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BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
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 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 WOOL-COMBING 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
 "Mr. Priestman speaks with authority, and is able to make good 
 his positions as he goes on. And yet the book is nowhere polemical, 
 and it is singularly free from ' padding.' After we had read the book 
 we handed it to an expert on whose judgment we can rely, and 
 his verdict was, 'an excellent book, the best book on combing 
 we have.' And although much of it is so far technical as only to 
 be fully understood by those who are acquainted with the terms and 
 practice of combing, there is much of it that is within the grasp of all 
 who are connected with the trade either as spinners, manufacturers, 
 or merchants, and which is of the utmost import to them if they would 
 only believe it. The book ought immediately to be adopted as 
 a text-book in all textile classes in the West Riding." — Vor/cs/iire 
 Observer. 
 
 "A Scientific Exposition. To the student the book is bound to be 
 invaluable, and it will also enlighten many who, no doubt, at present 
 think they have nothing to learn." — Leeds Mercury. 
 
 " Mr. Priestman writes with a thorough knowledge of the comb. We 
 think the work will repay spinners, wool-sorters, and merchants who 
 do not come into actual contact with the combing process, but are 
 dependent upon it." — Textile Mamifacturer. 
 
 " In his Preface the author says that he has endeavoured ' to formu- 
 late lines along which a man may think for himself,' and we must say 
 that the endeavour has been fairly carried out." — Textile Recorder. 
 
 "A clear and well systematised exposition of the methods of an 
 important industry, instructive alike in its teaching, its frequent descrip- 
 tions of machinery, and its many excellent illustrations." — Scots7nan. 
 
 "The volume is quite up-to-date, and should afford useful informa- 
 tion to those in any way connected with the wool trade." — Glasgow 
 Evening News, 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS 
 PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN, W.C. 
 
 a 
 
PRINCIPLES OF 
 WORSTED SPINNING 
 
PRINCIPLES 
 
 OF 
 
 WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 HOWARD PRIESTMAN 
 
 AUTHOR OF "PRINCIPLES OF WOOL-COMBING" 
 
 WITH DIAGRAMS 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 1906 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
T C 
 
 JAN 8 1907 
 
 MOORE FUND 
 
 THEGEHY CENitJ^ 
 LIBRARY 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The object of this book is not to give a mass of data of a type 
 that might be used in circumstances fixed by arbitrary rules, 
 but to attempt to formulate the principles that underlie the 
 many complicated processes involved in Worsted Spinning. 
 
 Data and full particulars of up-to-date machines are given 
 for each process, but they are there to show how far the writer's 
 theories may be made to fit with facts, as they exist. The 
 figures as they stand are those suggested by Prince Smith & 
 Sons. They may be taken as an illustration of the fact that in 
 this book there has been no attempt to make existing practice 
 fit with theory, unless it can be done consistently. No one 
 must ever look upon the figures or the theories as things of any 
 value in themselves, but only as a means by which all kinds of 
 men with different equipment, different means, may reach a 
 common end. 
 
 The value of all theories will be most to those who check 
 each one by observation, on their own machines ; for it is 
 pointed out that those who prove that any well -accepted theory 
 is quite incorrect will do themselves the greatest service, 
 because they then will be in full position to avoid the errors 
 of their neighbours. 
 
 If English worsted spinners wish to regain the lead that 
 once was theirs, in every section of their industry, they must 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 prepare to show more elasticity in their grasp of widely differing 
 problems; and be prepared to treat each problem on its 
 individual merits. 
 
 It is to simplify the work of those who take this view, that 
 this book has been written ; for, like its predecessor, it is a first 
 attempt to shape new lines of thought, along which those who 
 wish to do so may reason for themselves. 
 
 The dearth of earlier theoretic work, regarding such obscure 
 and difficult subjects as drafts and doublings in the drawing 
 process, has left the author no alternative, but to put down his 
 own conclusions on this head, based on the observations of one 
 man — himself. It may be that they are not all correct. It is 
 his hope that other thinking workers will now take up the 
 quest, and put the trade in full possession of the actual facts. 
 In less obscure departments of the trade, the case for and 
 against the various theories is stated with as little partiality as 
 possible ; and then as far as possible deductions made. 
 
 The greatest drawback to this system is quite obvious. In 
 practice every well-known principle is overlapped by others, 
 until the most important are hard to separate from those of 
 lesser value ; and therefore when a group is analyzed until each 
 separate theory stands alone (as in this book), the values of the 
 various theories may be seen in strong perspective or out of 
 true proportion. 
 
 From force of circumstance, it must be always true that 
 such a work as this is never quite complete ; and from the fact 
 that this is one man's single-handed work, it stands to reason 
 that it must be marked by visible omissions. Of this, no one 
 is ever likely to be more aware, than is the author. There is 
 one answer only to the charge. The man who does not dare 
 to write, until he feels his knowledge of his trade is quite 
 
PREFACE 
 
 vn 
 
 complete, will go on gathering information all his life, and end 
 by never writing anything at all. 
 
 Quite a long list of semi-scientific problems have cropped up 
 during the preparation of this book, that are not even mentioned, 
 because they still await solution at the hands of scientific 
 men. 
 
 Of these, the principal is that relating to the production and 
 effects of static electricity; but in addition there are some 
 involved problems that concern the trade, and they, as men- 
 tioned under their respective heads, await solution at the 
 hands of practical men. 
 
 All illustrations must be looked upon not as scale drawings, 
 but as diagrams. In many cases they are drawn to scale ; but 
 all are made to illustrate some point, or points ; and structural 
 detail has been therefore made subordinate to perspicuity. 
 
 The number of the wheels in every train is accurate in every 
 case, showing the principle of every calculation; but in some 
 cases where the number of teeth in various wheels made 
 calculations complex, they have been simplified in cases where 
 such alteration could be made without affecting any principle. 
 And that the book may be of use to those who do not under- 
 stand our ounces, inches, feet, drams, yards, and pounds, most 
 calculations have been made in both the metric and our own 
 systems. 
 
 Por much important information of various kinds, as well 
 as for all his particulars of drawing boxes and of spinning 
 frames, the writer is indebted to Messrs. Prince Smith & Sons, 
 who, with their usual courtesy, at no small trouble to themselves, 
 have made out full particulars of all machines in the concise and 
 very compact form in which they are presented under their 
 respective heads. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 These must in no case be confused with any of the calcu- 
 lations made from them. For those the writer is alone re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 To Messrs. Hall & Stells he also owes his thanks for 
 information, as well as for the loan of various spindles and 
 accessories from which six illustrations have been made, and for 
 an illustration of their trap motion. 
 
 The firm of Messrs. Arundel & Co., of Stockport, were kind 
 enough to send the necessary details of their patent winding 
 frame; and Messrs. Lightowler and Keighley did the same 
 regarding their extremely useful warping mill. The rollers 
 illustrated in the Appendixes were kindly lent for the purpose 
 by Messrs. Irvine Stott's Exors. 
 
 The following chapters contain only the barest reference to 
 processes with which the writer is not personally acquainted. 
 The firms here named are those with whom he was acquainted 
 in his business days, and their machinery is therefore selected 
 to illustrate the various processes, not because it is the only 
 kind which does one type of work, but rather because its value 
 and its various possibilities are well known to the author. 
 
 HOWARD PEIESTMAN. 
 
 June, 1906. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTKK PAGE 
 
 I. History 1 
 
 II. Material and Qualities 24 
 
 III. Spindle Theories 53 
 
 IV. Drafting and Ratch 82 
 
 V. Drawing ... 98 
 
 VI. Cone Drawing 150 
 
 VII. Spinning 167 
 
 VIII. Dry Spun Yarns 209 
 
 IX. Twisting 228 
 
 , X. Winding, Reeling, and Warping 244 
 
 'XI. Defects and Remedies 267 
 
 Appendix A. Cone Drawing 305 
 
 „ B. Cone Roving 311 
 
 „ C. Pressing Rollers, Spools, Bobbins, etc. . . 317 
 
 Index 319 
 
PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED 
 SPINNING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 The history of spinning has been written so often and so 
 thoroughly that there is little place for the purely historical 
 part of it here ; but it is probably worth while to point out 
 the great antiquity of hand-spinning in all parts of the civilized 
 and uncivilized world, and to show the relation of the different 
 methods to one another, and their common relation to modern 
 machinery. 
 
 One thing above all others must strike every investigator 
 in this branch of knowledge ; we go to the East to discover 
 the earliest records, if not the earliest traces of the arts of 
 spinning and weaving, and we find that when our ancestors 
 in these islands were content to cover themselves partially 
 with skins, and to dye their bodies with woad, the arts of 
 spinning and weaving were so perfect in Egypt that textures 
 were worn which can hardly be rivalled by the finest produc- 
 tions of modern looms. We know, for a fact, that the robes of 
 the ancient Babylonians were the wonder of all who saw 
 them, and recent investigators are inclined to think that the 
 arts of spinning and weaving in Egypt were derived from the 
 
 B 
 
3 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 earlier civilizations still further to the East. There is little 
 doubt that in China and India these arts flourished to a 
 similar extent, at least contemporary with those of Egypt, 
 and if we go to India to-day we can see spinning and weaving 
 under the same primitive conditions that existed in bygone 
 centuries. 
 
 It is probable that we in Britain are indebted to the 
 Romans for the introduction of cloth manufacture into our 
 country, as we are indebted to them for many other arts, 
 and here for many centuries, spinning and weaving dragged 
 on an existence, in a condition little more advanced than in 
 the countries of its origin., Perhaps nothing can show better 
 the progress of this country, and the progress of the race, 
 than the brains, which, within little more than a century, 
 have evolved our modern industrial methods; for we are 
 apt to forget that our great factories and all that they 
 contain are developed from the germs that have lain dormant 
 for more than two thousand years in the wooden spindle as 
 it still is used in India. 
 
 As already stated, it is probable that the Chaldeans were 
 the first people of whom we have any record, to use the arts 
 of spinning and weaving. Records have been found which 
 show that their cloths were of no mean quality, and it is 
 probable that they were able to spin their wool and flax to 
 fine counts, by the simple means at their disposal. In all 
 probability they had nothing but the simple spindle, which 
 was used in Egypt at a much later date, and probably, like 
 the Egyptians, they weighted the head with a knob or whorle 
 of gypsum, or other composition, to make it rotate longer. 
 It is probable that the patriarchs of Bible history, coming as 
 they did from Chaldea, were acquainted with the arts of 
 
HISTORY 3 
 
 spinning and weaving. They probably dressed in fabrics of 
 linen or wool, presumably the latter, because we know that 
 the tending of flocks was their chief source of riches. It is 
 not until after the exodus of the children of Israel from 
 Egypt, that any record occurs in the Bible to show that 
 they made cloth for their own use. They probably learnt 
 the art from the Egyptians, for we have it on record in 
 Exodus XXXV. 25, that " the women who were wise hearted 
 did spin with their hands." 
 
 In the same way that the Israelites were ordered to 
 discontinue most of the practices which they had learned 
 in Egypt, we find in Leviticus xix. that they were forbidden 
 to wear fabrics of woollen and linen mingled, and this proves 
 conclusively that such fabrics were in general use at that 
 period. It seems pretty clear that the manufacture of flax 
 and wool flourished side by side in Egypt, and that similar 
 apparatus were in use in both trades. If we may judge from 
 the contempt in which the Egyptians held the pastoral 
 Israelites, it is probable that they did not rear sheep for 
 themselves, even for the sake of the wool they produced, 
 and we may fairly conclude that the Egyptians first used, 
 for spinning, the flax which grew naturally on the banks 
 of the Nile— particularly as garments of fine linen would be 
 very suitable for such a hot climate. 
 
 In his book on " Dress," Strutt tells us that linen and 
 woollen garments were in use amongst the Egyptians at a very 
 early age, so we may conclude that they early found that the 
 long wool, which seems to be the natural product of un- 
 cultivated sheep, was suitable for spinning and weaving on 
 their rudimentary appliances. It is probable that some 
 method of straightening the wool would be necessary before 
 
4 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 it could be spun, but they would naturally be acquainted 
 with some kind of comb for personal use, and we may there- 
 fore fairly conclude that yarn of the nature of worsted was 
 made long before any which resembled woollen yarn. There 
 are four reasons for this : — 
 
 1. The wool was long ; 
 
 2. And therefore easier to comb than to card. 
 
 3. The idea and practice of combing are simpler than 
 
 those of carding. 
 
 4. The finishing of worsted cloth is simpler than the pro- 
 
 cesses involved in felting and milling woollens. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans seldom wore cotton or linen cloths, 
 and only adopted silk very sparingly for the most costly robes. 
 Robertson tells us that both nations dressed almost entirely 
 in wool, and that they used two very different types of fabric. 
 One of them, called densa, strongly resembled our woollen 
 cloths, being felted and having a nap on the face ; whilst the 
 other, called trita, was threadbare, and similar to our worsteds. 
 A yarn made from shorter material and carded, must have 
 been then in vogue for the heavier yarns and thicker cloths, 
 whilst the older type, with longer, straighter fibre, was still 
 being used for the finer textures and smoother surfaces. We 
 may therefore consider that before the beginning of our era 
 the spinning of combed wools existed as a branch of trade, 
 distinct from the spinning and weaving of woollens. 
 
 No one can read through the history of industrial arts, 
 either ancient or modern, without being struck by the way in 
 which, again and again, processes have been invented simul- 
 taneously in different towns, countries, or even continents, 
 and no more striking illustration of this fact can be cited 
 than that revealed on the discovery of the New World. In 
 
HISTORY 
 
 5 
 
 his history of Mexico, Clavigero shows that when the country 
 was conquered by Pizarro in 1529, spinning and weaving had 
 reached such a state of perfection that cloths of exceeding 
 fineness were made in the country ; in fact, so excellent were 
 they that he concluded that the art of their manufacture 
 must have flourished from remote antiquity. We have no 
 reason to suppose that any intercourse had ever taken place 
 between Europe and America prior to that date, with the 
 single exception of the Northmen who crossed to Labrador 
 by Greenland and Iceland in the tenth century. They gave 
 in the Sagas far too clear a description of their visit, for us to 
 suppose that they left any trace of their rude civilization 
 when they quitted the country for good, a few years later. 
 No one has ever been able to trace any connection between 
 the Aztec races and their nearest Asiatic neighbours on the 
 other side of the Pacific, and so we can only conclude that the 
 spinning and weaving, in which they had become so proficient, 
 were their own invention, with an entirely different origin to 
 that which was practised in the Old World. 
 
 There is yet another instance of a very similar kind, 
 showing that savage as well as civilized races have developed, 
 if they have not originated, textile arts. In this case the 
 proofs of originality are not quite conclusive, because we 
 know that in very ancient times the Egyptians traded largely 
 with the Carthaginians and Ethiopians ; but, nevertheless, it 
 was a great surprise to explorers and to scientists to find, 
 when they first had access to the great Haussa city of north- 
 ern Nigeria, Kano, which lies south of the Sahara, that modern 
 native fabrics of excellent texture and original woven colour 
 design, were in daily use amongst the people there. 
 
 Fragile and beautiful as are the Decca muslins of the 
 
6 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Hindoo hand-loom, there is no reason to suppose that the 
 yarns for them were ever produced with any other apparatus 
 than the wooden spindle, suspended from, and turned by, the 
 fingers, just as it was four thousand years ago ; and the only 
 advance which has been made in India throughout that long 
 course of ages, is the turning of the spindle by means of a 
 rough and cumbrous wheel. No method of winding the 
 thread automatically on to the spindle has ever been devised 
 in the East. The continued use of such primitive tools draws 
 our attention closely to the wonderful dexterity of the worker, 
 
 Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
 
 and we can only attribute the marvellous delicacy of his 
 manipulation to generations of habit and of practice. 
 
 The very earliest records left to us of the nature of the 
 spinning processes used by the ancients, come from drawings 
 on the Egyptian monuments, in which we see that they used 
 a simple spindle of wood or even of plaited rushes, with a head 
 of gypsum to give it more momentum when spinning. It 
 is a convincing testimony to the unchanging character of 
 Eastern customs, that the very type of spindle, which has 
 been found buried in the tombs of Thebes, is in use in Egypt 
 to day. The spindle is about 15 in. long, and from Fig. 1 
 
HISTORY 
 
 7 
 
 it will be seen that no distaff was used by the spinner, 
 the whole process being very elementary, although at that 
 early date, there are figures shown, twisting two threads 
 together to form a single folded yarn. 
 
 From that remote time to the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century, there was no material improvement in the methods 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 employed for spinning. Fig. 2 is a Grecian representation of 
 a woman using a spindle and distaff, and though the beauty 
 of drawing shows a wonderful improvement in the condition 
 of art, very little advance had been made in the methods of 
 spinning. In the rude pictures of Saxon times we find the 
 first real step in advance. That step is the use of a fixed 
 distalT, and those who know how to spin by hand will at 
 
8 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 once realize how much more practical is the arrangement of 
 the yarn and spindle in Fig. 3 than in Figs. 1 and 2. 
 
 After a most exhaustive search through all known sources 
 of information, Mr. James was obliged to give it as his verdict, 
 that the date and origin of the first one-thread wheel re- 
 mained in obscurity, but he concluded that it has common 
 origin with the rude teak wheel of Hindustan. 
 
 We know that in the seventeenth century, spinning on 
 the Saxon wheel, Fig. 5, was a favourite occupation of the 
 ladies of the time, and at the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century three methods were in common use in this country. 
 
 1. The Rock, as the spindle and distaff were called. 
 
 2. The common one-thread wheel. 
 
 3. The Saxon, or treadle wheel. 
 
 (1) James thinks that the Rock was probably still in use 
 in remote districts in England when he wrote in 1857, and it 
 was principally used for worsteds. He says, " These Rock 
 spinners drew out the thread from the end of a sliver of 
 combed wool, and communicated the necessary motion to a 
 rough kind of spindle, by twisting it between the right hand 
 and the thigh, allowing the spindle to revolve when suspended 
 by the thread, which the spinster gradually lengthened with 
 her fingers. No just conception can be found of the delicate 
 quality of the yarn produced by this primitive process." 
 
 It is well worthy of passing notice that although the 
 Hindoos used a one-thread wheel for coarse descriptions of 
 cotton yarn, yet for the finer sorts, the spindle, sometimes 
 with and sometimes without the distafi", is employed, and 
 thus full play is given to the delicacy of touch of the Hindoo 
 women. 
 
 (2) The common one-thread wheel was used up to the end 
 
HISTORY 
 
 9 
 
 of the eighteenth century for spinning wool (Fig. 4). This 
 apparatus was neither more nor less than the loose spindle 
 above mentioned, mounted in a frame, and driven or turned 
 by a belt passing over a large wheel or rim. Thus the 
 spinner's hands were left freer than by the former method, to 
 draw out the thread. The main advantage of the one-thread 
 wheel evidently arose from its capability of producing a 
 larger quantity of yarn. Spinning by this rude implement, 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 still to be seen in many farmhouses in the north of England, 
 is thus described : " The operator, usually a female, laid hold 
 of the wool with the finger and thumb of the left hand at a 
 few inches distant from the spindle and drew it towards her, 
 whilst she turned the wheel with her right hand. She then 
 twisted repeated portions, and as they were twisted, she, 
 guiding the thread with her hand, wound it upon the spindle." 
 This description is too obscure to convey any definite idea 
 of the distaff in regard to the spindle, but it is clear that the 
 
lo PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 twisted yarn must be run on to the spindle, and therefore the 
 first reference to the spinner taking hold of the wool a few 
 inches from the spindle is difficult to understand properly. 
 
 (3) The Saxon, or " small " wheel is spoken of as being in 
 use during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it 
 contained two very important improvements upon the one 
 thread wheel. 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 {a) The wheel received its motion from a treadle, so that 
 both the operator's hands were free to draw the 
 thread. 
 
 (6) The spindle was much more complicated. It carried a 
 bobbin or spool, on to which the thread was wound 
 by a flyer revolving with greater or less rapidity 
 than the bobbin. The difference in the number of 
 
HISTORY 
 
 II 
 
 revolutions between the flyer and the bobbin regu- 
 lated the amount of thread wound on to the bobbin, 
 and consequently regulated the turns of twist per 
 inch in the yarn (see Fig. 5). 
 
 Curiously enough, these wheels seem to have been 
 reserved almost entirely for spinning flax ; but their interest 
 to us is very great, because the arrangement of spindle, flyer, 
 and bobbin were afterwards embodied in Arkwright's inven- 
 tions. The only thing necessary to make a Saxon wheel 
 into an automatic spinning frame, was some arrangement for 
 drawing out the thread from the combed sliver. 
 
 It is worthy of the most careful consideration that the 
 first patent to attain this end was taken out as early as the 
 year 1687 by R. Dereham and R. Haines, ninety years before 
 Arkwright entered his first claim. The wording in the 
 patent index is very curious. The patentees claimed to have 
 made " a spinning machine, whereby from six to one hundred 
 spinners and upwards may be employed by the strength of 
 one or two persons, to spin linen, or twisted thread, with 
 such ease that a child of three or four years may do as much 
 work as a child of seven or eight years, and others as much 
 in two days as without this invention they can do in three 
 days." Unfortunately, though Mr. Woodcroft made a very 
 careful search at the patent oftice before 1853, he failed to 
 find any vestige of specification beyond what is given above, 
 and though it is supposed to have been a roller frame, there 
 is no proof whatever to that effect. 
 
 The next patent was not taken out for sixty years, and 
 although it was in the name of Mr. Paul of Birmingham, the 
 invention was undoubtedly that of John Wyatt of Lichfield. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Writing in January, 1818, his son tells us that in 1730, or 
 thereabouts, John Wyatt conceived the project of spinning by 
 rollers, and in 1733 prepared a model about 2 ft. square, 
 on which he spun thread in a room at Sutton Coldfield. 
 Unfortunately, his means were inadequate to continue experi- 
 ments, and he was imposed upon by Louis Paul, a foreigner, 
 who contrived to obtain a patent for the invention in his 
 own name. The specification shows that the inventor, Wyatt, 
 had grasped the two great principles of spinning. 
 
 First, that of draft between two or more pairs of fixed 
 rollers or cylinders, as he called them, such as are used in 
 all worsted drawing and spinning machinery to-day. 
 
 Second, that of spindle draft, such as is adopted more or 
 less in all mule spinning, and which is the root principle of 
 the woollen mule. This he describes in a quaintly worded 
 paragraph, and as spindle draft has a great bearing on some 
 well-known defects in worsted spinning, it is worth while to 
 draw attention to the first mention of it a hundred and sixty 
 years ago. He says, " In some other cases, only the first pairs 
 of rowlers, cilinders, or cones, are used, and then the bobbyn 
 spole or quill upon which the thread, yarn, or worsted is spun, is 
 so contrived as to draw faster than the first rowlers, cilinders, 
 or cones give, and in such proportion as the first mass, rope 
 or sliver is proposed to be diminished." There can be no 
 doubt that this machine contained all the essential features 
 of a modern fly-spinning frame, and Wyatt is therefore 
 entitled to full credit for the invention of roller draft, unless 
 some detail of Dereham and Haines patent can be unearthed. 
 
 Unfortunately, like almost all the great inventors, Wyatt 
 received no reward for his unique ideas. He and Paul 
 started a small spinning factory in Birmingham, where a 
 
HISTORY 
 
 13 
 
 machine was attended by ten girls, but it proved a financial 
 failure; he was defrauded by Paul, became a prisoner for 
 debt, and died in comparative poverty. 
 
 A larger factory, moved by water power, was opened by 
 a Mr. Cave, in Northampton, and ran until the year 1764. 
 It is deserving of notice, not because it proved profitable, 
 but because the principle of a positive drag was used on the 
 frames. 
 
 In the description of the Saxon wheel, the separate drive 
 of the bobbin and flyer are carefully noted in relation to 
 twist, and in this first factory of any size it is interesting 
 to read, " The establishment consisted of several frames of 
 two hundred and fifty spindles and bobbins. The bobbins 
 revolved upon the spindle, each being moved by a separate 
 wheel and pinion." This is, of course, the principle upon 
 which all cone drawing is made, and we shall have reason 
 to refer to its inception in a later chapter. 
 
 In 1767, a man named Thomas Highs, a reed-maker of 
 Leigh, made rollers for the purpose of spinning cotton, and in 
 the great trial as to the validity of Arkwright's patents in 
 1785, Highs proved that he had used a machine with rollers ; 
 the front pair revolving five times the speed of the back pair. 
 He also stated that he used it both to rove and to spin. 
 This is, so far as we are aware, the first mention of any 
 process coming between combing and spinning, and as 
 worsted is distinguished by the numerous reductions through 
 which it goes, in preparation for spinning proper, we may 
 safely record this as another distinct step in the advance of 
 the worsted trade. Thus, by 1767, we find that almost every 
 principle involved in modern spinning machinery had been 
 evolved, and if we can judge from James's history of the 
 
14 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 worsted manufacture, there is little reason to doubt that 
 Ark Wright obtained knowledge of Highs's inventions from 
 a man named Kay, a clockmaker, who had helped him to 
 prepare his model, and that Kay afterwards prepared 
 machines for Arkwright ; in fact, Arkwright never denied that 
 he had made unfair use of the information derived from Kay. 
 At that time, 1768, Arkwright was very poor indeed, but a 
 spirit merchant, named Smalley, found means for him to set 
 up his first machines in a house next to the Grammar School 
 at Preston, and after perfecting them there, Arkwright took 
 out his first patent in 1769. His two chief contributions to 
 the improvement of the frame were the use of fluted bottom 
 rollers with leather covered pressing rollers, and instead of 
 only using two pair of rollers, he made his machine with four 
 pair ; the two centre ones taking the place of what are now 
 called carriers, or tumblers. In his second patent, 1775, he 
 also introduced a single spindle stop motion, and the means 
 to give a traverse to the bobbins. James says of this patent, 
 " With the completion of Arkwright's spinning machine, a 
 new epoch in the manufacturing history of this country 
 commences. It occasioned a complete change in the old 
 mode of manufacture, and rendered business transactions of 
 a magnitude never before contemplated." 
 
 Many improvements were quickly added by other people. 
 The present arrangement of driving, which is adopted in all 
 worsted spinning frames, from a horizontal cylinder at right 
 angles to the spindles, being early introduced. The name 
 "throstle" was also given on account of the singing sound 
 that these frames made when running, caused by the rotation 
 of the numerous bands, wharles, and washers on the spindles. 
 
 James Hargreaves, who was a contemporary of Arkwright's, 
 
HISTORY 
 
 15 
 
 was the Lancashire weaver who invented the spinning-jenny. 
 He is said to have derived his idea from seeing the wheel and 
 spindle of a one-thread wheel continue to revolve after it had 
 been accidentally upset, and the idea of putting a number of 
 spindles side by side, suddenly struck him. He did not use 
 rollers, but employed spindle draft to draw out the thread to 
 the required fineness. It is true that his machine was a very 
 simple arrangement, but his was clearly an invention in the 
 true meaning of the term, and as his principle forms the basis 
 of all woollen spinning, it is worth while to quote Mr. James 
 again, in order that the reader may form a clear idea of the 
 difference between the two processes. " He put eight rovings 
 in a row opposite to eight spindles, the rovings being joined 
 to the spindles, passed between two horizontal bars of wood 
 forming a clasp which opened and shut somewhat like a 
 parallel ruler: when pressed together this clasp held the 
 thread fast. A certain portion of the roving being extended 
 from the spindles to the wooden clasp, the clasp was closed 
 and drawn along the horizontal frame to a considerable 
 distance from the spindles, by which the threads were 
 lengthened out and reduced to the proper tenuity. This was 
 done by the spinner's left hand, his right hand at the same 
 time turned the wheel w^hich caused the spindles to revolve 
 rapidly, and thus the roving was spun into yarn. By 
 returning the clasp to its first situation, and letting down a 
 pressure-wire, the yarn was wound upon the spindle." 
 
 In this machine three essential parts of the modern mule 
 appeared for the first time in a practical shape. 
 
 1. Spindle draft as mentioned by Wyatt. 
 
 2. A guide or pressure-wire to guide the yarn during the 
 
 winding on to the spindle, 
 
1 6 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 3. An arrangement to run the spindle at two differing 
 speeds — 
 
 ia) Fast, to put twist into the yarn, and 
 (6) Slow, to wind the yarn on to the spindle. 
 The last important step in the history of spinning was 
 taken by a Bolton weaver named Samuel Crompton. He 
 invented the mule-jenny, so called because it contained the 
 principles of Arkwright's drawing rollers together with the 
 spindle arrangement of Hargreaves's jenny. It contained 
 two distinct parts, the first being a system of drawing rollers 
 fixed in a stationary frame, to reduce the roving previous to 
 its being spun, and, second, a movable carriage furnished with 
 twenty to thirty spindles to further draw out, and then twist 
 the yarn. A contemporary says — 
 
 " The rovings being passed through the rollers and attached 
 to the spindles, the machine was then set in motion. The 
 rollers then elongated the rovings, and the movable carriage 
 receding from the rollers continued to draw it out, adding at 
 the same time a slight twist. When a sufficient quantity 
 had been given out, the rollers, by a contrivance, were at 
 once stopped, and they then acted the part of the clasp in 
 the jenny, holding the rovings whilst the carriage still 
 receded from the rollers, but at a much less speed. The 
 velocity of the spindles was increased to nearly double, 
 thus drawing out and twisting the thread in the most equal 
 manner." 
 
 The essential feature of the mule was the movable carriage 
 in which the spindles were set and revolved. It was arranged 
 in such a way that whilst the spindles revolved they also 
 receded from the rollers, which took the place of the clasp in 
 the Hargreaves jenny. It differed chiefly from Hargreaves's 
 
HISTORY xrj 
 
 jenny because in that raacliine, the clasp moved away from 
 the spindles, the spindles being stationary. 
 
