From the earliest periods of human history till almost the close of the 18th century the linen manufacture was one of the most extensive and widely disseminated of the domestic industries of European countries. The preparation and spinning of yarn gave occupation to women of all classes; and the operations of weaving employed large numbers of both sexes. The industry was most largely developed in Russia, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, the northern provinces of France, and certain parts of England, in the north of Ireland, and throughout Scotland; and in these countries its importance was generally recognized by the enactment of special laws, having for their object the protection and extension of the trade. The inventions of Arkwright, Hargreaves, and Crompton in the later part of the 18th century, benefiting as they did, almost exclusively, the art of cotton spinning, and the unparalleled development of that branch of textile manufactures, largely due to the ingenuity of these inventors, gave the linen trade as it then existed a fatal blow. Domestic spinning, and with it hand-loom weaving, immediately began to shrink; a large and most respectable section of the operative classes in western Europe found their employment dwindling away, and the wages they earned from their diminished labour insufficient to ward off starvation. The trade which had supported whole villages and provinces entirely disappeared, and the linen manufacture, in attenuated dimensions and changed conditions, took refuge in special localities, where it resisted, not unsuccessfully, the further assaults of cotton, and, with varying fortunes, rearranged its relations in the community of textile industries. The linen industries of the United Kingdom were the first to suffer from the aggression of cotton; more slowly the influence of the rival textile travelled across Continental countries; and even to the present day, in Russia, and in other regions remote from great commercial highways, the domestic manufacture of linens holds its place almost as it has done from the earliest period. In 1810 Napoleon I., with a view partly to promote Continental linen industries, and partly to strike a blow at the great British manufacture of cotton, issued a proclamation offering a reward of one million francs to any inventor who should devise the best machinery for the spinning of flax yarn. Within a few weeks thereafter Philippe de Girard patented in France important inventions for flax spinning by both dry and wet methods. His inventions, however, did not receive the promised reward, and were indeed neglected in his native country. In 1815 he was invited by the Austrian Government to establish a spinning mill at Hirtenberg near Vienna, which was run with his machinery for a number of years, but ultimately it failed to prove a commercial success. In the meantime, however, English inventors, stimulated rather than daunted by the success of cotton machinery, had applied themselves to the task of adapting machines to the preparation and spinning of flax. The foundation of machine spinning of flax was laid by John Kendrew and Thomas Porthouse of Darlington, who, in 1787, secured a patent for “a mill or machine upon new principles for spinning yarn from hemp, tow, flax, or wool.” These machines, imperfect as they were, attracted much notice, and were introduced in various localities both in England and Scotland into mills fitted specially for flax spinning. By innumerable successive improvements and modifications, the invention of Kendrew and Porthouse developed into the perfect system of machinery with which, at the present day, spinning-mills are furnished; but progress in adapting flax fibres for mechanical spinning, and linen yarn for weaving cloth by power-loom, was much slower than in the corresponding case of cotton.

