Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Admixture

While doing some research on Vicki Betts website, about knitting for the soldiers I came across the word "admixture"

Memphis Daily Appeal, August 8, 1861
"Exertions should be made to gather up all the wool that can possibly be obtained, and if necessary, with a little admixture of cotton which will be plentiful—let it be knit into socks and woven into a stout and durable material, suitable for warm and comfortable clothing.

The OED defines admixture as:

admixture, n.
The action or process of mingling one substance with another, or of adding as an ingredient; the fact of being so mingled. 

Savannah Republican, November 14, 1862, also makes mention of mixing fibres.
"to say nothing of the wool locked up in mattresses—were picked to pieces, and carded with cotton, they would probably suffice to furnish more than half the socks now needed by our soldiers.  True, the staple will be found short and crisp, and probably the barbs of the wool would be worn smooth, but these defects will be met and remedied, in part, by mixing the wool with cotton"  

More.... 

The Repertory of patent inventions: and other discoveries and improvements in arts, manufactures, and agriculture; being a continuation, on an enlarged plan, of the Repertory of arts & manufactures 1862

Specification of the Patent granted to Charles Samuel Henry Hartog, of Norfolk-street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, for Improvements in the Preparation and Treatment of Vegetable Fibres, the better to Adapt them for Combing, Working up, and Dyeing with Different Fibres, such as Silk, Wool, Cotton, and others, and in Apparatus used in such Treatment or Preparation.-Dated December 4, 1861.

[notice it says “Improvements in the Preparation…”, improvements in means this is not a “new” concept]

“These improvements consist, first, in producing and preparing vegetable fibres of a silky and woolly nature suitable for admixing, spinning, and working up with animal wool and hair, shoddy and mungo wools, silk, cotton, or other different fibres,…”

http://books.google.com/books?id=LQALAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA308&dq=%22admixed+wool%22&hl=en&ei=NlbETfeAFsPW0QH4srX-Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

and YES there is more to come...


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