Wool cards

Lowland sheep produce short curly wool which was prepared by carding.  The wool was placed on one card and the teeth of the other drawn against it.  The fibres were then rolled up into a 'rolag' ready for spinning.  This produced a yarn that was soft, elastic and fluffy.   During the second half of the 1700s successful attempts were made to mechanise carding.  A rotating carding engine was produced and gradually the preperation of wool for spinning became a factory basic.