Linens. Flax, like wool, has been used as a material for woven fabrics from a very remote period. Not only are there frequent references to linen in the Bible and other ancient records, but, owing to the wonderful durability of the fibre, many linen mummy-cloths of great age and some of extremely fine texture have been found in Egypt. That country must have been long celebrated for its linens, because it is known that some of the finest sorts used by the ancient Greeks and Romans were woven on Egyptian looms. Just before the Christian era the cultivation of flax was extensive in Italy, and it was probably by the Romans that the growth of flax for textile purposes was introduced into Britain. Since that time the art of spinning and weaving this fibre by primitive methods has no doubt been continuously practised in countries that were occupied by the Romans, and at all events it can be traced over the greater part of Europe from the 6th or 7th century, till in comparatively recent times it almost entirely ceased to be a domestic industry, and became located in certain centres as an important textile manufacture. Interesting specimens of figured stuffs, such as Damask (q.v.), composed entirely of linen and also of silk and linen, and made in Italy and Spain as early as the 14th century, may be seen in one or two industrial art museums in England and on the Continent. The ground of the celebrated Bayeux Tapestry (q.v.), made in the 11th century, is of linen, which, by means of careful cleaning, is now of an almost snow-white colour.
Flanders seems to have acquired some celebrity for the weaving of table-linen as early as the 11th century, and from that time till long afterwards Flemish weavers were occasionally settling in England. Among the Huguenots, who in the 17th century sought refuge in England and other countries, were many workmen skilled in the making of linen fabrics, and these artisans did much to help this and other industries wherever they settled. A government board of manufactures was established in Ireland in 1711, and another in Scotland in 1727, both of which, by a system of bounties, encouraged the linen trade in several ways. In England the linen manufacture was also assisted by bounties, which did not finally cease till 1832. The year 1787 marks the first introduction of a mill for spinning linen-yarn by machinery in the United Kingdom. It was built at Darlington, and the patentees of the machines were J. Kendrew and T. Porthouse. In Scotland the first flax spinning-mill was erected near Glamis in 1790, and one or two others were set agoing in Fife very soon afterwards. Although the powerloom of Cartwright was applied to the weaving of cotton in 1785, it was not till 1812 that the first factory, which had any real success, for weaving linen by power, was established by C. Turner & Co. of Limehouse, London. Speaking generally, the improvements in the machines for spinning and weaving cotton have been more rapid than in those employed for the manufacture of linen.
Heckling.—The preparation of the fibre of the flax-plant into the state in which it is sent to spinning-mills is described under the heading FLAX. At the mill it gets a rough sorting, and is then heckled, a process which has been in use for centuries. A hand heckle is an oblong stock of wood studded with strong steel teeth about 7 inches long in the case of the first or 'ruffer' heckle. The heckler takes a handful or strick of flax by the middle and draws the root end several times through the teeth. He then turns the strick, and in the same way heckles the opposite end. The flax is next similarly treated on a heckle with finer teeth, and if it is to be spun into fine yarn it is further combed on still finer heckles. The object of the process is to separate the flax into two portions—viz. 'line,' which is the long and best portion, and 'tow,' which is the short and ravelled portion. What are called vertical sheet-heckling machines are now extensively employed. This kind of machine consists of endless leather sheets moving over rollers placed at some distance apart with proper driving-gear. A number of heckle-stocks, placed at regular intervals, are fixed on the surface of these sheets or bands, two of which are placed opposite to, and so near each other that their respective heckle-pins intersect where the actual heckling takes place. At this part of their course the sheets move in a nearly vertical direction downwards, and heckle the flax, which is fixed in a holder and hangs down between the sheets. There are other kinds of heckling-machines.
Preparing.—After the heckling, the flax 'line' is carefully sorted into qualities, and then undergoes a treatment on certain machines called 'preparing.' These are of the same nature as the machines used in the corresponding stages of the spinning of jute, under which head they are briefly noticed; but they will be more fully described under SPINNING. They are (1) the spreading-frame, where the flax is first formed into a continuous ribbon or sliver. (2) The drawing-frames, on each of which this sliver is 'doubled' and drawn out by rollers through travelling gills with steel teeth, a similar arrangement forming part of the spreading-frame. There are generally three, and occasionally four, drawing-frames, each successive frame having finer gill teeth than the one before it, and from eight to fifteen slivers delivered by one of these machines are drawn out into one sliver by the next. The object of so much doubling and drawing is to produce a sliver of very uniform size throughout, and with the fibres all parallel. (3) The roving-frame through which the sliver is passed singly; it is so far similar to the drawing-frame in construction, but with a flyer and bobbin for the now greatly attenuated sliver, which is slightly twisted by the former and wound upon the latter. Flax-tow is carded in the same way as Jute (q.v.), and then goes through the preparing processes just described.
Spinning.—The 'rove' or 'rovings' are spun into yarn on the 'throstle' invented by Arkwright. This machine is also used in spinning cotton, and it does not differ in principle for either fibre (see SPINNING). A peculiarity in flax-spinning is that for all fine yarns the fibre is spun wet—the temperature of the water used being 120° F. By this treatment a given weight of flax can be spun into a much greater length than formerly, and a better yarn is produced. Dry spinning is, however, adopted for coarse and heavy yarns.
Weaving.—The hand-loom is still applied, to some extent, to the weaving of fine linens, but for linen fabrics generally the power-loom is in almost universal use. It was found to be a much more difficult task to adapt the power-loom to linen than to cotton owing to the want of elasticity in flax-yarn. The construction of looms is explained under WEAVING, and the bleaching and calendering of linen and other fabrics are described under these several heads.
Linen is manufactured in most European countries, but on the Continent the industry attains much importance only in France, Belgium, and Germany. The neighbourhood of Courtrai in Belgium, and Westphalia in Germany, have long had a reputation for producing yarns of extreme fineness for costly lace. France is celebrated for her cambrics and beautiful damasks. In the United Kingdom the finest linens are made at Belfast and other places in Ulster, the classes of goods made being lawn and cambric handkerchiefs, surplice linens, printed linens for dresses, damask table-linen, shirtings, sheetings, and towellings. At Dunfermline and several other places in Fife, Scotland, linen damasks, diaper towelling, and plainer fabrics of medium weight are largely manufactured, upholstery linen being chiefly made at Kirkcaldy. Linen goods of similar character are extensively woven at Barnsley, in Yorkshire. Heavy fabrics, such as sailcloth, canvas, and sacking, are made at Dundee, Arbroath, and a few more Forfarshire towns.
Of our great textile manufactures the making of linen fabrics is the only one that shows signs of becoming a contracting industry. For several kinds of heavy goods it has to compete with jute, and for certain medium and fine fabrics with cotton. Compared with these, linen is a costly textile, and its advantages of strength, glossiness, and, in the fine qualities, of not being easily soiled seem insufficient to keep up the former demand for it for some purposes. The great fault of flax is that the steeping process does not remove all the natural gum in the fibre. It has been stated by experts of high standing that, if the gum could be completely taken out by some inexpensive process, there is no reason why flax should not be spun as easily as cotton. For some fabrics, such as sheetings, which not many years ago were most largely made of linen, cotton, owing to its greater warmth and cheapness, is now preferred; and for others, such as damasks, the two materials are of late years often used together.
The total annual value of the linen manufactures exported from the United Kingdom has for some years past averaged between five and six million pounds sterling.
The manufacture of linen in the United States has never been extensive, the limited quantity of flax grown there being raised more for the seed than the fibre.