Fulling or tucking or walking ("waulking" in Scotland) is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth (particularly wool) to get rid of oils, dirt, and other impurities, and thickening it. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Woollen ( American English: woolen) is the name of a Yarn and Cloth usually made from Wool. Textile manufacturing is one of the oldest human industries The oldest known Textiles date back to about 5000 B A textile is a flexible material comprised of a network of natural or artificial Fibres often referred to as thread or Yarn. Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles of animals in the Caprinae family principally sheep, but the hair of certain species The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker or walker. Despite suggestions to the contrary,[1] these processes are essentially identical.
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The Process
Fulling involves two processes - scouring and milling (thickening). These are followed by stretching the cloth on great frames known as tenters and held onto those frames by tenterhooks. For the album by musician Chris Mars see Tenterhooks (album. Tenterhooks were used as far back as the fourteenth century in the process It is from this process that we derive the phrase being on tenterhooks as meaning to be held in suspense. The area where the tenters were erected was known as a tenterground. A tenterground or Tenter ground was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after Fulling.
Originally, this was literally pounding the cloth with the fuller's feet (whence the description of them as 'walkers'), or with his hands or a club. However, from the medieval period, it was often carried out in a water mill. This article is about a type of structure For other locational uses see Milldam.
Scouring
In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves standing ankle deep in tubs of human urine and cloth. Urine is a liquid waste product of the body secreted by the Kidneys by a process of filtration from Blood and Excreted through the Urethra. Urine was so important to the fulling business that urine was taxed. Urine Tax ( Latin: vectigal urinae) was a Tax levied by the Roman emperor Nero in the 1st century upon the collection of Urine (known as 'wash') was a source of ammonium salts, and assisted in cleansing the cloth. Ammonium is also an old name for the Siwa Oasis in western Egypt.
By the medieval period, fuller's earth had been introduced. Fuller's earth is any nonplastic Clay or claylike earthy material that can be used to decolorize filter and purify animal mineral and vegetable oils and greases This is a soft clay-like material occurring in nature as an impure hydrous aluminium silicate. This seems to have been used in conjunction with 'wash'. More recently, soap has been used. SOAP (see below for name and origins is a protocol for exchanging XML -based messages over Computer networks normally using
Thickening
The second function of fulling was to thicken the cloth, by matting the fibres together to give it strength. This was vital in the case of woollens, made from short staple wool, but not worsteds made from long staple wool. Woollen ( American English: woolen) is the name of a Yarn and Cloth usually made from Wool. Staple is a term referring to naturally formed clusters or locks of Wool fibres throughout a fleece that are held together by cross fibres Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles of animals in the Caprinae family principally sheep, but the hair of certain species Worsted (pronunciation) is the name of a Yarn, the Cloth made from this yarn and a yarn weight category At this stage, the liquid used was water, thus rinsing out the foul smelling liquor used during cleansing.
Fulling Mills
From the medieval period, the fulling of cloth was often undertaken in a water mill, known as a fulling mill (also as walk mills or tuck mills). Georg Andreas Böckler (1644-1698 was a German Architect and Engineer who wrote Architectura Curiosa Nova (1664 and Theatrum Machinarum Novum This article is about a type of structure For other locational uses see Milldam. In Wales, a fulling mill is a pandy. In these, the cloth was beaten with wooden hammers, known as fulling stocks. Fulling stocks were of two kinds, falling stocks (operating vertically), used only for scouring, and driving or hanging stocks. In both cases the machinery was operated by cams on the shaft of a waterwheel or on a tappet wheel, which lifted the hammer. A cam is a projecting part of a rotating Wheel or shaft that strikes a Lever at one or more points on its circular path A water wheel is a means of extracting power from the flow (or fall of water otherwise known as Hydropower. A tappet in Mechanical engineering is a projection which imparts a linear motion to some other component within an assembly
Driving stocks were pivotted so that the 'foot' (the head of the hammer) struck the cloth almost horizontally. The stock had a tub holding the liquor and cloth. This was somewhat rounded on the side away from the hammer, so that the cloth gradually turned, ensuring that all parts of it were milled evenly. However, the cloth was taken out about every two hours to undo plaits and wrinkles. The 'foot' was somewhat triangular in shape, with notches to assist the turning of the cloth.
History
The first reference to a fulling mill so far discovered was in Normandy about 1086. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. [2] The first in England occurs in the Winton Domesday of 1117-19. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Others belonged to the Knights Templar by 1185. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order
They became widespread during the 13th century, and occur in most counties of England and Wales, but were largely absent in areas only making worsteds. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Worsted (pronunciation) is the name of a Yarn, the Cloth made from this yarn and a yarn weight category
What caused Don Quixote to tilt at windmills? "Six huge Fulling-Mill Hammers which interchangeably thumping several Pieces of Cloth, made the terrible Noise that caus'd all Don Quixote's Anxieties and Sancho's Tribulation that Night. " from Don Quixote by Cervantes.
Popular Culture
‘Fulling’ is popularly called ‘felting’ or ‘boiled wool’ by crafters today (as distinguished from non-woven felt). You can create fulled (felted) fabric at home by beating a sweater in an ordinary washing machine set on hot, load size small, with heavy agitation, and soap. The heat, water and agitation cause the scales of the hair fibers to open up and lock together. The shrunken result is dense, durable, and irreversible. Woolen fabrics (unless treated), some blends, or almost any animal hair will felt, but cotton, acrylics, synthetics or plant fiber will not. For example, the "mats" in cat fur and "dreadlocks" in human hair are formed by a similar process of locking the microscopic scales of the hair together.
See also
References
- Online Etymology Dictionary. Waulking songs ( Scots Gaelic: Orain Luaidh) are Scottish folk songs traditionally sung by women while Waulking cloth A Bleachfield or Croft was an open area (usually a field) used for spreading cloths and fabrics on the ground to be Bleached by the action of the Sun Retrieved June 30, 2005.
- E. K. Scott, 'Early Cloth Fulling and its Machinery' Trans. Newcomen Soc. 12 (1931), 30-52.
- E. M. Carus-Wilson, 'An Industrial Revolution of the Thirteenth Century' Economic History Review, Old Series, 11(1) (1941), 39-60.
- Reginald Lennard, 'Early English Fulling Mills: Additional Examples' Economic History Review, New Series, 3(3) (1951), 342-343.
- R. A. Pelham, Fulling Mills (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, mills booklet 5, c. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ( SPAB) (sometimes known as Anti-Scrape) was founded by William Morris and Philip Webb in 1958)
- A. J. Parkinson, 'Fulling mills in Merinoneth' J. Merioneth Gist. & Rec. Soc. 9(4) (1984), 420-56. so that the
- D. Druchunas 'Felting, Vogue Knitting, The Basics', Sixth & Spring Books, NY. (2005) 10.
Notes
- ^ Jones, Gareth Daniel Rhydderch of Aberloch, reproduced from The Western Mail July 17, 1933 accessed at [1] June 19, 2006
- ^ J. Gimpel, The Medieval Machine (2nd edn, Pimlico, London 1992 repr. ), 14.
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