treatment. The nature and the method of all these
treatments varies considerably, and depends upon the character of the
goods being treated, but, at the conclusion, if all has gone well, the
cloth should be a good white and should not be impaired in strength.

Singeing Necessary
in Some Finishes

For a certain class of goods, where a clean, smooth surface is required,
it is desirable to singe the goods before the bleaching. This is
accomplished by passing the cloth, stretched out at full width, very
rapidly over heated plates, or through gas flames, so that the fine hairs
or fuzz are singed off, but the fabric itself has not had time to take
fire. Both sides may be singed and the goods may be passed more than once
through the flame. When yarns are singed, the threads are passed through
the flame very rapidly, being unwound from one set of bobbins and wound
up on another.

[Illustration: _Front view of an automatic loom_]

In the dyeing operation the cotton piece goods pass through a series of
machines, the goods being in rope form as already explained, so that a
number of pieces can be put into each machine, side by side. The wash
boxes, dye vats, etc. are equipped with overhead rollers, by means of
which the goods, which have been sewn end to end, so as to make a
continuous string of them, pass out of the dye, over the roller and down
into the bath on the other side, continuing to circulate around thus
until the desired results have been obtained. In addition to the
preparatory washing and boiling, mordanting and dyeing, there are
subsequent washings to free the goods from loose coloring matter, and
other special treatments are frequently accorded them.

Finishing in its special and restricted sense, implies a series of
treatments, such as stretching, starching, dampening, drying, pressing,
smoothing, lustreing, glazing, stiffening, softening, and whatnot, which
are given to them according to the use to which they are to be put.

The printing press is constructed with a large main cylinder (D), the
size being dictated by the number of colors which it must take care of.
As the printing operation is a continuous one, there must be a continuous
feeding of the cloth, a continuous inking of the engraved rollers (C),
and a continuous cleaning off of the unengraved surface after the
inking.

Under each roller, where it is fixed in its place in the press, is a long
copper trough or pan carrying the coloring material,