Steaming process in Lancashire cotton mills: Difference between revisions

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Background: Details on how Steaming was started- and contemporary medical knowledge
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==Background==
[[Warp (weaving)|Warp]] yarns were strengthened by the addition of [[sizing|size]] – a substance made from [[Wheat flour|flour]] and [[tallow]] or [[china clay]]. High [[humidity]] was required to weave sized yarn without it breaking and to minimise the size dust in the air.{{sfn|Greenlees|2004}} This humiditywas especially important when the companies were forced to use Indian [[Surat cotton]] instead of [[Sea Island cotton]] from [[South Carolina]] in 1862 during the [[American Civil War]]. The war occurred at a time market collapse, and the resulting [[Cotton famine]] caused speculation and restructuring. [[American Cotton]] was frequentlythen achievedsubject byto injectinga steamblockade, throughand pipesalthough some long staple cotton was grown along the Nile (being called [[Egyptian cotton]]), short staple Surat was introduced into the weavingmix shedsin most Lancashire mills.{{sfn|FowlerFarnie|20031979|ppp=138-149}} TheThis resultingwas dampfar conditionsharder causedto considerableweave- discomfortand tothe weavers, who were paid by the [[Fourpiece Loom Weaverwork|cotton workerspiece]], gladly accepted the artificially induced humidity.
Humidity was frequently achieved by injecting steam through pipes into the weaving sheds.{{sfn|Fowler|2003|p=149}} The resulting damp conditions caused health risks and considerable discomfort to [[Four Loom Weaver|cotton workers]]. The water was recycled creating favourable conditions for the propagation of contagious diseases and the accumulation of toxic substances in dyes. [[Robert Koch]] discovered the [[tubercule bacillus]] in 1882 though how they were transmitted was not understood.{{sfn|Greenlees|2004}}
 
=== Cotton Cloth Factory Act 1889 ===
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The controversy continued until the late 1920s, the ''Home Office Report of the Departmental Committee on Artificial Humidity in Cotton Cloth Factories'', J. Jackson 1928, recommended that, for comfort, steaming should cease when the hygrometer wet bulb reached 72.5%. This became law under the Cotton Cloth Factories Act of 1929. Despite previous beliefs, the report concluded that there was no evidence that humid sheds were less healthy than dry sheds and that to abolish steaming would hinder trade by increasing manufacturing costs.{{sfn|Hopwood|1969|p=72}}`
 
==See also==
[[Shuttle kissing]]
 
==References==