Edited extract from an article in the Illustrated Weekly Telegraph, Saturday 12 May 1888.

A description of Bowling Dyeworks (Edward Ripley & Son)

This newspaper article has been divided into 7 boxes, for drawings to be added to each box. Look in some books about Victorian life, which might help you to find out what workpeople wore.


1. The grey cloth arrives in vans from the merchants' warehouses into the dyeworks' grey stock room. A group of boys sew the merchants' numbers onto the cloth, so it can be identified after dyeing.

 

2. The pieces of cloth are handed to a number of women and girls, who stitch them together using steam-powered sewing machines. Between 5 and 10 pieces are joined together, according to the quality. The final lengths can vary from 200 to 500 yards.

 

3. Next, the crabbing department 'sets' the cloth, so it won't shrink during dyeing. There are 20-30 crabbing machines altogether, in which the cloth is passed through hot water and then into cylinders for steaming. For those not used to this department, the escaping steam makes it almost suffocating. These new crabbing machines complete their job in 20 minutes, compared with 12-24 hours of boiling the cloth before their invention! The cloth is then dried in more cylinders (the heat is dry, but provided by steam), and 50 yards of cloth can be dried in just a couple of minutes!

 

4. The singeing process is next. The singeing machines look like large furnaces, as large fires beneath the machines heat the iron or copper plates to the red-hot stage. The cloth is wound round cylinders and passed very quickly over these hot plates, without any damage from the flames. On leaving the singeing machines the fabric is perfectly smooth and has a beautiful gloss. The room is built from iron, stone and slate, with no wood being used in the construction. This room was built after the old singeing shed burnt down in 1853. Once cooled, the cloth is ready for dyeing.

 

5. There are three separate dyeing departments - one for black dyeing, one for indigo blue dyeing, and one for pattern dyeing (where any shade of dye of the merchants' choice is used). We do not know the dyeing processes, but we do know that they are the result of careful scientific research. The company has no rivals in some processes, including black dyeing and mohair dyeing.

 

6. After being dyed and dried, the cloth goes into the 'overlooking' room. Here the colours are inspected and matched with the pattern. Next is the 'tentering' department, where machines stretch the cloth to the width the merchants want.

 

7. The cloth goes to the press shop, where 20-30 machines are used for steam pressing. In the 'making up' department, the newly coloured cloth is put into parcels for each merchant before it leaves the dyeworks.

 

Questions

1. Why do boys sew numbers into the cloth?

2. Why are the pieces of cloth stitched together?

3. Why are two lots of cylinders used in the crabbing department?

4. Why is the cloth cooled after the singeing process?

5. What do the three different dyeing departments do?

6. Why is the cloth inspected in the 'looking-over' room?

7. What happens to the parcelled cloth?

Edited extract from an article in the Illustrated Weekly Telegraph,
Saturday 12 May 1888.

A description of Bowling Dyeworks (Edward Ripley & Son)

The grey cloth arrives in vans from the merchants'' warehouses into the dyeworks' grey stock room. A group of boys sew in the merchants' numbers, so the cloth can still be identified when dyed.

The pieces of cloth are then handed to a number of women and girls, who stitch them together using steam-powered sewing machines. Between 5 and 10 pieces are joined together, according to the quality. The final lengths can vary from 200 to 500 yards.

Next, the crabbing department 'sets' the cloth, so it won't crimp or shrink during dyeing. There are 20-30 crabbing machines altogether, in which the cloth is passed through hot water and then into cylinders for steaming. For those not used to this department, the escaping steam makes it almost suffocating. These new crabbing machines complete their job in 20 minutes, compared with 12-24 hours of boiling the cloth before their invention! The cloth is then dried in more cylinders (the heat is dry, but provided by steam), and 50 yards of cloth can be dried in just a couple of minutes!

The singeing process is next. The singeing machines look like large furnaces, as large fires beneath the machines heat the iron or copper plates to the red-hot stage. The cloth is wound round cylinders and passed very quickly over these hot plates, without any damage from the flames. On leaving the singeing machines

  the fabric is perfectly smooth and has a beautiful gloss. The room is built from iron, stone and slate, with no wood being used in the construction. This room was built after the old singeing shed burnt down in 1853. Once cooled, the cloth is ready for dyeing.

There are three separate dyeing departments - one for black dyeing, one for indigo blue dyeing, and one for pattern dyeing (where any shade of dye of the merchants' choice is used). We do not know the dyeing processes, but we do know that they are result of careful scientific research. The company has no rivals in some processes, including black dyeing and mohair dyeing.

After being dyed and dried, the cloth goes into the 'overlooking' room. Here the colours are inspected and matched with the pattern. Next is the 'tentering' department, where machines stretch the cloth to the width the merchants want.

The cloth goes to the press shop, where 20-30 machines are used for steam pressing. In the 'making up' department, the newly coloured cloth is put into parcels for each merchant before it leaves the dyeworks.