The implements usedin the preparation of linen yarn in ancient and modern times, down to the end of the 18th century, were of the most primitive and inexpensive description. Till comparatively recent times, the sole spinning implements were the spindle and distaff. The spindle, which is the fundamental apparatus in all spinning machinery, was nothing more nor less than a round stick or rod of wood about 12 inches in length, tapering towards each extremity, and having at its upper end a notch or slit into which the yarn might be caught or fixed. In general, a ring or “whorl” of stone or clay was passed round the upper part of the spindle to give it momentum and steadiness when in rotation. The distaff, or rock, was a rather longer and stronger bar or stick, around one end of which, in a loose coil or ball, the fibrous material to be spun was wound. The other extremity of the distaff was carried under the left arm, or fixed in the girdle at the left side, so as to have the coil of flax in a convenient position for drawing out to yarn. A prepared end of yarn being fixed into the notch, the spinster, by a smart rolling motion of the spindle with the right hand against the right leg, threw it out from her, spinning in the air, while, with the left hand, she drew from the rock an additional supply of fibre which was formed into a uniform and equal strand with the right. The yarn being sufficiently twisted was released from the notch, wound around the lower part of the spindle, and again fixed in the notch at the point insufficiently twisted; and so the rotating, twisting, and drawing out operations went on till the spindle was full. So persistent is an ancient and primitive art of this description that to the present day, in remote districts of Scotland,—the country where machine spinning has attained its highest development,—spinning with rock and spindle is yet practised; and, rude as these implements are, yarn of extraordinary delicacy, beauty, and tenacity has been spun by their agency. The first improvement on the primitive spindle was found in the construction of the hand-wheel, in which the spindle, mounted in a frame, was fixed horizontally, and rotated by a band passing round it and a large wheel, set in the same framework. Such a wheel became known in Europe about the middle of the 16th century, but it appears to have been in use for cotton spinning in the East from time immemorial. At a later date, which cannot be fixed, the treadle motion was attached to the spinning wheel, enabling the spinster to sit at work with both hands free; and the introduction of the two-handed or double-spindle wheel, with flyers or twisting arms on the spindles, completed the series of mechanical improvements effected on flax spinning till the end of the 18th century. The common use of the two-handed wheel throughout the rural districts of Ireland and Scotland is a matter still within the recollection of middle-aged people; but spinning wheels are now seldom seen.

The modern manufacture of linen divides itself into two branches, spinning and weaving, to which may be added the bleaching and various finishing processes, which, in the case of many linen textures, are laborious undertakings and important branches of industry.

Flax, when received into the mills, has to undergo a train of preparatory operations before it arrives at the stage of being twisted into yarn. The whole operations in yarn manufacture comprise (1) heckling, (2) preparing, and (3) spinning.

Heckling.— This first preparatory process consists not only in combing out, disentangling, and laying smooth and parallel the separate fibres, but also serves to split up and separate into their ultimate filaments the strands of fibre which, up to this point, have been agglutinated together. The heckling process was, until recent times, done by the hand; and it was one of fundamental importance, requiring the exercise of much dexterity and judgment. The broken, ravelled, and short fibres, which separate out in the heckling process, form tow, an article of much inferior value to the spinner; and the proportion of tow made in the process of hand-heckling varies according to the skill and knowledge of the heckler. A good deal of hand-heckling is still practised, especially in Irish and Continental factories; and it has not been found practicable, in any case, to entirely dispense with a rough preparation of the fibre by hand labour. In heckling by hand, the heckler stakes a handful or “strick” of rough flax, winds the top end around his hands, and then, spreading out the root end as broad and flat as possible, by a swinging motion dashes the fibre into the teeth or needles of the rougher or “ruffer” heckle. The rougher is a board plated with tin, and studded with spikes or teeth of steel about 7 inches in length, which taper to a fine sharp point. The heckler draws his strick several times through this tool, working gradually up from the roots to near his hand, till in his judgment the fibres at the root end are sufficiently combed out and smoothed. He then seizes the root end and similarly treats the top end of the strick. The stricks, as finished, are carefully piled up in a regular manner, keeping each handful separate for convenience of future treatment. The same process is again repeated on a similar tool, the teeth of which are 5 inches long, and much more closely studded together; and for the finer counts of yarn a third and a fourth heckle may be used, of still increasing fineness and closeness of teeth. In dealing with certain varieties of the fibre, for fine spinning especially, the flax is, after roughing, broken or cut into three lengths—the top, middle, and root ends. Of these the middle cut is most valuable, being uniform in length, strength, and quality. The root end is more woody and harsh, while the top, though fine in quality, is uneven and variable in strength. From some flax of extra length it is possible to take two short middle cuts; and, again, the fibre is occasionally only broken into two cuts according to the judgment and requirement of the manufacturer. Flax so prepared is known as “cut line” in contradistinction to “long line” flax, which is the fibre unbroken. The subsequent treatment of line, whether long or cut, does not present sufficient variation to require further reference to these distinctions.

