Wool
Wool names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Wool the fleecy covering or pile of he sheep
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the fleecy covering or pile of he sheep, and some other animals, as the the alpaca, the vicuna, and some species of goats. Wool is generally divided into three classes, long, short, and coarse or carpet wool; and these are divided into subordinate classes according to fineness. It differs from all other varieties of hair by the corrugated nature of its fibers, due to the epithelial scales which overlap the course of its fibers, under certain conditions, from their corrugation, interlock with each other and form a felted fabric. Wool is divided into pulled or clipped fleece wool. Pulled the roots from the skin wool is pulled by by of the dead animal, the clipped is shorn Short-staple wool from the living one. is used in cloth manufacture, and is fre- To this quently called clothing wool. class belong the Saxon and Silesian wool of Germany, a portion of the wool of Australia, of the Cape of Good Hope, Buenos Aires, Russia, Canada, and the bulk of the wool produced in the United States, all being of immediate or remote Merino blood. The quantities and values of these are about in the order in which they are inserted above, the S being best adapted to the very finest qualities of broadcloths. Short-staple wool may vary in length from 1 to 3 or 4 inches; if it be longer it requires to be cut or broken to prepare it for manufacture. The felting property of wool is well known. The process for hat making, for example, depends entirely on it. The wool of which hats are made is neither spun nor woven, but locks of it being thoroughly intermixed and compressed in warm water cohere and form a solid tenacious substance. Cloth and woolen goods are made from wool possessing this property; the wool is carded, spun, woven, and then, being put in the process of felting takes fulling mill, the place. The strokes of the mill make the fibers cohere; the piece subjected to the operation contracts in length and breadth, and its texture becomes more compact and uniform. This process is essential to the beauty and strength of woolen cloth. But the long wool of which stuffs and worsted are made is deprived of this felting process. This is done by passing the wool through heated iron combs, which takes away the lamin or feat feathery part of the wool, and approximates it to the nature of silk or cotton. Long-staple wool is also called combing wool and delaine wool. To this class belong the long lustrous, downcombing English wool of Leicester, Lincolnshire, and Cotswold; the soft-combing of Rambouillet of France; the soft -staple Australia; the cheviot of Scotland, and the combing long wool of wool of Canada, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, and other parts of the United States, all derived from the Leicester or other English blood. The French and Australian are most esteemed for women's dress goods, such as merinos, cashmeres, thibets, and the like; the cheviot for Scotch tweeds, and the English usually for worsted goods. The American wools of this class are of medium quality. Long wool may vary in length from 3 to 8 inches. The shorter combing wools are principally used for hose, and are spun softer than long-combing wools; the former being made into what is called hard and the latter into soft worsted yarn. To the third class, the coarse-staple wools which are adapted for carpets, belong the Donski, and other coarse Russian wool, the native South American, Cordova, Valparaiso, native Smyrna, and other wool. The art of forming wool into cloth and stuffs was known in all ni countries, and in Woolen cloths commo 1200, and the manufacture became extensive in the reign of Edward III. (1331). The policy of England toward the American colonies was directly intended to discourage and repress manufactures of all kinds, those of woolen goods included. The actual result was that the domestic manufactures of coarser or "home-made" cloths became very widely spread and considerable, and the importations of foreign cloths were proportionately small. society organized in the limits of the present State of New York, in 1765, deprecated the use of foreign cloths and adopted various measures for increasing the home manufacture, even to rules requiring that the flesh of sheep and lambs should not be eaten nor the animals slaughtered. The supply of wool appears to have been large, and it was mostly worked up and disposed of within the colonies. Many thousands of weavers and cloth workers are said to have come over about the year 1774. The report of Alexander Hamilton on manufactures, in 1791, speaks of a mill for cloths and cassimeres in operation at Hartford, Connecticut, but conveys a doubt whether American wool was suitable for fine cloths. In 1794 there was a woolen factory in Newbury, Mass., and in the same year a carding machine for wool was put in operation in Pittsfield, Pittsfiel Pit Mass. President Madison's inaugural suit of black broadcloth was made at Pittsfield in 1804. The United States has produced the best invention for making felted goods, carpetings, and the like of any other country. The census of 1810 gives for New York the number of looms (largely in private hands) as 33,068 with 413 carding machines, 427 fulling mills, and 26 cotton factories. The total value of woolen manufactures for the United States in the same year was estimated at $25,608,788. From this time the domestic manufacture seems to have fallen off rapidly, and the succeeding census returns must be taken as indi cating mainly the reproduction of factories. The total production of wool in the United States in 1919 was 307,459,000 pounds, from 35,979,000 fleeces. The State having the largest wool production was Wyoming, with 33,415,000 pounds; Idaho was second, with 22,145,000 pounds; Montana third, with 17,750,000 pounds; ; Utah fourth, with 15,800,000 pounds; and Texas fifth, with 14,986,000 pounds. Other States producing over 5,000,000 pounds annually were California, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington, South Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. There were in 1919 444,892,834 pounds of raw wool imported in the United States, with a value of $19,486,001.