CALENDER, a machine used in manufactories to
press certain woollen and silken stuffs and linens, to
make them smooth, even, and glossy, or to give them
waves, or water them, as may be seen in Mohairs and
tabbies. This instrument is composed of two thick
cylinders or rollers, of very hard and well polished
wood, round which the stuffs to be calendered are
wound: these rollers are placed cross-wise between two
very thick boards, the lower serving as a fixed base, and
the upper moveable by means of a thick screw with a
rope fastened to a spindle which makes its axis: the
uppermost board is loaded with large stones weighing
20,000 lb. or more. At Paris they have an extraordi-
nary machine of this kind, called the royal calender,
made by order of M. Colbert. The lower table or plank
is made of a block of smooth marble, and the upper
is lined with a plate of polished copper.—The alternate
motion of the upper board sometimes one way and
sometimes another, together with the prodigious weight
laid upon it, gives the stuffs their gloss and smoothness;
or gives them the waves, by making the cylinders on
which they are put roll with great force over the un-
dermost board. When they would put a roller from
under the calender, they only incline the undermost
board of the machine. The dressing alone, with the
many turns they make the stuffs and linens undergo
in the calender, gives the waves, or waters them, as
the workmen call it. It is a mistake to think, as some
have asserted, and Mr Chambers among others, that
they use rollers with a shallow indenture or engraving
cut into them.