| Alpaca: A kind of llama; a fine yarn spun from alpaca wool; a thin cloth woven with alpaca yarn or a mixture of alpaca and cotton yarns. |
| Arkwright System: The first successful water-powered machines for spinning cotton; invented in England by Richard Arkwright in 1769 and later improved by Jedediah Strutt. |
| Astrakhan: A type of Russian lamb's fur; a lustrous woolen cloth with a curled or looped pile to imitate astrakhan fur. |
| Bobbin: A cylinder on which roving or yarn is wound in machinery for spinning or weaving. |
| Calender: A textile-finishing machine used in the cotton industry which produced a smooth, glossy finish. |
| Carding: The process of disentangling wool or cotton fibers. |
| Carding Machine: A machine consisting of cylinders with intermeshing wire teeth; the cylinders revolved at various speeds and in different directions to disentangle wool or cotton fibers. |
| Cassimere: A woolen cloth woven into intricate patterns usually on Crompton looms. Cassimeres were made from a moderately priced, medium-fine woolen yarn. |
| Casting: The process of shaping material in a mold; in making metal objects, the pouring of molten metal into a mold. |
| Cast Iron: A high-carbon-iron alloy. Cast iron was ideal for making machine parts and was also used for building facades, structural building components, bridges, and stoves as well as countless other products. |
| Comb: The implement, necessary to the manufacture of worsted yarn, which separates the long wool fiber from the shorter fiber and arranges the fibers in a parallel order. The Lister comb (1851) was the first sophisticated automatic comb. The Noble comb (1853), a more efficient combing machine, superseded the Lister comb by the 1860s and 1870s. |
| Combine: The result of a combination of several companies of the same type. Conglomerate: A large corporate structure comprised of numerous diversified companies. |
| Delaine: From the French, Mousseline-de-laine (a muslin made from wool). Although originally an all-wool product, delaine fabrics which were manufactured in England and the United States were a cotton warp with a cheap woolen or worsted weft. Delaine cloth, which was usually dyed or printed, was extremely popular for moderately priced dress material because of its durability, pleasing texture, and bright finish. Delaines were among the earliest, mass-produced, worsted goods. |
| Dobby: A loom attachment for weaving intricate patterns |
| Drawing: The process in which cotton or woolen strands or rovings are passed through a series of successively faster rollers which straightens the fibers and attenuates the strand of roving. |
| Dressing: Refers to the processes of fulling, napping, shearing, and pressing in the manufacture of woolen cloth. |
| Feeders: Used in both cotton- and woolen-yarn manufacturing. In both cases these machines automatically transferred the fiber from one machine to another. The Bolette Card feeder (1864) was an innovative feeder which automatically transferred loose wool from one carding machine to the next. |
| Findings: Pin stems, backings, and assorted hardware used in the manufacture of jewelry. |
| Fly Frame: A type of roving machine used for making fine cotton yarns. |
| Forging: A metal part formed by pressure, with or without heat. |
| Foundry: The structure in which iron, bronze, or other metal is melted and poured into a mold. |
| Fulling: The process which followed the weaving operation in woolen cloth manufacturing. During the fulling operation the woolen cloth was washed, shrunk, and felted (matting the fiber together by means of heat, moisture, friction, and pressure). |
| Gasometer: A building which housed a gas-storage tank. |
| Integration: The production of cloth from raw wool or cotton to finished cloth at one factory site. |
| Jack Frame: This machine accomplished the same purpose as a roving frame, but was used in the production of finer yarns. |
| Loom: The apparatus used in the weaving process. Merino: The fine wool from merino sheep used both for fine woolen and worsted manufacture. |
