Felt Manufacturing

FELT MANUFACTURING comprises a series of separate industries in which the main process is the fulling of wool and down of various animals; the greatest practical importance is held by the felt-manufacturing, felt-boot-manufacturing, and hat-making industries, in the latter of which the danger of mercury poisoning acquires special significance. The first two industries are generally quite similar. Felt manufacturing in its first stage (processes of teasing, mixing, carding) resembles the coarse-cloth manufacturing industry; as for the subsequent operations (fulling, washing, drying, etc.), they are very similar to those in the felt-boot manufacturing industry, which represents a very significantly developed branch of cottage industry. Almost all processes here are performed manually; the few existing factories we have only in recent years begun to mechanize individual processes, and in this respect significant results have been achieved in some places (for example, at the Krasny Postavshchik factory in Moscow). This production consists of the following operations: 1) preparation of the material—separating the wool with a small bow or combing on a machine; 2) wadding—initial felting into a loose web; 3) initial formation of footwear by felting the felt webs; 4) pickling—treatment in a 1% sulfuric acid solution; 5) processing in the fulling tub—the most essential moment; here the boot is already formed. Next follow wringing, drying, and final finishing. The first two operations are particularly dusty processes—they emit a great deal of dust consisting of small wool fibers with a huge amount of mineral impurities (for example, in Kazan at the Galaktionov factory, up to 200–300 mg of dust per cubic meter of air was found during carding). The subsequent processes, mainly in the fulling tub, are extremely unfavorable from a sanitary and hygienic standpoint: the work, associated with very great physical stress, is carried out at high temperatures (the water in the fulling tub boilers boils all the time), and the atmosphere is saturated with water vapor; the workers usually work here naked; from constant contact with the hot liquid to which acid has been added, cracks and widespread callosities form on the palms, often giving rise to suppuration. Finally, all the work from beginning to the end is extremely dirty in nature: all the time one has to manipulate dirty, completely unwashed, and undisinfected wool. Numerous cases of anthrax infection among felt-maker workers were reported even in the pre-war period by Dr. Loshilov. The impact of these hazards is further greatly aggravated by the fact that production is largely of a cottage-industry nature. The work is carried out in peasant premises that are completely unsuitable for production, under incredibly unsanitary conditions. In villages, production is seasonal, and migrant workers usually eat and sleep right there in the workspaces. To improve this industry, it should, if possible, be concentrated in larger factories, and where it remains a cottage industry, the premises must meet certain minimum general sanitary requirements. A number of processes, mainly fulling, can and should be mechanized (such machines successfully operate at the Krasny Postavshchik factory). The wool going into work must be preliminarily disinfected and cleaned of dust.