In the case of heckling by machinery, the flax is first roughed and arranged in stricks, as above described under hand heckling. Considerable variations are presented in the construction of heckling machines, but the general principles of those now most commonly adopted, such as the machines of Combe, of Horner, or of Cotton, &c., are identical. These are known as vertical sheet heckling machines (fig. 1), their essential features being a set of endless leather bands or sheets f, g revolving over a pair of rollers c, h in a vertical direction. These sheets are crossed by iron bars, to which heckle stocks, furnished with teeth, are screwed. The heckle stocks on each separate sheet are of one size and gauge, but each successive sheet in the length of the machine is furnished with stocks of increasing fineness, so that the heckling tool at the end where the flax is entered is the coarsest, while that to which the fibre is last submitted has the smallest and most closely set teeth. Thus the whole of the endless vertical revolving sheet presents a continuous series of heckle teeth, and the machines are furnished with a double set of such sheets revolving face to face, so close together that the pins of one set of sheets intersect those on the opposite stocks. Overhead, and exactly centred between these revolving sheets, is the head or holder channel a, from which the flax hangs down while it is undergoing the heckling process on both sides. The flax is fastened in a holder δ, consisting of two heavy flat plates of iron, between which it is spread and tightly screwed up. The holder is 11 inches in length, and the holder channel is fitted to contain a line of six, eight, or twelve such holders, according to the number of separate bands of heckling stocks in the machine. The head or holder channel has a falling and rising motion, by which it first presents the ends and gradually more and more of the length of the fibre to the heckle teeth, and, after dipping down the full length of the fibre exposed, it slowly rises and lifts the flax clear of the heckle stocks. By a reciprocal motion the whole of the holders are then moved forward one length; that at the last and finest set of stocks is thrown out, and place is made for filling in an additional holder at the beginning of the series. Thus with a six-tool heckle, or set of stocks, each holder full of flax from beginning to end descends into and rises from the heckle teeth six times in travelling from end to end of the machine. The root ends being thus first heckled, the holders are shot back along an inclined plane, the iron plates unclamped, the flax reversed, and the top ends are then submitted to the same heckling operation. The tow made in the heckling process is cleared from the heckle teeth, as they revolve, by doffers l, l, which in travelling upwards are, by passing over special guide rollers e, e, projected out from the line of the heckle teeth. The doffers themselves are cleared by fixed combs <7, d, and the tow falling down is collected in troughs k, k on each side of the machine. Tow, which is a much less valuable substance than dressed line, undergoes a somewhat different preparing process, and is used only for the lower numbers of yarn.

Preparing.— The various operations in this stage have for their object the proper assortment of dressed line into qualities fit for spinning the different counts or sizes of yarn for which it may be suitable, and the drawing out of the fibres to a perfectly level and uniform continuous ribbon or sliver, containing throughout an equal quantity of fibre in any given length. From the heckling the now smooth, glossy, and clean stricks are taken to the sorting room, where they are assorted into different qualities by the “line sorter,” who judges by both eye and touch the quality and capabilities of the fibre. So sorted, the material is passed to the spreading and drawing frames, a series or system of machines all similar in construction and effect. The essential features of the spreading frame are— (1) the feeding cloth or creeping sheet, which delivers the flax to (2) a pair of “feed and jockey” rollers, which pass it on (3) to the gill frame or fallers. The gill frame consists of a series of narrow heckle bars, with short closely studded teeth, which travel between the feed rollers and the drawing or “boss and pressing” rollers to be immediately attended to. They are, by an endless screw arrangement, carried forward at the rate at which the flax is delivered to them, and when they reach the end of their course they fall under, and by a similar screw arrangement are brought back to the starting point; and thus they form an endless moving level toothed platform for carrying away the flax from the feed rollers. The drawing rollers grip the fibre as it leaves the gill, and, as they revolve much more rapidly than the feeding rollers, the fibre is drawn out through the gill teeth say to twenty or thirty times the length it had on the feeding board, and is consequently reduced to a sliver or loose ribbon of correspondingly greater tenuity. The sliver from the drawing frame is delivered into a tin can which holds 1000 yards, and the machine automatically rings a bell when that length is delivered. From the spreading frame the cans of sliver pass to the drawing frames, where from four to twelve slivers combined are passed through feed rollers over gills, and drawn out by drawing rollers to the thickness of one. A third and fourth similar doubling and drawing may be embraced in a preparing system, so that the number of doublings the flax undergoes, before it arrives at the roving frame, may amount to from one thousand to one hundred thousand, according to the quality of yarn in progress. Thus, for example, the doublings on one preparing system maybe 6×12×12×12×8 = 82,944. The slivers delivered by the last drawing frame are taken to the roving frame, where they are singly passed through feed rollers and over gills, and, after drafting to sufficient tenuity, slightly twisted by flyers and wound on bobbins, in which condition the material—termed “rove” or “rovings ”—is ready for the spinning frame.