 Crompton began experimenting in 1774, and at first he 
 aimed merely at producing a yarn for the requirements of his 
 own family, and he endeavoured to keep his mule a secret. 
 He was afraid of the public indignation, which ran very high 
 at that time against all kinds of automatic machinery ; but 
 his system produced a finer and evener yarn than was possible 
 either on Arkwright's frame or on the jenny, and the quality 
 of the yarn he produced excited the attention of the neigh- 
 bours, who finally discovered the construction of his machine. 
 However, he took no steps to secure a patent for his invention, 
 and the principle of the mule became public property. As it 
 came from Crompton's hands, it was a clumsy wooden machine. 
 It was, however, much improved soon after it was made public 
 by many ingenious men, and was rendered capable of working 
 with several hundred spindles. It was early applied to 
 spinning worsted, and after being disused for a long period 
 it was again employed, to some extent, in 1853 in spinning 
 peculiar qualities of worsted yarn. It has long been largely 
 used by the French for spinning worsted, and unquestionably 
 the excellent qualities of some of their stuffs are attributable 
 to this cause. Even as long as fifty years ago, James wrote : 
 " To me it is astonishing that the improved mule, so admirably 
 adapted for producing the finest sorts of worsteds, should 
 have been so neglected in this country, even with the example 
 of our nearest neighbours before our eyes, and continually 
 hearing the beauty and fineness of their stuffs praised." 
 
 The history of the long series of inventions, which made 
 it possible to spin by purely automatic machines, is really 
 complete at this date, 1780 ; but there are two more recent 
 
 c 
 
i8 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 inventions which are worthy of mention here, because they 
 are in daily use in almost every mill iu Yorkshire. One of 
 them made it possible almost to double the output of the 
 worsted fly frames which were in use prior to 1833, and the 
 second is one of the most important arrangements now in use, 
 for securing a level sliver, and, cousequently, a level thread. 
 
 In the year 1818 an extra process, known as " slubbing," 
 was introduced, and by its means, twist was put into the open 
 sliver, which until that time had been used without any twist, 
 prior to spinning. About the same date, the size of the spin- 
 ning rollers was altered to suit the shorter kind of wool, now 
 coming into vogue, and the position of the spindles was altered 
 in regard to the rollers, so that twist could run more perfectly 
 and uniformly into the thread. 
 
 It was not until 1831 that the American or dead spindle 
 was first introduced, and from that time, cap and ring yarns 
 were possible. The use of the cap admitted of greatly 
 increased spindle speed, and soon created quite a revolution in 
 the construction of the frames, as well as a great reduction in 
 the cost of producing fine counts from merino qualities. 
 
 With the exception of combing machines, which were made 
 practical in the forties, probably nothing tended more to the 
 regularity of the sliver in drawing and spinning than did the 
 introduction of giUing. In 1834 Mr. Fairburn, of Leeds, took 
 out a patent for a screw gill, and the use of this device in the 
 preparation of slivers for slubbing, has enabled the spinner to 
 turn out much leveller yarn. 
 
 Up to this point we have considered nothing but such 
 inventions as relate purely to spinning machinery, but it is 
 seld om the case that one group of circumstances is responsible 
 for a great industrial development, and the factory system 
 
HISTORY 
 
 19 
 
 could never have grown to its present state of perfection 
 without the aid of steam. 
 
 Watt's invention of the steam-engine in 1782, and its 
 development until the year 1789, affected the spinning indus- 
 try, possibly more than any other trade in the country. To 
 realize the change which has taken place, we must consider 
 the methods by which business was conducted in days prior 
 to the introduction of steam. In the first place, it must be 
 remembered that in the early days spinning was done entirely 
 at home, being practised by the women and children, and the 
 buzz of their spindles was often heard in the same house as 
 the clank of the shuttle in the loom ; the looms being more 
 often worked by men. About 1775, when the one-thread 
 wheel was still in general use, the output of yarn by each 
 person was so small, that manufacturers in the towns found 
 difficulty in obtaining sufficient yarn for their weavers, who 
 usually worked on commission, and the inhabitants of the 
 most remote villages were visited by the manufacturer, and 
 supplied with wool to spin on commission. The care and the 
 trouble involved by all this transport, are simply incredible in 
 these days of factories and railways. Two examples will be 
 sufficient to illustrate the point. 
 
 In 1775 the wool was often taken from York, where it 
 was sold, on packhorses, over the very worst roads, to Askwith, 
 near Otley, and after it had been combed there, it was again 
 sent on packhorses to the dales of Cheshire and Derbyshire, 
 going through Bradford and Huddersfield on its way to be 
 spun. It made a third journey back to Askwith to be woven, 
 and in the form of woven goods it went again on horseback 
 all the way to Colne to be sold. After the opening of the 
 Leeds and Liverpool Canal we find things are somewhat 
 
20 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 simplified. One writer says: "We sent a pack of tops at 
 once to Skipton by canal. A boat came on purpose for the 
 tops of various people. The pack was generally consigned to 
 a shopkeeper or small farmer, the former oftenest, because it 
 brought custom to his shop. He had a halfpenny a pound for 
 putting it out. We had spinning done in Lancashire as far as 
 Ormskirk, in Craven, at Kirkby Lonsdale, in Wensleydale, 
 Swaledale, and other parts of North Yorkshire. Much difd- 
 culty was experienced with the yarn ; we had to sort it, and 
 from the same top there would be counts as thick as 16" and 
 as small as 24', showing the difference in spinners. For a 
 pound of 20' we gave on an average from ninepence to a 
 shilling, and a good spinner, from Monday morning to Saturday 
 night, might earn two and sixpence a week." In addition to 
 all the other difficulties under which business was transacted, 
 the wool buyer had to traverse the country along wretched 
 roads, which were infested by such bold highwaymen as 
 Turpin, and a host of less notorious characters. 
 
 The scarcity of yarn no doubt hastened the introduction 
 of automatic machinery ; but prior to the invention of the 
 steam-engine, this caused very little saving of carriage, because 
 the factories were necessarily placed in out-of-the-way valleys 
 where there was the necessary water power ; for example, on 
 the upper reaches of the river Aire above Bellbusk, and at 
 Westend in the Washburn Valley three miles above Blubber 
 Houses. Doubtless the remoteness of these early factories is 
 one reason that improvements in machinery spread so slowly 
 at first ; for when once such a place had been equipped and 
 started, it would be a matter of very serious expense to make 
 any further alterations to the machinery. The introduction 
 of steam power at once made for centralization, and the 
 
HISTORY 
 
 21 
 
 coal-bearing districts quickly became the principal centres of 
 industry. At first, of course, the water-driven mills, were 
 able to compete with steam-driven factories, because, although 
 the rents were not yet high in the towns, the engines were 
 still so imperfect that they used a great deal of coal. Prior 
 to 1800, carriage to Bradford from York would probably be 
 almost as difficult and costly as to the Upper Washburn 
 Valley ; but roads, to what are now the manufacturing 
 districts, were greatly improved early in the nineteenth 
 century, and when the cost of carriage to the towns was 
 still further reduced by the advent of railways, the doom of 
 the country mills was sealed. 
 
 Wherever a railway appeared the cost of carriage fell so 
 much that the amount of money saved in coal, by water- 
 driven mills, was no adequate compensation for the extra cost 
 of transport, and now almost all mills in country places, which 
 lie away from a railway, are empty. Only the ancient 
 buildings, with rotten floors and bending roofs, remain as a 
 monument of what industry was in the age before steam 
 power. 
 
 So far as can be ascertained, the first worsted mill in the 
 north of England was built on the Duke of Hamilton's 
 Dolphin estate in 1784, but it was fitted with such crude 
 machinery that it did not prove a commercial success, and 
 was closed in 1791. In 1787 John Cuncliflfe and John Cock- 
 shot purchased a piece of land at Addingham, and commenced 
 to build a weir across the river Wharfe, where the low mill 
 now stands. This was the first factory from which yarn was 
 sold on the Bradford market, and as it is still in full work it 
 is worthy of notice that it never shared the fate of the majority 
 of the country mills. The first spinning factory within the 
 
22 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 parish of Bradford was bnilt in the deep and narrow valley 
 of Hewinden in 1792, and another mill is said to have been 
 built in the same year at Ilkley, but all traces of the latter 
 building have long since disappeared. 
 
 The first spinning machines to be set up in Bradford were 
 erected in the Paper Hall, by Mr. James Garnett of Bradford 
 in 1794, and for more than a century the same industry was 
 followed by his sons, grandsons, and great-grandchildren. It 
 was not until 1800 that the first spinning mill was built on 
 the Holme, amid a feeling of the strongest antagonism from 
 the inhabitants of Bradford ; for at that time factories and the 
 factory system were held in intense dislike by all the working 
 classes, and no one then realized that the despised machinery 
 would be able to alter the condition of Bradford — which was 
 then a mere village — into the flourishing and important cit\'^ 
 which it is at the present time. 
 
 Although the steam-engine was comparatively perfect by 
 1800, we do not hear of anj'' great advance in the methods 
 employed in spinning until the year 1815. Every one was 
 too much concerned in the results of the great Napoleonic 
 wars to show excessive interest in trade ; but when the 
 long campaign was closed by the battle of Waterloo in 
 1815, the devastated countries of the Continent were in 
 no position to supply their own needs, and we were in a 
 splendid condition to turn our attention to reforms and im- 
 provements in carriage and in factory methods. The year 
 1818 is often given as a period of transition from the old 
 order to a new, but it is probable that improvements had 
 been more or less continuous all through the intervening 
 years, although it is doubtless true that the brighter prospects 
 of peace and trade brought them into much more general use. 
 
HISTORY ■ 23 
 
 In the following list important improvements are tabulated, 
 too-ether with the earliest dates at which they are known to 
 have been used, and nothing can show more clearly the 
 improvements in the nation's thinking-power than does the 
 wonderful advance which has taken place in the last hundred 
 and sixty years. When we consider that almost every one 
 of these improvements has been made, not by scientists or 
 trained men, but by men from the ranks, there is every 
 reason to hope that the advance is not yet ended. 
 
 ? First record of the use of a spindle. 
 
 520 B.C. First record of the use of a distaff and spindle. 
 
 1200 A.D. First record of the use of a fixed distaff and 
 spindle. 
 
 1600 (or earlier). One-thread wheel. 
 
 1630. Saxon wheel with flyer spindle. 
 
 1687. First automatic frame of Dereham and Haines. 
 
 1730. First roller draft spinning machine by Wj^att. 
 
 1730. First spindle draft mentioned by Wyatt. 
 
 1744. First frames having positive drag, by Highs. 
 
 1769. Arkwright's improved frame. 
 
 1780. Hargreaves's jenny with vertical spindles and 
 ppindle draft. 
 
 1774-1779. Crompton's mule with roller draft, and 
 
 spindles in a moving carriage. 
 1818. Improvements in build of frames. 
 1831. Cap spindle — an American invention. 
 1834. Screw gills, by Fairburn of Leeds. 
 1828. Ring spinning. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 
 
 The relation of worsted to woollen goods is still so much of 
 a mystery to the general public that it is a very common thing 
 for any one, in either trade, to be asked what is the essential 
 diflerence between the two. There is only one answer which 
 is really concise, and at the same time fairly accurate. It is 
 that " worsteds are combed, woollens are not," but the two 
 processes differ very widely in other respects. The difference 
 in the number of operations through which the wool goes 
 being perhaps the most noticeable feature of contrast between 
 the two. For example, after washing, material for a woollen 
 cloth goes through one, two, or three carding processes, and 
 from the last of them it is all taken direct to the spinning 
 machine to be made into yarns. 
 
 Worsteds, on the other hand, go through many more pro- 
 cesses. The shorter qualities, which are carded, go through 
 eighteen operations between the washing and the spinning, 
 and long prepared sorts may go through twenty or twenty-one 
 operations, in one of which some proportion of the shorter 
 fibres is always removed, together with most of the knots, so 
 that the average length of the fibres is increased and the yarn 
 made to lie straighter and smoother. This is simply another 
 way of saying, that in worsteds every fibre is kept as long and 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 25 
 
 straight as possible, that the yarn may be bright, and smooth, 
 and as level as possible. 
 
 In regard to woollens it was shown in " Principles of Wool- 
 combing " that the natural inclination of the wool to curl and 
 contract is accentuated by the nature of every process in the 
 industry, because bulk in regard to weight is of more im- 
 portance than the evenness and regularity which is expected 
 in worsted yarns. 
 
 Circumstances naturally arise sometimes, which make it 
 necessary to put uncombed wool through a worsted drawing, 
 in order to produce a yarn for some special purpose. This is 
 quite common in the carpet trade, where the characteristics of 
 a worsted yarn are wanted, at prices so low that combing 
 (which means the removal of noil) must be omitted, so that 
 every available fibre may go into the yarn, and keep the cost 
 down to the very lowest limit possible. 
 
 Such a yarn would resemble a worsted more than a woollen 
 thread, because the long straight fibres and the numerous 
 drawing processes would give a fairly smooth and compact 
 jT^arn, with fibres more or less parallel with one another, but 
 at the same time the quantity of short wool which was left in 
 the thread would affect its evenness, and probably appear as 
 larger or smaller lumps at irregular intervals along the thread. 
 
 We may take this as an illustration of the principle which 
 underlies the selection of wool for every class of yarn. 
 
 It may safely be stated, as an axiom, that tlie suitability of 
 material for any class of yarn depends on the relation of its 
 price, to the length and quality of the fibre. 
 
 A top might have the required length and come in at a 
 reasonable price, but if the quality were not right it could not 
 possibly be used. If a crossbred were too fine in quality it 
 
26 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 would be rejected because the cloth would look too flannelly, 
 and would lack the necessary crispness of handle ; but com- 
 plaints that the quality is too low are, of course, much more 
 common. When this is the case, the required counts can- 
 not be evenly spun, and the cloth will be too rough and harsh 
 to the touch. There would also probably be other more 
 technical difficulties, which will be dealt with under special 
 headings. 
 
 It is also clear that if the quality and length of a top were 
 right, and the price too high, the feel and appearance of the 
 fabric would be good, but the price would be so high as to 
 prevent all chance of selling it. 
 
 In the following classification of materials for the different 
 trades, the question of price will not be considered, because 
 it varies so greatly from clay to day ; but, in spite of this 
 omission, the student must never forget that price is now 
 an item of such immense importance that it often takes 
 precedence over all other considerations, quality and length 
 included. 
 
 Unfortunately, there is such confusion in the terms used to 
 denote the properties of wool and its suitability for any class 
 of work, that the meaning of several words must be clearly 
 indicated, and some of the definitions given in the last chapter 
 of " Principles of Wool-combing " will therefore be summarized 
 here. 
 
 1. " Length " must always be regarded as a purely relative 
 term, for it must be clear to every reader, that length which 
 would be excessive in a 60" quality would be so short that 
 a 40" quality, with fibres of the same length, would not spin 
 to more than 15" counts. 
 
 2. " Quality " is much more difficult to define. To begin 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 27 
 
 with, the word has two entirely different meanings. If we 
 say that a top must have the " qualities " necessary for an 
 Italian cloth, we mean that the length, quality, and diameter 
 of the fibres must be suitable, and also that they must be 
 sound, and have the necessary property of " filling " or " cover- 
 ing" when the cloth is finished. When the word "quality " 
 is used to convey this meaning, the word " property " ought 
 always to be used instead of it, and quality should be reserved 
 to indicate only fineness or diameter of fibre. For every 
 quality number there is a definite diameter of fibre, which 
 is recognized as the standard for that quality. 
 
 Length and quality are both necessary to spin any given 
 count, but the word " quality " has come to refer so entirely 
 to diameter of fibre, that even if the fibres of a top be small 
 enough in diameter to spin to 60^ counts, although they are 
 so short that they will only spin to 80^ in practice, the top 
 would still be spoken of as a 60^ quality. 
 
 Worsted yarns may be classified under ten heads — 
 
 I. Super botany single weft yarns. 
 II. Cashmere weft yarns, 
 
 III. Botany coating warp and weft yarns. 
 
 IV. Thick coating weft yarns. 
 V. Hosiery yarns. 
 
 VI. Fine crossbred warp and weft. 
 VII. Low crossbred warp and weft, 
 VIII. Lustre and demi-lustre. 
 IX. Mohair and alpacca. 
 X. Carpet yarns. 
 
 Each of these numerous classes differs in some essential 
 from all the others, but each of them contains so many different 
 grades, that each class a'ppears to merge more or less with 
 
28 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 its neighbours, because the finest grade of, say. No. 2 may be 
 finer than the lowest grade of No. 1. 
 
 It does not follow at all that the finest grade of No. 2 
 would do to use instead of a similar quality in Class I. ; for, 
 though the quality and length of fibre may be equal, there 
 are other attributes, such as serrations, waviness, and 
 strength, which play a most important part in the nature 
 of the finish which the yarn will take when it is woven 
 and dyed. 
 
 Class I. Super botany single weft yarns. — A, such as are 
 used for wefting the finest silk warp cashmeres (Henrietta 
 cloths), and B, the best Italian yarns, are both made from the 
 finest and best-grown Australian wool. 
 
 Probably no finer yarns have ever been spun from pure 
 wool than those made for the silk warp cashmere trade, 
 between the years 1885 and 1895. 160'' counts were spun and 
 sold by at least one Bradford firm, and one or two manu- 
 facturers also spun equally fine yarns for their own use. When 
 one considers that there are more than fifty-one miles of yarn 
 in a single pound, it is very clear that the fibres used must 
 be of extraordinary fineness to spin such yarns at all, or to 
 spin any yarn above 100^ counts, with any approach to regu- 
 larity. In addition to being very fine in quality, the fibres 
 must be very supple and very sound; they must all be of 
 nearly uniform length, and they must have serrations sufl[icient 
 to make them adhere to one another without giving any 
 feeling of roughness. 
 
 In short, all the qualities necessary for spinning must be 
 present in a marked degree : the properties which make for 
 good finishing being less important, for it is quite clear that 
 yarns spun to such excessively fine counts, are not often 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 29 
 
 fequired to " cover " much, and as it is necessary to put an 
 mmense number of turns into these very fine counts, the 
 jwist would always prevent their swelling in the fabric, even 
 if the wool possessed all the attributes which make the fibres 
 spread over the face of a cloth when finished. In fabrics like 
 [nuns veiling, for insta,nce, both weft and warp threads must 
 always remain separate and distinct after dyeing and finishing, 
 in order that the texture may be more or less transparent, 
 and nothing can secure this end so certainly as a sufiicient 
 number of turns of twist per inch. 
 
 Unfortunately, the wool necessary to spin 160® is now no 
 longer grown. "S.Wilson Ercildoune" was the only mark 
 from which wool could ever be sorted to do it satisfactorily ; 
 I the same grower's " Mount Bute " being very nearly as good. 
 Prices as high as 5s. were paid in the year 1880 for bales of 
 selected fleeces; but even this extraordinary price was not 
 sufficient to repay the grower for the care he expended in 
 keeping his flock up to such a high pitch of perfection, and it 
 would be difficult at the present time to find any wool which 
 would spin higher than 120* counts. 
 
 B. Yarns for Italian cloths (worsted sateen cloths with 
 cotton warp) have several characteristics in common with 
 Class I., A., but for the most part, they are much lower in 
 quality. They are sometimes spun as far as VlOO^ and not 
 unusually to l/90^ but i/80^ may be taken as the top counts 
 which can be relied upon in ordinary ranges, and V'^^^ i/64^ 
 and ^60^ are the counts most largely used. 
 
 The nature of all cloths, naturally decides the type of 
 yarn necessary for them, and when we consider that the weft 
 in an Italian cloth floats over at least four warp ends, for every 
 end which it goes under, it is clear that — 
 
30 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 1. The face of the cloth will be composed almost entirely 
 
 of weft yarn. 
 
 2. That any unevenness or irregularity in the weft will 
 
 therefore show very plainly. 
 
 3. In practice the weft in this class of fabric is intended 
 
 to hide the warp entirely, and it is therefore essential 
 that the yarn should not only be very uniform, but 
 that it should also " burst " or spread in the finishing 
 process, so that no sign of the warp threads may be 
 visible on the face of the cloth. 
 Long experience has shown that for this purpose, a yarn 
 which is spun out, can never rank in comparison with one 
 which is spun down. That is to say, if a 60® quality is 
 spun to 64® counts, it will not make so satisfactory a piece, 
 in relation to price, Si,^-, a ^/60® spun from a 64® quality, even if 
 there were 64 picks per inch of the 64® counts, and only 60 
 picks per inch of the 60® counts. In the first place, the 60® 
 spun out of 64® quality will be the more level of the two, and 
 will make the face of the cloth look smoother and evener. 
 
 Apart from the smaller number of fibres present in every 
 thread of the liner yarn, it is clear that more twist will be 
 required to make it equal in strength to the 60®, and as twist 
 always prevents the yarn from swelling, and the fibres from 
 separating in the finishing processes, it is clear that a 64® 
 thread from a 60® quality will not cover as well, as would 
 60® counts. If there were the same number of picks in both 
 cases, it is clear that the cloth made from 64® counts contains 
 g^'f), or 6'6 per cent, less material than a similar cloth made 
 from 60®, and in appearance it might be inferior by fully 
 10 per cent. If it be taken as an axiom, that a yarn 
 composed of many fibres will cover better than one which 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 31 
 
 [jontains fewer, it must be clear, without demonstration, that 
 cloths where cover is important should never be made from 
 ' spun out yarns." That is to say, if 64* and 70^ counts are 
 wanted they should be spun from such qualities, that propor- 
 tionate twist will make them proportionately strong. For 
 example, if a 60' quality will spin 60' counts of a certain 
 strength, with ten turns per inch, 66* counts should be spun 
 from fibre which would give one-tenth less strength with eleven 
 turns per inch. This rule ought to hold good of all yarns 
 and all cloths ; but in cashmeres and all commoner fabrics, it 
 is often possible to save money by spinning a 64;* counts from 
 a long 60* quality, whereas in Italian yarns it is not at all 
 certain that any final saving would result. The cost of the 
 yarn would naturally be reduced, but at the same time the 
 (juality of the cloth would be reduced out of proportion to 
 the amount saved. 
 
 The severity of the processes through which Italian cloths 
 go in finishing must also be considered in selecting materials 
 for this trade, for whilst some wools are fine enough to spin 
 the requisite counts with the requisite twist, they may have 
 been grown in such a way that they will not resist the heat 
 and pressure of finishing, as well as other sounder wools ; 
 and cloths made from wool of this kind would be flat and 
 lifeless after finishing, as compared with similar cloths made 
 from sounder wool. 
 
 Opinions difier very widely as to the possibility of select- 
 ing suitable wools by sight and touch alone. Certain classes 
 can of course be rej ected as wholly unsuitable ; but amongst 
 the very best grown wools, great diflferences of finish appear 
 without apparent adequate reason. To what this subtle 
 difference is due is not quite clear, but it is probable that very 
 
32 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 thorough microscopic and chemical research would disclose 
 some reason. The safest way to select wool for super Italian 
 yarns, is by experimental lots. Experiments have pretty 
 clearly proved that if wool from one district or station is 
 right at one time, it is fairly certain to continue suitable, and 
 we may conclude that suitable climate, soil, and feed are not 
 only necessary to produce suitable wool, but we may also 
 conclude that they will be efficacious in maintaining the wool 
 from any flock at a uniform level, if the breed is maintained 
 at its original standard. 
 
 This effect of climate and locality make it especially 
 necessary for makers of Italian yarns to know exactly what 
 marks their tops contain, and as it is quite unusual for top 
 makers to tell their customers what marks they use, almost 
 all the best spinners of Italian yarns, are firms who buy and 
 comb their own wool, that they may know exactly what 
 marks are going into each of their different qualities of yarn. 
 Fortunately, there are now top makers who will show their 
 wool to their customers before it is combed, making no secret 
 of the styles, classes, and marks which every pile contains, 
 and by their very honesty, these firms have enabled spinners 
 who do not comb, to make their yarns from the most suitable 
 marks to the mutual advantage of both parties. 
 
 The requisites for an Italian yarn may be briefly sum- 
 marized under two heads — 
 
 1. It is important that every property of wool which 
 
 conduces to good spinning should be present, so 
 that the yarn may be level and strong without 
 containing much twist. 
 
 2. But the properties which make the yarn suitable to 
 
 take a smooth and regular finish are more important 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 33 
 
 still. This means that suppleness and fulness of 
 fibre are an absolute necessity, and anything which 
 can be done to the top in the combing process, to 
 keep the fibres at their full original length, and full 
 of their original constituents, so that the tops have 
 length, quality, suppleness, and bloom, is of more 
 value in this trade than probably in any other. 
 For example, a super greasy double- combed top 
 would make a very good cloth, but for almost all 
 practical purposes it would be too expensive, and 
 therefore its soundness, suppleness, fulness, and 
 straightness must be imitated as far as is possible 
 by cheaper methods. 
 Class II. — Cashmere and other single weft yarns are made 
 from almost every variety of wool which will spin to the 
 requisite counts, and as the range of counts extends from 
 50' to lOO'', it is easy to see that the range of qualities will 
 be a very wide one. For all counts above 70* it is unlikely 
 that any wool could be found to spin the counts, which would 
 not be sound and fine enough to be suitable for Class I., A. 
 Such qualities would consist principally of super Australian, 
 ;New Zealand, and Tasmanian greasies, because, as has been 
 stated before, greasies usually spin better and are more supple 
 than an equally fine quality of scoured wool. From 80' down 
 to 70' the best scoured marks could be introduced, but as 
 they almost always produce rather shorter tops, the cost of 
 spinning a blend of scoured and greasy would probably be a 
 little more than for spinning greasy alone, because of the 
 twist necessary to make a strong thread from the shorter 
 top. The finest scoureds are also very suitable for use in 
 the super woollen trade, and at times they fetch such high 
 
 D 
 
34 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 prices that there can be no saving in using them for worsted 
 botanies. 
 
 In everyday use, the term Cashmere yarn is understood to 
 mean one of 60' quality span to 60' or 64' counts suitable for 
 ordinary dress goods, but not necessarily capable of taking a 
 good Italian finish. An immense trade is done in yarns of 
 this class. They can, of course, be made by people who do not 
 make their own tops, and have no specialized knowledge of 
 wool; but as they go into all classes of goods, the spinner 
 should take care never to give any guarantee, direct or 
 implied, with any yarn spun out as far as the quality will go. 
 
 It very often happens that fineness or smallness in the 
 size of the yarn may be of considerable saving to the manu- 
 facturer, quite apart from questions of quality, and the spinner 
 will often find himself pressed to make, say, 64' counts from a 
 quality which will only spin nicely to 60'. In such a case 
 the economy to the user, would be the very reverse to the 
 maker, and the yarn might be so uneven that the spinner 
 would also lay himself open to claims for irregularity. 
 
 The spinner's liability to claims is greatly increased by 
 wide variety of weaves for which cashmere yarns are used. 
 For example, in a warp face cloth, an irregular weft yarn 
 would do the least possible damage, because it is almost 
 entirely hidden by the warp threads. In a 2 X 2 twill, or 
 any other weave in which warp and weft come alternately 
 and equally on to the face of the cloth, streakiness in the 
 weft does not show badly, because every pick is frequently 
 crossed by warp threads, which break up the unevenness, and 
 hide half the total length of weft in the piece; but it is 
 very different with a weft face cloth like an Italian, where 
 no warp is visible, and the weft threads appear to run 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 35 
 
 uninterruptedly from selvage to selvage. In such a cloth 
 inequalities naturally show very plainly, and, therefore, before 
 taking any risk the spinner ought to know approximately 
 to w^hat purpose his yarns are to be put. 
 
 Probably there is no term in the whole range of the 
 textile industries which carries meanings, so many and so 
 varied as does the word Cashmere. It is, of course, the name 
 of a large and mountainous State in the north-west of India, 
 famous to us, because its deep and rugged valleys are the 
 native place of the wool-bearing goat which takes the coun- 
 try's name. These animals are nearly allied to the goat of 
 Tibet, and their hair greatly resembles that of the Angora 
 goat, which is known to us as mohair. The fleeces of Cash- 
 mere goats vary very greatly in length and quality, some 
 fibres being 18 in. long and very coarse, whilst a very small 
 portion of every fleece, perhaps only 3 or 4 ozs., is so soft 
 that it is of very great value. The natives are strictly for- 
 bidden to export the goats which produce it, and nearly all 
 of it is used in making the world-famed Cashmere shawls. 
 
 Until the year 1857, at least, the word Cashmere never 
 seems to have been used for any kind of cloth manu- 
 factured in this country ; but cotton dress goods, under the 
 name of Mousselaine-de-laine, were woven in the Colne 
 Valley as early as 1837. It is probable that the term 
 was first used in the dress trade, to designate fine twilled 
 cloths made from real cashmere wool, but as the tops are 
 exceedingly difficult to obtain in quantity, the cloths are too 
 expensive to be popular. Merino was first substituted, and 
 then woven into cotton warps, in similar weaves, to make a 
 cheap imitation of the original cloth, which continued to be 
 sold under the old name. Whether this is, or is not, the 
 
36 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 true derivation, the fact remains, that the term is now used 
 in Bradford and district to denote a special type of twilled 
 dress goods, with cotton warp and merino (Botany) worsted 
 weft. If the same type of cloth is made with silk or worsted 
 warps, it would be called respectively silk warp cashmere, 
 or all wool cashmere. The yarns most suitable for making 
 cloths of these three types are known as cashmere yarns. 
 They are single yarns, delivered on spool, and made from 
 merino or botany qualities. In other parts of the country 
 cashmere is used to describe widely different kinds of yarn. 
 For instance, in Leicester it refers to mule-spun yarn, whether 
 made from Crossbred or Botany. 
 
 The terms Botany and Merino, here used to describe 
 cashmere, carry so little of their original meaning that they, 
 in turn, need definition. Merino is now the term used for 
 all fine-fibred wool of sheep descended from the original 
 Spanish merino breed. A large proportion of the total, 
 supply comes from Australia and New Zealand, but the 
 Argentine, Patagonia, and South Africa also send their 
 quota, whilst Spain, which was the original home of the 
 breed, cannot now be looked upon as a source of supply 
 at all. 
 
 The two terms Botany and Merino are almost identical, 
 but the former has now much the wider application of the 
 two. It was, of course, derived from Botany Bay, of evil 
 reputation, and ought, therefore, to apply to all wool coming 
 from Australia; but because all Australian wool was for 
 many years pure merino, the two terms became in time 
 synonymous. So much was this the case, that when other 
 breeds of sheep with stronger hair were introduced into 
 the country, they were always distinguished as crossbred. 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 37 
 
 and crossbred they still remain, Botany being generally 
 used of merino wool from any country which is over 50' 
 quality. Botany does not, therefore, mean Australian, or 
 Australasian ; for Cape wools are now so good, that many 
 marks are quite suitable to spin alone to 60' and 64' ; but 
 South America also contributes no small share to the long list 
 of materials which are used for cashmere yarns. Very often 
 they are all classed under one head, and Botany is now used 
 to cover all qualities that are neither crossbred nor Encflish 
 and it can now only be considered as a generic term for all 
 fine-fibred wool, resembling merino. 
 
