neck pillows

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neck pillows - Textiles are classified according to their component fibers into si_lk, wool, linen, cotton, such synthetic fibers as rayon, nylon, and polyesters, and some inorganic fibers, such as cloth of gold, glass fiber, and asbestos cloth. They are also classified as to their structure or weave, according to the manner in which warp and weft cross each other in the loom (see loom; weaving). Value or quality in textiles depends on several factors, such as the quality of the raw material used and the character of the yarn spun from the fibers, whether clean, smooth, fine, or coarse and whether hard, soft, or medium twisted. Density of weave and finishing processes are also important elements in determining the quality of fabrics. Tapestry, sometimes classed as embroidery, is a modified form of plain cloth weaving. The weaving of carpet and rugs is a special branch of the textile industry. Other specially prepared fabrics not woven are felt and bark (or tapa) cloth, which are beaten or matted together, and a few in which a single thread is looped or plaited, as in crochet and netting work and various laces. Most textiles are now produced in factories, with highly specialized power looms, but many of the finest velvets, brocades, and table linens are still made by hand. Textile printing, the various processes by which fabrics are printed in colored design, is an ancient art. Although the time and place of origin are uncertain, examples of Greek fabrics from the 4th cent. B. C. have been found. India exported block prints to the Mediterranean region in the 5th cent. B. C. , and Indian chintz was imported into Europe duri_ng the Renaissance and widely imitated. France became a leading center and was noted especially for the toile de Jouy manufactured at Jouy from 1760 to 1811. Early forms of textile printing are stencil work, highly developed by Japanese artists, and block printing. In the latter method a block of wood, copper, or other material beari_ng a design in intaglio with the dye paste applied to the surface is pressed on the fabric and struck with a mallet. A separate block is used for each color, and pitch pins at the corners guide the placing of the blocks to assure accurate repeating of the pattern. In cylinder or roller printing, developed c. 1785, the fabric is carried on a rotating central cylinder and pressed by a series of rollers each beari_ng one color. The design is engraved on the copper rollers by hand or machine pressure or etched by pantograph or photoengraving methods; the color paste is applied to the rollers through feed rollers rotating in a color box, the color being scraped off the smooth portion of the rollers with knives. More recent printing processes include screen printing, a hand method especially suitable for large patterns with soft outlines, in which screens, one for each color, are placed on the fabric and the color paste pressed through by a wooden squeegee; spray printing, in which a spray gun forces the color through a screen; and electrocoating, used to apply a patterned pile. Color may be applied by the various processes directly; by the discharge method, which uses chemicals to destroy a portion of a previously dyed ground; or by the resist, or reserve, method, which prevents the development of a subsequently applied color to a portion of the fabric treated with a chemical or with a mechanical resist. Yarn, fabrics, and tools for spinning and

weaving have been found among the earliest relics of human habitations. Linen fabrics dating from 5000 B. C. have been discovered in Egypt. Woolen textiles from the early Bronze Age in Scandinavia and Switzerland have also been found. Cotton has been spun and woven in India since 3000 B. C. , and si_lk has been woven in China since at least 1000 B. C. About the 4th cent. A. D. , Constantinople began to weave the raw si_lk imported from China. A century later si_lk culture spread to the Western countries, and textile making developed rapidly. By the 14th cent. splendid fabrics were being woven on the hand looms of the Mediterranean countries in practically all the basic structures known to modern artisans, and there has been no change in fundamental processes since that time, although methods and equipment have been radically altered. Synthetic fibers made from cellulose or textiles woven from such fibers; more rayon is manufactured than any other synthetic fiber. The name was adopted (1924), in preference to artificial si_lk, by the U. S. Dept. of Commerce and various commercial associations. As early as 1665 the English naturalist Robert Hooke had suggested the possibility of making artificial si_lk, but the first artificial textile fiber was produced in 1884 by a French scientist, Hilaire de Chardonnet, and was manufactured by him in 1889. Unpopular at first because it was too lustrous and laundered poorly, it has been steadily improved. Cellulose, originally from cotton linters but now chiefly from wood pulp, washed, bleached, and pressed into sheets, is dissolved by chemicals, then forced under pressure through minute holes in a metal cap (spinneret), emerging as filaments that unite to form one continuous strand solidified by passage through a suitable liquid or warm air. The spinning solution may be forced through a larger orifice or slit to produce a monofilament, a ribbon, or a sheet. Filaments are doubled and twisted into smooth, si_lklike yarns or cut into staple lengths and spun. Spun rayon can be treated to simulate wool, linen, or cotton. There are four methods of manufacturi_ng rayon, using different materials and processes. In the nitrocellulose process developed by Chardonnet, no longer of commercial importance, cellulose is treated with nitric and sulf_uric acids. In the viscose process discovered in 1892, it is treated with carbon disulfide, then dissolved in caustic soda, forced through a spinneret, and hardened in sulf_uric acid. Viscose rayon is the most important type commercially, being used in most kinds of weari_ng apparel, f_urniture fabric, and carpets. For cuprammonium rayon, the cellulose is dissolved in copper oxide and ammonia, forced through holes larger than the intended diameter, then, by a process known as stretch spinning, is elongated and twisted under tension to yield a very fine, strong yarn used for sheer fabrics and hosiery. Rayon produced by these three methods is classified as regenerated, since the final product, like the original material, is cellulose. The fourth type, saponified acetate rayon, originated in England in 1918, is an acetate derivative of cellulose made by steeping cellulose in acetic acid, then treating it with acetic anhydride. Acetate rayon is more resistant to stains and creasing, is plasticized by heat, and requires special dyes, thus allowing two-tone effects with a single dye when acetate is combined with other fibers.

neck pillows