Bolt (cloth)

A bolt is a piece of cloth woven on a loom or created by a knitting machine, as it is processed, stored and/or marketed. Consequently, its dimensions are highly variable flexible and dependent upon the manufacturing, machinery, quantity, size, thickness and quality of the product. It is a unit used in manufacturing, transport and inventory. It is also used as a descriptor for wallpaper, which uses different fabrication machinery. Being encompassing, it is by its nature a generic and ambiguous term of convenience and context, used to describe fabric and wallpaper.
In modern production.
Textile manufacturing is about converting fiber into yarn, yarn into fabric, and finally, the fabric into clothing and other useful products. At every stage, production activity is managed by unique batches. When it comes to fabric, a set of bolts or rolls forms a batch, representing the production.
Manufacturing.
The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns the yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. and knitting is another method of cloth manufacturing.
Boltsare the rolls of cloth manufactured by a loom or knitting machine, which moves through subsequent processes of textile finishing.
Loom.
Looms are equipped with devices that can measure the length of the bolt during manufacturing on the machine itself.
Packing and Trading.
Cloth merchant were marking the end of bolts with notations. This practice is continued in the industry to avoid mixing.
Garment manufacturing.
After fabric inspection, the bolts are layered manually or fabric spreading machines for relaxing and cutting with patterns.
"For more information", see Pattern; Ready-made garment
Unit.
The length of a bolt varied according to the type of material measured. The length is usually either , but varies depending on the fabric being referred to; for example, a bolt of canvas is traditionally . The width of a bolt is usually , but widths may include , , , , , , and , , , and .
The word has been long lived. For example, Herman Melville, “All Astir”, in "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale", 1st American edition wrote: "Not only were the old sails being mended, but new sails were coming on board, and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging; in short, everything betokened that the ship's preparations were hurrying to a close." It is also the standard linear measurement of canvas for use at sea: .