Fiberweaving

Label from an 'Acrilan' fibre blanket made by Smith and Philips' for Horrockses.

Needlepunch weaving
Needlepunch weaving was first invented in the late 19th century. The method involved incorporating the web of fibres produced by a carding engine into a mat to make a felt-like type of cloth. This was achieved by a series of barbed needles set in pairs which carried the fibres into the 'mat' causing them to interlock and be held in place by entanglement. Needlepunch production avoided the spinning and warping processes entirely.

Several systems were in place to produce needlepunch fabric. These were, however, improved on by Chatham Manufacturing of Elkin, South Carolina, USA, where Alexander Smith developed an improved method which became known as the Fiberweaving process. Fiberweaving used needles which were worked from both sides of the cloth and were set at an angle to produce better entanglement by looping the fibres more firmly together. The process was suitable for both wool and man-made fibres; however the cheaper and more uniform man-made fibres were mostly commonly used. A Fiberweaving loom was fed directly and continuously from a carding engine. The machinery was so quick that four carding engines were required to feed a single loom.

Fiberweaving and Early's
Contacts were first made between Early's and Chatham's in the 1930s, then later in the 1950s. In 1962 Huge Chatham visited Witney and showed Early's some cloth produced by the Fiberweaving process. This led to Early's agreeing to take up a licence for the process, and was the start of a long term relationship between Chatham's and Early's which improved and developed the Fiberweaving mechanism and ironed out many design problems. It also resulted in improvements to the whole production line including the carding and dyeing processes.

Lorry in the USA loaded with the first Fiberweaver for Early's (copyright Mike French).

The production lines
The first machinery and production line was established in 1964 at Marriott's Mount Mills. At first one machine was introduced but this was so successful that it could not produce enough blankets. Encouraged by this, Courtauld's, who at the time held a third of Early's shares, supported the introduction of four more lines. The fifth however was little used and finally became used for spare parts. Courtauld's were also influential in the Fiberweaving development as they developed the yarns which were used in the Fiberweavers.

Fiberweavers increased blanket production from one every two hours to one per minute but to do so they had to work continuously and uniformly for long periods. This required continuous production lines to be set up at considerable capital investment. Particular attention had to be paid to the feed mechanism as this influenced the quality and uniformity of the finished product. The uniformity was aided by the use of man-made fibres which were standard lengths and were cleaner and cheaper than natural fibres.

Because the process had not proved itself the first line had to be setup up as cheaply as possible. This was done by using four second hand carding machines, four cross-folders and a long conveyor.

Initially dyeing proved a nightmare due to the amount of cloth to be handled, 500 yards of cloth coming off the Fiberweaving lines at one time. Eventually Chatham's produced a continuous dyeing and washing plant which Early's adopted and which solved the dying problems. The pad dyeing machine dipped the fabric into bath of dye then squeezed it at an even pressure. The colour was fixed in a steamer and the fabric then washed by the Artos washer which washed out surplus dye. Next in the line was a long stenter used to dry the fabric and fix the dye, which was heated by a Beverly boiler. At the end of the line at Mount Mills rolls of blanketing were crated for transport to the Witney Mill site for raising in a tandem gig before going to the cutting table to be cut up into individual blankets and going through the finishing process.

A perennial problem was the breaking down of the Fiberweaving machinery. Usually it was the assembly which carried the punch needles that cracked, as it was working at very high speed and often suffered from metal fatigue, a problem latter overcome by a shot blasting technique that had a beneficial effect on the metallurgy. Each breakdown put a line out of action for at least 24 hours and longer if parts had to be brought from America.

The staff
Mike French, an engineer at Early's, remembers being present at the arrival of the first Fiberweaving machine as it was unloaded at Mount Mills and wheeled inside. He was part of the team involved in setting up the new lines. The introduction of the first machine was surrounded with great secrecy to prevent industrial espionage; the staff erecting and operating the machinery were sworn to secrecy so they would not give information about it away to other factories. This gave the Fiberweavers something of an air of superiority within the mill especially as they were established at Mount Mills away from the rest of the production site. This was added to by the fact that the highly mechanised Fiberweaving line when running did not need constant physical attention, just supervision, unlike conventional loom operation. This attitude changed some what after the Fiberweaving lines moved to Witney Mill and the workforces were amalgamated.

The increased production from the Fiberweaving lines bought with it a consequential reduction in labour demand. A line was run by three men: the loom operator ran the loom and changed the rolls of woven cloth, and one or two other men fed the hopper and made sure that the fabric was fed in evenly.

One estimate is that about a third of Early's staff were lost, another is that 100 out of 500-600 were lost. These losses were achieved mainly by natural wastage. The positive side of this, however, was an improvement in pay and conditions for those that were left.

Increased production and new markets

Early's Fiberwoven blanket with printed pattern.

New products
Fiberweaving was like a second industrial revolution for the blanket industry. Not only did total production increase but so did the speed of manufacture. The use of man-made fibres was greatly increased and a wider range of products could now be made from the same weaving lines.

For Early's this was particularly important as 'technical products' were developed alongside blanket production. These included carpeting and carpet tiles, which became a major product. 'Warlord' carpet was an industrial product for use in offices and schools, which was made as carpet tiles that were used for computer room flooring and panelling due to their antistatic quality. Slipper cloth also became an important product, this was used to make the uppers of house slippers. Corn plasters were produced in great numbers as was felt lining for Scholl shoes. Incontinence pads were another successful product; these were made by bonding together two qualities of different fabric types. Fireproof blankets were made; these won an award but had no long-term success as a product. Fire retardant seat covers for aircraft and trains were more successful.

Of the four production lines in operation at Early's one was employed making non-blanket products.