Wool can be dyed at various points in the manufacturing process.  From the Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles:[1]

• Dyed in the Piece (Piece Dyed) a.k.a. dyed as fabric
• Dyed in the Wool (Stock Dyed) a.k.a. dyed as fleece
• Dyed in the Yarn (Yarn Dyed)

In general, wools that are “Dyed in the Wool” or as fleece have a truer more consistent color (dye can get into all the nooks and crannies when the fiber is loose).  This is where the English turn of phrase “Dyed in the Wool” comes from that now figuratively means a certain level of steadfastness–usually in political or religious beliefs.

Different dyeing methods require different equipment.  Stock dyed materials required the use of vats or specialized machines to keep all the loose bits together.  Yarn dyers were arranged to keep hanks of yarn from tangling and piece-dyeing machinery was often designed with rollers to dip cloth into the dye at a consistent rate.

Dye Methods at the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill

Caryl Gertenrich’s thesis[2] lists machinery documented at the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill and helps confirm the different types of drying processes being used at the mill over time. She notes the presence of both a Piece-Dye machine a Wool Dyer (stock) and Dye Tanks.

Dyeing Machinery documented at the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill – info gathered by Caryl Gertenrich[3]

Type	Date Installed	Description
Piece Dye Machine	1931	Home-Made 6 String
	1933	2 Home-Made 6 String
	Pre- 1934	Sample
Wool Dyer (Stock)	1919	Klauder-Waldon 1-500#
	1919	Klauder-Waldon 1-1000#
Dye Tank	1930	2 Home Made 190#
	1930	3 Home Made 200#/300# Redwood
	Pre 1934	1 Homemade Cotton (removed by 1940

Stock Dyeing in Tanks

Wool (Stock) Dyeing at the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, 1947. Pictured are Charley Aldenburg and Harry Smith with large stock dyeing vats. WHC Collections M3 1992-101-0030.  Note steam pipe in center.  Steam was piped into tank to heat the dye solution during the process.

Tanks like those seen in the image above, are usually associated with the Stock Dyeing and Rag Dyeing.  From a contemporary textbook on dyeing processes:

Loose wool can be dyed in ordinary square wood or stone tanks provided with steam pipes for heating purposes…The wool requires to be stirred occasionally in the dye liquor to ensure even dyeing, but as this tends to felt it, discretion is necessary.  The loose wool may also be put into a vat which has a perforated bottom or sides and connected with another tank or reservoir, the boiling dye liquor being circulated from one to the other and through the wool.  This form of dyeing is allied to what is called “Machine Dyeing.”[4]

Unidentified machine in found in Thomas Kay Woolen Mill’s Dye House in May 22, 1968. Might be the Klauder-Weldon Co Stock dyeing machine listed in the Gertenrich inventory. WHC Collections M3 1992-110-0009.

Note that in addition to tanks, Gertenrich’s list mentions a Klauder Wauldon stock dyeing machines.  To date we have not positively located photographs of those machines, although they appear to be present on site.  There is an unidentified machine in some of the late photos of the Dye House equipment (M3 1992-101-0030) that does look similar to illustrations of a Stock Dyer machine as set forth in a patent applied on behalf of the Klauder Wauldon company for the machine (see Patent applied for by H. Higgs on behalf of the Kladuer-Weldon Dyeing Machine Co., 3/9/1914 (Granted 1917).  Note similarities with Figure 6, including interior cages to move stock (fleece) through dye liquor.  https://patents.google.com/patent/US1229612), but it has not been confirmed beyond a visual comparison.  If you look closely the image of the unidentified image from our collections, you can see what look to be perforated “cages” set above a rounded basin, this would be consistent with the operations of Stock Dyer.

Jig Wince and Piece Dyeing

Piece dyeing — dyeing already woven cloth — took another type of specialized machinery.  While the full machine doesn’t survive at the museum, we have been able to find parts and photographs of what was described in the Gertenrich inventory as a homemade piece of equipment that matches the design of commercially available machines called a “jig wince” or a “Wince Dye Beck.”  This is described in Franklin Beech’s The Dyeing of Woolen Fabrics (1902)[5] as:

A dyeing machine…used…particularly in the dyeing of woolen cloths.  It is made by many makers, and varies somewhat in form accordingly…In any make the jig wince or wince dye beck consists of a large rectangular, or in some cases semi-cylindrical dye vat.  Probably the best shape would be to have a vat with one straight side at the front and one curved side at the back…steam pipes are provided for heating the dye-liquors.  The beck should be fitted with a false bottom, made of wood, perforated with holes, or of wooden lattice work, and under which the steam pipes are placed.  The object being to prevent the pieces from coming to contact with the steam pipes, and so preventing the production of stains.  Above the dye-vat and towards the back is the wince, a revolving skelton wheel, which draws the pieces out of the dye-vat at the front, and delivers them into it again at the back…each part thus remains for some time in the dye-liquor, during which it necessarily takes up the dye.

The museum has several of the winces or rollers on which the fabric rests and is lowered into the dye in storage today (WHC X2017.007.0336).  It should be noted, that the term “wince” appears to be related to the modern “winch.”[6]

Piece Dyeing vats in situ in Dye House at the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, 1968. WHC Collections, M3 1992-110-0008

Citations:

[1] Wingate, Dr. Isabel B. Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles. 6^th Edition. New York: Fairchild Publications, 1979.  WHC Collections M3 1993-022-0062

[2] Gertenrich, Caryl. The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in Salem, Oregon, 1900-1959. Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, June 1978.  WHC Collections L2002-0029

[3] Gertenrich, Caryl. The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in Salem, Oregon, 1900-1959. Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, June 1978.  WHC Collections L2002-0029

[4] Gardner, W.M. Posselt’s Textile Library, Vol. VII  Wool Dyeing (Part II). Philadelphia: E.A. Posselt, 1904.  pg 115  accessed via Hathi Trust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89097688121&view=1up&seq=17&skin=2021

[5] Beech, Franklin. The Dyeing of Woolen Fabrics. London: Scott, greenwood & Son, 1902.  Accessed vial Project Gutenburg.  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19985/19985-h/19985-h.htm#page040

[6] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/winch

Hear Thomas Kay’s recollections of the Dye House

• Augusta Zwicker
• Lydia Green
• Rudolph J. Betkey
• Sephen Breitenstein
• Benjamin Browning
• Emma J. Bell
• Arnold B. Browning
• John T. Welch
• Edward A. Earl
• Esther Earl
• John M. REid
• Red Richter
• Lewis W. Pickard
• Harvey W. Campbell
• Richard Campbell
• Paul M. Buettner

See their biographies on the Mill Worker Biography Page