Cotton Counts 1950s
Decade: 1950
Cotton mills in Lancashire. Manufacture of cotton,
dying of cotton, pollution, Fashion show, children, nursery school, playground, workers playtime, canteen
This film is about Britain’s success in the manufacture of cloth in Lancashire during the 1950s. The fabric highlighted in this film is cotton, illustrating its many uses at that time, many of which will have changed today.
Raw cotton was grown in tropical and subtropical countries and large cargos of it was exported to Britain by ship. The film shows ships unloaded huge bales of cotton at Manchester Docks before being delivered by road to factories in Lancashire. This region was a natural choice for British manufacturing because...
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Cotton mills in Lancashire. Manufacture of cotton,
dying of cotton, pollution, Fashion show, children, nursery school, playground, workers playtime, canteen
This film is about Britain’s success in the manufacture of cloth in Lancashire during the 1950s. The fabric highlighted in this film is cotton, illustrating its many uses at that time, many of which will have changed today.
Raw cotton was grown in tropical and subtropical countries and large cargos of it was exported to Britain by ship. The film shows ships unloaded huge bales of cotton at Manchester Docks before being delivered by road to factories in Lancashire. This region was a natural choice for British manufacturing because of the local coal mines which provided fuel for power, and the natural water supply from the moorlands was used by cotton mills as part of the process with the delicate raw cotton fibres.
The cotton mills were important employers and they also provided childcare facilities such as nurseries to enable women to return to work before children reached school age. The film shows canteen facilities for workers, including some women dancing to a man playing the piano during their lunch break. The film focuses on how important it was for people to be working in teams.
After cleaning, the raw cotton is shredded and evenly distributed before being fed into a machine at the start of the binding process by forming a first manageable size of yarn from the fibres, before eventually spinning it into cotton yard for weaving into fabric. Some yarns had colourful dyes added to create part of the woven fabric, or whole pieces of fabric was dyed and printed.
Research and development laboratories tested the fabrics for assorted quality checks including colour fading and waterproofing, as well as developing better manufacturing methods such as creating a mechanical automatic doffer to speed up “doffing” at the end of a run. This job was previously manual and more time consuming.
Technical colleges in the north west region taught students about all aspects of the cloth manufacturing industry. The factories attracted many commercial buyers including international clients whose businesses included soft furnishings, also clothing for large companies as well as the individual designer.
Cotton was an important material in many parts of British life aside from just clothing – its strength was used to reinforce and supplement other industrial products such as lining vehicle tyres, acting as an insulator for electrical cable and making fishing nets. Its popularity for fashion and home interiors continues today.
The film addresses many topics: import and methods of transportation, the importance of industry providing employment for local communities, the working family, care and friendship in the workplace, businesses and people working together (cotton grower to shipping transporter to the cotton mill, cotton mill to the fabric buyer, buyer manufacturing finished products or fashions for the consumer), industry’s pollution, advancement in business operations – for example time saving machinery or technology, employers and employees.
- Title: Cotton Counts 1950s
- Date: 5th June 2020
- Summary: Cotton mills in Lancashire. Manufacture of cotton, dying of cotton, pollution, Fashion show, children, nursery school, playground, workers playtime, canteen This film is about Britain’s success in the manufacture of cloth in Lancashire during the 1950s. The fabric highlighted in this film is cotton, illustrating its many uses at that time, many of which will have changed today. Raw cotton was grown in tropical and subtropical countries and large cargos of it was exported to Britain by ship. The film shows ships unloaded huge bales of cotton at Manchester Docks before being delivered by road to factories in Lancashire. This region was a natural choice for British manufacturing because of the local coal mines which provided fuel for power, and the natural water supply from the moorlands was used by cotton mills as part of the process with the delicate raw cotton fibres. The cotton mills were important employers and they also provided childcare facilities such as nurseries to enable women to return to work before children reached school age. The film shows canteen facilities for workers, including some women dancing to a man playing the piano during their lunch break. The film focuses on how important it was for people to be working in teams. After cleaning, the raw cotton is shredded and evenly distributed before being fed into a machine at the start of the binding process by forming a first manageable size of yarn from the fibres, before eventually spinning it into cotton yard for weaving into fabric. Some yarns had colourful dyes added to create part of the woven fabric, or whole pieces of fabric was dyed and printed. Research and development laboratories tested the fabrics for assorted quality checks including colour fading and waterproofing, as well as developing better manufacturing methods such as creating a mechanical automatic doffer to speed up “doffing” at the end of a run. This job was previously manual and more time consuming. Technical colleges in the north west region taught students about all aspects of the cloth manufacturing industry. The factories attracted many commercial buyers including international clients whose businesses included soft furnishings, also clothing for large companies as well as the individual designer. Cotton was an important material in many parts of British life aside from just clothing – its strength was used to reinforce and supplement other industrial products such as lining vehicle tyres, acting as an insulator for electrical cable and making fishing nets. Its popularity for fashion and home interiors continues today. The film addresses many topics: import and methods of transportation, the importance of industry providing employment for local communities, the working family, care and friendship in the workplace, businesses and people working together (cotton grower to shipping transporter to the cotton mill, cotton mill to the fabric buyer, buyer manufacturing finished products or fashions for the consumer), industry’s pollution, advancement in business operations – for example time saving machinery or technology, employers and employees.
- Country:
- Collection:Greenpark
- Decade:1950
- Keyword:Cotton, looms, weaving, mill workers, pollution, nursery, factory, canteen, dancing, shops,