 Any attempt to give an idea of the variety of blends 
 which are daily made and sold, would be a task as impossible 
 as it would be useless, for it must be borne in mind that in 
 cashmere yarns, price plays a far more important part than 
 it does in Class I., and a good top at a farthing a pound 
 above the market rate would often be left in favour of a 
 relatively inferior article at, say, one farthing less. 
 
 Spinners often carry this practice much too far, for, as is 
 shown in a later chapter, a poor top may easily cost an extra 
 farthing a pound in drawing wages, and it is nearly certain 
 to require more twist in the spinning. Now, the cost of 
 spinning always varies in direct relation to the number of 
 turns put into the yarn, and it is therefore very easy to see 
 that an inferior top will cost more to spin, quite irrespective 
 of the quality of the yarn produced. The machinery neces- 
 sary for cashmere yarns would strongly resemble that used 
 for Class I. 
 
 Class III. — Botany coating yarns have many properties in 
 common with both the foregoing classes, and the point in 
 which they differ most visibly is that they are spun into both 
 
38 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 single and twofold, and must have the properties necessary to 
 make a good warp. The finish required on both weft and 
 warp will, of course, be the same ; but the fact that the warp 
 must always be strong enough to weave well, without ex- 
 cessive twist, makes it necessary that the fibres for the warp 
 should be sound and of good length, even for cloths where a 
 shorter and cheaper wool would give the required finish. 
 
 For very superior coatings, such as are used to make 
 frock-coats and gentlemen's evening dress, it is necessary to 
 use the best qualities of Class I. in order to get the desired 
 softness and finish. Other qualities from Class I. would be 
 used for other special purposes, but the price paid for the 
 majority of coating yarns will not permit the spinner to 
 use such specially selected wool, and the better qualities of 
 Class II. are in much more general use for coating yarns. 
 
 The type of yarn necessary also depends very largely on 
 the nature of the weave employed in the cloth. For example, 
 in Soleils (a type of light coating or heavy dress cloth in 
 vogue two or three years ago) no weft appears on the face, 
 and there is therefore nothing to break the effect of any 
 irregularity in the warp, and all thin or thick places show 
 so plainly, that a very even yarn is an absolute necessity. 
 The warp is often 2/60^ or 2/64^ and in order that it shall be 
 fine and fairly strong, without excessive twist, it is often 
 necessary to use a more expensive quality than would be 
 necessary for a cloth where weft and warp appear equally on 
 the face. On the other hand, the single weft is fairly thick, 
 and as it all goes to the back of the piece, it can often be 
 made from shorter stapled wool, which has the necessary 
 softness. 
 
 For w^eft-faced cloths the very reverse is, of course, the 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 39 
 
 case. The warp must be sound and not too hard, but where 
 a suitable sound top of good length can be found at a reason- 
 able price, it can very often be used, and a slio-ht savin o- 
 effected ; but the face-weft will have to be of good quality 
 to give softness, and at the same time it must be even, 
 and have good covering properties, as in yarns for Italian 
 cloths. 
 
 In the great majority of coatings, however, weft and warp 
 appear in fairly equal proportions on the face and back alter- 
 nately, and whenever this is the case the quality of both 
 should be very nearly alike. When twofold yarns are used 
 for both weft and warp they are nearly always made from 
 the same tops ; they always ought to be so. 
 
 Where weft is single, and warp twofold it is much better 
 to have them from the same material, but some manufacturers 
 insist on having single weft, at a so much lower price than 
 the twofold warp, that the difference cannot possibly be saved 
 in spinning and twisting, and the spinner is driven to use a 
 separate blend of equal quality, but not of so great length, 
 for the weft. It is also shown in Chapter V. that when 
 large orders are given for thick single weft, say V24^ and 
 twofold warp, say 2/54^ or 760^ the spinner can save money 
 even where both weft and warp are made from exactly the 
 same material, by putting one lot of tops through a drawing 
 on purpose for the V24^ and another part of the same lot 
 through a set of drawing differently arranged for the 2/54^ ^y. 
 2/60", because the thick counts can be made perfectly level 
 without going through as many processes as are necessary for 
 the 2/601 
 
 All these remarks apply equally to white or coloured 
 yarns, but colours are very seldom ordered in such quantities 
 
40 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 that separate drawings can profitably be put in for warp 
 and weft. 
 
 Spinners should also never forget that there are two types 
 of finish always in vogue : — 
 
 1. That in which the fibres are left on the face of the 
 cloth, so that it has some resemblance to a woollen ; in it 
 slight yarn defects, or mended places show very little. Gene- 
 rally this finish is simply the result of scouring and dyeing 
 processes, but sometimes it is heightened by a slight milling, 
 and still more seldom by a mechanical raising of the fibres 
 on the face of the cloth. The more the fibre is raised, the 
 less liable are faults to show after finishing. 
 
 2. In the finish, which is most typical of worsted goods, 
 every fibre is cut from the face of the fabric so that it is left 
 bright and clear, with every thread of the colour pattern and 
 every lift of the weave showing distinctly. 
 
 Naturally, in cloths like this, every yarn defect will show 
 all too plainly, and a yarn which may make a perfect piece 
 with a raised finish, may not only be unsuitable for a cut 
 finish, but may cost the spinner heavy damages into the 
 bargain. 
 
 Class IV. — Thick coating weft yarns are used in large 
 quantities to make cloths where the greatest possible bulk 
 and weight are required at the lowest possible price, when 
 fineness of texture is not a desideratum. They appear as 
 weft in many styles of weave; for example, single 12^ might 
 be used to weft a 2 x 2 twill with 2/24^ warp for a raised 
 finish, or the same counts might be used as backing weft for 
 a double, or a weft-backed fabric. The origin of the tops is 
 shrouded in mystery, for the simple reason that few of the 
 people who make them announce the fact from the housetops. 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 41 
 
 They are, as a Yorkshireman would express it, made from " all 
 nations," and contain the short wool which is rejected as unfit 
 to go into tops which are to spin to finer counts. Plenty of 
 the tops are quite as fine in the fibre as 60', and are always 
 offered in the market as such, although it is very unusual for 
 the shortest tops to spin beyond 301 Sometimes spinners mix 
 them with longer tops to reduce the price of blends for such 
 counts as 36' ; but as they are sure to need more twist to give 
 the necessary strength, (especially for twofold warp), it is very 
 uncertain if anything will be saved by putting them to such 
 a use. On the other hand, they are of real value for making 
 single-weft yarns from 12' to 18' counts, and if well managed 
 in the drawing and spinning, a very good yarn may result. 
 For such thick counts it is not necessary for the tops to go 
 through all the usual drawing boxes, but their shortness 
 makes the drafts short in every process, and the output of a 
 set of drawing is much less than it would be for the same 
 weight of roving from a longer top. 
 
 Class V. — Hosiery yarns, like most other classes, contain 
 wool from almost every country and of very varied length. 
 For example, some of the better crossbreds used in Bradford 
 find a considerable sale in Leicester, although they are far 
 from bulky in the grey, and have no special tendency to fill 
 in the fabric. The typical hosiery crossbred, on the other 
 hand, is a rather nondescript top of very irregular average 
 length, which will not spin beyond thick counts, an 1 will fill 
 well after scouring, whilst the enormous trade in mule-spun 
 yarns for underclothing and stockings is done in Botany 
 qualities of a very different type. 
 
 The parallel arrangement of fibres, which is so tjq^ical of 
 all other worsted yarns, is of little value in this trade, and for 
 
42 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 many kinds of hosiery, bulk in relation to weight is of more 
 value in a yarn than length in relation to weight. In this 
 respect hosiery yarns have something in common with 
 woollens. This peculiarity makes Buenos Aires wool of more 
 value in this trade than in any other. It fills well, and the 
 shortness of a great deal of the wool is no drawback, because 
 the counts required are so thick. Then, again, it is a matter 
 of common knowledge that a great deal of the wool which 
 comes from South America is discoloured, and it happens that 
 there is such a vast amount of wool used for black stockings, 
 that a ready sale is found for nearly all the supply. 
 
 These two reasons, taken together with the type of 
 machinery employed, explains how soft and level hosiery 
 yarns can be made at such low rates. French drawing and 
 mule spinning are nearly always used for the majority of 
 hosiery botany yarns, for three reasons. 
 
 1. They are particularly suited for dealing with tops of 
 
 short staple. 
 
 2. Wool can be spun without oil, and cannot easily be 
 
 spun if it contains the amount of oil generally 
 applied for the Bradford trade ; this makes the 
 yarns light and bulky, and easy to wash after they 
 are made up. 
 
 3. In practice twist proves to be a matter of the greatest 
 
 possible importance, and no yarn, either single or 
 twofold, can ever be good value for hosiery if it 
 contains many turns per inch. 
 Turns in spinning vary in relation to the thickness of the 
 yarn, not necessarily in direct proportion, but a thick yarn 
 will always require fewer turns to make it of the same relative 
 strength as a thinner one, and therefore a single 14' yarn will 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 43 
 
 always tend to fill better than a ^/28', just because each thread 
 of the 28' has more turns than the 14", if both are made from 
 the same quality. The single yarn will also be rounder and 
 fuller, and if it were not that the twofold yarn retains its 
 strength under all circumstances better than a single yarn, it 
 is probable that single yarns would be universal in the 
 hosiery trade. There are, of course, special trades, such as 
 that in fancy shawls, where folded yarns are used, because 
 special effects are desired. Twists of unequal counts, forming 
 spirals, may also be used for similar reasons, and three and 
 fourfold yarns, as well as very thick singles, go in small 
 quantities for the making of fringes, tassels, etc. 
 
 For special trades, particularly for fine stockings, extra 
 fine yarns are used, and to ensure softness and evenness in 
 these counts the qualities of Class I., A., are often necessary. If 
 they are used in twofold, the yarns are smoother and smaller 
 in diameter, as they come from a cap or ring frame, than a 
 mule yarn would be, because the fibres are arranged in more 
 or less parallel order by the machinery, and kept in that order 
 by the oil which the yarn contains. 
 
 If these yarns are thoroughly scoured after knitting, their 
 excellent quality and the unusual extent to which they cover, 
 will help to make a very full and high-class fabric ; the only 
 danger being that they may tend to take a finish more nearly 
 akin to that of a dress piece than is desirable. 
 
 Class VI. — Fine crossbred warp and weft ought to possess 
 many of the properties which are desirable for yarns of 
 Class III. if they are to give satisfaction. 
 
 If a crossbred top is to spin evenly to the finest possible 
 counts, a good average length is even more essential than it 
 is for botany, and considerable care is requisite in selecting 
 
44 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 materials, simply because the greater length of the top makes 
 it possible to have greater discrepancies between the lengths 
 of the longest and shortest fibres. 
 
 The chapter in "Principles of Wool- combing," which deals 
 with the analysis of tops, shows that if a top is to spin well it 
 should have few, if any, fibres less than half the length of the 
 longest, and this rule applies with special force to crossbred 
 qualities. For instance, if the longest fibres of a 54' top were 
 6 in. long, it should not contain any appreciable quantity 
 less than 3 in. in length ; and if the quality were all right, 
 such a top should spin easily to 52\ For this purpose we are 
 supposing that the top contains approximately equal propor- 
 tions of 6-in., 5-in., 4-in,and 3-in. fibres; but, on the other 
 hand, if it should happen to contain an additional quantity of 
 2-in. fibre it is very likely that it would only go nicely to 30'. 
 
 It was pointed out under Class III. that such a top might 
 make a satisfactory hosiery yarn, and on the same principle a 
 40' top of equivalent composition, would do very well for the 
 carpet trade ; but for coatings the length of all the fibres must 
 be fairly uniform, because evenness and absence of twitty 
 places are very important factors in a yarn for coatings or 
 trouserings. 
 
 Fifties qualities are, of course, frequently used for cloths 
 with a cut finish, but it may be taken that they are more 
 generally used for cloths like serge, which have a more or less 
 fibrous face when finished, and when that is the case they 
 are not so apt to show any slight imperfection in the yarn, 
 because the fibres of the various threads are so blended by 
 the finish which is given to the face of the cloth, that the 
 fabric almost resembles a felt, and the interlacings of individual 
 threads are indistinguishable. 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 45 
 
 Like many other good old English words which have been 
 adopted by various trades as technical terms, the word " serge " 
 has entirely lost its original meaning. It has, in fact, twice 
 changed its meaning. In " Webster's Dictionary " of 1864, 
 we find that serge is described as — 
 
 1. Originally a silken stuff. 
 
 2. A woollen twilled stuff, the warp of which is worsted 
 
 and the weft woollen. 
 
 To-day it is so unusual for a serge to be made half of 
 worsted and half of woollen yarn, that if a spinner were asked 
 for a ^/40* or ^/46' serge yarn he would understand that good 
 long fibre was expected, and also that he was to use wool 
 which had the sharpest possible handle, and would at the 
 same time spin to the required counts. 
 
 As already stated, the cloth is usually finished with 
 sufficient fibres on the face almost to hide the interlacings 
 of the weave. The fibrous nature of crossbred yarns, naturally 
 tends in the same direction, and the scouring and milling 
 processes through which the cloth goes, help to rub up the 
 fibres from the centre of the cloth, so that at first sight it 
 resembles a felt with the fibres arranged in no apparent order 
 on the face. If the piece were " raised " by mechanical means, 
 the fibre would form a nap or pile, lying more or less in one 
 direction, and as the nap would be both longer and less firmly 
 rooted in the threads, it would not wear so well. 
 
 Doubtless the type of finish now accepted as serge was 
 the natural result of beating and washing a cloth made of 
 worsted warp and woollen weft; but the woollen weft can 
 never wear like a good long twofold yarn, and it often happens 
 that quite fine fabrics are built with twofold weft as well as 
 twofold warp. These, if properly twisted and well finished 
 
46 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 and dyed, give a fairly close and very strong fabric, which 
 may be sharp to the touch at the same time that it looks well 
 and is very pliable. 
 
 For reasons . explained elsewhere, a twofold yarn is re- 
 latively stronger than a single. The single yarn, on the other 
 hand, often fills better (see Class V.), and for this reason it is 
 often used for weft, because, at the same time, it costs less 
 per pound ; but, from the weaver's point of view, a cloth of 
 twofold weft and twofold warp is nearly always better value — 
 exceptions to this rule being due to special circumstances in 
 make or finish. 
 
 Tailors often call a botany twilled cloth of navy blue a 
 serge, and, according to the dictionary, they are quite as 
 correct as those who restrict the term to crossbred yarns and 
 cloths with an uncut, or slightly raised face ; but the latter 
 meaning is now so well understood in the trade, that it is 
 highly desirable that it should be retained for this definite 
 purpose, because there is no other term which covers exactly 
 the same meaning. 
 
 The question of the relative strength of yarns as compared 
 with the diameters of their component fibres is, of course, one 
 in which every class or quality differs from every other, and 
 it is only selected for treatment here because the alteration 
 in size of fibre from botany to crossbred is more visible than 
 the alteration between any other two classes. It must be 
 clear to every one that when a 50^ yarn is spun from a SO** 
 quality, it cannot contain as many fibres as a yarn of the 
 same weight (or size) made from, say, a 60* quality, and, 
 within certain limits, it always happens that the yarn con- 
 taining the most fibres, spins better and is stronger with an 
 equal amount of twist. This is usually true, in spite of the 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 47 
 
 greater length of fibre in lower qualities, which undoubtedly 
 helps them to spin better than they would do if they were 
 short in staple. 
 
 In practice, yarns are often wanted as soft as they can be 
 spun ; that is, containing the least amount of twist with which 
 it is possible to get them from the spinning rollers on to the 
 bobbin, and when this is the case, the finer the fibre in a top, 
 the better will the yarn suit, because it will need fewer turns 
 per inch to give equivalent strength, and, as a consequence, 
 the cost of spinning will be reduced in proportion. 
 
 The types of weave into which crossbreds are woven 
 probably do not vary as widely as in the case of Botanies ; 
 but everything which was said in Class I. in regard to defects 
 which are more visible in one type of weave than another is 
 equally applicable to this and all other classes. 
 
 Class VII. — low crossbred warp and weft may be said to 
 include 2/40^ as its best quality, and to run down to the 
 longest and lowest of the wools which are grown on well-bred 
 Lincoln and Australian crossbred sheep. 
 
 The term Crossbred is often incorrectly used in this case, 
 for it often occurs that pure bred Lincoln and Leicester sheep, 
 grown in Australia, are classed as crossbred : the term being 
 often used now, simply to distinguish between home and 
 colonial grown wool. 
 
 In Botany and fine crossbred wools, as they are packed for 
 the sales, hogs or hoggets are often classed and sold quite 
 separately from the wether wool, though it is unusual to comb 
 them up into separate lots of top ; but in this class, hog wool 
 is often of so much greater value than wether wool, on account 
 of its length, that it is usually combed up by itself. In it 
 each staple ends in a point just as it was first arranged by 
 
48 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Nature ; it is usually longer than wether wool, the staples of 
 which always remain square ended, as they were left hy the 
 shears after the first clipping. 
 
 In low crossbred wool, spinning power is the property most 
 essential to buyers, if the tops come in at the right price ; and 
 as good uniform length is one of the most important attributes 
 of a good spinning top, hog wool usually sells better than 
 that of wethers. A certain fineness of fibre is, of course, 
 necessary also, but in these lower qualities it is easy to detect 
 differences in the diameter by the ordinary methods of judging, 
 which need not be enlarged upon here ; but the spinning power 
 of a top sometimes varies when both length, strength, and 
 diameter of fibre are constant, and changes of this kind are 
 attributed to alterations in the size of scales or the condition 
 of the serrations. Serration being the term for the upturned 
 edges of the scales. 
 
 It is a matter for regret that no positive proof can be 
 offered as to the part serrations play in yarn structure, and the 
 only impartial method is to state both facts and theories, both 
 for and against their importance. 
 
 Beginning with well-known facts, we find that in certain 
 years, which could be named, the spinning power of almost the 
 whole Leicester and Lincoln clip from Australia deteriorated 
 appreciably, without apparent reason. Quality and average 
 length were fully maintained, and the alteration was therefore 
 set down to the condition of the scales, or serrations. 
 
 It is not easy to see how the number or size of the scales 
 can be affected by alterations of climate, but it seems quite 
 natural that if the sheep is starved, the fibre will lack nourish- 
 ment and become dry, in which case one would expect- that the 
 edges of the scales would be more prominent than if the fibre 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 49 
 
 were well nurtured. As far as can be ascertained, this is the 
 very opposite of the real state of the case : wools which have 
 been grown in a year of drought being always less suitable for 
 spinning than wool from sheep which have been continually 
 well fed ; wool taken from the skins of sheep which have died 
 being the worst value of any class. 
 
 The power of certain wools to " mill " or " felt " well, in the 
 finishing processes through which woollen cloths go, is always 
 attributed to their having a great number of prominent serra- 
 tions. It is very unusual to find the edge of a scale standino- 
 up more than of the diameter of the fibre, and -^^ of the 
 diameter is a much more usual amount of projection. That 
 means that in a 40' fibre with a diameter of not more than 
 400 serrations would not project more than g^^Q in., 
 
 and as both fibres and serrations in such a top vary very much 
 in size, we may say that most of the serrations would be 
 less than jeog^ many of them less than 200017 in- 
 
 in height when seen in profile. 
 
 Each fibre would have from 400-600 rings of serrations 
 per inch. 
 
 In a fine Botany top it is common to find fibres of 0 0008 
 in. diameter in a CO' to 70' quality, with serrations, say, 
 ^i- of their diameter or 0-00053, say ^ oi^, in. ; having at 
 least 1000-1200 scales per inch along their whole length. 
 
 Undoubtedly the beating, crushing, and bending to which 
 the fibres are subjected in milling, do cause them to adhere to 
 one another with wonderful tenacity, and it is possible that 
 the process raises the scales above their natural level and so 
 gives them more grip on one another. 
 
 Unfortunately, a microscope objective which is powerful 
 enough to show the serration plainly, has a field so flat that it 
 
50 PRFNCrPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 is impossible to see far enough into the fabric to make micro- 
 scopic proof possible, and the difficulty of milling or felting 
 Cape wool affords an argument against this theory. 
 
 Under a good microscope it is easy to see that Cape wool 
 is well serrated, whilst it is a matter of common knowledge 
 that no amount of milling will make the fibres adhere to one 
 another as Botany fibres do, nor will it spin as well, and there- 
 fore it is fair to surmise that serrations are not the only 
 attribute of wool which makes fibres cohere, and gives them 
 spinning power. 
 
 If the usually accepted theory is correct, and Cape wool is 
 only the exception which proves the rule, the twist which is 
 put into any yarn will have two distinct effects. 
 
 1. It will naturally bind all the fibres into closer contact 
 
 with one another throughout their entire length, 
 and in so doing it will add strength to the thread, 
 because there will be so much extra friction between 
 the fibres, that even if they were smooth like silk 
 they would hang firmly together in thread form. 
 
 2. But when there are serrations on the outer walls of the 
 
 fibre, the twist will so press the fibres together that 
 almost every scale edge will interlock with a serra- 
 tion on some other fibre, of those composing the 
 thread, and therefore with equal twist and equal 
 diameter and length of fibre, a thread composed of 
 wool fibre should be stronger than one of cotton 
 or silk. 
 
 As a matter of fact, a silk thread is stronger than one 
 made of wool, because, although the silk fibre has no serrations, 
 it is finer than the wool, and there is consequently more 
 friction because there are more fibres in a thread of equal 
 
MATERIAL AND QUALITIES 51 
 
 weight ; quite apart from the fact that silk fibre is often very 
 long in comparison to its size, and is naturally stronger in 
 consequence. 
 
 Cotton, on the other hand, goes far to disprove the value 
 of serrations, for it has no serrations, and yet cotton of equal 
 diameter, but less than half the length of wool, will stand a 
 draft of three times that of the best merino, and give, accord- 
 ing to published figures, an actually stronger yarn. 
 
 As long ago as 1867, a Mr. Burgess, in America, pro- 
 pounded a theory as to the value of waviness in wool rather 
 than of serrations, in regard to spinning power. Cotton 
 spinners always attribute the wonderful spinning power of 
 cotton to its spiral character, and as the waviness of wool is 
 much more allied to this spiral character than serrations are, 
 it is time that the whole question was reconsidered. 
 
 It is unfortunate that no definite deduction can be drawn 
 from this reasoning, for it only seems clear that the condition 
 of the scales varies with variations of climate, just as they are 
 undoubtedly affected by severe treatment in the washing, to 
 such an extent as to alter the spinning power of a top. 
 
 There is as yet an unsolved problem, which will some 
 day yield to systematic investigation, and there is little doubt 
 that if it were done, either by a well-equipped textile school 
 or by some private man with the necessary machinery and 
 apparatus at his disposal, it would not only be an addition to 
 the science of the industry, but would amply repay the trouble 
 of research. 
 
 Class VIII. Demi. — There are probably few technical terms 
 in the trade which convey a definite and correct idea to so 
 few people as does the term Demi. In fact, it may be said 
 that there are few people outside the rather limited circle of 
 
52 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 firms who make demi yarns, who take the trouble to find out 
 what is the composition of the yarns, and the consequent 
 meaning of the name. If demi was ever intended to infer 
 that the yarn was halfway between a lustre and a cross- 
 bred it is not strictly accurate now, for demi and lustre 
 are made from different classes of wool, the former being 
 nearly allied to crossbred in quality, nature, and length, and 
 being altogether without the lustre which gives its name so 
 justly to the other section of this class. 
 
 There is, of course, no doubt that demi did originally 
 mean half lustre, that is to say, the term inferred that a 
 yarn was made from wool possessing half the lustre of the 
 very brightest kind of English wool. As a matter of fact the 
 term is still meant to imply that both English and crossbred 
 wools are present; but, on the other hand, it is an open secret 
 that there are on the market yarns made entirely from crossbred 
 and entirely from English : both varieties being sold as demi. 
 
 Demi yarns are seldom spun as far as crossbreds, in fact, 
 it is not often that qualities are spun " as far as they will 
 go." There is an immense trade in i/30^ from a super quality 
 which has sufficient length and quality to qualify for a 40« 
 top if it had been in the class above. The yarns are spun 
 direct on to paper tubes on flyer frames, and they are then 
 packed into large cases for shipment. 
 
 There is also a large trade done in i/l^' cap and flyer 
 yarn on rather larger tubes from a quality which in diameter 
 of fibre might equal a 36^ crossbred. It goes to the Eastern 
 market ; and in addition to these single yarns, large quantities 
 of 2/24' cap spun and cap twisted, or cap spun and ring 
 twisted, are made up on or 2 yd. reels into 560 yd. 
 banks, and packed into 10 or 12 lb. bundles for export. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 In view of the fact that many things occur in the worsted 
 industry for which the reasons are imperfectly understood, it 
 is unfortunate that so few practical men have time enough to 
 follow up facts which come under their notice, so as to account 
 for many of the phenomena which occur in the processes they 
 control. It is clear that reasons exist for every limitation, as 
 well as for every action, which takes place in the machinery, 
 and it is the object of the following chapters to state and 
 illustrate as simply as possible, all theories which are generally 
 accepted as correct. Where there are not sufficient facts to 
 prove why curious limitations apply to some processes — draft- 
 ing, for example — the jpros and cons of the case will be stated 
 as fairly as possible, with the object of establishing some 
 working theory which may afterwards be checked or conclu- 
 .sively contradicted by others. 
 
 With this end in view, the work of complicated modern 
 machines must be analyzed into its simplest component parts. 
 For example, in common parlance a spinning frame is said to 
 reduce a roving to a spun thread — that is, to reduce a twisted 
 sliver of a given size to a smaller size of a similar nature. 
 But to understand the underlying reasons which effect the 
 change, three distinct processes must be recognized — 
 
54 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 1. The drawing out of the fibres of the sliver to two, three, 
 or more times their original length by means of the back and 
 front rollers. 
 
 2. The insertion of twist into the yarn by the spindles. 
 
 3. The winding of the yarn on to the bobbin, spool, or cop 
 by many widely varying methods. 
 
 Every kind of spindle box, spinning frame, and mule 
 which is used in the drawing and spinning of worsted yarn 
 has these three duties to perform. Usually they all go on 
 together continuously, but in some machines, notably in the 
 mule, they are intermittent and follow one another in succes- 
 sion. For lack of any better method, chronological order will 
 be adopted — that is to say, spindles come first, because they 
 were in use in Egypt about four thousand years ago, and 
 the mule spindle takes precedence over all others, because it 
 is the modern adaptation of the Hindu one-thread wheel of 
 great but unknown antiquity, whereas all throstle spindles 
 are the outcome of the Saxon wheel, invented only about 
 1630 A.D. Kollers, involving theories of draft and ratch, can 
 only be traced back to 1730, when they were first used by 
 Wyatt, for we have no records whatever of the methods 
 adopted by Dereham and Haines in their automatic spinning 
 frame of 1687. 
 
 The Mule Spindle has, then, two claims to be discussed 
 before any other — 
 
 1. Its origin is traceable to the oldest of all forms of 
 spinning machiner3^ 
 
 2. In theory, its action is by far simpler than any other 
 spindle, and the method of winding yarn on to it involves 
 fewer theoretical considerations. 
 
 As this chapter deals only with the theoretical merits of 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 55 
 
 the different spindles, there is no need to describe the very- 
 intricate mechanical means necessary, 
 
 1. To insert the twist into the yarn ; and 
 
 2. To wind the yarn on to the spindle of a mule, for it 
 must be remembered that there is a vast difference between 
 the simplicity of theory and the simplicity of 'practice. The 
 extreme complexity of the spindle drive of a mule is wholly 
 due to the fact that the putting in of the twist and the wind- 
 ing on of the yarn in a mule, are two separate processes, each 
 of which takes place on the same spindle at a different period 
 of the machine's action, each involving one or more speeds 
 peculiar to itself, in one or more different directions ; the 
 variation of speed in the winding on being due to the constant 
 alteration of the diameter from the spindle to the cop, on to 
 which the yarn is being wound. 
 
 Speaking of theory only, therefore, it is found that in a 
 mule spindle there are two very simple processes going on, 
 and their alternation depends on the fact that the output of 
 the rollers of a mule is intermittent. To put twist into the 
 yarn whilst the rollers are running it is only necessary that 
 the spindles should run fast enough to put a certain number 
 of turns into every inch of yarn which comes through the 
 rollers. In other words, if the rollers are turning out 600 in. 
 per minute, and ten turns of twist are required in the yarn, 
 the spindles must run at 6000 revolutions per minute, or must 
 continue to run for a definite time after the rollers stop. 
 During the whole period through which the rollers run, twist 
 is being put into the yarn from a given point, which is the 
 apex of the spindle, and the consequent movement imparted 
 to the stretch of yarn between the points of the spindle S 
 (Fig. 6) and the roller R is a simple rotation upon its own 
 
56 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 axis. To all appearance it is stationary, if we except the 
 vibration and the continual lengthening of the distance 
 between S and R. 
 
 When the spindles have revolved so many times that they 
 have put, say, ten turns of twist into every inch of the 60 in. 
 of yarn between S and R— that is, 10 times 60, or 600 
 revolutions, — they stop automatically, unwind a few turns, 
 and after a wire guide G has descended, as shown in Fig. 7, 
 and whilst the carriage runs in until the points of the 
 spindles S are close to the rollers R, the spindles revolve at 
 
 Figs. 6 and 7. 
 
 a slow speed, which varies just so much, that they wind the 
 yarn round the spindles or cops, at exactly the same speed 
 at which the carriage moves. 
 
 The process is an exact imitation of that of the one-thread 
 spinning wheel, where one hand drew out the thread from 
 the distaff, at the same time that the spindle was rotated at 
 full speed to put in twist. As soon as the yarn was twisted 
 sufficiently, the position of the left hand was altered so as to 
 guide the thread on to the cop, which was then rotated at 
 a very slow speed, by means of the wheel and the right hand. 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 57 
 
 Nothing can be simpler in theory, whilst few automatic 
 movements require more intricate mechanism in practice. 
 
