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apart of the needles which repeat the design, in French inches. The symbol 4/4 means 1 inch (French) apart; 4/4 bobbins can be used on all types of the new schiffli machines, whether arranged to make 6/4, 8/4, or 12/4 work. These minute bobbins are largely about 1 inches long and inches in diameter, and are wound on a bare spindle; that is, without any paper core.

Both the tube and bobbin yarns for shuttle machines are normally imported ready for use. Occasionally a small quantity has been imported in the skein or on large tubes or cones and then put up in this country. This practice is exceptional, however, as the work can be done cheaper abroad. American spinners do not attempt to put up the yarn as required for this work but sell in skeins or on cones to a few specialty houses that cater to the embroidery trade. These specialty concerns wind the yarn into the small tubes and bobbins, first bleaching or dyeing or mercerizing as may be required. Many of the embroidery manufacturers own their own bobbin winders. There are various sizes of bobbins according to the sizes. of shuttles used in the machine; the automatic bobbin machines, however, can be adjusted to produce the various sizes.

These yarns are all combed and those imported have usually been of Egyptian cotton up to about 100/2. Sea-island is employed for the finest. Domestic substitutes have been of combed Peeler. Imports have been most largely in the gray state; a fair amount has been in the bleached as well as some in the dyed state. The bobbin yarn is rarely required mercerized but a considerable portion of the tube yarn, the embroidery yarn proper, is used in the mercerized. condition. Much of the tube yarn from Switzerland owes its lustrous appearance to gassing rather than to mercerization. Schiffli yarns imported are generally 2-ply but there was formerly some import of 3-ply, which in Switzerland is used more than the 2-ply. For instance, 90/3 was imported and used for the same purpose as 60/2, and 120/3 was used in place of 80/2. Some carded yarns are made in Europe for the shuttle embroidery trade; these are not imported because coarse carded counts can be obtained to better advantage here in the United States, and because combed yarns are generally considered essential for this work.

2. HAND-MACHINE EMBROIDERY YARN.

The hand machine for making embroidery differs essentially from the power-driven shuttle machine. The cloth is mounted on a movable framework and is controlled by a pantograph, as in the case of the shuttle machine, but instead of two yarns, tube and bobbin, being used to obtain the embroidered effect there is only one and the same

yarn therefore shows on both sides of the cloth. A movable framework or carriage, holding two or three rows of double-pointed needles in clips, rolls in and out on slides at the front, and a similar carriage operates back of the vertically hung cloth. As the needles are pushed through the cloth by one carriage they are grasped and pulled through by the clips in the other carriage. This carriage moves out to the length of the threads to tighten them, then moves in and returns the needles through the cloth to the other rows of clips. The distance that the slide moves out each time shortens with the decreasing length of the thread. The operator moves the pantograph with his left hand; with his right he operates the crank, and with his feet he works the pedals which move the carriages in and out. The needles have to be frequently rethreaded, and this is done by a special machine that cuts the thread the exact length required.

Yarn for the hand machine must have a greater tensile strength than yarn ordinarily used on the shuttle machine. The shuttlemachine yarn goes through the cloth only once at each stitch and is caught at the back of the cloth and held there by the yarn fed to it by the shuttle or shiffli. The hand-machine yarn is in thread lengths of about 40 inches, and each thread goes through the cloth back and forth until it is almost used up. If the yarn is rough or weak, it will be chafed and torn after a few stitches, therefore strength and smoothness are prime requisites. In order to attain this end and yet have a soft yarn, hand-machine yarns are made in 4, 5, 6, and even 7 ply, of good long-staple cotton. When 2-ply yarns are used in the coarser numbers, such as 10/2 up to 40/2, the very best and longest sea-island is required.

In the United States hand machines are used mainly for embroidering handkerchiefs. Distinctive of this trade is the use of 5-ply yarns, in counts ranging from 30/5 up to 180/5. These are ordinarily used in special 88-inch skeins, only a small percentage being employed in the normal 54-inch skein. It is said that these 5-ply yarns have been difficult to get in this country, and that 2-ply and 4-ply yarns have been substituted to give equivalent sizes; for instance instead of 50/5 there have been substituted 20/2 and 40/4, these being equivalent in size to single 10s. The 2-ply now used runs from 16/2 up to 30/2 and the 4-ply from 10/4 up to 100/4.

Aside from the desirability of filling up the design quickly, soft yarns are required in embroidering by both power and hand machines in order to get production. In making a stitch, the front of the shuttle machine and the frame holding the needles of the hand machine move close up to the cloth and simultaneously the yarn hangs down slack. If the yarn is hard twisted it curls up and makes a loop or a corkscrew which, when the yarn is pulled taut again, may not open

up. In such case the yarn will either break at the loop or corkscrew when the attempt is made to pull it through the cloth or, if the yarn is strong enough, will make a hole in the cloth. The twist must therefore not only be soft, but balanced just right to facilitate smooth operation.

3. BONNAZ AND SEWING-MACHINE EMBROIDERY.

The Bonnaz machine, imported and used in this country for special work, is a one-needle machine on the general principle of the ordinary sewing machine, but employs mainly heavy yarns and mercerized cords. There are two types of Bonnaz embroidery machines and these differ in their yarn requirements. The first is a plain stitch machine which can use any ordinary yarn from the coarsest up to 60s, in plies of 2, 3, 4, or more. The second is the cording machine which can use only a reverse twist yarn; that is, one with left-hand twist. This machine uses numbers from 8/2 up to 20/3. These machines are normally operated with American yarn and in most instances the yarn is carded only, differing in this from other embroidery yarns which are mainly combed.

