Bubbles (Soap Making) / From East to West (Making Carpets) / Paper Making Part 2
Description
The original catalog description provided by the Ford Motor Company reads as follows: a. “Filling jars and placing stoppers (A jarring operation which is soon stopped).” Workers at large table fill jars with face cream, cap them - girl puts cream on face. “Powder -- it has its effect.” Workers box face powder. “It has caused many a wash out on the line -- Laundry Soap.” Batch of soap is stirred by machinery in large vat. “Run into forms to harden.” “Cut into slabs by wire.” “It looks like the old fashioned six-for-a-quarter.” Soap is cut into bars by machine. “Stamped, wrapped and everything, just like the ones at home.” Stamping and wrapping machinery in operation - workers. “Once a week, some weeks.” Baby plays in the tub. “The End.” [1919] b. “Carpets were first made in Asia, some twenty-six hundred years before Christ. While Europe was inhabited by savages, the Egyptians were inviting their sacred bull to ‘have a rug.’” Woman making carpet by hand. “A tough, wear-resisting yarn is first placed on reels and then wound onto spools. (This operation and those following done by machine.)" “Twisting the yarns together to add strength.” “As the yarn is wound onto the larger spools, it is tied together. Each spool holds 280 miles of yarn.” “Starching the warp and drying on steam rollers. This gives a ‘stiffness to the rug.’” “Winding the cap for the shuttle.” “Designing the patterns for the rugs.” Artist at work on design. “Working the design into a set of cants. Afterwards they are sewed together into a continuous belt, called the Jacquard.” Man operates machine - machinery in operation. “Spools of colored yarn are placed on frames at rear of the loom, one color to the frame.” “Leaving the frames.” “At the top of the loom is the Jacquard which controls numerous cords and wire and is operated something like a player-piano.” “Each card in its turn presses on a cylinder covered with needles which in their turn slip through the holes of the Jacquard controlling threads which form the pattern.” Loom in operation. “A shuttle passing from one side to the other binds the yarn together.” “In Wilton weaving a knife-tipped wire follows the shuttle, which when removed, cuts the loops, thus forming the nap or plush surface called ‘Pile.’” Loom in operation - close up of carpet. “Burling - searching for bad spots and mending.” Women workers inspect, mend carpet. “The pile is cut to a certain height by mower-like knives.” Strips of carpet are sewn together. “Stretching and ironing out to give desired finish.” Carpet tacked to frame, sprinkled with water, placed in press, taken out, rolled - women sew edging on carpets. “‘Were a man to live as long as Methuselah he would never cease to find fresh beauty in a Persian Carpet.’ Mr. Charles Blanc.” Finished carpets. “The End.” [1919] c. “Both the Chinese and the Egyptians were centuries ahead of anyone else in making paper. Papyrus (paper) plant grew on the banks of the Nile, so it was ‘easy picking’ for the Egyptians.” Desert scene, Egyptians - various processes in making paper and paper making machinery in operation. “The ‘Half Stock’ is dumped into a drainer where it remains for a week or more. The result is beautiful white ‘Half Stock.’” [1919]
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