The city walk "Je file en Ville" in Verviers!

This machine, which appeared in 1833 as a replacement for the "fouleuse à maillets", allowed a considerable increase in the production of sheets. It made thread tightening much more efficient. The piece of cloth, sewn "head to tail", is driven between rotating and pressing rollers. The machine consists of a closed wooden tub containing hot water with soap, alkali, urine and fuller's earth. The crushing is almost always done in carded form, rarely in combed form. After fulling, the "canvas" of the fabric should no longer be visible.This machine was also called a "Polka fuller". On the first example, the worker had placed a small puppet (unless it was the regulator of the machine) and, as a result of the vibrations of the machine (perhaps badly balanced), this puppet shook as if it were dancing the polka.

A machine used for fulling woollen cloth whose warp and weft threads are tightened by hammering. The effect of fulling is to give the fabric strength and elasticity.It also causes the piece to shrink and increase its thickness. The piece is placed in a tub filled with a mixture of water, urine and fuller's earth.It is then struck by "mallets" or "pestles". The mechanism is driven by a water wheel, which is why it is necessary to be near a river.

The Maison Closset takes its name from the owner who converted it into flats in 1924. In the 18th century, this building housed the textile workshops of Paul von dem Bruch, whose daughter married a Peltzer son from Stolberg in Germany. Peltzer & Sons, which moved to the other side of the Vesdre in the 19th century, employed up to 40,000 people (spread over the various sites) and, together with the firm Iwan Simonis, made a significant contribution to the worldwide reputation of the Verviers textile industry.The architecture of the building is representative of the construction method of the proto-industrial era. The building dates from the second half of the 18th century, just before the industrial revolution.The volume of the building is high. There are several levels for the workshops, lit by repetitive bays decorated with limestone elements: domed lintels with keys, sills extended in bands in brickwork decorated with numerous anchor bolts. The base is made of limestone in order to provide a solid foundation for the construction.

This machine is used to wash out various impurities (dust,...) that have remained in the cloth. The washing machine consists of a closed trough. The cloth is first immersed in cold water, then washed with a mixture of warm water, soap, ammonia and soda. Finally, the cloth is washed with cold water. This process must be done very slowly, otherwise flakes will form. Sometimes an acid is added to the soap mixture to refresh the colour.

The purpose of decatizing is to deluster (when necessary) the fabric, to fix it so that it does not deform in use and finally to increase its softness by making it swell. In this process, the fabric is wrapped around the large cylinder. Each layer of fabric is separated by a layer of fleece which is unwound from the roll below. The steam exits through the perforations. At the end of the process, the machine is turned upside down and the fabric is put back on.

The decatizing operation fixes the twist of the yarn so that it does not twist during subsequent weaving operations and regains its natural moisture content to ensure better strength. Spindles are placed in perforated baskets which are introduced into the closed tank of the machine where steam is passed through. The spindles are then placed on a winding machine for coning, which precedes the warping (preparation of the warp threads) and weaving operations.

The Wool and Fashion Tourist Centre is developing its activities in a building that was once the factory and home of the great families of the Verviers wool industry: the de Thier, Grand'Ry, Poswick and Bettonville.The last company, the Bettonville company, closed its doors in 1970. The building was bought by the town to create the Wool and Fashion Tourist Centre. But it was not until 1993 that work began on the building and in 1999 that the Museum opened its doors to the public!The machines and objects (from the collections of the Museums of Verviers), represented in the first part of the show "From Yarn to Fashion", allow visitors to discover the various stages in the process of making woollen cloth.Halfway through the tour, "Fil de Laine" gives way to its cousin "Fil du Temps", which presents a series of images: vignettes from comic strips, published by Glénat, majestically enlarged and printed on fabric. They punctuate the history of man's clothes. "Fil du Temps" also comments on costumes from the great eras that have marked the history of the Western world.

The Vesdre river and the mill canal provided the water needed for the processing of wool and cloth, but also the motive power for the paddle wheels. During the first decades of the 19th century, steam did not entirely suppress this type of energy but added to it.In Verviers, the first two Watt-type steam engines were installed in 1816 at the home of Henri Sauvage, a cloth manufacturer (who bought an English machine), and at the home of James Hodson, son-in-law of William Cockerill, a textile machinery manufacturer, who built his own steam engine. Another textile firm from Verviers, Biolley, also produced steam engines during the first half of the 19th century, in competition with the Houget firm (founded in 1826).This type of rotary steam engine transforms the reciprocating movement of the piston into a circular movement by means of a connecting rod. Belts transmitted the driving force to the textile machines. The use of these machines made it possible to avoid the location along the watercourse required by hydraulic power and, in addition, it was a source of tremendous driving power.