Embroidery for certain purposes is being made to an increasingly large extent on special sewing machines, with embroidery attachments, turned out by the Singer Sewing Machine Co. These are called "stamped embroideries." They employ mainly highly lustrous coarse yarns such as 2/2 ply and 2/3 ply, both in the bleached and dyed state. Up to 1914 D. M. C. imported embroidery yarn was largely used for this work; since then owners of these machines have used American yarns.

4. HAND EMBROIDERY.

Yarns for embroidering by hand are mainly in 3 and 4 ply and run from 10/3 up to 60/4. They are usually bleached or dyed, either plain or mercerized. The principal numbers in hand embroidery yarns were formerly imported into this country from the DolfusMeig Co., of Mulhausen, Germany, and Paris, France. This yarn was known as the D. M. C. brand. This company manufactured a "broder" yarn (4-ply), "floche" yarn (from 4 to 7 ply), "cordinettes," "crochet," "moulines," and several other types. During the war these were replaced by American brands. The imported yarns were mostly of sea-island, although the domestic manufacturers have had to substitute Peeler owing to the high prices. The D. M. C. yarns were combed, gassed, and mercerized. The yarns supplied by American spinners are mostly ungassed.

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NOTE. The appraiser of the port of New York, in reply to an inquiry as to the amount of embroidery yarn that was apparently dutiable under paragraph 250 in the fiscal year 1918, replied:

All yarns chiefly used for embroidery purposes at the time of the passage of the present act, October, 1913, whether for hand or machine work, put up in form ready for use, are assessed under paragraph 251 in harmony with Treasury Decision 36982. The amount of embroidery yarn which your study of the imports of 1918 would indicate were entered under the progressive rates of paragraph 250 are believed to be in great proportion yarns returned by the appraiser under paragraph 250 prior to the rendering of Treasury Decision 36982, against which assessment no protest was filed by the importers. Therefore these cotton yarns, decided ultimately to be dutiable as embroidery cottons, remained liquidated as cotton yarn under paragraph 250.

Embroidery yarns, foreign and domestic.-Commenting on the substitution of American for foreign embroidery yarns during the war, one importer states:

Since the latter half of 1914 the American embroidery trade has become accustomed to the use of American yarns, with the exception of the very fine numbers from No. 100 up. However, the quantity of these fine numbers used by the embroidery trade is probably not more than 2 per cent of the entire consumption of embroidery yarn. The spinners and converters have become well organized and have made great strides in efficiency in supplying embroidery yarns, and it may be stated with confidence that the American embroidery trade will continue to use American yarns after the war, unless foreign spinners can give material price inducements.

Another importer states in regard to shuttle-machine embroidery yarns:

As to the effect that the war has had on imported yarns formerly supplied by Switzerland: We have not had very satisfactory results with yarns imported from England for this purpose and we have done better with the domestic mills here, but it is only fair 135595°-19-8

to say that it has not been as satisfactory as the Swiss yarns and the industry used same because it is the best that could be supplied.

One of the leading embroidery manufacturers states:

Before the war schiffli embroidery yarns were imported from Switzerland in large quantities. They were mostly made from Egyptian cotton and higher counts above 100/2 were made from sea-island cotton. Ninety per cent of all imported yarns were combed or supercombed and gassed. England and the domestic mills supplied the embroidery trade with satisfactory yarns during this war, although the twisting of the yarns never came up to the Swiss standards. The fact of the matter is that 90 per cent of all singles used in Switzerland came from England, but the Swiss know how to twist these yarns so that they could produce a soft and lustrous effect after finishing, although the yarns are not mercerized. The people in the trade speak of "embroideries with a domestic look," which simply means that American-made embroideries have not the fine appearance of the imported article. Our firm in particular used Swiss yarns almost exclusively before the war and built up a considerable reputaiton on the fact that our product was almost as good in quality and appearance as the imported article. Most yarns imported from Switzerland were plain gray yarns combed and gassed, although a quantity of bleached and mercerized goods have also been imported. American mercerized yarns, especially if made of long-staple cotton, compare favorably with Swiss yarns.

An importer who caters to a special section of the embroidery trade writes:

The 27/4, 30/4, 33/4, and 36/4 Turkey-red combed yarns which we import are used mainly for marking and cross-stitch embroidery on napkins, towels, tablecloths, etc. We have never been able to procure the required qualities of yarn, and especially the Turkey-red dyeing in this country. Since the prices of these yarns have advanced the sales have decreased to a very large extent, and we find that the trade has changed in a great many instances to using marking inks. For this reason we feel that any increased tariff rate would merely have the effect of further curtailing the uses of the yarn, and would therefore bring no increased revenue to the Government, nor would it protect any domestic industry, for, as far as we know, there is no domestic industry on this particular yarn and dye.

YARNS FOR THREAD MAKING.

The import of "sewings" for making sewing thread is one of the minor items of the trade in foreign yarns. The total, so far as disclosed by available invoices, amounted to 135,628 pounds in 1914 and to only 69,498 pounds in 1918.

The counts of cotton yarn used for making sewing thread range from 14s to 130s. The main counts of yarn imported for this purpose in 1914 were 45/3, 40/3, 39/3, 58/3, 36/3, 48/3, and 38/3, in the order named; in 1918 the main counts were 49/2, 50/3, 49/3, and 70/3. Egyptian cotton was most largely used in these imports, though in 1914 most of those above 45/3 were made with sea-island cotton. American cotton was used for a portion. In 1914 these yarns were largely carded, but in 1918 the combed yarns predominated. In both periods gassed yarns constituted the larger part of the imports; in 1914 most of them were mercerized as well as gassed, while in 1918 only small amounts were mercerized. Imports are

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