Connecticut Water Trails Association
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Connecticut Water Trails Association |
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Connecticut Water Trails Program History Of Connecticut's Water Trails History of Mills In Connecticut
About Fulling
Before the invention of scribbling and spinning mills in the late 18th century, fulling was the only mechanical process in the manufacture of cloth.
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen
cloth making which involves the cleansing of cloth (particularly wool) to
eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker.
Fulling involves two
processes - scouring and milling (thickening).
The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or
walker
Fulling involves two processes—scouring and milling (thickening). These are followed by stretching the cloth on great frames known as tenters and held onto those frames by tenterhooks. It is from this process that we derive the phrase being on tenterhooks as meaning to be held in suspense. The area where the tenters were erected was known as a tenterground.
Originally, this was literally pounding the
cloth with the fuller's feet (whence the description of them as
'walkers'), or hands, or a club. From the medieval period, however, it
often was carried out in a water mill.
Scouring
This involved washing the material to be used.
Thickening
The second function of fulling was to thicken cloth, by matting the fibers together to give it strength. By matting the fibers together to give it strength and increase waterproofing (felting). This was vital in the case of woollens, made from short staple wool, but not for worsted materials made from long staple wool. After this stage, water was used to rinse out the foul smelling liquor used during cleansing.
History
From the medieval period, the
fulling of cloth often was undertaken in a water mill, known as a fulling
mill, a walk mill, or a tuck mill. In Wales, a fulling mill is called a
pandy. In these, the cloth was beaten with wooden hammers, known as
fulling stocks. Fulling stocks were of two kinds, falling stocks
(operating vertically) that were used only for scouring, and driving or
hanging stocks. In both cases the machinery was operated by cams on the
shaft of a waterwheel or on a tappet wheel, which lifted the hammer.
Driving stocks were pivotted so that the 'foot' (the head of the hammer) struck the cloth almost horizontally. The stock had a tub holding the liquor and cloth. This was somewhat rounded on the side away from the hammer, so that the cloth gradually turned, ensuring that all parts of it were milled evenly. However, the cloth was taken out about every two hours to undo plaits and wrinkles. The 'foot' was approximately triangular in shape, with notches to assist the turning of the cloth.
Fulling Mills In Connecticut:
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