The name of a biblical sea monster with several heads served as inspiration for this textile machine and the largest ship of its time. The connection between the boat's exceptional length and successive basins led to the name. Eugène Melen, a mechanic from Verviers, created this 'spool-cleaning machine' for wool in 1863. The wool passes through successive rectangular basins in which it undergoes several treatments: soaking, scrubbing and degreasing with hot water (supplemented with alkaline detergents such as Marseille soap and soda) and rinsing.Moving rakes push and shake the fabric from back to front. This better removes impurities. Those impurities are then collected on a double perforated bottom. Between each basin, a press prevents the residues from moving. The final press drains the water for drying to save energy.

This machine is used for spinning, prior to drying. The aim is to remove as much water as possible in order to shorten the drying time of the sheet. The pieces are placed in a perforated drum that rotates on a vertical axis in order to extract the water by centrifugal force. This wringer was not suitable for delicate fabrics, which were too sensitive to creases. A drum wringer was then used.

The industrial buildings on the same bank of the Vesdre but on the other side of the bridge are the former Bouchoms factories. They were built in the 19th century on the foundations of the old "Pilate" mills, which date back to the 17th century. At that time, the mills used water from the Vesdre to drive wheels that provided the energy for the process. The current buildings underwent several modifications and had several destinations: cloth factory, dyeing factory, corroierie, place of treatment of wool waste, warehouse, before being reallocated to shelter 30 social flats, in what is renamed today "Guillaume Lekeu residence".

This paddle wheel reminds us, in a stylised way, of the many mills that used to be found in the town and which have now disappeared. It was designed by two members of the Verviers municipal administration, the chief engineer Michel Derchain and the urban architect Jean-Pierre Dewaide.The principle is simple: a pump feeds a pipe that lets the water flow over the buckets of the paddle wheel. The wheel then starts to turn, like a mill wheel.In the past, waterwheels were used to power textile machines.

The purpose of pressing is threefold: to smooth, tighten and polish the fabric. This machine, which appeared in 1847, was the successor to the screw press, which pressed the sheet folded on itself under the action of the press plate. After passing between two brushes that cleaned and evened out the down, the flattened fabric passed into a concave bowl where it was pressed by a cylinder. This is heated with steam. The cylinder rotates slowly and causes the hairs on the fabric to rub against the bowl.

The first station in Verviers was built in Gérardchamps. Although it was initially used as a passenger station, it was mainly a goods station with an adjoining customs building. After the removal of this station, the site remained unoccupied for many years. The warehouse, or customs depot, is the only remaining building of the large complex that was the West Station. It is currently occupied by the Hotel Verviers of the Van der Valk group (9) and its restaurant "l'Entrepôt".Note the coats of arms on the facades with the names of the cities with which the Verviers firms traded: Buenos Aires, Sydney, London, Bordeaux and, of course, today's twinned cities such as Roubaix, Bradford, etc.

Die Stücke werden in beheizte Bottiche getaucht, die Wasser, Urin, Kaliumalaun und Färbemittel enthalten. Das Färben kann in verschiedenen Stadien der Herstellung erfolgen: in "Bourre" für gewaschene Wolle, in Strängen für Garne oder in Stücken für einfarbige Stoffe.Zwischen dem Westen und dem Osten der Stadt musste ab 1930 ein zentraler Bahnhof für Reisende gebaut werden. Es wurden zwei Architekten benötigt: Charles Thirion, der 1920 verstarb, und Emile Burguet, der das Projekt allein weiterführte. Die Architektur des Gebäudes ist im eklektischen Stil gehalten. Das Gebäude besteht aus Stein, doch die Fassade zu den Gleisen hin ist aus roten Ziegeln und ohne Verzierungen. Eine breite, gebogene Glasfront erhellt die Wandelhalle. Zahlreiche Skulpturen von Joseph Gérard (Dekorateur des Forums in Lüttich), Weber, Spinner, Widder und der Kopf des Merkurs (Gott des Handels) loben die Aktivitäten in Verviers. Das Innere ist aus Backstein und reichlich mit Reliefs und anderen dekorativen Elementen verziert, die sich besser auf ihre Zeit beziehen, da man die geometrisierten Dekore des Art déco wiederfindet. In dem großen verglasten Raum der Salle des pas-perdus bilden die Schalter einen von der Hauptarchitektur unabhängigen Raum und bilden einen eleganten schmiedeeisernen Käfig.

Welcome to the former Simonis factory. At the beginning of the 18th century, a mill was located here. This mill was called "Au Chat" after a popular distortion of the owner's name, Dauchap. Around 1760, the mill was bought by Jean-François Biolley, an industrialist from Verviers. Jean-François Biolley and his brother-in-law Iwan Simonis allowed William Cockerill (an English mechanic) to set up shop there in 1799 and it was here that the industrial revolution began on the continent. The factory that remains today was built by Simonis at the beginning of the 19th century next to the old mill (demolished in the 1920s).The Simonis factory employed thousands of workers and was active on this site until the mid 1960s. The building was listed in 1979 and purchased by the Régionale Verviétoise. It was converted into social housing for 42 families and renamed "Simonis residence".