Stephane, Indeed, Verviers, sorry for the confusion and thanks for correting me. I also was amazed by the name of the inventor of the Leviathan machine (or the owner of the biggest washing factory more probably), Mr Laoureux de Verviers, and I suppose he is an ancestor of our felt maker. I have read the story of wool washing in Verviers in a document in French I've find simply with a goggle search. Was said that the town industry was doing so well than there where at some point too much washing plants for the wool to be treated, and then the apparition of others places was the sign of the end of the supremacy of the town. BTW wool came from Australia as well and the need for the machine to clean the wool was due to the availability of south america wool, thinner but with more thisles than the others. Best Regards. Isaac OLEG -----Message d'origine----- De : Stéphane Collin [mailto:collin.s@skynet.be] Envoyé : mercredi 19 mai 2004 01:23 À : oleg-i@noos.fr; Pianotech Objet : Re: Alfred Dolge - Carbonizing and bleach process Hi Isaac. Nice post. But the town you refer to as center of wool washing in the 19th century is Verviers, not Serviers. I happened to be brought up in this wonderful little town. From the plenty of glorious wool washers that made fortunes there, only one survived until today, and he is making THE green billiard felt for the whole world. All others have ran out of business early in the 20th century. But you can still see the sings of their former fortune in their descendance. Verviers is what you would call a has been town. Should I put this under OT ? Stéphane Collin. Isaac OLEG a écrit : > nd vegetal residues (it was even hand cleaned, by prisoners, was said, > before 1860 and the apparition of "the leviathan" a machine developed > by Mr. De Laoureux de Serviers, who lived in SERVIERS, in Belgium, and > this town was the "only" European place for wool washing and > preparation before making cloth or felt with it (till other places > appear near Hamburg in the 1910 ) >
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