FLOOR-CLOTH MANUFACTURER.
DRYING WAREHOUSE.
DRYING WAREHOUSE.
The trade of manufacturing floor-cloth may be said to be connected with the furnishing of the house, since this very useful covering for the floors of halls and passages is now in almost universal use. Floor-cloth is generally made in large factories built for the purpose, since considerable space is required, not only for preparing, painting, and puttingthe pattern upon the cloth, but also for drying it when it is finished, the great lengths in which it is made rendering it necessary to hang it from a great height, in order that it may dry without the paint being damaged (see drying warehouse). The smell of the paint and other substances also makes it desirable to have the factory well ventilated, and situated at some distance from dwelling-houses.
The cloth is made partly of hemp and partly of flax, the former being the cheaper of the two, but the latter being fitted to retain the oil and paint on the surface without allowing it so easily to sink or soak through. In order to avoid the necessity for seams or joinings in the cloth, looms are constructed expressly for weaving canvas of the greatest width likely to be required. When the pieces of cloth are taken to the floor-cloth factories, they are generally either 100 yards long and 6 yards wide, 108 yards long and 7 yards wide, or 113 yards long and 8 yards wide. The flax and hemp are spun and the canvas woven principally in Scotland, in the town of Dundee.
Shears. Cutting Knife.
Shears. Cutting Knife.
The canvas is cut into pieces (see cutting knife and shears), varying from 60 to 100 feet long, and each of these pieces is stretched over a frame in a vertical position, most factories having a large number of such frames, some often 100 feet long by 18 or 20 feet high, and others of smaller dimensions. A wash of melted size is applied by means of a brush to each surface; and while this is wet the surface is well rubbed with a flat piece of pumice stone, bywhich the little irregularities of the canvas are worn down, and a foundation is laid for the oil and colour afterwards to be applied.
The preparation of japanned cottons, which are used for table covers, or what is known as “oil-cloth,” is very similar.
The paint employed for floor-cloth consists of the same mineral colours as that used in house painting, and is mixed with linseed oil in the same way; but it is very much thicker and stiffer in consistence, and has very little turpentine added to it. The canvas receives several coatings on the back as well as on the front, and is well dried and smoothed at intervals.
Blocks. The finished Pattern. Pattern for Floor Cloth. Back of Printing Block.
Blocks. The finished Pattern. Pattern for Floor Cloth. Back of Printing Block.
Preparing Japanned Cottons.
Preparing Japanned Cottons.
The pattern is placed on by means of wooden blocks, on the first of which the rudiments, or ground work, of the design is cut, and on the rest other portions of the pattern,so that, as they are covered with paint and applied to the cloth by the workman, the pattern is gradually printed, and appears in the different colours which are successively applied to each block.
Printing Floor Cloth.
Printing Floor Cloth.
The blocks are made of pear-tree wood on one side and of deal on the other, the pear-tree wood being more easily engraved with the pattern.
The blocks (which we will suppose to be four for one pattern—red, yellow, blue, and green) being ready, and the prepared canvas spread out on a flat table, the printing commences.
The paint (say red) is applied with a brush to the surface of a pad or cushion formed of flannel covered with floor cloth; the block held by a handle at the back is placed face downwards on this cushion, and the layer of paint thus obtained on the surface of the blockis printed on the canvas by pressing the block smartly down upon the surface of the latter. A second impression is made in the same way, by the side of and close to the first, until the whole surface of the canvas is printed over with the pattern of this first block, which is generally about 15 inches square. Then the second block is applied, and adds a little more to the pattern in another colour; the third follows, adding still more; and then the fourth, which completes the printing.
Trowel. Claw. Scrubbing Brush. Palette Knife. Paint Brushes. Roughing Comb. Hammer.
Trowel. Claw. Scrubbing Brush. Palette Knife. Paint Brushes. Roughing Comb. Hammer.
Thetrowelandpalette knifespreading and mixing the paint, theroughing combfor patterns where the grain of wood is imitated, and the pots, cans, and jars, for the colours, are the principal tools besides those already described.