Cheney Stereoviews Collection (24 of
)
After the flags are taken from the dressing machine they are carefully inspected and the remaining impurities are removed by hand. This view shows the inspection of the flags. The work is done in a dark room upon a plate of glass lighted from below. The inspector spreads out the flags on this glass and any dirt, or other impurity not removed by the dressing machine, becomes plainly visible. The inspector then can easily pick out whatever impurities are left.
Piles of flags are here shown on the glass table on either side of the inspector, as well as larger piles on the shelf above. The pouches on the wall are depositories for the refuse collected during the process of inspection.
In the discussion of the manufacture of waste silk, we can turn aside for a brief study of the wild silks which constitute one of the sources from which waste silk may be derived. As mentioned in descriptions of previous views of this set the manufacture of waste or spun silk is carried on in a very different manner from that of the manufacture of reeled silk. The wild silks come from various insects which spin cocoons very similar to the mulberry silkworm. Of these moths producing wild silks, some feed on oak leaves while others thrive on the regular mulberry leaves. The wild silk moths are found chiefly in Southeastern Asia. They have not been successfully reared in European climates.
