Contributed by Biddeford Mills Museum
Description
Pepperell Mill Company built Range#1 around 1965, to manufacture 90-inch-wide Vellux blankets. The Range was located in Building #10 on the second floor.
Production of the Vellux blankets started just before Christmas in 1966 and ended in August 2009 when WestPoint Home Inc. ceased operations in the Biddeford Plant.
The Range was 300 feet long by 101 inches wide. To make the blankets, the machinery was placed in the sequence of the process, such as: the spray room for the adhesive application, flock room for flocking application, flat oven to dry the adhesive, loop dryer to cure the adhesive, and the cleaning unit to remove the excessive flock. The different machines were synchronized to run at the same speed and to start or stop at the same time. It took four people to run the range.
To process the blankets on the Range, operators unwound 400-yard substrate roles in the spray room, and passed it through the range to do the first side, then folded it onto a flat truck, returning the fabric to the spray room to do the second side.
About This Item
- Title: Range #1 at Pepperell Mills, Biddeford, 2009
- Creator: Timothy Frechette
- Creation Date: 2009
- Subject Date: circa 1965
- Location: Biddeford, York County, ME
- Media: Digital photograph
- Local Code: 726-3990
- Collection: Photo Collection
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Biddeford (Me.)
- Mills--Maine--Biddeford
- Pepperell Manufacturing Company
- Saco River (Me.)
- Textile industry--Maine--Biddeford
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For more information about this item, contact:
Biddeford Mills Museum2 Main Street, Suite 18-108, Biddeford, ME 04005
(207) 229-8976
Website
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.
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