 In past days it was always possible to tell the yarn from 
 a one-thread wheel from yarn spun on a Saxon wheel, simply 
 by their different character; and the same thing is true 
 to-day of mule and throstle yarns. Some people say that 
 a mule yarn consists of a core of long fibres, round which the 
 shorter ones are grouped, exactly as they are in a hen- wing 
 sliver, where the wool comes from the comb on to a leather, 
 with all the long fibres on one side and all the short ones on 
 the other, so that when they are rolled up by a rotating 
 funnel the short ones are on the outside and the long ones 
 within. It is not easy to see how such an arrangement could 
 come about in yarn simply on account of the drafting, and if 
 there is any truth in the supposition, it seems likely that the 
 peculiarity is due to the method of drawing employed, and 
 until further investigations have been made it would be safer 
 to consider the whole thing as unproven (see Chapter VIII.). 
 
 There is, however, one point which is quite clear, and 
 which cannot be too much impressed on practical men. For 
 in all throstle frames the yarn between the rollers and the 
 point where it reaches the spindle is swung violently round 
 as the spindle rotates, so that in extreme cases it may travel 
 sideways through the air no less than 100 ft. in the two 
 seconds it takes to move from the roller to the bobbin. For 
 example, in spinning 60' warp yarn with twenty turns per 
 inch at 6000 revolutions per minute, the rollers will turn out 
 300 in. per minute, so that if the eye be 10 in. from the cap 
 edge, any portion of the yarn will take ^ -qJ", or two seconds 
 to travel that distance. But in that time the spindle 
 and the balloon will have revolved 200 times ; and if the 
 
58 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 greatest diameter of the balloon be 4 in. and its average 
 diameter 2 in., the average circmnference will be 6 in., and 
 the distance the thread swings will therefore be 6 by 200, 
 or 1200 in. at a speed of 50 ft. per second. 
 
 This tremendous rush through the atmosphere naturally 
 affects the position of individual fibres. In the mule all such 
 movement is totally absent. It has already been stated that 
 the twist is inserted at the exact point of the spindle, so that 
 the only appreciable movement in the yarn is the one which 
 is most important, this being a rotation about the axis of the 
 thread which is in course of construction. The total absence 
 of gyration is undoubtedly the reason why mule yarns have 
 less fibres on them than yarns spun at the same speed on cap 
 spindles, and makes it possible to run mule spindles at a 
 greater speed than those of ring, cap, or fly flames. This 
 ability to run at extra speed ought, of course, to make mule 
 spinning cheaper than any other kind, and it doubtless would 
 do so if it were not for the fact, that mule rollers only con- 
 tinue to turn out yarn for about three-quarters of the time 
 the machine runs. 
 
 The relation of the spindle to the nip of the rollers is also 
 a matter of great importance, and in the mule the arrange- 
 ment is almost perfect. The twist which is put into the yarn 
 by the spindle runs without any hindrance whatever, right 
 up into the nip of the rollers, because the tip of the spindle 
 always remains in a line which is almost a tangent of the top 
 and bottom rollers at their point of contact. 
 
 It is easy to see the excellence of this arrangement, 
 because the moment a fibre emerges from between the rollers, 
 the twist affects it, and it is at once bound up with all the 
 other fibres, into the body of the yarn, to increase the strength 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 59 
 and to resist the tendency which the carriage has to pull the 
 
 threads in two. 
 
 This disposition will be best appreciated by a comparison 
 with the arrangement of a cap spindle and rollers, for in 
 nearly all throstle frames it is impossible for all the twist to 
 reach the fibres, until they are an inch or more away from the 
 nip, and during that time they are subject to the strain 
 which is put on to the yarn in order to make it wind com- 
 pactly enough on to the spool or bobbin. 
 
 The Fly Spindle must be considered next in order to that of 
 the mule, for two reasons. It is far older than the cap or 
 dead spindle, and in theory it is also considerably simpler. 
 The fly spindle existed in a wonderfully perfect condition on 
 the Saxon wheel, which was in use quite early in the seven- 
 teenth century ; in fact, the only thing which it then lacked 
 was a traverse motion for the bobbin. In place of that, it 
 was so arranged that the operator had to stop frequently to 
 alter the position of the thread from one to another of the 
 numerous hooks, which guided the yarn on the flyer, in order 
 to ensure that all parts of the bobbin were equally filled. 
 The fact that both bobbin and spindle were horizontal had 
 nothing whatever to do with the theory, either of twisting or 
 winding on the yarn. 
 
 There is one point of great contrast between the fly 
 spinning and mule spinning which is absent in fly roving, to 
 which attention should be directed, not because it afl'ects the 
 twist (as at first sight it would appear to do), but because 
 something of the same nature must be considered in regard to 
 cap spinning. In mule spinning the twist is inserted at a 
 point which is practically the centre of rotation of the spindle, 
 whilst in lly spinning, the end of the thread goes direct 
 
6o 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 from the rollers to the twizzle of the flyer. It is equivalent 
 to putting twist into a rope by fastening it to the centre of a 
 crankpin, instead of to the end of the shaft which carries the 
 crank. Both would give exactly the same result in regard to 
 the amount of twist put in, but the question of strains and 
 the relative stretch of fibres forming the outside and inside 
 edges of the sliver are of no small interest. 
 
 This is shown in Fig. 8, where the side of the sliver BC 
 is 2 in. longer than the side AC, whilst BD is 2 in. shorter 
 
 than AD, the alteration in length 
 taking place every half-revolu- 
 tion of the flyer F. This par- 
 ticular detail is not of any 
 important moment when dealing 
 with a thread from a spinning 
 frame, for it comes from the 
 rollers so thin, that it may be 
 considered as having no width 
 at all ; but in the first spindle 
 drawing boxes the sliver often 
 comes through the front rollers 
 between 2 and 3 in. wide, and 
 if it were carried direct to the ends of the flyers (which are 
 virtually cranks with a 12-in. stroke), the alteration in the 
 strain on alternate sides of the sliver would be so OTeat as 
 to cause a lengthening, first on one side and then on another, 
 to such an extent that the resulting slubbing would not be 
 round, like the rope shown in Fig. 9, but would more resemble 
 the shape of a triangular strip of rubber after it had been 
 twisted as illustrated in Fig. 10. (Slubbing is here taken 
 to mean sliver which has had twist put into it.) 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 6i 
 
 To minimize the uneven stretching of the sliver as far as 
 possible in all drawing processes, the fibres are taken direct 
 from the rollers to a hole in the top centre of the spindle, and 
 are thence directed to the ends of the flyers. This arrange- 
 ment so far does away with stretching, that it need not be 
 considered in regard to reducing and roving boxes, but its prac- 
 tical relation to the largest drawing boxes deserves attention. 
 
 The broad ribbon of fibres which emerges from the front 
 roller, converges, not to a point, but against one side of a 
 hole, about 1 in. in diameter in the spindle top. The fibres 
 are naturally directed to that side of the spindle aperture, 
 through which they are directed to the extremity of the flyer 
 arms, and although this is only 1 to 1^ in. eccentric, it is 
 
 Figs. 9 and 10. 
 
 sufficient to give a slightly spiral character to the sliver, when 
 it acts in conjunction with the traverse of the sliver for 1 in., 
 or even less, to and fro across the face of the front roller. 
 
 It has now been seen that the actual insertion of twist by 
 a fly spindle is a simple matter ; but the vertical position of 
 the spindle makes it difficult to place it in such a position 
 that the twist can run right into the nip of the rollers, as it 
 does in a mule. Rightly or wrongly, it has always been 
 considered that the length of yarn between the spindle top 
 and the nip should be as short as possible, to avoid any 
 stretch or lengthening of the thread by reason of the drag of 
 the bobbin. The fact that the spindles are placed vertically, 
 and are always below the centre of the rollers, so that the 
 
62 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 twist can run straight up the thread towards the nip, leaves 
 the maker no alternative, but to place them in such a position 
 that a portion of the thread always rests on the circumference 
 of the roller, in such a way as to prevent twist running into 
 it. It often happens that breakages occur in that portion, 
 because the whole length of yarn from the nip to the flyer, is 
 under considerable tension. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 If the spindle stands close under the rollers the amount 
 of yarn resting on the roller is consequently large, from E to 
 N (Fig. 11); but there is the distinct advantage that the 
 thread does not rest at all on the tip of the spindle, or on 
 the eye of the wire board, but runs directly in a line with 
 the spindle from the roller. 
 
 On the other hand, if the spindle be placed away from 
 the roller, as shown in Fig. 12, the rubbing of the yarn on the 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 63 
 
 spindle top or on the eye increases considerably, though 
 the length of yarn resting on the roller is smaller. 
 
 In spinning, where the wire board with its pot eyes 
 takes the place of the hole in the spindle top as a means of 
 directing the end, the eye must always be exactly over the 
 spindle, but from it, the thread often bends at an angle of 
 120° towards the roller, as in Fig, 13, and it is natural in such 
 a case that the twist does not run freely forward towards 
 the nip. If the wire board is 
 always 1\ in. below the nip, the 
 farther the spindle is away from 
 the roller the sharper the angle 
 will naturally be, and the less 
 twist will reach the nip. On the 
 other hand, the farther the tip 
 of the spindle is away from the 
 roller, as shown by the dotted 
 position in Fig. 13, the more is 
 the thread lifted from the surface 
 of the roller, allowing almost all 
 the twist which passes the eye, to 
 go right forward to the nip. A 
 compromise is the only logical plan, a place being usually 
 chosen for the spindle where the angle in the thread is as 
 small as possible, and the amount of fibre resting on the 
 roller is also small. 
 
 Theoretically, there are two easy ways out of the difficulty, 
 but in practice both involve very serious objections, which 
 make the remedy worse than the fault. The twist can be 
 made to run straight into the nip, 
 
 1. By tipping up the rollers and carriers until the 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
64 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 tangent of the rollers at their point of contact is a continua- 
 tion of the centre of the spindle, as shown in Fig. 14, although 
 on account of the absence of pressure on the carriers this 
 plan involves great difficulties in spinning and is unpractical. 
 
 2. By raising the spindles to an angle of about 40° as 
 in Fig. 15, so that they are in exactly the same relation to 
 the rollers as in Fig. 14. This causes great difficulties with 
 
 Fig. 14. Fm. If). 
 
 The winding of the yarn on to the bobbins by flyers is 
 simple in both theory and in practice. The flyer is fixed to the 
 spindle and always revolves at a uniform speed, whilst the 
 bobbin, through the centre of which the spindle passes, stands 
 on a cloth or felt washer, which is used to prevent the bobbin 
 rotating as fast as the spindle. 
 
 In order to prevent the spindle rubbing against the sides 
 of the bobbin with sufficient friction to make it rotate, the 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 65 
 
 hole in the barrel of all fly bobbins is bushed — that is to say, 
 for a ^-in. spindle, a hole would be cut, say f in. in diameter, 
 through the whole length of the bobbin, and a short bush 
 inserted in each end to keep the spindle in exactly the centre 
 of the bobbin without causing any serious friction (see Y, 
 Fig. 16). 
 
 The action of winding-on is simple, as shown in Fig. 11. 
 The yarn enters at the centre or eye, and is carried to the 
 extremity of the wing or twizzle, and from 
 
 there it is made fast to the barrel of the 
 bobbin. If the rollers should happen to be 
 standing still, the bobbin would be dragged 
 round by the flyers, in spite of the friction 
 on the washer, at just the same number of 
 revolutions per minute as the flyer made ; 
 but when yarn is being paid out to the 
 flyer, the natural tendency of the bobbin to 
 stand still, makes it revolve more slowly 
 than the flyer, and so wind on the yarn, just 
 
 as if the flyer was stationary and the bobbin 
 was revolving in the opposite direction. 
 
 For example, with a box making fine roving, with one 
 and one-third turns of twist per inch, and a flyer running 
 960 revolutions per minute, the front roller would be turning 
 out 720 in. per minute. If the bobbin barrel measures 3 in. 
 in circumference, it would have to lose 720 in. per minute, 
 or 240 revolutions per minute on the flyer, and it would 
 therefore be making 960 minus 240, or 720 revolutions per 
 minute. With all other particulars the same, and supposing 
 the same bobbin to be full — that is to say, 9 in. in circum- 
 ference, — it would still have to take up 720 in. per minute 
 
66 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 from the flyer ; but 720 in. would only mean 80 wraps round 
 the 9 in. circumference, and therefore, when full, the bobbin 
 would be travelling 960 minus 80, or 880 revolutions per 
 minute. This shows that the bobbin runs at speeds varying 
 from 720 to 880 revolutions per minute. 
 
 At the same time as it increases in weight it also 
 increases in speed, and the amount of power necessary to 
 move it must therefore also increase. The power is applied 
 through the yarn, and the strain on it would increase very 
 seriously, if it were not for the fact that when the bobbin is 
 empty, the tension is applied at \ in. from the centre, and 
 when full at 1^ in. from the centre. This is the exact 
 equivalent of applying equal power through 1-in. and 3-in. 
 drums respectively. The strain on a belt over a 3-in. drum 
 will only be one-third of what is necessary to do the same 
 work on a 1-in. drum, and it may therefore be said that the 
 relation of the strains is as the weight of the bobbin, multi- 
 plied by the speed and divided by the diameter. 
 
 1 lb. X 720 
 
 This gives, when empty, '- — = 860 ; 
 
 and when full, ^ ^^^^ = 290, 
 
 showing that the strain on the end varies continually, and 
 that it is least when the bobbin is full, making the outside 
 layers softer, so that the bobbin does not hold the greatest 
 possible amount of material. 
 
 With other speeds of the front rollers and flyers, the 
 alteration in the strains might be reversed ; but any irregu- 
 larity in the tension is naturally bad, and care must always 
 be taken that if the strain is right when the bobbin is full, 
 it is not too great when the bobbin is empty, or vice 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 67 
 
 verm, or there will be serious risk of stretching the yarn 
 in places. 
 
 Cone Roving: Flyers.— In cotton machinery, and sometimes 
 in cone roving for worsted, the flyers are so arranged that by 
 means of the centrifugal force a movable arm hinged on the 
 Hyer is always kept gently pressed against the barrel of the 
 empty bobbin or against the roving. This is done all throuo-h 
 the process of building the bobbin, in such a way that the 
 angle at which the strain is applied to the roving does not 
 vary, but remains constant through- 
 out. 
 
 This useful addition to the flyer 
 is illustrated in Fig. 17. The flyer 
 difters from the ordinary worsted 
 roving flyer in being tubular, so that 
 there can be no balloon, and the fibre 
 is guarded from the air during the 
 whole of its passage from the nip 
 to the bobbin. This keeps it very 
 smooth, and it is curious that the 
 device has never yet been applied to 
 open drawing. The wing B of a 
 flyer very similar in shape to that dn use in open drawing 
 carries a movable arm A, so placed that the whole arrange- 
 ment is equivalent to a flyer which varies in size with the 
 varying diameter of the bobbin. The arm A is pivoted in 
 such a way on the flyer arm B, that it can swing freely 
 round in an arc of considerable size. If this arm were un- 
 balanced it would naturally swing as far from the centre of 
 the spindle as possible, when the flyer was rotating ; but the 
 very reverse is effected by an ingenious method of balancing. 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
68 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 The arm A does not end in the pivot round which it swings, 
 but is continued to a balance weight C, which is heavier 
 than the arm, and is placed in such a position that the 
 centrifugal force swings it away from the centre and causes 
 the arm to move inwards and press gently against the bobbin 
 whether it is full or empty. 
 
 It is clear that in hand spinning the amount of twist per 
 inch will vary at once if the amount of yarn drawn from the 
 distaff by the fingers varies from one minute to the next, and 
 the variation will also increase if the speed by which the 
 wheel is driven by the foot should be allowed to alter in the 
 slightest. It is probable that these two possibilities often 
 accounted for great variations of twist in the same hand-spun 
 yarn ; but if the error is set as low as 30 per cent., it will be 
 seen that the Saxon wheel was liable to even greater alteration. 
 In any case, where the speed of a flyer and a bobbin continue 
 in exactly the same proportion to one another, the amount of 
 twist put into the yarn would vary directly in proportion to 
 the diameter of that portion of the bobbin on to which the 
 yarn was being wound. For example : With the flyer run- 
 ing 1000 revolutions per minute, and a 1-in. bobbin running 
 960 revolutions per minute, the difference is 40 revolutions 
 per minute, which is equal to a take-up of 125 in. ; but 1000 
 turns in 125 in. equals 8 turns per inch. If the bobbin was 
 2 in. in diameter, running at the same speed, the difference of 
 40 revolutions would equal 40 wraps of 2 X 3f, or 250 in., 
 and in that case the twist would be 4 turns per inch. 
 
 Yarns spun on such a principle would, of course, be use- 
 less, and it is therefore probable that the band over the 
 bobbin of the Saxon wheel was really only used in place of 
 the washer drag now adopted for nearly all kinds of fly 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 69 
 
 bobbins ; but it is not easy to see why a moving band was 
 preferred in such a case, when a string with a weight on the 
 end would have done the work with much more uniformity. 
 
 It is a very common mistake to put down the smooth- 
 ness of fly yarn to some inherent smoothing property of the 
 flyer. The flyer has something to do with the smoothness, 
 but it is only in shielding some portions of the thread from 
 the air whilst they are on that side of the spindle which is 
 away from the air currents. Each portion of the thread 
 comes once or twice on to that side, on its journey from the 
 nip to the twizzle, according as the thread is wrapped once or 
 twice round the leg of the flyer. When] the yarn is wrapped 
 twice round the flyer in a spinning frame, the length of yarn 
 between the eye and the flyer is reduced, and the diameter oj 
 the balloon is therefore less. 
 
 The balloon here mentioned is the apparent figure formed 
 by the gyrating thread as it moves round through the air, 
 and it is natural that the shorter the length of the swinging 
 end, the less will be its weight and centrifugal force, and con- 
 sequently the less will be its spiral orbit through the air. 
 The rapid motion through the air is one of the most potent 
 causes of roughening the fibre of a yarn. The yarn will be 
 fibrous or smooth in proportion to the speed and distance it 
 travels in this way, and the main reason that flyer yarn is 
 smooth, is that the fly spindles run at about half, or less, the 
 speed of cap spools. If the speed of a cap frame be reduced 
 to that of a fly frame, it will need a very, expert judge to 
 distinguish the difierence between the two yarns. 
 
 There is no other kind of spinning, in which the applica- 
 tion of drag is so simple as in the fly frame. The natural 
 inclination of the bobbin to remain at rest is increased by the 
 
70 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 round cloth washers oq which it always stands, and the drag 
 on the yarn is naturally greater when the washer is Jaro-er : 
 therefore the only thing necessary to alter the drag is to alter 
 the size of the washer or washers on which the bobbin stands. 
 
 The great advantage of the fly spindle is its 
 C suitability for every size of bobbin from 14 in. by 
 10 in. to 3 1 in. spools, whilst its one supreme 
 3 drawback for spinning is the impossibility of 
 running it at much more than half the speed of 
 cap or mule spindles. This is due to the great 
 difficulty of balancing the arms of the flyer per- 
 ^ fectly, and also to the fact that the flyer is attached 
 -T to the very part of the spindle which needs most 
 support, but which from force of circumstance is 
 often as much as 12 in. beyond the nearest bearing. 
 
 The Cap Spindle, which was invented in the 
 year 1831, was at first called the dead spindle, 
 simply because the spindle itself does not rotate. 
 For this reason it is the simplest of all sj^indles in 
 ^ appearance. 
 
 In Fig. 18, S is the spindle proper, fitting into 
 a hole in the stationary spindle rail. The top is 
 tapered slightly, and carries the steel bell or cap 
 C, which, like the spindle, never moves during 
 fITis processes of spinning. Its one duty is to guide 
 
 the yarn to the right place on the bobbin. This 
 is done by the smooth lower edge of the cap, round which the 
 thread is always flying when the spindle is in motion. There 
 have been many attempts to devise a ring which will take 
 the place of the lower edge of the cap without the use of a 
 complete cap; but as yet the search has been in vain, for all 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 71 
 
 rincrs have to be connected to something, and no connection 
 with the spindle has yet proved as simple as the cap, which 
 can be taken off at the end of each doffing, by the simplest 
 possible lifting movement. In Fig. 18 the bobbin B stands 
 on the whorle W, and is kept exactly true by the brass sleeve 
 or tube T. The bobbin B and the tube are therefore driven 
 round together on the stationary spindle, and within the 
 stationary cap, by the tape which runs round the whorle W. 
 The twist is inserted very much as it is by a flyer, by the 
 motion of the thread round the circle of the cap, of which 
 circle the spindle is the centre ; not as in the mule spindle, 
 from the centre of the spindle itself. 
 
 The theory of the drag is the converse of that in a flyer 
 frame. The bobbin conveys the motive power, and pulls at the 
 yarn in a line directly tangential 
 to the circumference of the bob- 
 bin. When the bobbin is full 
 the pull is tangential to the out- 
 side surface of the yarn. When 
 the spool is empty, as shown in 
 
 Fig. 19, this Hne strikes the edge of the cap at an angle of 
 120°, and the strain necessary to make the yarn slip round 
 the cap is therefore much greater than it is in Fig. 20, where 
 the line strikes the cap at a much more gentle angle, say, 150°. 
 
 There are so many other forces involved that it would be 
 unsafe to say that the drag is in direct proportion to the 
 respective angles shown in these two diagrams, even if other 
 things were equal ; but there is no doubt that they have a 
 ffreat deal to do with the excess of drag when the bobbins or 
 .spools are used with very small barrels. 
 
 When a spool is moved round very slowly, less than 100 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
72 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 revolutions per minute, it is at first sight curious to notice 
 that no winding-on takes place ; and this fact must be ex- 
 plained, although there is no apparent reason why the yarn 
 should wind on to the spool at all. Its natural inclination is 
 to slip round and round the cap just as fast as the bobbin 
 rotates, and it is not until the yarn is moving fast enough to 
 swing out into the air as it gyrates round the cap that 
 sufificient drag is obtained. This drag is solely due to the 
 resistance of the air, which at high speeds, say 50 ft. per 
 second, is very considerable, and it altei-s with every altera- 
 tion of the speed. 
 
 This means that the yarn acts as a kind of sail to retard 
 its own winding on to the bobbin, and the larger the sail area 
 the greater will be the tension. The sail area of the thread 
 is naturally increased by every inch of yarn, which, in flying 
 round between the eye and the cap edge, forms the apparent 
 balloon, and therefore the length of yarn between the eye 
 and the edge of the cap is a very important factor in the 
 setting of all cap and ring spindles. It is very easy to 
 demonstrate how small is the friction of the yarn on the cap 
 itself in proportion to the resistance of the air, for if a spindle 
 be so arranged that the cap and spool rotate together at the 
 same speed, the friction and the tangential strain on the yarn 
 between the spool and the cap ought both to be non-existent ; 
 but the yarn will be as perfectly wound on to the bobbin as 
 if the cap was stationary, and this proves conclusively that a 
 very large proportion of the drag is caused by the air. In 
 all cap spinning there are therefore three distinct causes of 
 drag : — 
 
 1. The relation of the diameter of the spool to the diameter 
 of the cap. 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 2. The length of air-resisting area of the yarn revolving 
 round the cap. 
 
 3. The speed of the thread through the air, or the air force 
 acting against the moving thread. 
 
 All these factors must be carefully considered, because 
 they can be regulated — 
 
 1. By the size of the spool barrel and the diameter of the 
 
 cap. 
 
 2, By the distance from the cap edge to the eye. 
 8. By the speed of the spool. 
 
 So far as pure theory is concerned, the cap spindle might 
 now be left ; but there is one practical difficulty with which 
 all cap spinners are acquainted, which still awaits a definite 
 solution. It is the licking or clinging of the gyrating thread 
 to the cap, when by all known laws, it should be flying clear 
 through the air, making one convex curve from end to end. 
 This very seldom happens. Perhaps the simplest way to 
 explain the difficulty is to set a typical case and illustrate it. 
 
 When there is enough yarn on a spool to bring a part of 
 it to full thickness, so that the tangential strain against the 
 cap is small, it is natural to infer that the thread, being under 
 less tension, would fly farther from the cap ; and when the 
 lifter is down and the yarn winding on to the bare barrel, the 
 strain should be greater and the balloon smaller. In practice 
 it does not often happen that this is the case. The explana- 
 tion is complicated by the fact that at the same point of the 
 vertical movement of the lifter the yarn does not cling equally 
 to the cap on the up and down strokes, and this makes it 
 appear that it is not any definite tension which determines 
 the amount of clinging, but rather the question as to whether 
 the tension is increasing or decreasing. Although the reason 
 
74 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 for this phenomenon is still to be definitely proved, it seems 
 probable that it is due to the motion of the lifter. If the 
 lifter is working quickly, on the upstroke the yarn will touch 
 the bobbin first at a point slightly above the edge of the cap, 
 as shown in Fig. 21, and the angle at the edge of the cap will 
 be acute ; whereas if the lifter be working very slowly in 
 relation to the output of the front rollers, the yarn will move 
 so quickly from the cap to the bobbin that the line will 
 
 Fig. 21. Fig. 22. Fig. 23. Fig. 24. 
 
 always be approximately level, as in Fig. 23. On the other 
 hand, when the yarn is moving slowly and the lifter falling 
 rapidly, the point where the yarn first touches the bobbin 
 must be below the edge of the cap, as in Fig. 22; and in 
 extreme cases this will doubtless cause the bend of the yarn 
 over the edge of the cap to form an obtuse angle, and so 
 reduce the strain. It is at least clear that the clinging of the 
 yarn to the cap as shown in Fig. 24 has something to do with 
 the rise and fall of the lifter, and the question was only 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 75 
 
 mooted to show that the speed of the lifter may therefore not 
 only aftect the build of the spool, but that it can also affect 
 the spin — that is to say, the number of ends which break 
 down in a given time. 
 
 It must be clear to any one who has watched a cap spindle 
 running, that the cap is held in position in the only way 
 which is possible, because any outside connection with the 
 sides or top of the cap would clearly prevent the yarn swing- 
 ing completely round it, as it is bound to do, and as the spool 
 rotates between every part of the spindle and the cap except 
 the top, that is clearly the only place where connection can 
 be made, and the primary object of the dead spindle is there- 
 fore to support the cap from within. This type of spindle has 
 four great advantages : — 
 
 1. The amount of weight in the moving portions is very 
 
 small. 
 
 2. The amount of bearing surface is large. 
 
 3. The strain of the band or tape used to drive the spool 
 
 and tube always falls within the two ends of the 
 long bearing surface. 
 
 4. It can, consequently, be run at high speed with very 
 
 little friction. 
 Its drawbacks are comparatively few : — 
 
 1. The length of spindle necessary to support the cap 
 causes any vibration of the spindle to show in an exaggerated 
 manner in the cap, 
 
 2. This vibration is apt to wear the top of the spindle and 
 make still worse vibration possible. 
 
 3. So long as the brass tube and bobbin are perfectly true, 
 the vibration is very small ; but the soft nature of the brass 
 makes it wear on the steel spindle, and as it never wears 
 
76 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 equally all round, it soon gets lighter on one side than another. 
 When this happens, there is oscillation and vibration at every 
 revolution, shaking the caps until they touch the yarn on the 
 spool, or until they jump off. 
 
 Ring Spinning is almost identical in theory with cap spin- 
 ning, but in practice the two differ about 
 as widely as the mule spindle differs 
 from the fly spindle. The dead spindle, 
 with a sleeve rotating on it, could be 
 used just as well for ring spinning; but 
 the chief use of the stationary spindle 
 is to hold the cap above the bobbin 
 without any connection which will pre- 
 vent the rotation of the yarn, and this 
 is unnecessary in the ring frame. A 
 more perfectly-developed spindle is used 
 for ring spinning, in which the stress of 
 the bands is applied in the most scientific 
 way, and arrangements are made to 
 prevent and counteract the effects pro- 
 duced by friction. The spindle itself 
 is so intricate that a sectional diagram 
 is the only means of explaining it. 
 
 As shown in Fig. 25, the spindle 
 revolves in the sleeve A B, and the 
 whole length of the spindle between the letters A and B 
 forms a bearing surface. The spindle is driven by the 
 wharle W, which is shrunk on to the spindle and is made 
 bell-shaped, so that the drag of the tape may fall within the 
 limits of the bearing surface of the spindle and the sleeve 
 A B. As in the case of the cap tube, this application of 
 
 Fig. 25. 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 77 
 
 strain within the extremities of the bearing surface causes 
 more uniform friction and wear than would be the case if 
 it were applied at a point beyond either end of the bearing 
 surface. The socket or well D is constructed to screw fast 
 into the spindle rail, and may contain oil, so that when the 
 sleeve A B in its working position is fitted closely into it, the 
 spindle is not only well supplied with oil through the hole O, 
 but the whole bearing may easily be lifted out for cleansing 
 or inspection. 
 
 Here, then, is a spindle which strongly resembles the mule 
 spindle in size, and often, in having a fine point. Such a 
 spindle is admirably adapted for put- 
 tino- twist into the thin ribbon of fibre 
 as it comes from the rollers, but it has 
 no arrangement to wind the thread on 
 to the bobbin, and no central stay to 
 which to fasten a ring which could 
 take the place of the lower edge of the 
 cap, as a guide for the yarn. Some 
 arrangement, therefore, has to be de- 
 vised, of such a nature that the yarn 
 
 can be attached to the inner edge of a ring in such a way, 
 that the yarn can revolve round the spindle, whilst at the 
 same time it will be free to wind slowly on to the bobbin as 
 it was paid out by the rollers. 
 
 There are several ways of attaining this end, and many 
 recent patents have been taken out to improve upon the 
 original methods adopted. The first and simplest pattern, as 
 shown in Fig. 26, was a ring of such a section that a light 
 steel loop or traveller of wire could be set astride its thicker 
 portion. The traveller is free to run round upon the ring, but 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
78 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 the opening between its two ends is too narrow to allow it 
 to slip off without considerable pressure. Rings have been 
 made of almost every conceivable size and shape, and 
 travellers of every kind have been used to move upon them, 
 but a modification of the old type is still by far the com- 
 monest of all those in use to-day. 
 
 spun, as soon as it has passed the 
 wire-board, it is threaded through the traveller and fastened 
 to the bobbin. As the spindle begins to revolve, a tension is 
 applied to the yarn exactly as is the case in a cap spindle, 
 but in this case the result is easier to understand. Looking 
 down on the top of the bobbin and ring in Fig. 27, it is seen 
 
 Fig. 27. Fig. 28. Fig. 29. 
 
 that all the time it is under tension, the thread extends at a 
 tangent to the surface of the yarn on the bobbin, until the 
 line cuts the ring. At that point the traveller will always be 
 found, and when the angle formed by the yarn and the ring 
 is very small, it will clearly be easy for the spool to pull the 
 traveller along. When the yarn is attached to the empty 
 bobbin, as shown in Fig. 28, the tangential line cuts the ring 
 much more nearly at right angles, and as the angle between 
 the thread and the ring increases, the strain of pulling the 
 traveller round, naturally increases in proportion, because the 
 traveller is being pulled harder against the sides of the ring. 
 If any attempt was made to spin yarn on to the fine bare 
 spindle, as is done in the mule, the yarn would inevitably 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 79 
 
 break, because, as shown in Fig. 29, a tangent of the spindle 
 surface would cut the ring so nearly at right angles that the 
 thread would simply be drawn through the traveller towards 
 the spindle, without sufficient forward pull to make the 
 traveller revolve round the ring and so relieve the strain. 
 
