CARD, among artificers, an instrument consisting of a block of wood set with sharp teeth, serving to arrange the hairs of wool, flax, hemp, and the like. There are different kinds of them, as hand-cards, stock-cards, &c. They are made as follows:
A piece of thick leather, of the size intended for the card, is strained in a frame for that purpose, and then pricked full of holes, into which the teeth or pieces of iron wire are inserted; after which the leather is nailed by the edges to a flat piece of wood, in the form of an oblong square, about a foot in length and half a foot in breadth, with a handle placed in the middle of one of the longer sides.
The teeth are made in the following manner. The wire being drawn of the size intended, a skain or number of wires are cut into proper lengths by means of a gauge, and then doubled in a tool contrived for the purpose; after which they are bent into the proper direction by means of another tool, and then placed in the leather, as above mentioned. See WOOLEN MANUFACTURE.