As we near the middle of February, with Spring on the horizon, we can report on progress at the mill. In this blog, we share research into, and some technical information about, Highland Wool’s Carder “Caroline”, by Donald Gillies, who is overseeing the carder's repair.
The Carder, Carding Engine, Carding Machine, or just “Card” was manufactured by S. Walker and Sons, Machinists, Radcliffe at some time between late 19th and early 20th Century. The design changed very little between these approximate dates. In 1944, the Company changed its name to S. Walker & Sons (Mansfield) Limited, and subsequently goes into liquidation around 2006, we are still attempting to trace records before this still date, records were restored in 2016.
Further research is ongoing to establish its early history, but as most of the manufacturers, and wool / fibre processers, are gone from the UK, and equipment is now mostly made in the Far East (China) or Europe (Italy, Germany) and even Canada, the many firms that once supported the huge textile industry in Scotland and England have also gone.
Estimates on date of manufacture by any Carding Engineers currently available (from the 1970/80’s apprenticeships), who remember working on similar machines, put it at around 110 -120 years old. The style is referred to as a “Tatham Style” and a “Narrow Sample “ size machine, which would have been part of a “Semi Continental Card Set”. Most Carding Engines are grouped in multiple units, each one duplicating or refining the working as impurities are removed from the wool fibres - indeed any fibre, as all textiles go through a similar mechanical process, unchanged in nearly 2.5 centuries. Even the newest machines, despite all additional electronics and machining, are essentially the same.
The Card has a footprint of L 2.7m, W 1.5m, with an additional 1m added by the intake feeder, and another 2m expected in front, due to additional parts and catching barrels being added. It stands about 2m high. It outputs a 20 inch wide “web” powered by initially (probably) an overhead line drive, upgraded to a 1hp, 3 Phase, 410v motor via the original Line Drive Input, a 2 inch wide Canvas/Rubber Belt (all the rollers and processors are driven by either Fabric Belt (Composite Canvas/Rubber) or Chain, or just Rubber, via gears, from the Main Drive Wheel) which in turn will be changed to a modern “V” Belt for safety, and an uprated motor via an Inverter (converting 220/230v single phase to 3 phase 220/230v) for convenience and controllability.
Similar machines were in use in the Scottish Border Mills as well as the Yorkshire and Lancashire Mills, as late as the end of the 20th Century, but most of the later equipment has relocated to the Far East, India in particular. The style can be seen at Knockando Woolmill where pre 1900 machines are in operation, or at New Lanark Mill Museum, tweaked for Cotton production mostly. A similar but larger machine was installed in the original Hunters Wool Mill in Brora, prior to the “New” mill opening ( with modern equipment) and subsequently closing.
In 2008/9 it was acquired from a decommissioned mill in Bradford, and saved from the breakers yard.
Recommissioned and refurbished, it was relocated to a small entrepreneurial company in Somerset, set up by a Smallholder and Countryside Consultant, to experiment with creating wool insulation (Val Grainger, The Woolly Shepherd), and provide a processing service for small, rare breed, flock sheep keepers.
In 2011, illness resulted in the owner selling on the business (now creating wool sound absorption) and some equipment was sold on, including the Walker Carder, and purchased by a Crofter near Oban, Argyll, who commenced dismantling and refurbishing again, but due to illness again, the project was shelved after reclothing only a few of the many rollers that create the initial “Batts” and “Rovings” or “Slivers”.
In the current dismantled state, it lay in a barn for 12 years until 2023, when a supporter alerted Highland Wool to its existence.
A crowdfunding campaign was held to purchase the carder and other equipment in the collection, including a second-hand Belfast Picker. In November 2023, it was relocated to Highland Wool’s home farm The Hirsel (Ardgay), where it has been undergoing extensive repairs, helped in part by a grant from the Scottish Government and the Highland Council through the Community Regeneration Fund. The repair work has been overseen by Donald Gillies, with machinist support from former carding engineer Stephen Midgley.
Caroline, as the carder has been affectionally named, is due to be ready for test runs this spring, coming fully online in time for the 2025 shearing season.
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