 In the foregoing paragraphs the friction of the traveller 
 on the ring is treated as if it was the only source of drag in 
 the ring frame, although this is far from being the case. The 
 friction of the wire traveller, in its revolution round the ring, 
 is naturally much greater than the friction of the thread as 
 it swings round the cap in a cap frame ; but the yarn between 
 the traveller and the eye forms a balloon, just as does the 
 yarn in a cap frame, and the size of this balloon, or, in other 
 words, the air resistance of the thread as it is whirled round 
 through the air, has also a considerable effect upon the drag. 
 
 In a cap frame the distance from a cap edge to the eye is 
 always the same, because in order to wind the yarn uniformly 
 over the surface of the bobbin, the bobbin itself moves up and 
 down. In the ring frame it is different. The spindles and 
 bobbins are absolutely stationary except for their rotation, 
 and in order to obtain a traverse motion, the rings and ring 
 rail move up and down the whole length of the bobbin. This 
 has an effect which is entirely absent in cap and fly spinning. 
 When the ring is at the top of the traverse, it may be within 
 5 in. of the eye, and at the bottom of the traverse it may be 
 10 in. away, so that the drag caused by this continual altera- 
 tion in the size of the balloon varies to such an extent, that 
 at the bottom the drag due to air resistance may be double 
 what it is at the top, and this quite apart from the variation 
 caused by the alteration in the diameter of the yarn on the 
 bobbin. 
 
8o 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 This means that there is a very complicated and varying 
 series of strains present in the ordinary ring spindle, and 
 before perfect work in fine counts can be done, some altera- 
 tions must be made. The variation in the length of thread 
 exposed to the air pressure can easily be stopped ; it is only 
 necessary to fix the ring rail and make the spindle rail 
 traverse, or to use dead spindles, with fixed spindle and ring 
 rails, with a traverse motion to raise and lower the tubes and 
 spools exactly as in a cap frame. 
 
 The question of the drag caused by the travellers is very 
 much more complicated. An early patentee attempted to 
 overcome the difficulty by cutting a 
 ring with a very deep groove, as shown 
 in Fig. 30, and putting into the groove 
 a light steel ring just larger than the 
 smallest diameter of the grooved ring. 
 Clearly the light ring could never get 
 out of place, but when pushed to one 
 side a space would be visible throutrh 
 which the ^yarn was carried. As the 
 spindle rotated the yarn moved the 
 ring in such a way that the open space moved forward at 
 spindle speed, without causing the inner ring itself to rotate 
 at anything like the same number of revolutions per minute ; 
 in fact, it is probable that it would rotate slowly in the 
 opposite direction. This absence of rapid rotation and con- 
 sequent absence of friction on metal was intended to reduce 
 the drag; but in practice other strains are involved which 
 more than make up for the friction caused on the ordinary 
 type of ring. This ring more nearly resembles the cap than 
 any method yet devised, because the inner or floating rino- 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 
SPINDLE THEORIES 
 
 8r 
 
 bears exactly the same relation to the barrel of the bobbin 
 as the edge of the cap does in the cap frame. 
 
 Before the ring frame is perfect, or before it will spin soft 
 yarns with as little drag as the mule, one very important 
 deficiency must be overcome — that is, the variation of the 
 drag, on account of the varying angles at which tangents 
 from the surface of full or empty bobbins strike the ring. 
 The only way to do this is, to invent a traveller and ring of 
 such a nature, that the distance of the traveller from the 
 surface of the yarn is always in the same relation to the 
 diameter of the bobbin, whether it be full or empty. Let us 
 take, for instance, a case where the yarn from a full bobbin 
 2 in. in diameter strikes a 2^ in. ring at a certain angle and 
 gives a certain drag. To get exactly the same drag Avhen 
 the bobbin is empty and only 1 in. in diameter, the angle at 
 which the tangential line cuts the ring must be exactly the 
 same ; that means that the ring must be 1^ in. in diameter, 
 or \ in. clear of the barrel on each side, not \ in. on each 
 side, as when the bobbin is full. In other and simpler words, 
 the traveller should be nearer to the bobbin when it is empty 
 than when it is full ; at present it is, of course, farther away. 
 A rin£r of this kind has been invented on the continent, but 
 it has not yet come into general use in this country. 
 
 This is speaking purely of one single theory apart from 
 all others, whereas it is clear that in practice, centrifugal force, 
 friction of the ring, and air resistance to the moving thread, 
 will all complicate matters, so that the exact proportion of 
 tension due to any one of them will be very difficult to find 
 out. Only one thing is absolutely certain : the traveller 
 should be nearer to the centre, when spinning on to a small 
 circumference than when spinning on to a larger one. 
 
 G 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 DRAFTING AND RATGH 
 
 Drafting. — In these days we regard the rollers and kindred 
 mechanism for drafting, as one of the simplest parts of a l)ox 
 or frame, and it is rather curious to notice that this method 
 of drawing out a sliver was not introduced until 100 years 
 after the invention of the complicated arrangement of bobbin 
 and flyer winding, which had been devised for the Saxon 
 wheel in the early part of the seventeenth century. 
 
 With the original distaff, where the wool was simply 
 straightened and hung on to a rod or distaffj it stands to 
 reason that the fibres of various lengths were not uniformly 
 blended, when the spinner drew the thread ; she must have 
 been obliged to get first long and then short fibres quite 
 irregularly. This would make it very difficult to produce 
 a level thread, and the strength would be very uneven. 
 
 When combing came into regular use, a better sliver v^as 
 available ; the sliver being a ribbon of combed fibres, laid 
 side by side without twist, in such a way that long and short 
 fibres were blended equally throughout it. If the spinner 
 draws from one end of the sliver, she is bound to get fibres 
 of all lengths, into every part of the thread, ensuring great 
 regularity in consequence ; that is, provided that the sliver 
 is not too thick. 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH 
 
 83 
 
 It is necessary to call special attention to this point, for 
 over-drafting is one of the most serious faults which can 
 occur in machine drawing, and it is the modern equivalent 
 of drawing from a badly arranged distaff. Suppose, for 
 instance, that the sliver weighs 1 oz. for 1 yd. and is to be 
 made into single 16^ Each sliver will have to be drawn 
 out 560 times its original length. If a sliver of 1 yd. to 
 the ounce were used for hand-drawing, it would be so wide 
 that the spinner could not possibly keep the fibres so 
 arranged as always to terminate in a point, from which she 
 could draw, and she would be attempting to produce a yarn 
 from a square-ended mass of fibres. She would probably 
 draw first long and then short fibres from the bunch, and this 
 again would cause uneven yarn and unequal strength. It 
 would be, as nearly as handwork could be, the exact 
 equivalent of drafting the sliver too much between two 
 pairs of rollers. 
 
 To understand the question thoroughly, diagrams will be 
 necessary to illustrate the different alterations which take 
 place in the arrangement of fibres in the' passage of sliver 
 between two pairs of drafting rollers. For example, if a 
 roving of 8 drams for 40 yds. is to be spun to 16 counts, 
 there will be 1280 yds. of roving in every pound, and there 
 are to be 6400 yds. of yarn — that is to say, a draft of five will 
 be necessary. For the sake of illustration, it will be supposed 
 that the sliver is composed of fibres 5 in. in length, besides 
 equal quantities of shorter fibres. If the sliver be level and 
 continuous, these 5-in. fibres must be arranged so that every 
 fibre is overlapped by every other with considerable regularity* 
 To represent a perfectly level sliver in diagram, the overlaps 
 must be very regular indeed, as in Fig. 31. How much 
 
84 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 each fibre overlaps is a matter of no moment, but the greater 
 percentage of long fibres the greater will be the overlap. If 
 there are equal numbers of 5-in., 4-in., 3-in., and 2-in. fibres in 
 the top, it is clear that these short fibres must overlap less 
 than those which are longer. 
 
 In a sliver of certain thickness (Fig. 31), with its fibres 
 5 in. in length, there is such a number of fibres that they 
 overlap one another by 4 in., but if the sliver had been more 
 drawn out at the previous box, it would of course have been 
 thinner, and it is clear that any given group of fibres would 
 overlap one another less (Fig. 32), so that their friction on one 
 another is less, and the strength of the whole sliver less in 
 proportion. If the arrangement shown in Fig. 31 is reproduced 
 
 Figs. 31 and 32. 
 
 with 4-in. fibres, it is clear that if there are the same number 
 in a given length, they must overlap 25 per cent, less, so that 
 after they have been drafted 4 to 1 the difference between 
 them and the 5-in. fibres is more apparent (see Figs. 34 and 35). 
 
 It will be better to deal with the 5-in. fibres alone 
 during their journey through the drawing rollers. The back 
 rollers (BR, Fig. 33) hold all the fibres so tightly that none 
 of them can move on one another, until their points reach the 
 front rollers F R, one by one, just as they become free from 
 the back rollers. As each in turn reaches the front roller it 
 is moved 4 in. forward in the same time that the back 
 roller pays out 1 in. The position is now greatly altered. 
 Instead of an overlap of 4 in. there is now only an overlap 
 of 1 in.; and as the process continues, each fibre is moved 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH 
 
 85 
 
 the same amount in regard, to the one which follows it, 
 until the group is arranged as at Fig. 34. To under- 
 stand the action of the 4-in. fibres they must be dealt with 
 as if they existed quite apart from those 5 in. in length; 
 and as the motion of the rollers is necessarily the same for 
 all, each of them will be moved just as much in relation to 
 one another as were the 5-in. fibres. This will mean that 
 after drafting there is no overlap (Fig. 35), and there will 
 therefore be no cohesion between any of the fibres in the 
 group, because they have been drawn just so far that the 
 
 35 
 
 36 
 
 37 
 
 FiG8. 33 TO 37. 
 
 end of one will touch the end of the other. The relations of 
 3-in. and 2-in. fibres after drafting are shown in Figs. 36 and 37. 
 
 If a set of 5-in., 4-in., 3-in., and 2-in. fibres is grouped as 
 they appear after drafting (see Fig. 38), a result exactly 
 equivalent to the arrangement of fibres in a broken or lumpy 
 sliver is obtained. It is quite clear how this arrangement is 
 caused in a gillbox, where each faller holds all the short fibres 
 until it drops. All the fibres are then set free together ; but 
 where there are no fallers, it is not so easy to see why the 
 fibres from the front rollers arrange themselves in this 
 way, and it is true that as the drawing process proceeds, the 
 
86 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 irregular combination of long and short fibres occurs at less 
 regular intervals, though each thick place is more clearly 
 defined when it does come. 
 
 The diagram given in Fig. 38 is, however, very useful as 
 offering an explanation of the accepted fact, that a sliver should 
 not be drawn twice running in the same direction, for it is 
 very easy to see that if the points of the 2-in., 8-in., 4-in., and 
 5 -in. fibres all reach the front rollers together, as they would 
 do if they were going in the direction of the arrow, -^hey 
 would all go through side by side, and the sliver would be 
 pulled into pieces, which would be separated by distances of 
 four times their own length (see Fig. 39). On the contrary, 
 
 > > > > > 
 
 -= 40 
 
 Figs. 38 to 40. 
 
 if the groups of fibres go to the rollers of the following box 
 point first, their points will reach the front roller in such 
 order that the 5 -in. fibre will have travelled 4 in. before the 
 4-in. fibre has moved, so that after drafting they will be laid 
 end to end, and there will be short gaps between the shorter 
 fibres (Fig. 40), which does not, of course, give a continuous 
 figure. All that can be said of it is, that when laid side by 
 side with other similar figures, a sliver of some regularity will 
 again be formed ; and as there are a number of doublings at 
 each box, nearly equivalent to the amount of draft, it is clear 
 that the original thickness of the sliver will not be reduced 
 much at each operation. Moreover, only the movements of a 
 group of twenty-five of the component fibres of the top have 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH §7 
 
 been followed, and as a section of a 4-oz. sliver of 60' quality 
 will contain 16,800 fibres, it is clear that this theory must be 
 largely modified in its applications, although the lesson drawn 
 from Figs. 39 and 40 cannot be overlooked. 
 
 The application to practice is summarized in a brief phrase 
 in use in many Bradford mills, to the effect that " the draft 
 and the length should be the same " ; but it has been pointed 
 out elsewhere that if the fibre were measured in millimetres 
 instead of inches, the statement is entirely wrong, and the 
 relation of the draft to the inches of length in some fibres is 
 therefore purely accidental. For special counts, many wools 
 will stand much more draft than is equal to their length in 
 inches. Furthermore, the theory is hopelessly incorrect in 
 regard to cotton, which is a shorter fibre without serrations ; 
 but in spite of these facts, it is well known that cotton 1 in. 
 in length will easily stand a draft of 10. We are therefore 
 under the unfortunate necessity of noting another difficulty 
 for which no scientific solution has ever been oflfered, for 
 careful readers will notice that this reasoning is based on an 
 unproved axiom ; and when the amount of overlap in the 
 arrangement of the fibres is made diflferent, some of the figures 
 in the table of reasoning would have to be altered in propor- 
 tion, although the general drift of the conclusions would be 
 unaltered. It seems, therefore, quite impossible to sum up a 
 theory in regard to draft, in terms that a scientific mind w^ould 
 consider accurate, but it is probable that no long fibre should 
 ever be moved at one operation more than its own length in 
 relation to all other fibres which lie contiguous with it, in the 
 sliver as it goes through the back roller. 
 
 Ratch is the distance between the nip of the back roller 
 and the nip of the front j-ollers, and if it is to bear any 
 
88 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 proportion to the length of the fibres which are beino- treated, 
 it must of necessity vary with every variation of length of 
 material which is put into the machine. 
 
 The subject may be considered under four heads, ac- 
 cording to the methods adopted for preventing the shorter 
 fibres of the top from going through the front roller in 
 groups. 
 
 1. By the use of fallers. 
 
 2. By the use of porcupines. 
 
 3. By the use of intermediate rollers or carriers. 
 
 4. By the use of three pairs of rollers. 
 
 1. Correctly speaking, accurate ratching is not of great 
 importance in gillboxes, because in Botany qualities the 
 fallers actually hold the wool for a considerable time after it 
 is free from the back rollers, before it is caught by the front 
 ones. The presence of the fallers also makes it impossible to 
 set the back and front rollers within 8 in. of one another, and 
 therefore the only thing which is necessary is to see that the 
 distances from the back roller to the back faller, and from 
 the front faller to the front roller, are always suitable to the 
 length of the fibre which is being treated. 
 
 As the fallers do not hold the wool in a positive grip, 
 there is not the same need for accurate adjustment at these 
 points as there is in a roller drawing box, and the only rule 
 that can be laid down is, that however long the wool may be, 
 the distance from the front roller to the back roller must be 
 decidedly longer. As the wool increases in length, the 
 distance from the back roller to the back faller must increase 
 in proportion. The relation of the front faller to the front 
 roller seldom requires alteration, and except for unusually 
 long wools, the front faller should always drop as near to the 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH 89 
 
 front roller as possible, in order to prevent the shorter fibres 
 from going through the front rollers in lumps. 
 
 2. Porcupines are used instead of carriers principally in 
 what is known as French Drawing, for working dry combed 
 tops. They take the place of fallers, and as they go into 
 much less space, they are used in the smaller boxes of the 
 drawing, which follow the first four boxes, where fallers are 
 used. The porcupine roller is covered with pins very much 
 like a carding roller ; but the pins are needle-pointed, and are 
 so arranged that they are vertical at the point at which they 
 
 Fig. 41. 
 
 leave the sliver at A in Fig. 41. To attain this end it is, of 
 course, necessary that they should be set at an angle to 
 the radius, or at a tangent to a circle of about an inch in 
 diameter, so that where the pins first come in contact with 
 the sliver, they incline acutely towards the back roller. The 
 fact that they meet the sliver at this angle prevents any 
 tendency in the fibres to rise to the pin points, and makes 
 it certain that all the long fibres will be drawn completely 
 through the pins. 
 
 As in the case of fallers, the ratch must be considered in 
 
90 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 two parts, provided always that the total distance from the 
 nip of the front rollers B to the nip of the back rollers C is 
 longer than any fibre in the top ; that is to say, the distance 
 from the back roller to the porcupine must not be so short 
 that there is any chance of the pins tearing the fibres, whilst 
 they are too closely packed together ; and the distance from the 
 porcupine to the front roller must be as short as possible, to 
 prevent the short fibres going through in lumps after they are 
 released by the pins. To meet these two requirements it is 
 often necessary to have the porcupine set as near as possible 
 to the front roller, and in that ease the question of ratch 
 between the back and front rollers will have to be considered 
 very much as in an ordinary drawing box. 
 
 3. The third class of ratch is of much the greatest 
 importance in worsted spinning, because it is the method 
 used in all open drawing, and for all cap, fly, ring, and mule 
 machinery, both for worsted and mohair. 
 
 If a top could be found which had all its fibres of one 
 length, the ideal conditions for drafting and ratch would be 
 secured, because the rollers could be set just so far apart that 
 as soon as a 5 -in. fibre was free from the back rollers, which 
 are paying out 1 in. per second, it would be caught by the 
 front rollers and moved 4 in. per second. In other words, the 
 centre of the back rollers would be 5 j in. or in, from the 
 centre of the front rollers, without any intermediate carriers. 
 In such a case there would be no breakage of fibres ; there 
 could be no slipping, and consequently there w^ould be no 
 irregularity in the yarn. Unfortunately such a simple arrange- 
 ment can never be used in practice, because all tops contain 
 fibres of varying lengths ; and if a top containing fibres from 
 5 in. to 2 in. in length were put through rollers h\ in. apart, it is 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH ' 91 
 
 clear that the 5-in. fibres would continue to be drawn out in 
 an even ribbon, each overlapping its predecessor by 1 in. ; but 
 if the 2-in. fibres are arranged in such a way that they 
 overlap one another by 1 in. when they reach the back roller, 
 it follows that four of them would be free from the back 
 roller before the first one reached the front roller. 
 
 Leaving the friction of the 5-in. fibres out of account, all 
 four of the 2-in. fibres would necessarily go through the front 
 rollers together, by reason of their friction upon one another, 
 and they would necessarily form a lump in the resulting 
 sliver, as it came from the front rollers. No more short fibre 
 would then go through the front rollers until 16 in. of sliver 
 had been formed. 
 
 There can be no doubt that movements of this kind 
 amongst the fibres of a sliver are the root cause of almost all 
 irregularity in spinning, although friction and other things, 
 which occur in practice, may affect the fibres so that these 
 theoretical movements are very much modified ; but the greater 
 the difference between the longest and the shortest fibres, the 
 greater will be the danger of unevenness in the yarn. 
 
 It is safe to say that no thread has the short fibres 
 distributed evenly throughout it, but in practice they are 
 prevented from going through the front rollers in lumps, by 
 some means, in the absence of both fallers and porcupines. If 
 a box were set with its front and back rollers just so far apart 
 that the longest fibres would not reach from one to the other, 
 and if in addition a pair of weighted rollers were introduced 
 between them, in order to deal with the short wool ; the short 
 wool would be held in such a way by all the rollers that it 
 would be made into a fairly regular sliver. This arrange- 
 ment, however, would clearly divide the one ratch of 5 in. 
 
92 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 into two ratches of ^ in. long ; and whether the intermediate 
 roller ran at the speed of the back roller or of the front 
 roller, or at a speed between the two, it is clear that every 
 fibre which was longer than 2i in. would be broken in the 
 process, and the spinning power of the top completely ruined. 
 
 It is necessary to have some roller which will prevent the 
 short wool slipping, but the breakage of long fibres has to be 
 avoided at all costs, and the method adopted is a compromise. 
 A pair, or more generally two pairs, of small rollers are 
 introduced between the back and front rollers, as shown in 
 
 Fig. 42. 
 
 Eig. 42. These rollers, or carriers, as they are called, do not 
 grip the fibres tightly. They are of such small diameter 
 that the back and front rollers can still be set within 5 in. 
 of one another if necessary. The upper carriers, or tumblers, 
 are nearly always made of wood, and they are consequently 
 light in weight. They are just heavy enough to prevent the 
 short fibres being moved forward by the friction of longer 
 fibres, moving near them, but their pressure is not sufficient 
 to prevent the long fibres being drawn right under them, as 
 soon as the points of the fibres are clear of the back roller and 
 reach to the front one. In other words, the carriers have 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH 
 
 93 
 
 sufficient nip to retard the movements of fibres caused only 
 by the friction of other fibres upon them, but not enough grip 
 to hold or break fibres which are being drawn by the front 
 roller, or held by the back roller. 
 
 In Fig. 42, D shows the point where the front rollers meet. 
 This point is always known in the trade, as the nip. C is the 
 nip of the first pair of carriers, B the nip of the second pair of 
 carriers, and A the nip of the back rollers. If the distance 
 from A to D is 5 1 in., it is clear that as soon as the 5-in. 
 fibre is free from A it will extend past B and C and be 
 caught by D. There will be no time for any movement of one 
 fibre upon another, except that which is caused by the rollers 
 themselves, exactly as in the case of the theoretical example 
 where no carriers were used. But in that case all the short 
 fibres were affected by the movement of the long fibres in 
 such a way that they went through the rollers in lumps. 
 
 After carriers have been introduced, the motion is much 
 more regular. In practice the short fibres will be affected to 
 some extent by the other longer fibres ; but for the sake of 
 argument it will be supposed that they move as if they were 
 aflTected only by the rollers and by fibres of their own length. 
 If the distance from A to B is If in. and the fibres overlap 
 each other by 1 in. as in the other case, every fibre will 
 remain fast in the nip A until the fibre before it has reached 
 B and has been drawn out another \ in., because the draft of 
 B on A is about 1^. The original overlap at A is now re- 
 duced from 1 in. to \ in., and if C has a draft of 2 on A, the fibres 
 will be end to end after passing that point. As each of them 
 is released by B it is caught at D, and the distance between 
 ' the fibres is regularly extended, according to the amount of 
 draft between the rollers. 
 
94 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Now comes the important point. If the distance from C 
 to D is less than 2 in. there can be no slipping of the short 
 fibres, because the carriers hold the wool firmly enough to 
 prevent their moving on one another, until they are caught by 
 the front rollers. If, also, there is a draft of 4 between A and 
 D, every 2-in. fibre will be moved 4 in. before the tip of the 
 next 2-in. fibre reaches the front roller, and the 2-in. fibres 
 will then be lying in a row, on the ribbon of 5 -in. fibres with 
 just 2 in. between their extreme points. 
 
 If any reader cares to work out the movements of the 
 3-in. and 4-in. fibres, he will find that the tips of the 4-in. fibres 
 will just touch one another, and the tips of the 8-in. fibres 
 will be 1 in. apart, after they have gone through the same 
 machine. None of these sets of fibres, excepting the 5-in,, 
 will make a continuous figure, but it is clear that relatively, 
 each length will be distributed as regularly through the 
 sliver, after drawing, as it was before the operation; and 
 when the fibres are again grouped together, with the other 
 fibres forming the sliver, there will be no preceptible irregu- 
 larity. It must also be remembered that every alternate box 
 draws from opposite ends of the sliver and. fibre, and therefore 
 the eflfect described under gill box drafting will ensue in a 
 modified form, each succeeding process tending to undo any 
 grouping of the fibres which has resulted from the one 
 before it. 
 
 The whole of the question might have been discussed 
 under the head of drafting, but its bearing on the question 
 of ratch is of even greater importance, and for that reason it 
 has been reserved for this place, because it must be clear to 
 any thinker, that if the component ratches do not bear the 
 right relation to the length of the shortest fibre in a top, it 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH 
 
 95 
 
 is certain that the short fibre will not be evenly distributed 
 in the yarn. It may not be uneven enough to cause visible 
 lumps, but it cannot be so perfect as it ought to be. Take, 
 for example, the case of a crossbred top with fibres varying 
 from 8 in. to 1-^ in. in length. The distance from A to D, 
 Fig. 42, must now necessarily be extended to 8 in. or the 
 long fibres will be broken ; and if two pairs of carriers are 
 used, it is clear that the length of each of the component 
 nips must be 2| in. But any two IJ-in. fibres overlapping 
 one another by only one 1 in. extend 2| in., and therefore 
 two of them will be free from A before the point of the first 
 arrives at B, and the two will consequently slip forward 
 together, leaving a long gap before the next short fibres come 
 through to B. To draft such a top, it is theoretically necessary 
 to use three carriers, so that none of the ratches is greater in 
 length than the length of two fibres as they lie overlapping 
 one another in the sliver. 
 
 This argument is based on the supposition that they 
 overlap by 1 in., whereas it is much more probable that they 
 overlap by a much greater proportion of their length, and in 
 that case, the component ratches would need to be shorter still. 
 It needs no demonstration to show that with three pairs 
 of carriers or four ratches, each of them will be reduced to 
 2 in., and there will be no chance of the short fibres going 
 through in bunches, as they were sliown to be likely to do, 
 with only two carriers and three ratches each 2| in. long. 
 
 4. The use of the three pairs of rollers, each having a 
 definite grip on the fibre, and each moving the fibres forward 
 on one another, to a definite extent, is a subject which does 
 not properly come within the scope of this work, because it 
 has never been applied to worsteds, and it is a noticeable 
 
96 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 exception to the fact that in both cotton and wool, fibres are 
 never drafted twice in the same direction. 
 
 Whenever three pairs of rollers are used, as shown in 
 Fig. 43, the central pair, which take the place of carriers, 
 are entirely different from carriers, because they have a 
 definite grip on the wool, and really form, at one and the 
 same time, the front rollers of one drafting process and the 
 back rollers of a second. It is noticeable that in the cotton 
 trade, there is an exception to the rule so universally accepted 
 in worsteds, and it raises the question as to whether in 
 worsted, the general principle at present in vogue, might at 
 
 Fig. 43. 
 
 times be modified with advantage and with reduction in cost 
 of production. 
 
 Take, for instance, a case where cotton 1\ in. long goes 
 through the drawing with an average draft of, say, 10. By 
 the same rules one would expect that it would be drafted to 
 very nearly the same extent in the mule, but it is well 
 known that in recent years, it has been possible greatly to 
 exceed these figures, and a draft of 16 is not an unheard-of 
 thing. This draft of 16 would really be composed of two 
 consecutive drafts, of 2 and 8 respectively, in two entirely 
 separate ratches, each of which would be slightly longer than 
 the fibres under treatment. The absence of carriers between 
 
DRAFTING AND RATCH 
 
 97 
 
 each pair of draft rollers is solely due to the impossibility of 
 putting them in, without greatly lengthening the ratch; 
 therefore, if the system were applied to the worsted trade, 
 a set of three pairs of rollers with four pairs of carriers 
 would be necessary, and the draft of the first group would 
 probably be shorter than the draft of the second. 
 
 It is known to many persons that excessively long drafts 
 can at times be made satisfactorily without apparent risks, 
 in special weights of worsted yarns and rovings ; and as the 
 double ratch has been found to make still longer drafts 
 possible in cotton, without sacrificing anything in evenness, 
 it is highly probable that the number of cases where long 
 drafts can be applied in worsted might still be increased, by 
 some modification of the method used for cotton. 
 
 The value of the foregoing theories to the reader depends 
 on his ability to use them rather as a means to an end than 
 as an end to themselves. Many of them have been proved 
 again and again beyond dispute ; but in the more involved 
 cases it is very difficult to collect sufficient evidence, owing 
 to the natural disinclination of one spinner to place his facts 
 in the hands of another. The results must, therefore, be 
 taken simply as the work and conclusions of one man, based 
 on the best information available, and they will be of the 
 most value to the reader who confirms them by his own 
 experiments, before putting them into practice. If any one 
 can prove that the conclusions are based on incorrect assump- 
 tions he will do himself even greater service, for he will then 
 be in a position to avoid some errors and consequent bad 
 work, with certainty, and this could not fail to give him a 
 distinct advantage in these days of severe competition. 
 
 H 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 DRAWING 
 
 Drawing is a term applied to the series of processes, by means 
 of whicli a worsted sliver from the comb is reduced to such a 
 size that it can be drawn out in the spinning frame, at one 
 operation to the desired size of yarn. 
 
 For example, a botany top will weigh about 4 oz. for 10 
 yds. ; it is to be made into yarn of, say, 60' counts, and it will 
 only stand a draft of 5 or 6 in the spinning frame. To find 
 out how much it must be reduced, in order to be suitable 
 for this purpose by present methods involves a comparatively 
 intricate calculation. 
 
 A roving which will make 60* with a draft of 5 must 
 be : — 
 
 60 X 560 pwoA J J 
 
 _ , or 6720 yds. per pound. 
 
 o 
 
 6720 4 
 
 ^ , or 261 yds. per dram or ^ drams per yard. 
 
 16 X 16 lOo 
 
 4 
 
 . 40 X = 15 dram in 40 yds. : 
 lOo ' 
 
 and the relation between 1*5 dram in 40 yds. and sliver of 
 
 4 oz. in 10 yds. is the amount of reduction necessary in the 
 
 drawing process. 
 
 It is a clear proof of the conservatism of this country, that 
 
 we are prepared to go on using such time-worn systems of 
 
DRA WING 
 
 99 
 
 calculation. There are many items in the textile trades 
 where the calculations necessary to arrive at a desired result 
 are so complicated, as to mystify even competent persons, if 
 they are not intimately acquainted with the industry ; but it 
 is probable that nowhere else are denominations used, which 
 are so wasteful df time, as are those required to take a top 
 through the drawing to the spinning. In that range there 
 are five points where the definite relation of weight to length 
 must be known ; and not content with the complication 
 involved in the use of pounds, ounces, drams, grains, and 
 hanks of 560 yds., it is thought necessary to alter the 
 denominations, at different stages, from length to weight, 
 or vice versa. 
 
