FELT

a kind of cloth made of wool, or of wool and cotton united by rolling, beating, and pre ure. The materials to be felted are carded and placed in a machine, where they are kept wet and intimately mixed together by a proce of beating. Pre ure then unites the whole into a compact ma . The use of felt as a material for hats, tents, or cloaks is very ancient. For hat-making the fur of rabbits, beavers, raccoons, and the wool of sheep is generally used. Felt, being a good non-conductor of heat, is much used for roofing, sheathing boilers, hot water reservoirs, . The felt for such purposes is made from the coarsest woollen refuse from paper-mills.— Cf. Murphy, The Textile Industries.