fine wire teeth mounted on a frame. The effect of these
cylinders on the wool is to disengage the wool fibers, make them
straight, and form a "sliver" or strand. It is now ready for the
combing machine.

=Combing.= The process of combing consists of subjecting the card
sliver to the operations of the automatic wool comber, which
straightens the fibers and removes all short and tufted pieces of
wool. Combing is a guarantee that every fiber of the wool lies
perfectly straight, and that all fibers follow one after the other in
regular order.

=Comb.= A comb is a complicated machine. The principal feature is a
large metal ring with rows of fine steel pins (pin circles), which is
made to revolve horizontally within the machine. By various devices
the wool is fed into the teeth of the ring in the form of tufts. The
fibers of the tufts by an intricate process are separated into long
and short lengths, and a set of rollers draws each out separately and
winds it into a continuous strand called "tops." On leaving the
comber, the wool is fr