 The sizes of tops are stated in ounces for 10 yds. At 
 the first and second weigh-boxes, the length of sliver on 
 a bobbin (which is an irregular length, such as 458 yds.) is 
 divided into its weight in pounds and then reduced to the 
 number of drams in 40 yds. Roving is weighed in lengths 
 of 40 yds., the weight being stated in drams. For yarn 
 the weight is fixed at 12^ grs. ; the number of yards in 
 that weight being the same as the count. It might be 
 interesting to find the origin of these various figures, but 
 the practical man is only concerned to find a system by 
 which he can tell at sight how much draft is needed to 
 reduce tops to rovings, and rovings to yarn ; and if a decimal 
 system (not necessarily metric) were brought into general 
 use, this could be done with the utmost simplicity, and with 
 great saving of time and trouble. 
 
 Based as our present system of counts is, on a pound 
 weight and a curious multiple of yards, as a standard of 
 length, it goes without saying that either the standard count 
 
loo PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 must be altered, or some other weight must be substituted 
 for the pound, simply because neither it, nor the standard of 
 length can be subdivided into satisfactory decimal parts. 
 
 If a pound is retained as the standard weight by which 
 to measure tops, drawing slivers, rovings and yarn; one 
 thousandth part of it would become the standard for yarn 
 weighing. 
 
 But jqL^ of a pound is 7 grains or or J| of a 12^ 
 grain weight, and this would necessitate an alteration of the 
 standard count, far more revolutionary than an alteration to 
 the French metric system. 
 
 If, on the other hand, it is absolutely necessary to retain 
 the present standard of length, it is clear that the pound as 
 a standard of weight must be altered, and that multiples 
 of 12|: grs. must be adopted instead. This would be very 
 inconvenient, as the pound would have to be replaced by 
 1000 X 12} grs. or 12,500 grs. which is about 1'8 lb. Such 
 a system would need an entirely new set of weights, of a type 
 not at present in existence, and it is therefore a system which 
 cannot be recommended, because it would be quite impossible 
 to sell by a system not in vogue in our own, or in any other 
 country. 
 
 By adopting the standard metric system, all such diffi- 
 culties will be done away with. The weights can easily be 
 bought without trouble, and the simplest of all methods could 
 be adopted, if the trade would consent to have the standard 
 of count altered by about 12 per cent. ; that is to say, a gram 
 (of 15^ grs.) would replace our 12^ grs. weight, and yarn 
 which we call 60' with 83,600 yards to the pound, would have 
 in future to be called 67*7% because it would contain 67-7 
 meters per gram. Roving from which to spin it with a draft 
 
DRA WING 
 
 lOI 
 
 of 6, would be called 11-3, which is 67*7 divided by 6, and 
 tops which are now measured as 4 oz. in 10 yds. would be 
 known as 80^ that is to say there would be 80 meters in a 
 kilogram. 
 
 Until the metric system is universally adopted by the 
 trade, it would, of course, be necessary to translate orders 
 received from outside firms into the new system of counts, 
 before booking them in the mill order-books, and figures for 
 skep labels and invoices would need altering back to the old 
 system ; but as every count would bear a direct proportion to 
 every other of the old system, in the proportion of 60 to 
 6 7 "7, it would only be necessary to use the table given here- 
 with, to read the equivalent of every metric count at a glance. 
 
 TABLE OF WORSTED AND METRIC COUNTS. 
 
 Bradford 
 counts. 
 
 Meters per 
 gram. 
 
 Bradford 
 counts. 
 
 Meters per 
 gram. 
 
 Bradf< rd 
 counts. 
 
 Meters per 
 gram. 
 
 12 
 
 13-54 
 
 42 
 
 47-40 
 
 72 
 
 81-25 
 
 14 
 
 15 80 
 
 44 
 
 49-66 
 
 74 
 
 83-47 
 
 16 
 
 1804 
 
 46 
 
 51-91 
 
 76 
 
 85 76 
 
 18 
 
 20-31 
 
 48 
 
 .54-14 
 
 78 
 
 88 03 
 
 20 
 
 22-57 
 
 50 
 
 50-39 
 
 80 
 
 90-28 
 
 22 
 
 24-82 
 
 52 
 
 58-68 
 
 82 
 
 92-49 
 
 24 
 
 27-07 
 
 54 
 
 60 94 
 
 84 
 
 94-80 
 
 26 
 
 29-34 
 
 50 
 
 63-20 
 
 86 
 
 97-00 
 
 28 
 
 31-60 
 
 58 
 
 65-41 
 
 88 
 
 99-32 
 
 30 
 
 33-85 
 
 60 
 
 67-71 
 
 90 
 
 101-.57 
 
 .S2 
 
 3609 
 
 62 
 
 69-93 
 
 92 
 
 103-82 
 
 34 
 
 38 37 
 
 64 
 
 72-18 
 
 94 
 
 106 03 
 
 36 
 
 40-62 
 
 66 
 
 74-48 
 
 96 
 
 108-28 
 
 38 
 
 42-88 
 
 68 
 
 7674 
 
 98 
 
 110-.54 
 
 40 
 
 45-14 
 
 70 
 
 79-00 
 
 100 
 
 112-80 
 
 To find the number of meters in a kilogram, multiply 
 
 English counts x 560 x 2 014, or 1127 84, say 1128. 
 
 There is no doubt that such a scheme would be unpopular 
 at first ; it would, in fact, require a new method of looking 
 at things, and Englishmen seldom favour changes, even for 
 
I02 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 the better, if novelty of method is involved. It is certain 
 that it would effect a saving in spite of the necessary 
 alteration of figures, and if any master will trouble to work 
 out for himself the complete set of drafts and doublings for a 
 set of drawing, with the additional drafts from three different 
 weights of rovings, for six different counts ; first using the 
 old and then the new methods, there is small doubt that he 
 would very soon turn reformer. 
 
 The cumbersome calculations for finding the draft from 
 roving to yarn, is so typical of all the other calculations in 
 a drawing, that there is no use wasting time in describing 
 a method so involved ; and all that has to be said on this 
 complicated subject will therefore be stated in meters and 
 grams. 
 
 ' ' The metric system is now so universally used by scientists 
 and chemists all over the world, that no apology is needed for 
 its adoption. It effects immense saving in nearly every type 
 of calculation for which figures are used, and for that reason it 
 is almost certain to be adopted sooner or later by every 
 civilized nation, as it already has been by France, Germany, 
 Austria, and many others. Measures of length, bulk, weight, 
 and fluid capacity are all related to one another in this 
 system, and are all based on the meter, which is a measure 
 of length equal to 39-3708 English inches. This length was 
 selected as being one-ten millionth of the earth's quadrant, 
 measured from pole to equator, and also because it is a 
 length useful in itself, and very suitable for subdivision 
 into hundredths and thousandths. In use, the meter is 
 divided into tenths, hundredths, and thousandths, under a 
 name derived from the Latin, whilst multiples of the meter 
 are indicated by Greek prefixes. 
 
DRA WING 103 
 
 Thus a kilometer is 1000 meters or 1093 yards. 
 
 „ meter „ 39-3708 inches. 
 
 „ decimeter „ ,'5 of a meter or 3-9370 „ 
 „ centimeter „ „ „ 0-3937 „ 
 
 „ millimeter „ Tcoij „ », 0 0393 „ 
 
 The standard of bulk both for fluids and solids is a cubic 
 centimeter, which is always written, and often spoken of, as c.c. 
 
 The standard of weight is a gram, which is the weight 
 of one c.c. of water at its greatest density {i.e. at 4° centigrade). 
 
 A cubic decimeter (being equal to 1000 c.c.) is therefore 
 equal to 1 kilogram, and as a measure of capacity for liquids 
 it is known as a litre. A litre (I^^q- pint) therefore weighs 1 
 kilogram. 
 
 Names derived from Greek numerals are used for all 
 multiples of the gram, and prefixes derived from the Latin 
 indicate its decimals. 
 
 Thus a kilogram is 1000 grams or 2 204 lbs. (avoir.) or 35-273 oz. or 15,432 grs. 
 
 hectogram „ 100 „ 0 220 „ „ 3-527 „ 
 
 dekagram „ 10 „ 0-022 „ „ 0-352 „ 
 
 gram „ 1 „ 0-002 „ „ 0*035 „ or 1 5-432 grs. 
 
 decigram „ ^ » » 1'543 „ 
 
 centigram „ jro >' " 0-154 „ 
 
 milligram „ ,,^5 „ „ 0-015 „ 
 
 For the conversion of English units into metric, the 
 following figures are useful : — 
 
 1 lb. = 453 6 grams. 1 yd. = 0-914 meters. 
 
 1 oz. = 28-35 „ 1 ft. = 03048 
 
 1 fluid oz. 28-35 „ 1 in. = O 02.o4 
 
 1 pint = 567-93 „ or c.c. 
 
 1 dram = 1-77 „ 
 
 1 grain = 0-0648 „ 
 
 Fluid and solid measures will not concern us in this treatise, 
 but in calculations of drafts, the meter will be used instead of 
 the yard or hank, and grams instead of grains, drams, ounces, 
 and pounds. 
 
I04 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Standard Bradford 60' yarn contains 60 X 560 or 33,600 
 yds. in a pound. This multiplied by 0-914 gives 30,723 
 meters in a pound ; and again multiplied by 2'2046 we have 
 67,715 meters in a kilogram, or 67*715 metres in a gram. 
 
 In other words, to reduce yards per pound, into meters 
 per kilogram, it is only necessary to multiply by 2*014, and 
 the reduction from one count to another may be made in one 
 line of fractions thus : — 
 
 ?0_>^x^xJ:-= 67-684 
 1 39*4 453 
 
 the small difference (0*02 of a count) being due to the fact 
 that in the fraction, only one decimal point is used instead of 
 the three used in the decimal method. 
 
 Before proceeding to compare the relative sizes of sliver 
 from all the different boxes in a di'awing, it is necessary to 
 have a list of the standard sizes of top sliver stated in meters 
 per kilo. These are — 
 
 Sliver 4 oz. in 10 yds. = 40 yds. per pound = 80*5 meters per kilogram 
 
 , 5 , 
 
 , 10 
 
 „ =32 
 
 
 = 64-4 
 
 
 , 10 
 
 „ =26-6 
 
 ?9 19 
 
 = 53-G 
 
 , 7 , 
 
 , 10 
 
 „ =22-8 
 
 >9 »» 
 
 = 45-9 
 
 , 8 , 
 
 , 10 
 
 „ =20 
 
 »9 55 
 
 = 40-2 
 
 , 9 , 
 
 , 10 
 
 „ =17-8 
 
 
 = 3.'")-8 
 
 , 10 , 
 
 , 10 
 
 „ =16 
 
 »5 55 
 
 = 32-2 
 
 We are now in a position to state the size of the sliver in 
 every box of the drawing process, in figures of the same 
 denomination ; that is, to state the number of meters of 
 sliver, as it conies from each box, which is equal to 1 
 kiloo;ram in weight, and if the reader will remember that 
 in the final result 67*7 metric counts, are equal to the 60^^ of 
 the trade, he will have no difficulty in forming conclusions 
 
DRA WING 105 
 
 which are quite impossible, until all the figures do bear a 
 visible relation to one another. In speaking of the number 
 of meters of sliver or yarn in a kilogram, no decimal points 
 will be used, and as a rule the product of all boxes prior to 
 roving will be so stated, whilst the weights of roving and 
 yarn will be stated in the number of meters in a gram, the 
 figure here being followed by a decimal point. 
 
 As in all other parts of this book, the figures used as 
 examples in this chapter have been obtained with all possible 
 care, as representing the best usages of the trade ; but as is 
 the case in all other departments, the drafts used by one firm 
 differ so widely from those used by others, for exactly the 
 same purpose, that no one set of figures can be taken as 
 conclusive. All must be regarded as a criticism of existing 
 methods, rather than a proof, that any one of them is the best 
 that can be devised. 
 
 In the most approved methods of botany drawing for 60" 
 counts and above, it is customary to have ten processes, in 
 each of which two or more slivers are put side by side, and 
 are then drafted as much as they will stand, without what is 
 known as "breaking;" that is, without making uneven 
 sliver, in which the unequal distribution of short fibres causes 
 lumps at intervals. 
 
 In order to make clear the reason for several alterations 
 which are necessary in practice, it will be best to begin by 
 considering a simple instance of super Australian wool, of 
 such good and uniform length, that it will stand a draft of 6 
 in every process. 
 
 In the top there are 80 meters per kilo. 
 
 And in the yarn there are to be 60 meters per gram. 
 
 To find the weight of roving necessary under the old system 
 
io6 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 of drams in 40 yards, from hanks per pound of yarn, we had 
 to go through considerable calculation. Now, knowing that 
 we want to spin our yarn with a draft of 6, we simply divide 
 the counts by 6 to get the desired weight of rovings, which 
 will of course be 10, or 10,000 per kilogram, and therefore 
 or 125, is the amount of reduction which must be made 
 in the 10 boxes; but as there are drafts of 6 in each of the 10 
 processes, the total draft of the set will be equal to 6 multi- 
 plied by itself 10 times, which gives a figure no less than 
 60,466,976, and therefore to get the necessary reduction, the 
 doublings must be equal to that figure divided by the total 
 reduction wanted, that is by 125. This gives 480,000, a 
 figure which can, of course, be made up of many multiples, and 
 it must be obvious to any reader that these 10 multiples 
 might be arranged in any order, and might be altered verj'- 
 widely. In practice they almost always occur in an order 
 which has been evolved as convenient, without much regard 
 to any regularity of progression. 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 TABLE IL 
 
 No. of 
 
 Name of box. 
 
 Ends 
 
 Draft. 
 
 Weight of 
 
 Ends 
 
 Draft. 
 
 Weight of 
 
 process. 
 
 up. 
 
 sliver. 
 
 up. 
 
 
 sliver. 
 
 1 
 
 Ist gill . . . 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 97 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 80 
 
 2 
 
 2nd gill . . 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 118 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 97 
 
 3 
 
 Spindle gill . 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 142 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 118 
 
 4 
 
 Ist drawing . 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 170 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 142 
 
 5 
 
 '2nd drawing . 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 255 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 170 
 
 G 
 
 3rd drawing . 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 382 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 255 
 
 7 
 
 Finishing . . 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 573 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 382 
 
 8 
 
 Slabbing . . 
 
 3 
 
 G 
 
 1,146 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 1,146 
 
 9 
 
 Keducing , . 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 3,438 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 3,438 
 
 10 
 
 Eoving , . . 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 10,314 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 10,314 
 
 
 
 
 
 1G,635 
 
 
 
 16,142 
 
 Total spindles in the set 
 
 
 414 
 
 
 
 404 
 
 
 
 480,000 
 
 
 
 480.000 
 
 
 
 . G0,466,97G 
 
 
 . 60,466,976 
 
DRA WING 107 
 
 Tables 1. and 11. show calculations for botany drawings 
 with the same number of doublings and the same amount of 
 draft, the size of sliver being stated in metres per kilo., but 
 there is a shght difference which needs careful consideration. 
 In practice it is common to suppose that if the total drafts 
 and doublings of two drawings are equal, the result must be 
 equally good, but this is certainly not always the case. 
 
 To compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two 
 systems, it is first necessary to notice that the output of the 
 front rollers of every box in a set of drawing is so nearly alike 
 that the result may be regarded as equal. It may therefore 
 be said, that the number of spindles in each operation will be 
 in direct proportion to the size of the thread coming from 
 them, and because this is the case, the figure which is obtained 
 by adding together the weight of sliver from the various boxes, 
 will always be very nearly in proportion to the total number 
 of spindles in the whole drawing. For example, in Table II. to 
 find the number of spindles or rollers in the first 2 sliver box 
 80 must be divided by 40, and in like manner 16,142 divided 
 by 40 gives 404. On this basis Table II. would be less 
 expensive in first cost of machinery, in rent and in wages, 
 because fewer spindles are necessary ; and the only drawback 
 to set against this is the fact that the sliver from the first box 
 is the same size as the top, because there has been no reduc- 
 tion. For these reasons, there are only two instead of three 
 doublings in the slubbing. 
 
 It is not at all unusual to adopt this method of doubling at 
 the first box, to secure a certain desired weight at the weigh- 
 box. In fact, it often happens that the sliver from the first 
 box is actually made thicker than the top, and it is not clear 
 that any serious harm will result from this treatment, but 
 
io8 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 perfection is said to be made up of trifles, and if we adopt 
 Euclid's method of treating doubtful problems, by carrying 
 them to extremes, we see plainly enough that, not only is 
 Table 11. imperfect, but probably Table I. is not as good in 
 theory as is the system given in Table IV. 
 
 
 TABLE 
 
 III. 
 
 
 
 TABLE IV. 
 
 No. of 
 process. 
 
 Name of box. 
 
 Ends 
 up. 
 
 Draft. 
 
 Weiglit of 
 sliver. 
 
 Ends 
 up. 
 
 Draft. 
 
 Weight of 
 sliver. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 G 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 10 
 
 1st gill. . . 
 ?nd gill . . 
 Spindle gill . 
 1 st drawing . 
 2nd drawing . 
 3id drawing . 
 Finishing . . 
 Slubbing . . 
 Reducing . . 
 Roving. , . 
 
 
 6 ' 
 
 G 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 G 
 G 
 6 
 G 
 G 
 G 
 G 
 G 
 6 
 G 
 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 80 
 9G 
 288 
 1,728 
 10,368 
 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 3 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 G 
 6 
 G 
 6 
 G 
 6 
 G 
 
 120 
 180 
 270 
 405 
 GOS 
 912 
 1,368 
 2,73G 
 5 472 
 10,944 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 12,960 
 
 
 
 23,015 
 
 Total spindles in the set 
 Total doublings . . 
 Total draft .... 
 
 
 324 
 
 . . . 575 
 . . . 442,368 
 . . . 60,466,976 
 
 If there is no special advantage in reducing the size of the 
 sliver at every operation, there seems to be no particular 
 reason why it should be reduced at all, until the last three 
 boxes of the set are reached (see Table III.) Such an 
 arrangement would clearly have the great advantage of requir- 
 ing only two spindles in each of the first seven boxes, six 
 spindles in the slubbing, 36 in the reducing, and 216 in the 
 roving. There would be, of course, great saving in the first 
 cost and in wages ; but no man in his senses would expect to 
 get good work by such means, for it may be taken for granted 
 that after a top leaves the last combing gill box, it is nearly as 
 
\dRA wing 109 
 
 uniform in thickness as any process can make it, and conse- 
 quently, when it reaches the seventh drawing process it will 
 not be one whit better for all the work that has been done to it. 
 
 If there is any truth whatever in the previous assumption 
 in regard to drafting, some of the fibres are drawn quite apart 
 from one another in the process, and power of adhesion in 
 the sliver depends on the number of other fibres present in 
 the box itself and on the number of reduced slivers, or 
 doublings, which are put up to the next process. If the 
 number of fibres present in a 60' thread spun from a low 60' 
 quality are counted at a number of places and averaged, it 
 will be found that the thread generally contains about 20 
 fibres side by side ; a roving of six times the weight must 
 contain 120 fibres, and a top, being about 125 times the weight 
 of the roving, must contain 15,000 fibres on any section. That 
 is to say, six ends each of 15,000 fibres are put up to a gill box 
 having a draft of 6, and a sliver of 15,000 fibres is the result. 
 This means, that to avoid irregularity due to the unequal 
 distribution of long and short fibres, at least five of these 
 slivers are put up and drafted six in order to reduce their size 
 to 12,500 fibres. 
 
 Further down the drawing, with a total disregard for 
 logic, a difterent method is adopted: when the sliver only 
 contains 2160 fibres it is still drafted to the same extent, so 
 that it will only contain 360 fibres after the process. The 
 chances of irregularity must be enormously increased on 
 account of the great reduction in the number of the fibres, and 
 yet the irregularity is only counteracted, by putting up two 
 ends to the roving box in place of the five which are put up 
 when the slivers are so much thicker. 
 
 It is very seldom that any advantage can result from a 
 
no PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 drawing process in which there are so many doublings that 
 the resulting sliver is as thick, or thicker than the original. 
 It is probable that most perfect evenness would result if the 
 percentage of reduction could be made the same in every box 
 of a set (see Table IV.) ; and as it is impossible for all to be 
 alike, theory advises that the later boxes, where the fibres in 
 each sliver are fewer, should have as many doublings as 
 possible. 
 
 The difficulty in the way is largely one of expense, for it 
 is easy to see that if the order of doublings in Table I. were 
 reversed, the number of roving boxes required in both would 
 be the same ; but the number of reducers, slubbing boxes, and 
 finishing boxes would be so enormously increased, that the 
 cost of machinery, rent, and wages would be very much 
 raised, and would be out of all proportion to the advantage 
 which would be gained by any slight possible improvement in 
 evenness. Practical men have good reason for knowing, also, 
 that expense is not the only drawback which has prevented 
 the adoption of a uniform system of reduction throughout all 
 the drawing processes, for they are too well aware of the diffi- 
 culty caused by piecings in the slubbing, reducing, and roving 
 processes. If the number of ends up, in each of these pro- 
 cesses were increased to four or five, there is no doubt that 
 the difficulty of keeping them free from thick joining places 
 would be increased out of all proportion to the increase of ends 
 used ; and such careful attention would be necessary on the 
 part of the hands, to keep the work free from thick places, that 
 there would be very small chance of obtaining really perfect 
 work. 
 
 Present methods are a compromise between the least 
 expensive course, and that which would be the best in theory. 
 
DRA WING 
 
 III 
 
 If a spinner has the choice of increasing the number of ends 
 or reducing the draft, in order to get a thicker roving, he 
 should try as far as possible to increase the number of ends 
 in the later processes. It is also well to remember that the 
 output of a drawing can be enormously increased by the in- 
 crease of drafts, for there is no mechanical limit to the amount 
 of draft possible, as there is to the speed of a spindle,iand it is 
 also clear that the greater the draft the fewer are the processes 
 necessary to reduce top to a given weight of roving, at the 
 same time retaining the full number of doublings. Thus, in a 
 crossbred with a draft of 10 throughout, only eight processes 
 are required to obtain 1,024,000 doublings and a total reduction 
 of about 100 times. 
 
 TABLE V. 
 
 Drafts and Doublings. Geossbred Drawing. 
 
 No. of 
 process. 
 
 Can gill . . 
 Spindle gill 
 1st drawing 
 2Dd drawing 
 i5rd drawing 
 Finishing . 
 Clubbing . 
 Roving . . 
 
 Ends 
 up. 
 
 Draft. 
 
 Weight of 
 silver. 
 
 10 
 10 
 lU 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 50 
 62i 
 78 
 97 
 194 
 388 
 776 
 3880 
 
 5525^ 
 
 Total spindles 138 
 
 Total doublings 1,024,000 
 
 Total draft 10» 100,000,000 
 
 There are two discrepancies to be noted between the 
 tables given and the drafts which are in daily use. 
 
 1. For obvious practical reasons the draft cannot remain 
 exactly alike throughout the whole set. There are always at 
 
112 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 least three points where the weight of sliver must always be 
 of a size that can be stated in round figures, which are easy to 
 compare with others. For instance, instead of the 142 in the 
 first drawing- box of Table I., it might be necessary to have 
 140 in practice ; and as this number could never be obtained 
 by altering the number of ends up whilst retaining a draft of 
 G, the ends are allowed to remain the same, and the draft is 
 made 5 and a fraction instead of 6. For the sake of sim- 
 plicity, similiar drafts are often adopted all through a set of 
 drawings, and it also often happens that it is necessary to 
 alter these drafts very slightly at the weigh boxes, partially 
 because it is found impossible to make tops sufficiently regular 
 to avoid their showing slight differences after drafting, and 
 partly because they always lose a certain percentage of their 
 weight through evaporation in the process. The amount of 
 loss differs with different conditions of the atmosphere, and 
 this difference has to be made up by alterations in the draft. 
 
 2. Practical drafting differs from the theoretical examples 
 here taken, in that the drafts are deliberately allowed to 
 increase as the process continues, so that the attenuation of 
 the sliver at each of the smaller boxes is greater than that 
 shown in Table I. In other words, the drafts rise as the 
 number of doublings fall, and instead of making a steady 
 reduction from gill box to roving, as shown in Table IV., the 
 increase is very slow in the early boxes, and unnecessarily 
 rapid in the roving and spinning. 
 
 Too much twist is a great mistake, for two reasons. 
 Firstly, the total speed at which it is possible to run the box 
 is generally determined by the speed of the flyers : but an 
 increased amount of twist means more revolutions of the flyer 
 to every revolution of the front roller, and therefore t^ie 
 
DRAWING 113 
 
 addition of twist in any process must mean a reduction in 
 the output of the front rollers, and an equal reduction in the 
 output of the whole drawing. In the second place, excessive 
 twist may have a much more serious effect than that of 
 merely limiting production, for it is clear tliat twist makes 
 the fibres adhere more firmly to one another than they do in 
 untwisted sliver ; and if too much twist is inserted, they may 
 hold so tightly to one another, that the drawing rollers will 
 not be able to draft the fibres uniformly. In extreme eases 
 there could be no drafting, properly so called ; the hard twisted 
 sliver would be simply pulled into short pieces by the front 
 roller. Such a thing as this would, of course, never be allowed 
 to take place to any great extent in practice ; but the spinner 
 should remember that if there is too much twist in any process 
 the drafting will not be regular. Uneven drafting on account 
 of twist is often termed " plucking," because the motion of the 
 fibres on one another is spasmodic, instead of being perfectly 
 smooth and regular. The result is certain to be visible in the 
 sliver, in places of unequal thickness occurring with more or 
 less regularity along the sliver, and varying in intensity accord- 
 ing as the plucking is severe or so slight as to be unnoticeable. 
 
 First Process : Can Gill Box.— As the theories of gill boxes 
 have been considered in detail in regard to combing they 
 will only be briefly recapitulated here, and the box will be 
 considered simply as a means of reducing sliver to any desired 
 extent, with the greatest possible evenness and cheapness. 
 The drawing gill box consists : — 
 
 1. Of a creel from which the balls of top are unwound 
 (see Fig. 44). 
 
 2. Back rollers which pay out a certain length of sliver 
 (A, Fig. 46). 
 
 I 
 
114 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 3. Fallers which prevent the fibres being drawn too 
 rapidly by the front rollers (B, Fig. 46). 
 
 4. Front rollers which draw out the fibres to such an 
 extent that the sliver is reduced to a definite extent (C, 
 Fig. 46). 
 
 5. Calender rollers which pay the sliver into the can 
 (D Fig. 46). 
 
 6. A knocking-off motion, which stops the machine as 
 soon as the required amount of sliver has been paid into the 
 can (Fig. 49). 
 
 1. The Creel is designed to overcome two difficulties 
 which cause trouble if work is attempted without it. If tops 
 are laid on the floor, there is very seldom any difficulty in 
 drawing a sliver from the centre of the ball, and fibres from 
 other adjacent portions of sliver do not adhere very much ; 
 but when a sliver is drawn in this way it always contains 
 twist. If the amount of twist were constant, this would not 
 be a very serious matter, but as the length of one lap round 
 the ball varies from the centre of the ball to the outside, and 
 as one turn of twist runs into the sliver for each wrap 
 round the ball, it will be found that a sliver drawn from the 
 centre of the ball in this way, contains varying amounts 
 of twist. 
 
 By making the ball rotate with a uniform surface traverse, 
 the creel makes it possible to take sliver from the top, without 
 any twist at all. Whatever may be the diameter of the 
 difierent tops on the creel, it will pay out sliver from every 
 one of them at a uniform speed, so that all the fibres go up 
 to the back rollers without having had any strain put upon 
 them ; consequently the slivers never break down and are 
 never strained. Various methods have been tried to obtain. 
 
DRAWING 115 
 
 this result, but none of them have been so efficient as that 
 shown in Figf. 44. 
 
 Any method by which a slcewer, or other artificial axis is 
 put through the centre of the ball is bound to disarrange and 
 probably to damage the sliver near the centre of the top, and 
 it is of course impossible to apply any motion to such 
 spindles, which would pay out the sliver at rates varying in 
 direct relation to the diameter of the ball. It is also very 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 seldom that all the sliver, so skewered, would run off the 
 spindle, and it is quite clear that the sliver would have to 
 bear sufficient strain to make the top rotate. The form in 
 which the rollers are arranged in the illustration is only a 
 matter of convenience ; it is the usual type and occupies but 
 little room. 
 
 In principle the machine is simplicity itself; the rollers 
 are arranged in pairs, each pair being long enough to hold 
 
Ii6 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 three or four balls standing on their edges, prevented from 
 rubbing one another, and prevented from falling over, by 
 thin polished steel plates. The rollers are made to rotate by 
 chain or wheel gearing at the same surface speed as the back 
 rollers. They really form the low rollers of a nipping pair, of 
 which the ball itself is the dead weighted upper roller, so that 
 the sliver from the top must continue to emerge from the 
 nip between the ball and the rollers at a uniform speed, no 
 matter what may be the size of the ball itself The sliver 
 will also be delivered without twist and without any tension 
 being applied to it from the back rollers. 
 
 There is only one possibility of difference in the output of 
 different balls running on the same creel. Any such 
 difference must be due to the angle at which the balls are 
 wound. If a ball were built without traverse, its output 
 would be exactly equal to the surface traverse of the roller, 
 but as the wraps lie diagonally round the ball they are 
 necessarily rather longer than they would be if they lay 
 straight round its circumference, and it follows that each time 
 the ball completes one revolution on its axis, it pays out a 
 length of sliver which varies according as the 
 traverse has been quick or slow when the ball 
 was being built. 
 
 2. The Back Hollers, Fallers, and Front 
 Boilers are best considered in one group, be- 
 cause they perform together the most important 
 function of the box, that of drafting. 
 
 The back rollers are nearly always a single 
 pair of tooth and pinion rollers as shown in 
 Fig. 45, and they usually work without a leather. Sometimes, 
 for botany wool, two smooth low rollers are employed with 
 
DRAMMING 117 
 
 a single large pressing roller, covered first with thick cloth 
 and over that with soft leather. Such a set of rollers would 
 naturally deliver a length almost exactly equal to the circum- 
 ference of the low rollers, whereas the tooth and pinion 
 rollers nearly always deliver more than 3f times their 
 diameter, and the amount they deliver also varies with the 
 thickness of the sliver and the pressure applied to them. 
 
