This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

After World War II, the carpet industry came to be identified with the Dalton region of northwest Georgia. Here, entrepreneurs hit upon a new technology called tufting, which enabled them to take control of this important segment of America’s textile industry, previously dominated by woven-wool carpet manufacturers in the Northeast. Dalton now dominates carpet production in the United States, manufacturing 70 percent of the domestic product, and prides itself as the carpet capital of the world. Carpet Capital is a story of revolutionary changes that transformed both an industry and a region. Its balanced and candid account details the rise of a home-grown southern industry and entrepreneurial capitalism at a time when other southern state and local governments sought to attract capital and technology from outside the region. The book summarizes the development of the American carpet industry from the early nineteenth century through the 1930s. In describing the tufted carpet boom, it focuses on Barwick Mills, Galaxy Mills, and Shaw Industries as representative of various phases in the industry’s history. It tells how owners coordinated efforts to keep carpet mills unorganized, despite efforts of the Textile Workers Union of America, by promoting a vision of the future based on individual ambition rather than collective security. Randall L. Patton and David B. Parker show that Dalton has evolved in much the same way as California’s Silicon Valley, experiencing both a rapid expansion of new firms started by entrepreneurs who had apprenticed in older firms and an air of cooperation both among owners and between mills and local government. Their close examination of this industry provides important insights for scholars and business leaders alike, enhancing our appreciation of entrepreneurial achievement and broadening our understanding of economic growth in the modern South.

Although dating back to Egyptian antiquity, carpet as we know it is relatively new. Prior to the 1950s, the means for making carpet was expensive and time-consuming, unaffordable for most homeowners. During the '50s, tufting - a process previously used to create bedspreads, bathrobes and throw rugs - was adapted for carpet manufacture. Over succeeding decades, machines advanced dramatically in speed, efficiency and patterning capabilities. Tufting Legacies recounts the history of the tufting machine industry, as well as legacies forged by the hard work, diligence and determination of true pioneers - Joe Cobble, Lewis Card, Sr., and Roy Card - who viewed problems and obstacles as opportunities to achieve the inconceivable. It's also a story of the American dream embodied in real life, boys growing up in the Depression era that had little materially but, "we just thought that was the way it was, and how it was supposed to be." Those humble beginnings helped motivate these young men as they honed their skills in making machine parts and later applying that expertise to build tufting machines. If someone in 1950 had asked Lewis and Roy about how to develop those into the huge, computer-controlled machines used worldwide throughout the carpet industry today, they might have responded, "You can't get there from here." But they did get there, one small step, one giant step, one minor modification, one major breakthrough at a time. Tufting Legacies tells how it happened.

Advances in Carpet Manufacture, Second Edition, discusses the manufacture of carpets, an industry that has evolved over hundreds of years, also exploring the new changes and developments in textile science and manufacturing technology that occur every day. This updated edition provides revised, expanded and updated coverage of carpet manufacturing processes and applications. The book begins by reviewing the different types of carpets and their applications, also exploring the structure and properties of carpet materials. Carpet manufacturing techniques are then reviewed, including a new chapter on tufting and yarn manufacturing techniques, and design and manufacture for handmade carpets. Subsequent chapters review the development of carpets with important properties, including new chapters on carpets for acoustics and sound absorption, carpets with increased fire retardancy and those with antimicrobial and soil-resist finishes. With the variety of topics covered and its international team of contributors, the book offers a valuable and informative reference for technologists in the carpet and associated industries. However, it is also a great resource for researchers and students working in applied textile sciences. Presented by an expert editor with many years of experience in both academic textile research and industry Provides new research, technologies and other developments in carpet manufacture for academics and developers seeking to update their knowledge Includes a strong focus on industry needs and developing areas with market potential