15—THE EFFECT OF STAPLE STRENGTH ON WORSTED PROCESSING: PART II. CARDING AND COMBING OF 58/60s

Abstract

58/60s quality wool, which was all considered by the trade to be of very good style and sound, was divided into four lots on the basis of staple-strength tests and the position of the tender region found in the fleeces. The sounder wools gave the highest Noble-combing tears (which ranged from 13·5 : 1 to 9·4 : 1), together with less fibre breakage in carding and combing, and a longer and more uniform top. The processing performance of the lot with a tender region two-fifths of the staple length up from the butt was considerably poorer than the lot in which the tender region was closer to the butt. The greasy wool of this poor lot was estimated to be worth about fourpence a pound less than the wool of the soundest lot, although originally all the wool was considered by the trade to be of equal value. Fibre breakage in processing was moderate, averaging 31% in carding and 11% in combing. The difficulties of fibre-length determination that are due to very short fibre, and the effect of loss of short fibre in...