 The amount of reduction effected by each gill box depends 
 entirely on the output of the back rollers as compared with the 
 output of the front rollers. This is the total draft of the box, 
 and is the multiple of the back draft, between the back 
 roller and the fallers, and the front draft between the fallers 
 and the front roller. 
 
 The speed at which a gill box can be run depends on the 
 number of the fallers which can be dropped in a given time 
 without breakage, and this speed depends entirely on that 
 of the screws and cams which move them. Breakages always 
 occur where fallers drop, or rather where they are forced 
 down by the cams of the upper screw. 
 
 For many years, the threads in both upper and : lower 
 screws were cut single, because no one was then able to make 
 a double thread screw, which worked well. It must be clear 
 that if there are two threads side by side, instead of one, a 
 single revolution of the screw will move each faller twice the 
 distance which it would be moved by one rotation of a single 
 thread screw, and that, without increasing 'the speed at which 
 the cams revolve. As a matter of fact, it is seldom found 
 desirable to drop fine fallers at twice the speed which is 
 possible with a single thread screw. 
 
 Many boxes with single screws of three-eighths pitch were 
 run up to 300 per minute. If the face of the cam on such a 
 
Ii8 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 PARTIGULAES OF CAN GILL BOXES. 
 First and Second Pkooesses. 
 
 Number of boxes . 
 Length and breadth over all 
 Slivers, number of 
 Size of can . 
 Boilers, low front . 
 EoUers, front pressing 
 Kollers, low back . 
 Eollers, back pressing 
 Fallers, number up 
 Screw pitch 
 Fallers, length over all 
 Fallers, pinning . 
 Draft (about) . 
 Ends up. 
 Knocker-ofif 
 
 Front roller, output per rev. 
 
 Back roller, output per rev. 
 
 Double thread screw §" pitchj 
 equals / 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 4' 6" X 4' 2" 
 
 6 
 
 :-i6" X 17" X 11" 
 2" tooth and pinion 
 oi" 
 
 3" 
 12 
 
 18V' 
 
 16 
 
 5-5 
 
 6 
 
 29 and 59 
 /2" X 3; = 6f", or^ 
 \ 0-16 meters j 
 /3" X 3^ = 9f' or] 
 \ 0-24 meters j 
 ff" traverse per rev.) 
 \ or 0 0 19 meters J 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 4' 6" X 4' 2" 
 6 
 
 36" X 17" X 11" 
 2|" tooth and pinion 
 3" 
 3" 
 
 3.i" „ 
 
 14 
 
 1" 
 
 •i 
 
 18V' 
 12 
 6-5 
 6 
 
 29 and 39 
 
 Front draft, by inches — 
 
 2" X 22 X 30 176 j. 
 
 7 X 50 X ^" " 35 ^35 
 
 Back draft, by inches — 
 
 f X 72 X 88 X 7 _ 1^ or 1 1 
 22 X 18 X 22 X 3" ~ 11 
 
 Total draft, by inches — 
 
 2" X 22 X 30 f x 72 X 88 X 7^ _ _ 176 14 _ ^5 
 
 7 X 50 X i" ^ 22 X 18 X 22 X 3" ~ 35 ^ 11 - 
 
 Total draft, by meters — 
 
 016 X 30 0-019 X 72 x 88 ^ 2 
 
 " 50 x 0-019^ 22 X 18 X 0-24 ~ ^5 
 
 Knocker-oflf for 11 lbs. — 
 
 2" X 22 X 37 X 41 
 7 X 36 
 
 X 2 = 530 yds. sliver, Z\ oz. for 10 yds. 
 
 Knocker-off for 5 kilos — 
 
 0-16 X 37 X 41 X 2 = 485 4 meters of 97 08 meters per kilo;: 
 
DRA WING 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 PLAN. 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 Fig. 4G. — Can gill box 
 
I20 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 screw rotates in a circle four inches in diameter, it follows 
 that it must travel about 300 X 4 x 3f or 3643 in. per minute, 
 or 5 ft. per second, and every faller will therefore be driven 
 down on to the low saddle at this velocity. To enable the 
 fallers to withstand this rough usage, it is necessary to make 
 them of the very best steel, and even then it is not surprising 
 that a very large number are broken. We are so accustomed 
 to many of the effects of gravitation that we are apt to ignore 
 some of its most logical consequences, and in the case of 
 fallers the consequence of the sudden stoppage has to be 
 guarded against, for there is always a natural inclination for 
 the faller to rebound from the solid steel saddle, and the cams 
 must be so constructed that they not only push the faller 
 down, but hold it down long enough to overcome any tendency 
 to rise and jamb against the upper saddle. 
 
 In addition to falling on to the low saddle, it is, of course, 
 necessary that the faller should drop accurately into the 
 thread of the lower screw. This is effected by careful adjust- 
 ments of the screws and by the position of the cams and 
 saddles. 
 
 To reduce the number of fallers which are necessary 
 to complete a set, the low screw is always cut at a faster 
 pitch than the upper one ; that is to say, that if a faller 
 travels the whole length of the upper screw in 14 revolutions 
 it may traverse the length of the low screw in 7, so that when 
 both screws are rotating at the same speed, as they always 
 must do, there will only be 7 idle fallers in the low screw, 
 whilst there are 14 doing their work in the upper one. 
 
 In double thread screws, the relation of the lower and 
 upper screws to one another remains exactly the same, but in 
 each of them there are now two entirely separate threads, 
 
DRA WING 
 
 121 
 
 each with its own cams and each traversing the entire length 
 of the screw in exactly half the number of revolutions which 
 would be needed by a single thread for the same distance. 
 To drop 300 fallers a minute it is therefore necessary to run 
 the screws at only 150 revolutions. This naturally halves 
 the speed of the screws and the cams, and it also halves the 
 severity of the shock and the tendency of the f aller to rebound 
 from the saddle. 
 
 Front Boilers. — Wherever a thin sliver of wool fibre is 
 drafted by two metal rollers, the pressure which has to be 
 applied is so great that the metal rollers would cut, instead of 
 drawing out the fibres, unless a leather were also run between 
 them. The leather acts as a cushion, against which the fibre 
 can be nipped by the roller, without risk of damage. As 
 there is nearly always some grease present, either in the 
 wool or the leather or both, the slight stickiness usually 
 makes the fibre adhere to the leather, sufficiently to make it 
 wrap round the leather in preference to forming a lap on 
 the bare steel roller, and this fact makes accidents from 
 lapping of much less frequence than would otherwise have 
 been the case. 
 
 After running in contact with the leather for a few inches, 
 the two narrow parallel slivers are taken from the leather by 
 a second pair of smooth steel rollers, called calender rollers 
 which pay out the slivers direct into the can. These calender 
 rollers run at such a speed that they pay out slightly more 
 than the front rollers, and by means of this very small lead, 
 which can hardly be said to be a draft at all, they put just 
 sufficient strain upon the sliver to keep it tight and to prevent 
 " feather edges," because when the sliver is tight the fibres 
 near the sides have much less inclination to stick to the leather 
 
122 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 PARTICULARS OF SPINDLE GILL BOXES. 
 Third Peocess. 
 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 For crossbrcds. 
 
 Number of boxes .... 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Length and breadth over all . 
 Spindles, number of . . . 
 
 4' X 4' 6" 
 
 4' X 4' 6" 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Spindles, pitch of ... . 
 
 12i" 
 
 12i" 
 
 Spindles, speed of ... . 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 Bobbins, size of ... . 
 
 14" X 9" 
 
 14" X 9" 
 
 Bobbins, size of barrel 
 
 3" 
 
 2.]" 
 
 Rollers, low front .... 
 
 2" tooth and pinion 
 
 2:1" tooth and pinion 
 
 Rollers, front pressing 
 
 2i" „ 
 
 3" 
 
 Rollers, low back .... 
 
 3 5, 5, 
 
 3" „ „ 
 
 Rollers, back pressing 
 
 QI" 
 
 «*2 ■>■> )) 
 
 •-11" 
 
 
 3" 
 
 5 
 
 1" 
 
 2 
 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 Fallers, length over all . 
 
 22|" 
 
 221" 
 
 Fallers, pinning .... 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 
 5-5 
 
 6-5 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 29 and 59 
 
 29 and 39 
 
 Front roller, output per rev. . 
 
 /2" X 3j = 6f , or\ 
 \ 0-16 meters j 
 
 
 Back roller, output per rev. . 
 
 |3" X 3^ = 9f", ox\ 
 \ 0 24 meters / 
 
 
 Double thread screw |" pitch \ 
 
 (f traverse per rev.\ 
 
 
 equals j 
 
 \ or 0 019 m. j 
 
 
 Total draft, by inches — 
 
 2" X 22 X 30 f X 72 X 88 X 7 _ ^2 
 
 7 X 50 X f ^ 22 X 18 X 22 X 3" ~ "5 
 
 Total draft, by meters- 
 
 016 X 30 0-019 X 72 X 88' -,2 
 
 50 X 0 019 ^ 22 X 18 x 0 24 ~ 
 
 Turns of twist per inch- 
 
 7Ji^50j< 8 X 32 X 6 _ 56 _ 1 . 
 
 2^^ir22">r30 X 6 X 60 X 6 ~ 297 ~ 5 
 
 Turns of twist per meter — 
 
 50 X 8 X 32 X 6 8 _ - , 
 
 0-16 X 30 X 6 X 60 X 6 ~ P08 ~ 
 
 Knockcr-off — 
 
 0-16 X 41 X 43 = 282-08 meters per bobbin of 2 kilos. 
 
Fig. 47.— Spindle gill box. 
 
•124 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 and make places where the edges of the sliver are frayed or 
 turned back. 
 
 Second Process. — Fine botany material is almost always 
 put through a second can gill box, which resembles the first in 
 every respect, but as the slivers going into the box are now 
 contained in cans, from which they run easily without getting 
 twisted, the creel is replaced by light brackets supporting 
 smooth guides, over which the slivers are drawn to the back 
 roller. Each guide should be exactly over the centre of one 
 division of a can, so that the sliver is therefore lifted without 
 rubbing against the sides. This avoids all chance of the 
 sliver being torn by contact with ragged edges on old or 
 damaged cans. In every other respect, excepting in the size 
 of the sliver and possibly the draft and the number of ends 
 up, the first and second boxes are alike; but in crossbred 
 qualities or botany drawings, which are to be used for very 
 thick yarns, the second process is sometimes omitted, and a 
 creel is then put up behind the second box, and both can gill 
 boxes are used for the first process. 
 
 Third Process— Spindle Gill Boxes.— The practice of building 
 gill boxes in such a way that they can only produce two 
 slivers is probably due to the excessive strain there would be 
 on fallers long enough to take three or four slivers side by 
 side. 
 
 In the first place, practice shows that extra length causes 
 many more fallers to break, as they drop on to the lower 
 saddle; and in the second, the strain of drawing the three 
 slivers would be so great, that it would soon pull a three- 
 eighths faller out of shape. In spite of this drawback it is 
 still usual to have very long fallers in the spindle gill boxes, 
 simply because people prefer to make a small saving in first 
 
DRA WING 
 
 125 
 
 (Cost and to waste time and money in replacing broken 
 fallers, rather than pay for a more expensive box. 
 
 The bobbins on most spindle gill boxes measure 10 in. in 
 diameter, and as there must be room between them for the 
 flyers to pass one another, it generally happens that the 
 centres are not less than 13 in. apart. It is found that if the 
 centre of the sliver does not leave the front roller exactly in a 
 line with the centre of the spindle, different parts of the sliver 
 will be at different tensions, and in consequence it can never 
 be absolutely round. This means that if the very best results 
 are to be obtained, the fallers must have two sets of pins 
 whose centres will be 13 in. apart, so that if each set is 4| in. 
 wide, the outside pins will be 17^ in. apart, the faller nearly 
 2 ft. long over all. Every one who runs such fallers, even in 
 double-thread screws, knows that the cost in breakages is 
 much heavier than that of shorter fallers, and the spindle gill 
 boxes are run at a slower speed accordingly. A three-spindle 
 box would have to be made with three complete sets of fallers, 
 cams and screws, each faller being pinned over only 4^ in., for 
 one sliver. The first cost per spindle would be relatively 
 heavier than that for two-spindle boxes with long fallers, but 
 three spindles would of course be easier to mind than four, and 
 would take up less room, quite apart from the fact that each 
 spindle would be able to run at nearly 'double the speed of 
 those in the old-fashioned box. There would be no difficulty 
 with the fallers, for they would only be 10 in. long over all, 
 and besides being greatly reduced in weight, they would be 
 greatly increased in their relative strength. 
 
 It may be taken as the universal custom of the trade to 
 begin the use of twist at this process, but like most arbitrary 
 arrangements this is quite illogical. Twisted sliver cannot be 
 
126 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 treated satisfactorily in gill boxes, and the suitabilit}' of a 
 sliver for gilling must have some relation to its size. In Table 
 L, p. 106, gilling ceases where the sliver has been reduced to 
 142 m. per kilo, whilst in crossbred qualities which are still 
 more suitable for treatment by gilling, it is discontinued when 
 the sliver is twice that thickness, i.e. 78 m. per kgo. In a botany 
 drawing, intended for very thick counts, the same rule would 
 appl3% and if it were found by experience that square cans 
 were not suitable for a third process, there can be no possible 
 doubt that sliver of 200 m. now treated in the second drawing 
 box, with twist and without fallers, could be easily run from 
 circular coiler cans, so that it could have the extra advantage 
 of being treated by two extra gilling processes. At all events, 
 in thick sorts, an extra gilling process could be introduced 
 with savino; in both cost and wages. 
 
 Fluted Rollers. — To understand what is the output of 
 fluted rollers under various conditions it is easiest to consider 
 first, what is the output of a pair of smooth rollers doing 
 similar work. A pair of 2 in. smooth rollers making 100 
 revolutions per minute would deliver 100 X 2 x 3f or 628 
 in, per minute, which is their calculation output. If the 
 same pair were run with a leather over the lower roller, 
 it would move just the same distance in the same time, and a 
 sliver drawn by smooth rollers, with or without a leather, vould 
 be delivered at exactly the same rate. With fluted rollers the 
 output under these three conditions would be different in every 
 ease, and there would also be a difference in output with thick 
 and with very thin slivers. 
 
 The output of fluted rollers is often said to be 3f times the 
 diameter of the mean line A, Fig. 48, halfway between the tips 
 and the deepest part of the flutes ; but as a matter of fact, the 
 
DBA WING 
 
 127 
 
 length of a line drawn from point to point of the flutes all 
 round the roller may be taken as equal to the minimum out- 
 put. This is very nearly equal to 3} times the diameter over 
 the flutes, and as the output is always varying, this figure will 
 be used in following calculations, but it must be remembered 
 that gill box rollers often turn out a great deal more than this 
 amount. 
 
 If a very thin tape were run through two bare steel-fluted 
 rollers (Fig. 48) under heavy pres- 
 sure, the output per revolution would 
 nearly equal the total length of the 
 line B, representing the outside of 
 the driving roller, or five times the 
 diameter of the mean line A. With 
 a thick leather, which could not be 
 pressed so deep into the flutes, the 
 length would come much nearer to 
 8} times the total diameter, and the 
 output of sliver from such a pair of 
 rollers, with a leather on them, 
 would naturally be less than the 
 output of the same sliver from the pj-g 48_ 
 
 rollers working without a leather. 
 
 The draft calculations in preparing and other gill boxes 
 come very nearly accurate, because the sliver, coming through 
 the back rollers, is many times the thickness of the sliver 
 between the front rollers. The thick sliver keeps the back 
 rollers apart, and effects their output very nearly to the same 
 extent as the leather and sliver together affect the front 
 rollers. 
 
 The Knocker-of. — In order to ensure that the sliver as it 
 
128 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 
 
 ( fo^ 
 
 
 \ 1 
 
 
 E Oj 
 1 iiji 
 
 
 I 
 
 PLAN. 
 
 comes from the front rollers is of the right weight per 
 yard, it is necessary that it should be accurately measured, 
 so that the length on each bobbin may be known. Each 
 bobbin is weighed when full, and after the nett weight 
 of the empty bobbin is deducted, the weight of wool, divided 
 by the length of sliver, will show the exact weight per yard. 
 
 The piece of apparatus used 
 on any machine for this purpose 
 is known as a knocker-off, because 
 it stops the box when the required 
 length has run on to the bobbin 
 of the spindle gill box. On the 
 spindle gill box, as well as on the 
 can gill boxes, the type of motion 
 used is that known as the " candle- 
 stick" (see Fig. 49). 
 
 The wheel C has usually an 
 indivisible number of teeth, such 
 as 43, and on it there is one tooth 
 which projects beyond the others. 
 On the wheel D there is a similar 
 tooth, and when the two wheels 
 are in gear and the teeth start 
 from a point exactly between the 
 centres of the two wheels, each wheel must move a number 
 of teeth equal to the least common multiple of the number of 
 teeth in both wheels, before the projections meet again. 1763 
 is the least common multiple of 41 and 43, and hence it 
 happens that the wheel C will revolve just as many times 
 as there are teeth in D before the projecting teeth meet 
 again, 
 
 41 
 
 JS. 
 
 
 ^ 1 c 1 
 
 E. 
 
 
 
 I I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ELEVATION 
 
 
 Fig. 49.— Knocker-off. 
 
DRAWING 129 
 
 Every time the two teeth meet, they move the lever E and 
 stop the box, and the output of the front rollers during one 
 " dofiSng" is therefore found by multiplying the circumference 
 of the roller A by the teeth in the wormwheel B, multiplied 
 by the teeth in D, or 0167 X 41 x 43 = 282-08 meters per 
 bobbin of 2 kilos. Under a decimal system each bobbin from 
 a spindle gill box might be made to hold 5 kilos, so that the 
 two would contain 1410 m. 
 
 When bobbins are to be weighed, it is of course necessary 
 that they should be all exactly alike, " balanced," as it is 
 termed, to a round figure which is easy to deduct from the 
 total weight when full, so that the net amount of material on 
 the bobbin can be readily computed, and the draft of the box 
 altered a tooth or two, according as there may be too much or 
 too little material on the last lot of bobbins. 
 
 No matter how carefully a box may be adjusted, or how 
 accurate the rollers may be in size, it will be found that all 
 the bobbins of one doffing do not contain exactly the same 
 length ; and when they are running out in a creel, portions of 
 the longest bobbins must be pieced to the shorter ones, so 
 that all the ends may run out together. If it has been 
 necessary to alter the draft in the course of the day, it will 
 also happen that some of the bobbins weigh just too light and 
 some may be slightly too heavy, whilst others are exactly 
 right. In filling the creel of the next box, care is therefore 
 necessary to see that the different weights are evenly dis- 
 tributed to every spindle. Let us suppose an alteration were 
 made at the finishing box. In the slubbing, where there are 
 three ends up to each spindle, it would be necessary to group 
 the bobbins in the creel in such a way, that one heavy bobbin, 
 one light one, and one of correct weight would run up to each 
 
 K 
 
i30 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 spindle, so that all the resulting slabbing bobbins would be 
 exactly alike. 
 
 Fourth Process— First Drawing Box.— This is the first 
 process in which the sliver contains twist as it enters the 
 back rollers, and there are two visible alterations in the 
 machinery for the necessarily altered treatment. 
 
 The presence of twist binds the fibres so closely to one 
 another, that the pins of the fallers could not move freely 
 through them without breaking many fibres, and consequently 
 fallers are not used. Their absence makes it necessary to 
 have a very much shorter ratch, and the back and front 
 rollers are only set a fraction of an inch further apart than 
 the length of the longest fibre. To prevent slipping of the 
 short fibres in the absence of faller pins, carriers are here 
 introduced for the first time. The lower carrier roller revolves 
 at about 1-| times the surface speed of the back roller, and it 
 carries an upper roller of wood, which has sufficient dead- 
 weight in itself to prevent the short fibres being carried 
 forward by friction to the front roller, but not sufficient 
 weight to prevent long fibres being drawn under it, as soon as 
 they are caught in the nip. The second pair of carriers 
 revolve slightly slower than the first, with only a very slight 
 lead on the back rollers. In the back rollers themselves there 
 is the greatest alteration. The pull necessary to withstand 
 the draft in the twisted sliver is so great, that a single pair of 
 smooth rollers could not possibly hold the wool, and con- 
 sequently there are four rollers, all of equal size, arranged one 
 above the other in such a way that there are three nips, 
 through all of which the wool goes. This arrangement might 
 be used with equal advantage for spindle gill boxes where 
 smooth back rollers are deemed an advantage. All the rollers 
 
DRAWING 131 
 
 carry wheels which have an equal number of long teeth, so 
 arranged that when the rollers are resting on one another, or 
 even when they are separated by wool, the wheels are still in 
 gear and every roller of the group is bound to rotate with the 
 same surface velocity. This arrangement gives such a firm 
 grip that it is absolutely impossible for any fibres to slip 
 through the rollers. 
 
 Front rollers differ much less in the manner of their 
 arrangement than back rollers. In every process they consist 
 of a single pair, and with the one exception of gill boxes, the 
 lower roller is always of smooth metal, scratch-fluted, whilst 
 the upper one may be of wood, paper, cork, or metal, covered 
 with some medium such as leather, cork, cloth and leather, or 
 cloth and parchment, to give elasticity and make it possible 
 to apply heavy pressure without cutting the fibres. Both 
 rollers might be elastic if desired, but elastic materials 
 naturally wear much faster than iron or steel, and it is 
 necessary to have the size of the low (driving) roller constant, 
 so that the output is always the same under all conditions. 
 
 The size of the pressing roller is a matter of no moment, 
 because it is pressed so tightly against the low roller that the' 
 one cannot possibly slip on the other. The surface traverse 
 of both must be identical, and therefore when the surface of 
 the upper roller is worn, it can be turned down without in any 
 way aflJecting the output. 
 
 Pressmg Boilers.— Yery early in the history of roller draft, 
 pressing rollers were made of wood covered with leather, and 
 so well have they done their work that many of the rollers 
 in use to-day are of this type. Whenever wood is used for 
 machinery it is unfortunately liable to warp and split, and in 
 spite of the extreme care taken in the preparation of the wood 
 
,32 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 used for roller bosses, they seldom remain absolutely true for 
 any great length of time. The smaller ones, which were 
 always made from a single piece of wood, were very liable to 
 split in working, but larger rollers were made of segments of 
 wood screwed and glued together on to an iron centre. When 
 turned up and covered with one or two thickness of stout 
 sole-leather, turned up and polished, they make a roller most 
 elastic, and in many ways very suitable for its purpose, but 
 badly wanting in permanence, so that for many years, it has 
 been the ambition of makers to substitute iron for wood. 
 
 Where both upper and lower rollers are of iron, it follows 
 that the leather covering of the former is continually being 
 rolled between two metal surfaces, under heavy pressure, and 
 as this treatment always tends to extend the leather, it was 
 found very difficult to keep a leather fast to the upper roller 
 by means of any kind of glue or cement, and of course the 
 necessity for absolute uniformity of face precludes the use of 
 nails or stitching. The greater adhesive power of glue with 
 wood, made wooden rollers much easier to cover, so that until 
 recently, wood has been the favourite material for roller 
 bosses (see Appendix C). 
 
 Of recent years the art of stretching leather, together with 
 an improvement in the kind of cement or glue used, has 
 lengthened the life of leather on iron rollers so much, that they 
 do not require covering oftener than wood, and they remain 
 true under much more adverse circumstances ; for these 
 reasons they are rapidly coming into general use. 
 
 Leather covering is far from permanent on rollers, however 
 well they may be covered, but as yet nothing has been found 
 to supersede it, although many efforts have been made to 
 do so. The substitute which most nearly succeeded was a 
 
DRAWING 133 
 
 composition of cork, compressed into bosses which needed no 
 leather covering, when they were mounted on iron axles and 
 turned up smooth in a lathe. They were used largely for 
 some years by many firms, but the final verdict went against 
 them, and most people gave them up under the idea that 
 their extra initial cost and their short life did not compensate 
 for any reduction which they made in the leather bill. 
 
 Almost all drawing rollers are now made of iron, covered 
 either " soft " or " hard " with leather, and though they vary 
 in size in the different processes, they resemble one another so 
 nearly that a description of one type will equally well describe 
 them all. Clearly the larger the roller circumference, the 
 fewer times will it rotate per minute, and the longer will the 
 covering last in consequence; but excessively large rollers 
 cannot be used, because they would prevent the upper carrier 
 coming anywhere near the nip, and 10 in. diameter may be 
 taken as the maximum. Even this size would drive the carrier 
 too far from the nip, if the roller stays were not inclined 
 forward. For botany qualities and fine crossbreds, rollers 
 are always " double covered hard " — that is to say, every 
 roller made of wood or iron has two layers of leather stretched 
 and glued tightly on to it. For longer crossbreds and English 
 and mohair wools, soft covering is preferred, but it is very 
 diflficult to say exactly which of the intermediate sorts do 
 best with hard, and which with soft covered rollers, because 
 some firms use one type and some another for ^40' crossbred. 
 
 All soft rollers, whether made of iron or wood, are first 
 covered with a layer of thick felted cloth and then with thick 
 flexible leather, which is either sewn with strong cord or 
 nailed tightly to the sides of the roller as the case may be. 
 As it is impossible to turn soft rollers up, after they have been 
 
134 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 PAETICULAKS OF FIEST DRAWING BOX. 
 Fourth Process. 
 
 
 For fine botany, 60' and 
 above. 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 Number of boxes .... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Length and breadth over all . 
 
 C G" X 10' 
 
 6' 6" X 10' 
 
 Number of spindles 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 Pitch of spindles .... 
 
 12i" 
 
 12i" 
 
 Size of bobbin . . 
 
 14" X 9" 
 
 14" X 9" 
 
 Size of bobbin barrel . 
 
 a" 
 
 2.i" 
 
 Low front rollers .... 
 
 4" scratch fluted 
 
 4" scratch fluted 
 
 Front pressing rollers . 
 
 j7|" covered double\ 
 
 (■81" cloth and leather 
 
 t hard / 
 
 \ laced 
 
 Back rollers 
 
 2^". Four in set 
 
 2.^". Four in set 
 
 Low carriers 
 
 1" 
 
 1" 
 
 Tumblers 
 
 1" and IJ" wood 
 
 1" and IJ" wood 
 
 Draft (about) 
 
 5-5 
 
 6-5 
 
 Ends up 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 Speed of back shaft 
 
 200 
 
 200 
 
 Type of lifter motion . 
 
 Mangle 
 
 Mangle 
 3 wheels 
 
 Type of knocker-olf . 
 
 3 wheels 
 
 Speed of Bpindles .... 
 
 160 
 
 160 
 
 Front rollers, output per rev. 
 
 /4" X 3^ = 12|", orl 
 \ 0 32 meters J 
 
 
 Back rollers, output per rev. . 
 
 /2.i" X 3^ = 7|", or\ 
 \ 0-20 meters / 
 
 
 Back shaft, revs, per min. . 
 
 160 
 
 
 Draft, by inches — 
 Draft, by meters— 
 
 4'^< 22 x^ 100 X 84 X 7 ^ . 28 
 7 X 44 X 63 X 22 x 2J ~ "^aa 
 
 0-32 X 100 X 84 .28 
 
 44 X 63 X 0-20 
 Turns of twist per inch — 
 
 7X154X 9 X 6 441 u ^^^^^ .^^^ 
 
 4" X 22 X 46 X 11 X 6 2024 5i ^ 
 
 Turns of twist per meter — 
 
 154 X 9X6 J gi t^^^g 
 
 0-32 X 46 X 11 X 6 7-36 
 
 Lifter, strokes per minute — 
 
 160 X ^^26j^5 ^ 91 ^ 3 ^^^^ 
 
 100 X 155 X 32 X 2 124 4 ^ 
 
DRA WING 
 
 135 
 
 Fig. 50. — First drawing box. 
 
136 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 covered, they naturally do not run quite as true as hard 
 covered rollers when they are on the frame, and they look 
 most unlikely to do good work to any person who is only 
 accustomed to the use of hard rollers. Many people will 
 have nothing to do with them for long crossbred qualities, but 
 the fact remains that there are sorts for which they must be 
 used (Appendix C). 
 
 The draft depends entirely on the relation of the output 
 of the back rollers to the output of the front rollers, and as 
 both pairs are now smooth, instead of being fluted like the gill 
 box rollers, the actual and calculation figures may be made to 
 fit with considerable accuracy. It will also be noticed that 
 there are very few wheels in the train that connects these two 
 sets of rollers, and the calculation is therefore very much 
 simpler than that necessary for gill box drafts. Furthermore, 
 the draft alwaj^s bears some definite proportion to the draft 
 wheel, so that any alteration is only a matter of simple 
 proportion. 
 
 Where the same figures are in constant use it is, of course, 
 unnecessary to work through the whole draft calculation each 
 time a change is made, and when an average draft has once 
 been worked out, it is common to notice its relation to the 
 draft wheel, and to say, for instance, that a 44 wheel equals 
 a draft of 6 ; taking these figures as a basis for all future 
 calculations, and making such calculations a matter of simple 
 proportion. This system of reckoning is particularly 
 applicable to the method in common use, which is always 
 based on the actual, rather than on the calculated size of sliver. 
 If the sliver is found to be too heavy or too light, on weighing 
 a bobbin, it is reduced or increased as desired. For instance, 
 a bobbin which should weigh 5 lb. net, only weighs 4 lb. 14 oz. 
 
DRAWING 137 
 
 with a 46 draft wheel ; a simple proportion sum will give the 
 requisite size of draft wheel, and may be stated thus : — 
 As 4 lb. 14 oz. : 44 : : 5 lb. : 43. 
 
 Brag. — The principle of drag as it affects all fly spindles 
 has been treated so fully, that no further theorizing is neces- 
 sary here, but there are one or two practical difficulties which 
 may be pointed out with advantage. The ideal condition is 
 one in which the drag could be made uniform throughout the 
 whole process of tilling the bobbin, no matter what the weight 
 might be when empty and when full. As yet this is quite 
 impossible in open drawing, and it is only accomplished in 
 cone drawing, by means of a very complicated mechanism. 
 The user of open drawing must be content to make his drag as 
 uniform as possible, and avoid having the strain on the fibres 
 greater than is necessary. It is essential for this purpose that 
 the under surface of the bobbins and the surface on which the 
 washers rest should be smooth and uniform, so that the 
 washers have uniform friction on every portion of their 
 surface. Leather, felt, and thick woollen cloth are all used 
 for washers, and no rules can be laid down as to their relative 
 utility, because they all alter greatly in the amount of their 
 grip, by absorbing a certain amount of oil, and therefore they 
 never cause exactly the same amount of friction at any two 
 periods of their existence. 
 
