Tow
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In the composites industry, a tow is an untwisted bundle of continuous filaments, and it refers to human-made fibers, particularly carbon fibers (also called graphite).
Tows are designated by the number of fibers they contain, e.g. a 12K tow contains about 12,000 fibers.
In the textile industry, a tow (rhymes with how, unless referring to cellulose acetate which sounds like toe) is a coarse, broken fiber such as flax, hemp, or jute.[1] Flax tows are often used as upholstery stuffing, and tows in general are frequently cut up to produce staple fibers.
Tow is referenced in Chapter 27 of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. One night as Captain Ahab paces the deck with his ivory peg leg, the second mate Stubb suggests wrapping it with "a globe of tow", to which Captain Ahab replies, "Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb, that thou wouldst wad me that fashion?". The full quote:
But once, the mood was on him (Captain Ahab) too deep for common regardings; and as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was measuring the ship from taffrail to main-mast, Studd, the odd second mate, came up from below, and with a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, hinted that if Captain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one could say nay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting something indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the insertion into it, of the ivory heel. Ah! Stubb, thou did'st not know Ahab then. [2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Glossary of Colonial Terms, History Online
- ^ Melville, Herman: "Moby-Dick", page 141. Bantam Books, 1967. Originally 1851.
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