The preparation of tow for spinning differs in essential features from the processes above described. Tow from different sources, such as scutching tow, heckle tow, &c., differs considerably in quality and value, some being very impure, filled with woody shives, &c., while other kinds are comparatively open and clean. A preliminary opening and cleaning is necessary for the dirty much-matted tows, and in general thereafter they are passed through two carding engines called respectively the breaker and the finisher cards till the slivers from their processes are ready for the drawing and roving frames. In the case of fine clean tows, on the other hand, passing through a single carding engine may be sufficient. The processes which follow the carding do not differ materially from those followed in the preparation of rove from line flax.

Spinning.— The spinning operation, which follows the roving, is done in two principal ways, called respectively dry spinning and wet spinning, the first being used for the lower counts or heavier yarns, while the second is exclusively adopted in the preparation of fine yarns up to the highest counts manufactured. The spinning frame does not differ in principle from the throstle spinning machine used in the cotton manufacture (see Cotton, vol. vi. p. 495). The bobbins of flax rove are arranged in rows on each side of the frame (the spinning frames being all double) on pins in an inclined plane A (fig. 2). The rove passes downwards through an eyelet or guide I to a pair of nipping rollers p, p, between which and the final drawing rollers c, c, placed in the case of dry spinning from 18 to 22 inches lower down, the fibre receives its final draft while passing over and under cylinders d and guide-plate g i and attains that degree of tenuity which the finished yarn must possess. From the last rollers the now attenuated material, in passing to the flyers f receives the degree of twist which compacts the fibres into the round hard cord which constitutes spun yarn; and from the flyers it is wound on the more slowly rotating spool e within the flyer arms, centred on the spindle S. In wet spinning the general sequence of operations is the same, but the rove, as unwound from its bobbin, first passes through a trough of water heated to about 120° Fahr.; and, moreover, the interval between the two pairs of rollers in which the drawing out of the rove is accomplished is very much shorter. The influence of the hot water on the flax fibre appears to be that it softens the gummy principle which binds the separate cells together, and thereby allows the elementary cells to a certain extent to be drawn out without breaking the continuity of the fibre; and further it makes a finer, smoother, and more uniform strand than can be obtained by dry spinning. The extent to which the original strick of flax as laid on the feeding roller for (say) the production of a 50 lea yarn is, by doublings and drawings, extended, when it reaches the spinning spindle, may be stated thus :—35 times on spreading frame, 15 times on first drawing frame, 15 times on second drawing frame, 14 times on third drawing frame, 15 times on roving frame, and 10 times on spinning frame, in all 16,537,500 times its original length, with 8 × 12 × 16 = 1536doublings on the three drawing frames. That is to say, 1 yard of heckled line fed into the spreading frame is spread out, mixed with other fibres, to a length of about 9400 miles of yarn. In the case of fine yarns, by the additional drawings given, the doublings and elongations are very much greater.

The next operation is reeling from the bobbins into hanks. By Act of Parliament, throughout the United Kingdom the standard measure of flax yarn is the “lea,” called also in Scotland the “cut” of 300 yards. The flax is wound or reeled...