weaving preceded that of spinning, and it must further be conceded that the art of felting preceded that of weaving, so that the felt fabric is probably one of the oldest of the various styles of recognized fabrics. The inhabitants of the middle and northern regions of Asia seem to have employed felt from time immemorial, as clothing and also as a covering for their habitations. Most of the classical writers refer to it and some of them actually describe its manufacture. Felt was also largely employed by the ancients for their hats, outer garments, and sometimes as a species of armour.
Fibre felts may be divided into three classes, viz. ordinary felts; hat felts; and impregnated felts. As all felts are based upon the ordinary felt, the process of manufacture of this will first be described. Of the wools employed the principal are:—East Indian, German or mid-European, New Zealand cross-breds, and Australian, Cape and Buenos Aires merinos. Vegetable fibres and silk are also employed, but wool must be used to “carry” them; thus a good felting wool may be made to carry its own weight of cotton, hemp, &c. Hairs and furs are principally used in the hat felts. The average loss upon the wool from the raw state to the finished felt is 40 to 50%. The order of the manufacturing processes is as follows:—mixing, willowing, teasing, scribbling and carding. It is interesting to note that it is not usual to scour felting wools. This is not because they are really clean—some are dirty—but because the felting property is liable to be interfered with in the scouring operation. Some wools, however, must be scoured to ensure satisfactory working in the machines. From the card the wool is delivered as a gossamer-like film from 50 to 60 in. wide on to an endless sheet from 30 to 60 yds. long, upon which the felt is built up film upon film until the required thickness—perhaps 4 in.—is obtained. To harden this somewhat tender sheet of felt it is now passed through an ironing process, effected by either steam-heated rollers—to which a rotatory and vibratory motion is given—playing upon the continually drawn-through cloth; or a huge vibrating flat-iron, to which the cloth is automatically fed, held in position and then wound up while the following length to be treated is drawn under the iron. Soaping, fulling or “felting” and the ordinary finishing operations—including dyeing and printing if desirable—now follow, so that ultimately a strong firm fabric is turned out. It must be admitted, however, that the strength is much greater lengthwise than cross-wise, owing to the parallelization of the fibres induced in the scribbling and carding operations. Of course, the true felting or contraction occurs in the fulling or felting stock, the fabric being perpetually “hammered” in the presence of fulling agents such as soap, fuller’s earth, &c., for a considerable time. The reduction in width, length and thickness is remarkable. This may be controlled within certain limits. The principal styles of ordinary fibre-felts are—linings for coats, furniture and rubber shoes; saddlery; seatings for carriages and pews; carpets, surrounds and under-felts for carpets; mantles, dresses and table-cloths; felt-slippers; mattress felts; chest-preservers, and shoulder-pads; steam-engine packing, motor-car and anti-vibration felts, shipbuilding felts; drawing-roller felts and gun-wad felts.
Hat felts may be divided into two classes, viz. those made from wool and fur respectively. Wool “bodies” used for the lower quality hats are manufactured in the same way as ordinary felts, but the “shape” upon which the film issuing from the carder is built up takes the form of a double cone and thus approximates to the shape of the two hats ultimately formed. The shape is further controlled and developed in the fulling or felting operation. In the fur hat felts an air-blast is employed to carry the finely separated fibres on to the shape required, upon which shape the fibres are held in position by suction until the required thickness is obtained. The structure is then further developed and “stiffened,” i.e. impregnated with certain stiffening agents according to requirements. If desirable the exterior fibres blown on to any shape may be of a different material from the body fabric.
Impregnated felts are simply felts made in the ordinary way but subsequently impregnated with certain agents which give a special quality to the fabric. Messrs McNeill & Co., of London, were the originators of “asphalted-felt” for roofing and, among other styles, place on the market sheathing felt, inodorous felt, dry hair felt, foundation felt, &c., &c. A later development, however, is the impregnated iron-felt manufactured by Messrs Mitchells, Ashworth, Stansfield & Co., of Waterfoot, near Manchester, who not only produce from 70 to 80% of the ordinary felts manufactured in Great Britain, but also place on the market several specialties of which this “iron-felt” is largely used in the construction of bridges, &c., and as a substitute for rubber, it being apparently more durable. (A. F. B.)
FELTHAM, or Felltham, OWEN (d. 1668), English moralist,
was the son of Thomas Feltham or Felltham of Mutford in Suffolk.
The date of his birth is given variously as 1602 and 1609. He is
famous chiefly as the author of a volume entitled Resolves, Divine,
Moral and Political, containing one hundred short and pithy
essays. To later issues of the Resolves Feltham appended
Lusoria, a collection of forty poems. Hardly anything is known
of his life except that T. Randolph, the adopted “son” of Ben
Jonson, addressed a poem of compliment to him, and became his
friend, and that Feltham attacked Ben Jonson in an ode shortly
before the aged poet’s death, but contributed a flattering elegy to
the Jonsonus Virbius in 1638. Early in life Feltham visited
Flanders, and published observations in 1652 under the title of
A Brief Character of the Low Countries. He was a strict high-churchman
and a royalist; he even described Charles I. as
“Christ the Second.” Hallam stigmatized Feltham as one of
our worst writers. He has not, indeed, the elegance of Bacon,
whom he emulated, and he is often obscure and affected; but
his copious imagery and genuine penetration give his reflections
a certain charm. To the middle classes of the 17th century
he seemed a heaven-sent philosopher and guide, and was only
less popular than Francis Quarles the poet.
Eleven editions of the Resolves appeared before 1700. Later. editions by James Cumming (London, 1806; much garbled; has account of Feltham’s life and writings), and O. Smeaton in “Temple Classics” series (London, 1904).
FELTON, CORNELIUS CONWAY (1807–1862), American
classical scholar, was born on the 6th of November 1807, in West
Newbury, Massachusetts. He graduated at Harvard College in
1827, having taught school in the winter vacations of his sophomore
and junior years. After teaching in the Livingstone high
school of Geneseo, New York, for two years, he became tutor at
Harvard in 1829, university professor of Greek in 1832, and
Eliot professor of Greek literature in 1834. In 1860 he succeeded
James Walker as president of Harvard, which position he held
until his death, at Chester, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February
1862. Dr Felton edited many classical texts. His annotations
on Wolf’s text of the Iliad (1833) are especially valuable.
Greece, Ancient and Modern (2 vols., 1867), forty-nine lectures
before the Lowell Institute, is scholarly, able and suggestive of
the author’s personality. Among his miscellaneous publications
are the American edition of Sir William Smith’s History of
Greece (1855); translations of Menzel’s German Literature (1840),
of Munk’s Metres of the Greeks and Romans (1844), and of Guyot’s
Earth and Man (1849); and Familiar Letters from Europe (1865).
FELTON, JOHN (c. 1595–1628), assassin of the 1st duke of
Buckingham, was a member of an old Suffolk family established
at Playford. The date of his birth and the name of his father are
unknown, but his mother was Eleanor, daughter of William
Wright, mayor of Durham. He entered the army, and served
as lieutenant in the expedition to Cadiz commanded by Sir
Edward Cecil in 1625. His career seems to have been ill-starred
and unfortunate from the beginning. His left hand was early
disabled by a wound, and a morose temper rendered him unpopular
and prevented his advancement. Every application made
to Buckingham for his promotion was refused, on account of an
enmity, according to Sir Simonds D’Ewes, which existed between
Felton and Sir Henry Hungate, a favourite of Buckingham. To
his personal application that he could not live without a captaincy
Buckingham replied harshly “that he might hang.” Whether he
