On one side of the partition, the
tub is raised in a half-circle, close to which revolves an iron roll
about three or four feet in diameter, and covered with knives; in the
bottom of the tub, and directly under the revolving roll, is another set
of knives called a "bed-plate," which is stationary, and against which
the roll can be lowered. But let us not anticipate. When the emptyings
from the boiler have been thrown into the "washer," a continuous stream
of water is turned in at one end, the knife-roll having been adjusted so
as to open up the rags as they are set in motion. These then begin a
lively chase around the edge of the vat, through the race-course formed
by the "mid-feather," and under the rag-opening knives, where the water
is given a chance to wash out all impurities, then on up the incline
over the "back-fall," so-called from the elevation in the tub. A
cylinder of wire-cloth, partly immersed in the moving mass, holds back
the now rapidly whitening fibers, while the dirty water escapes into
buckets inside the wire-cloth drum, and is discharged into and through
an escape-spout.
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