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the fine, soft hair which forms the coat of the sheep and similar animals. Wool is the second in importance of textile fibers, cotton standing first. The coat of wool shorn from a sheep at one time, usually one year's growth, is called a fleece. A fleece remains intact when taken from the animal, because the fibers are entangled naturally to a degree sufficient to hold it together. At the mill the fleece is unrolled by the sorter, who separates it into from six to twelve parts or grades. The finest wool is from the shoulders of the animal. The average weight of a fleece is from five to ten pounds. The heaviest recorded American fleece was taken from a Kansas ram and weighed fifty-two pounds. In scouring, wool loses about one-third of its weight. Scouring, rinsing, and drying are performed by machinery. This cleansing process leaves the wool harsh and wiry, and, as a certain degree of pliability is necessary for carding and spinning, it is subjected to a shower of lard oil or olive oil or of both, delivered in a fine spray. If burs, leaves, or seeds are entangled with the fiber, they must be removed. This is done sometimes by a mechanical process whereby the burs are beaten until they break and the pieces fall out. Another method is that of burning out the foreign matter by means of acids and a high degree of heat. Vegetable matter is entirely "carbonized," or reduced to a crisp, while the wool, being an animal substance, remains uninjured. The wool is then ready for carding and spinning. Commercially wool is divided into three classes: 1. Clothing wool, also called carding wool. This is the short fiber and is carded and spun without combing. 2. Combing wool, the long stapled wool, from four to ten inches in length. 3. Carpet and knitting wools, which are long, strong, and very coarse. See Sheep ; Felt ; Worsted ; Bradford
Wool JOHN ELLIS, an American military officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN ELLIS, an American military officer; born in Newburgh, N. Y. mi Feb. 20, 1784. On the breaking out of the War of 1812, he obtained a captain's commission, and distinguished himself at the storming of Queenstown Heights, where he was severely wounded, and for which he was promoted to the rank of major, and also at the battles of Plattsburg and Beekmantown, and for his gallantry in the last of these actions he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. At the end of the war he was retained in the regular army; in 1818 appointed lieutenant-col onel; and in 1826 brevetted Brigadier- General. In 1832 he was sent to Europe, to examine the military systems of the principal nations, and was everywhere received with marked respect. On his return, he was appointed to inspect the coast defenses, and in 1836 was charged with the removal of the Cherokee Indians to Arkansas. At the breaking out of the Mexican War, General Wool was assigned the duty of organizing the volunteers, after which, with a body of 3,000 troops, he set out for the seat of war, where he distinguished himself by the strict discipline and order which he enforced. He was in a measure instrumental in gaining the battle of Buena Vista, for which he was favorably mentioned by General Taylor and and brevetted Major-General, besides receiving the thanks of Congress and being presented with a sword. At the close of the war he remained in command of Monterey till order was restored. He was afterward transferred to the Department of the Pacific. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he hastened to offer his services to the Government, and was sent to New York to organize the volunteers. He took the responsibility of re-enforcing Fort Monroe, and thus saved that important post. In August, 1861, he was appointed to the Department of Virginia, and afterward to the command of the Middle Department, with his head. quarters at Baltimore. In May, 1862, he was promoted Major-General, U. S. A. He died in Troy, N. Y., Nov. 10, 1869.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's description of the wool fibre itself — the overlapping epithelial scales that let it felt and full — still holds, and combing, carding and fulling are recognisably the same operations today. What collapsed is the industry the 1921 entry describes. Collier's proudly reports 307,459,000 pounds of American wool from 35,979,000 fleeces in 1919, with Wyoming leading the states; US production is now roughly a twentieth of that, and wool supplies only a low single-digit percentage of world textile fibre after nylon (1935) and polyester (1941) arrived. Australia and China now dominate the clip, fineness is graded in microns rather than by names like Saxon and Silesian, and chemical descaling treatments have produced the machine-washable wool that the felting property once made impossible.
Written for this edition, 2026.