Napping

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

in the manufacture of textiles, the process of raising a fibrous nap on the surface of cloth. Teasling and gigging are other names for napping. In most cases, napping is confined to woolen goods. Outing cloths and canton flannel are among the cotton goods that are napped. The purposes of napping are many and varied. It is done to render the fabric warmer, or softer, or more pleasing to the touch, or for ornamentation, or to conceal defects caused by imperfect threads. Nap is raised sometimes in order to shear every loose fiber and thus reveal the pattern of the weave more plainly. The operation of napping is performed by means of vegetable teasles, or by wooden rollers covered with fine steel teeth. The teasle is a thistle-like plant, the flower heads or burs of which are covered with scales which end in sharp hooks. Formerly these burs or teasles were set in a small frame, which a workman used over the surface of the cloth, much as one uses a currycomb. At present the teasles are arranged in a frame carried by a machine. The thousands of strong elastic hooks on the teasles scratch the surface of the cloth, loosening and raising the short fibers. The teasle is cultivated in many places for the sake of these burs. The napping machine performing the work by means of teasles is called a "gig," while that using rollers covered with metal teeth is called a wire napper. After napping, the cloth is sheared to even the nap. The shearing or cropping machine works on the same principle as a lawn mower. The tip ends of the fibers may be removed or the nap may be cut close to the thread.