 If the washer had no hole in its centre, its area would 
 naturally vary in exact relation to the square of its diameter, 
 but its annular nature makes the proportion greater. For 
 instance, a 2-in. washer with a 1-in. hole contains only 2 3 sq. 
 in. iustead of 314, and it is only one-fifth instead of one-fourth 
 the area of a 4-in. washer. In addition to this exaggerated 
 proportion, the larger sized washers exert their increased drag 
 
138 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 at a greater distance from the centre of the bobbin, and hence 
 the amount by which they retard rotation is increased still 
 more than appears at first sight. To calculate the drag would 
 be such a difficult matter, that it is never attempted, and in 
 practice the amount of strain on the sliver is always judged 
 by feel. 
 
 In following the course of the material through the 
 remainder of this drawing, we shall consider that in all 
 particulars the boxes resemble those described in Table I., p. 
 106, and for the sake of simplicity the wheels which effect the 
 draft are arranged to give a draft of 6 with a 44 wheel on a 
 21-in. front roller, and with a l^-in. back roller. 
 
 ^, 21 X 100 X 100 _ 1 
 
 63 X 44 xH ~ ^'"^ 
 
 and when there are 4-in. front rollers and 2-in. back v/e 
 
 might take ^ ^ ^ l^xT' ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^"^^^ ^^^^ ^ 
 larger fraction, i.e. 63^3. 
 
 Thus with five ends up in the first drawing box we get 
 170 m. sliver, and if each of the 14 X 9 bobbins holds 5 k.g. 
 the front rollers must revolve 5 x 0 8 x 170, or 580 times 
 before the bobbin has received the desired quantity. - 
 
 With the exception of the size of the bobbins and the 
 number of ends up behind the back rollers, the two second 
 drawing boxes, the finishers, and the slubbing are so much 
 alike that reference will not be made to each in detail, as full 
 particulars are given in the tables on pages 139 and 140. 
 
 In this and the following boxes the knocking-oflf motion is 
 usually of a different type to that used in the gills. It is 
 a simple arrangement of worms and wheels so placed that on 
 each revolution of the final wheel, a peg in its circumference 
 
DRA WING 139 
 
 PARTICULARS OF SECOND DRAWING BOX. 
 Fifth Process. 
 
 
 
 This operation may be 
 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 
 
 omitted for some 
 crossbreds. 
 
 Number of boxes .... 
 
 1 
 
 
 Length and breadth over all . 
 
 8' 1 rt" 
 
 oil) 
 
 Number of spindles 
 
 a 
 0 
 
 ft 
 D 
 
 Pitch of spindles .... 
 
 111" 
 
 iiV 
 
 Size of bobbin ..... 
 
 14' X 8" 
 
 14' V ft" 
 
 Size of bobbin barrel . 
 
 2i" 
 
 
 Low front rollers .... 
 
 4'"' 
 
 4" 
 
 Front pressing rollers. Iron . 
 
 ilX'. Covered double! 
 \ hard / 
 
 f8J". Cloth and leather 
 \ laced 
 
 Back rollers 
 
 2i" 
 
 2,1" 
 
 Low carriers 
 
 1" 
 
 1" 
 
 Tumblers 
 
 1" and IJ". Wood 
 
 1" and V{' 
 
 Draft (about) 
 
 5-5 
 
 6-5 
 
 Ends up 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 Speed of back shaft 
 
 200 
 
 200 
 
 Speed of spindles .... 
 
 180 
 
 180 
 
 Type of lifter motion . 
 
 Mangle 
 
 Mangle 
 
 Type of knocker-off . 
 
 3 wheels 
 
 3 wheels 
 
 PARTICULARS OF THIRD DRAWING BOX. 
 Sixth Pbooess. 
 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 Number of boxes .... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Length and breadth over all . 
 
 9' 2" X 10' 
 
 9' 2" X 10' 
 
 Spindles, number of . . . 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 Spindles, pitcli of . 
 
 101" 
 
 lor 
 
 Spindles, speed of . 
 
 200 
 
 200 
 
 Bobbin, size of 
 
 14" X 7" 
 
 13" X 7" 
 
 Bobbin, size of barrel . 
 
 21" 
 
 21" 
 
 Rollers, low front . 
 
 4" 
 
 4" 
 
 Rollers, front pressing. Iron . 
 
 /Tf. Covered double\ 
 \ hard / 
 
 rSJ". Cloth and leather 
 ( laced 
 
 Rollers, back 
 
 2.1" 
 
 2^" 
 
 
 1" 
 
 1" 
 
 Carriers, upper. Tumblers . 
 
 1" and 11". Wood 
 
 1" and 1^". Wood 
 
 
 5-5 
 
 6-5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Speed of back shaft 
 
 200 
 
 200 
 
 
 Mangle 
 
 Mangle 
 3 wheels 
 
 Knocker-off. . ... 
 
 3 wheels 
 
 For all calculations for these processes, see fourth process or first drawing 
 box. 
 
I40 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 PARTICULARS OF FINISHING BOXES. 
 Seventh Process. 
 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 Number of boxes .... 
 Length and breadtli over all . 
 Spindles, number of . . . 
 Spindles, pitch of ... . 
 Spindles, speed of . . 
 
 Bobbin, size of barrel . 
 Rollers, low front .... 
 
 Rollers, front pressing. Iron 
 
 Carriers, upper. Tumblers . 
 
 Draft (about) 
 
 Ends up . . ... 
 
 Speed of back shaft 
 
 Lifter motion 
 
 2 
 
 8' G" X 10' 
 8 
 
 9J" 
 230 
 
 11" X G" 
 
 2" 
 
 4" 
 
 (7^". Covered double\ 
 \ hard ] 
 
 2r' 
 I" 
 
 r'andll". Wood 
 
 3 
 
 200 
 
 Mangle 
 3 wheels 
 
 2 
 
 11' 6" X 10' 
 
 8 
 
 9V' 
 230 
 
 11" or 12" X G" 
 
 2" 
 
 4" 
 
 j8|". Cloth and leather 
 \ laced 
 
 21" 
 
 1" 
 
 1" and 1^". Wood 
 6-5 
 
 3 
 
 200 
 
 Mangle 
 3 wheels 
 
 PARTICULARS OF SLUBBING BOXES. 
 Eighth Process. 
 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 Not required for crossbred.s. 
 
 Number of boxes .... 
 Length and breadth over all . 
 Spindles, number of . . . 
 Spindles, pitch of . 
 Spindles, speed of . 
 Bobbin, size of . 
 Bobbin, size of barrel . 
 Rollers, low front .... 
 
 Rollers, front pressing. Iron 
 
 Carriers, low 
 
 Carriers, upper. Tumblers . 
 Draft (about) 
 
 Speed of back shaft 
 
 Lifter motion 
 
 2 
 
 16' 9" X 8' 
 
 24 
 
 71" 
 
 380 
 
 b" X 5" 
 
 13" 
 
 4" 
 
 /5J". Covered double 
 \ hard 
 
 2" 
 
 1" 
 
 J" and 1". Wood 
 
 ti 
 
 2 
 
 125 
 
 Mangle 
 None 
 
 
 For all calculations for these processes, see fourth process or first drawing 
 box, making the necessary alterations in sizes of wheels. 
 
DRA WING 
 
 141 
 
 PARTICULAKS OF REDUCING BOXES. 
 Ninth Process. 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 Number of boxes . 
 Length and breadth over all 
 Spindles, number of . 
 Spindles, speed of . 
 Spindles, pitch of . 
 Bobbin, size of . 
 Bobbin, size of barrel . 
 Rollers, low front . 
 
 Rollers, front pressing. Iron 
 
 Rollers, back 
 
 Carriers, low 
 
 Carriers upper. Tumblers . 
 
 Draft (about) 
 
 Ends up 
 
 Speed of back shaft . 
 
 Lifter motion 
 
 Knocker-off 
 
 18' 4" X 3' G" 
 32 
 950 
 6" 
 
 7" X 4" 
 U" 
 4" 
 
 Covered double 
 hard 
 
 2" 
 
 (51". ( 
 
 \ ha: 
 
 f and X' . 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 237 
 
 Mangle 
 None 
 
 Wood 
 
 Not required for crossbreds. 
 
 For all calculations for reducing boxes, see the tenth process, making any 
 necessary alterations in the sizes of wheels. 
 
 The whole of the particulars in these ten tables are given by Messrs. 
 Prince Smith & Son as representing the most recent practice in the trade. The 
 sizes of rollers in larger boxes hardly ever vary from the ligures here given, but 
 under certain circumstances smaller sizes may be adopted for the front rollers 
 of later processes. For example — 
 
 For short botany, such as good Cape, the rollers in reducing and roving may 
 be reduced to 3 in. in diameter. 
 
 For botany tops which are little longer than clothing wool, the reducing 
 rollers may be 3 in. and the roving 2^ in. in diameter. 
 
I4i PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 PARTICULAKS OP ROVING BOXES. 
 Tenth Pkocess. 
 
 For 60S botany. 
 
 Number of boxes . 
 Length and breadth over all 
 
 Spindles, number of . 
 Spindles, pitch of . 
 Spindles, speed of . 
 Bobbin, bize of . 
 Bobbin, size of barrel . 
 Rollers, low front . 
 
 Rollers, front pressing. Iron 
 
 Rollers, back .... 
 Carriers, low .... 
 Carriers, upper. Tumblers 
 Draft (about) .... 
 
 Ends up 
 
 Speed of back shaft 
 Lifter motion .... 
 Knocker-oif 
 
 Output of front roller per rev 
 Output of back roller per rev 
 
 |14' 6'[ OT 15' 10" xj 
 
 32 
 
 4^" or 5" 
 1200 
 
 5" or 6" X 3" 
 
 1 3 " 
 
 4" 
 
 /5J". Covered double) 
 t hard / 
 2" 
 
 X' 
 
 f or r 
 
 6 
 2 
 
 300 
 
 Mangle 
 None 
 
 j 0-32 meters or 4" x\ 
 I 3^" / 
 0-16 meters oir 2 X | 
 
 /O-lGm 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 18' 4" X 3' G" 
 
 32 
 6" 
 1000 
 
 6" or 7" X 4" 
 
 17" 
 4" 
 
 f6". Cloth and leather 
 ( laced 
 2" 
 
 2" 
 
 r or i" 
 
 6-5 
 
 2 
 
 250 
 
 Mangle 
 None 
 
 Draft by inches — 
 
 4" X 22 X 100 X 100 X 7 
 
 5000 
 
 7i 
 
 7 X 44 X 63 X 22 X 2" ~ 693 " 5 
 
 Draft by meters — 
 
 0-32 X 100 X 100 
 
 5000 
 
 44 X 63 X 0-16 6l»3 
 
 7^ 
 
 Twist in inches — 
 
 7 X 135 X 125 X 8 _ 1125 _ i 4 
 4" X 22 X 48 X 70 X 2 " 704 7 inch 
 
 .1=63 per metre 
 
 Twist per meter — 
 
 135 X 125 X 8 1125 
 0 32^48 "x 70 X 2 ~ 17 92 
 
 Lifter with back shaft 300— 
 
 300 X 2 X 31 X 22 X 5 _ 5 
 
 8 X 40 X 155 X 33 X 2 ~ « P' '^^'^ ""^^■'^ P®*^ minute 
 
 Speed of spindles — 
 
 300 X = 1200 revolutions per minute 
 
DRA WING 
 
 143 
 
 In theory, smaller rollers would be better in all the boxes of a drawing made 
 expressly for short wool, because when the nips of the back rollers, carriers, and 
 front rollers can be set nearer together, they have more control over tops 
 containing a large percentage of short fibres ; but as they need more pressure 
 to obtain the same amount of grip as larger rollers (see p. 174), they have been 
 known to heat if overloaded. Their output is, therefore, apt to be less, and they 
 can only be used economically in special circumstances. 
 
 For all calculations, the writer alone is responsible, and in nearly all of 
 them, sizes of wheels have been used, which reduce the calculations to the 
 simplest possible form. In practice, other sizes would be used, which make the 
 fractions far more intricate. 
 
144 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 pushes a catch from a spring, and by so doing throws the 
 belt-fork over the loose pulley and stops the box. 
 
 Piecings. — The taking out of piecings needs too much 
 manual dexterity to be possible of lucid description here, or in 
 any book. The process must be learned at the machine, but 
 it is well for every student to remember, that ^in all boxes 
 where there are no fallers, it is a practical impossibility to 
 make a piecing behind a box, which will not show after 
 drafting; and consequently the plan usually adopted is to 
 make a piecing of such a nature that it is clearly visible after 
 it has come through the front rollers. The box must be 
 stopped after each piecing has gone through the rollers, so 
 that the lump which it causes in the sliver can be taken out. 
 If this precaution is not taken, very serious defects are certain 
 to occur in the yarn. Matters of this kind are really quite 
 outside the range of the theorist ; they are practice pure and 
 simple, and they are only mentioned here, because however 
 perfectly a drawing may be set and equipped, a manager 
 would have no chance of getting uniform work, unless these 
 points were well arranged and carefully carried out. 
 
 Reducing and roving boxes differ so much in appearance 
 from the drawing boxes which precede tliem that it is worth 
 while to consider in what the essential differences consist. 
 
 1, Each box contains many more spindles, because the 
 weight of sliver delivered by each roller is so small, being 
 less than one-fortieth the size of the sliver at the first gill box. 
 
 2. The spindles run a great deal faster than those of the 
 earlier boxes. This is necessary because the reduced sliver 
 requires many more turns to make it proportionately as strong 
 as the thick sliver from the spindle gill box. The word 
 trong is not used here as signifying the amount of weight 
 
DRA WING 145 
 
 it would lift, but simply to denote its suitability for draft- 
 ing. It means that if a yard of roving be held firmly in the 
 fingers and its ends then drawn apart, the fibres should not be 
 bound so tightly to one another that they snap or "pluck" 
 under the tension, but should contain just so much twist that 
 under considerable strain, applied very slowly, the fibres will 
 move on one another. When sliver will act in this way under 
 tension, it will draft easily and uniformly between the rollers, 
 and this ought to be the condition of twist present in every 
 box of the drawing. The comparison o£ the twist necessary 
 to give this result to each of the different sizes of sliver ought 
 to be carefully considered by every user. Sufficient data 
 are not procurable to formulate any schemes of twist with 
 safety; indeed, it is most unlikely that any scheme would 
 ever be of use, for it is almost certain that the twist would 
 have to be altered, whenever the diameter of the fibre (in 
 other words, the quality) bore a different relation to the 
 average length of the fibres in the top. 
 
 3. The size of the bobbins is much less than that of pre- 
 ceding processes. The speed of the box is determined here, as 
 in other places, by the speed at which the spindles can be run, 
 and it is found that 1000 revolutions per minute is about the 
 limit for a flyer 6x4, which is not stayed at the top, and 
 1200 for a flyer of the same type 5 i x 31 suitable for a 5 X 3 
 roving bobbin. It is a curious coincidence, or else a case of 
 artificial selection, that the size of bobbin suited to the re- 
 spective sizes of sliver in the different boxes is such, that their 
 flyers when running at the highest possible speed are putting 
 in just so much twist, that the front rollers in all the 
 different processes happen to turn out almost exactly the 
 same length of sliver, quite irrespective of its size. 
 
I46 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 In all fly spindles the size of the bohbin invariably has 
 some effect on the drag, and as the roving is only capable of 
 bearing a strain in proportion to its size, the bobbins-have to 
 be reduced at every process through the drawing ; many roving 
 bobbins being only 5 X 3 in. In cone drawing this is not the 
 case. There, the size of the bobbin can be increased without 
 increasing the strain in filling it, but when the roving comes 
 to be unwound on the spinning frame, there is another strain 
 put upon the yarn which varies with the weight of the bob- 
 bin, and when fine counts are to be spun from rovings on very 
 large bobbins, this extra strain affords extra opportunity 
 for uneven work, unless some special means is taken to 
 obviate it. 
 
 Spindle Drive. — The belts which are used to drive the 
 spindles in all the drawing boxes are so much more powerful 
 than necessary, that there is very little fear of the twist in the 
 sliver ever being less than calculated, but in the reducing and 
 roving boxes there are so many fast running spindles that it 
 would involve great waste of power to run so many compara- 
 tively heavy belts, and the spindles are therefore driven by 
 bands of twisted cotton, which are stretched tightly over a 
 grooved pulley on the back shaft and over the whorle. Be- 
 cause the whorle does not rise and fall, as in a spinning frame, 
 but always remains at a constant distance from the back 
 shaft, this system is fairly efficient. Tension pulleys on the 
 same principle as those used for spinning frames have been 
 tried with a view to saving power, but as the strain on the 
 band never varies very much, they are not generally thought 
 to be necessary. The half-round section of the whork groove, 
 which is the type in most general use, is not calculated to 
 secure the greatest amount of grip on the band, and several 
 
DRA WING 147 
 
 arrangements have been attempted to increase the friction 
 without undue complication of parts, but a deep narrow V- 
 shaped nick, which would grip the cord, is never used on the 
 spindle. 
 
 Doffing. — There is another point of practical importance 
 which may seriously affect output, and which becomes more 
 important in each succeeding process as the bobbins become 
 smaller and fill more rapidly. This is the method by which 
 the full bobbins are removed from the spindles and the 
 empty ones replaced. The more rapidly this can be done, the 
 more work will the box turn out in a week. No bobbin can 
 be removed from a flyer spindle until the flyer has first been 
 removed. In small spindles, such as reducing, roving, and 
 spinning, the flyer is detached from the spindle and the 
 bobbin lifted over the spindle top; but in the drawing, 
 finishing, and slubbing boxes, which resemble one another, the 
 flyer is fixed permanently to the spindle, and both have to be 
 removed before the bobbin can be taken away. The spindle 
 head is carried in a bearing to steady it, and the spindle 
 itself goes through a hole in the lifter-rail so far that its 
 square end fits into a square hole in the footstep, which itself 
 stands on a short spindle and is driven by a belt from the 
 main shaft. 
 
 From the position of the rollers it is always impossible to 
 lift a spindle straight up out of the footstep, and they are 
 generally so arranged that they must be disengaged from the 
 bearing at the top, then leaned forward and finally lifted 
 right out of the footstep, the lifter-plate, and the bobbin. 
 
 In order that the spindles may be run at the highest 
 possible speed without vibration, it is essential that they 
 should be absolutely fast in both top and bottom bearings, and 
 
148 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 to ensure that this is so, several ingenious arrangements have 
 been devised which make it very easy to free the head of the 
 spindle prior to doffing, and to lock it quickly and tightly in 
 its place when the operation is complete. 
 
 The method of doffing roving and reducing boxes is 
 worthy of attention, because they differ from the drawing 
 boxes in having the flyer separate from the spindle, and so 
 arranged that it must be lifted off before the bobbin is 
 removed. The position of the spindle in regard to the front 
 roller makes it impossible to take off the flyer and the 
 bobbin, until the spindle has been brought forward, and as 
 it is desirable to do this without taking the bands off the 
 whorles, and without stretching them unduly, the spindle 
 rail is hinged at both ends, at a point exactly in a line with 
 the whorles, so that all the upper end of the spindles may be 
 tilted forward without increasing or diminishing the distance 
 from the whorle to the driving shaft. As soon as the 
 spindles are tilted the flyers and bobbins can easily be re- 
 moved, and when empty bobbins have been replaced, the 
 spindle can be made vertical by a few turns of the screw 
 which moves the spindle rail. 
 
 Drawing Lifter Motions. — In a later chapter on spin- 
 ning frames the necessity for having a traverse which 
 moves with equal velocity at all points on the up and 
 down strokes is explained at length, with special regard 
 to hearts and cams. For reasons there given, it would be 
 quite impossible to use a crank, and it would be most in- 
 convenient to obtain a 14- in. traverse from any type of 
 heart. A motion is therefore adopted which is known as a 
 " mangle wheel." 
 
 In the larger boxes the lifter plate is attached to a rack 
 
DRA WING t49 
 
 moved up and down by a toothed wheel on a shaft which 
 
 rotates first in one direction and then in the other. 
 
 In the smaller boxes a drum of small diameter is fixed to a 
 
 shaft which has a similar motion, which alternately pays out 
 
 and w-inds up a chain attached to the lifter rail. Both of 
 
 them depend on the mangle wheel for the regularity and 
 
 rapid reversal of their motion. 
 
 Mangle wheels are not limited to any special number of 
 
 teeth, and are peculiar in having their teeth in the form of 
 
 pegs on one side, instead of on 
 
 the edge of the rim (see Fig. 
 
 52). In addition each wheel 
 has two solid rings parallel 
 with the teeth running round 
 the wheel, but leaving a 
 channel in which the end of 
 a shaft works. This shaft 
 carries a very small wheel 
 W, with four or five teeth 
 gearing into the pegs. The Fig. 52.— Mangle wheel, 
 
 shaft cannot move vertically, but is so arranged that it can 
 move nearly an inch to one side or another, so that when 
 the end of the groove approaches, the wheel automatically 
 turns over the last peg (in considerably less than a revolution) 
 until it is on the opposite side, thereby reversing the move- 
 ment of the shaft and also of the lifter. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 GONE DRAWING 
 
 Cone Drawing.— In theory, cone drawing differs from open or 
 ordinary worsted drawing, solely in the methods of winding 
 the sliver or roving on to the bobbin. In practice— 
 
 1st. There is no difference between the methods of draft- 
 ing in the two systems, though the construction of some large 
 cone boxes makes it necessary to use a greater number of 
 wheels in order to obtain the draft calculations. 
 
 2nd. The twist, or relation of roller speed to spindle speed, 
 is the same in principle, but the necessity of having a positive 
 relation between the spindles and the bobbins, in cone draw- 
 ing makes it necessary to drive the spindles positively, and 
 involves the use of bevel wheels instead of bands to drive 
 them. This brings many more wheels into use, and makes 
 the twist calculations more complicated than with band- 
 driven spindles. 
 
 3rd. In both open and cone drawing the relation of the 
 speed of the bobbin is always altering in relation to the 
 constant speed of the spindles. This alteration is not uniform 
 at different parts of the doffing, but is relative to the number 
 of layers which have been wound on to the bobbin, or, in 
 other words, to the diameter of the wool on the barrel. 
 
 4th. The essential difference between the two systems lies 
 
CONE DRAWING 151 
 
 in the fact, that in open drawing, the yarn, after going 
 through the eye of the flyer, must pull the bobbin round, and 
 must therefore be always under tension, which may be very 
 slight and very nearly uniform, if all necessary adjustments 
 are carefully made. 
 
 In cone drawing, the bobbin is positively driven through- 
 out the entire process of filling, at speeds varying in relation 
 to the diameter of the wool upon the bobbin, so that the 
 sliver may run all the time without any drag whatever. But 
 it must be borne in mind that if there is the slightest error in 
 the intricate calculations necessary to ascertain the required 
 speed of the bobbin, at every part of the doffing, there may 
 not only be drag, but there must be an actual drafting, or 
 breaking of the sliver between the roller and the flyer. 
 
 The crowning difficulty lies in the fact that the accelera- 
 tion which the bobbin must receive from one layer to the 
 next, differs at different times during the filling. If it is 
 assumed that every lap is in. thick, each layer will add j^^, 
 which is one-eighth part of the diameter of a 1-in. barrel ; 
 whereas the same is only one-twenty-fourth part of the 
 diameter of the same bobbin when it has been filled up to a 
 size of 3 in., and therefore the acceleration must vary between 
 these two extremes. 
 
 This is a superficial summary of the differences between 
 theory and practice. The practical points which need atten- 
 tion must be grouped under more numerous headings. 
 
 1st. The figures for the drafting calculations of cone boxes 
 are so simple, and so similar to the figures for open drawing that 
 they need no further explanation (see Appendixes A and B). 
 
 2nd. The twist calculations are little more complicated, 
 and only differ from those of the open drawing, in having the 
 
152 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 spindle connected by a series of toothed wheels, and not by 
 bands or tapes with the chain of gearing from the front roller 
 (see Appendixes A and B). These calculations must be 
 thoroughly understood, because — 
 
 3rd. The speed of the bobbin is controlled by two distinct 
 motions. There is one chain of wheels, which alone would 
 give to the bobbin exactly the same constant speed as that 
 of the spindle, all the wheels in the two series being equal 
 in size. 
 
 4th. To this speed, another variable speed is added in the 
 differential motion, and this is regulated by the cones and the 
 gearing which is attached to them. 
 
 5th. The speed of the upper cone is constant and positive, 
 but the speed of the lower one is altered at each rise and fall 
 of the lifter, to compensate for the increasing diameter of the 
 bobbin. The shape of the cones is such that the alteration in 
 the acceleration in the lower cone ought to coincide exactly 
 with the increase in the diameter of the bobbin at each lap. 
 
 6th. The belt is moved along the cones, say 1 in. for every 
 lap that is added to the bobbin, and the cones are made in 
 such a waj^ that this uniform traverse of the belt fork makes 
 a uniform reduction in the speed of the lower cone at all the 
 different portions of the traverse. 
 
 7th. The traverse of the belt fork is regulated by the gear 
 which is known as the "box of tricks." This complicated 
 mechanism is arranged to move the belt fork with the belt, 
 a uniform distance along the cones, every time that the 
 traverse motion has added one complete lap to the bobbin; 
 that is, the fork is moved as the lifter reaches the top, and is 
 also moved to the same extent, or less or more, according to 
 circumstances, just as it reaches the bottom. 
 
CONE DRAWING 
 
 153 
 
 8th. Added to these complexities there is still one more. 
 In each successive layer on the bobbin, there is naturally 
 greater length than in the one preceding, and as every wrap 
 on the bobbin must lie touching both its neighbours, it is 
 clear that the speed at which the lifter rises and falls must be 
 in proportion to the altered length on each wrap, correspond- 
 ing with the diameter of the bobbin, and therefore also with 
 the speed of the lower cone. It is, therefore, necessary that 
 the lifter should be driven from some part of the machine 
 which is controlled by the cones and the differential motion. 
 
 Before going further into details, it is necessary to re- 
 consider the relation of the bobbin to the flyer, and the ways 
 in which the yarn may be taken up. 
 
 In open drawing the only reason that yarn can be wound 
 on to the bobbin is that the bobbin always tends to stand 
 still, or to revolve as much slower than the spindle, as the 
 output of yarn by the front roller will allow. 
 
 In cone drawing it is different. Clearly, if both bobbin 
 and flyer be driven at exactly the same speed, there will be 
 no winding on at all. But if the bobbin goes either faster or 
 slower than the flyer, it must take up a definite length of 
 sliver; the only difference between its two directions of 
 movement being, that when the bobbin goes the faster, the 
 roving will be wound on to it from left to right, when the 
 speed of the flyer is the greater (equivalent to the bobbin 
 rotating in the opposite direction) the roving will be wound 
 in the contrary direction. The amount of drag, or the 
 amount of yarn wound on, in both cases will be exactly the 
 same. For instance, if a bobbin 1 in, in diameter either loses 
 or gains 35 revolutions per minute on the flyer, it will take 
 up 35 X 3*14 or 110 in, per minute. The variable speed may 
 
154 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 therefore be either added to, or subtracted from, the positive 
 constant spindle speed, in the differential motion. 
 
 In the appendix, for the sake of simplicity, the cal- 
 culations of the constant and the variable speeds are made 
 separately from the driving shaft to the bobbin, so that if the 
 two be added together the speed of the bobbin may be ascer- 
 tained when the strap is on any particular part of the cones ; 
 the sizes of the cones being the only figures which vary in 
 the calculation, during the filling of any given size of bobbin 
 with any given size of sliver (see Appendixes A and B). 
 
 The Swing Frame. — It should also be noted that in 
 worsted boxes there are two different methods in use for 
 conveying the varying motion to the wheels on the lifter 
 which drives the bobbin. These wheels move up and down 
 on the lifter with the bobbin, and it is a strange anomaly 
 that the method in use in reducing and roving boxes is often 
 so arranged, that it does not move the bobbins equally, at 
 different parts of the up and down strokes of the lifter. 
 
 The action of the swing frame is faulty in most worsted 
 boxes, and unless every user is acquainted with the possible 
 difference between theory and practice, he will be very likely 
 to make imperfect work from cone boxes on which it is used. 
 It is not unusual to find the motion so far from perfect, that 
 if the whole machine be stopped, and the lifter lowered from 
 top to bottom, all the bobbins will make more than half a 
 revolution during the descent, and they will revolve in the 
 opposite direction to the same extent as they rise. 
 
 This means that if a roving frame is set correctly, without 
 reference to the swing frame motion, so that in theory the 
 bobbins are taking from the flyers exactly the same amount 
 as the rollers are delivering, there will be an extension 
 
CONE DRAWING I5S 
 
 between the rollers and the flyers of 6 in. each time the lifter 
 falls, when the bobbins are 3^ in. in diameter. As the lifter 
 rises, 6 in. of slack will be left between the spindles and the 
 roller. It is naturally impossible to run the frame with this 
 amount of slack sliver resting on the spindle top, and unless 
 the action of the swing frame is counteracted by some other 
 adjustment, in the "box of tricks," for example, it will be 
 necessary to increase the speed of the bobbins, so that on the 
 ascent, the uptake is equal to the roller output. When this 
 is the case the uptake is 12 in. more than spindle output, 
 during the fall of the lifter, and therefore the length of sliver 
 must be extended by this amount, or be broken if it is hard 
 twisted. 
 
 As a matter of fact, it is possible to make a fine adjustment 
 in the " box of tricks," which is usually regarded as sufficient 
 compensation for all practical purposes. By this means the 
 uptake can be made approximately equal to the output on 
 both the up and the down strokes ; but there is also a varia- 
 tion of spindle speed, occurring during different portions of 
 each rise and fall of the lifter, as the three wheels of the 
 swing frame motion take up different positions in regard to 
 one another. The amount gained or lost at various parts of 
 the stroke will necessarily vary in different machines, accord- 
 ing to the position of the driving shaft in relation to the lifter 
 rail. 
 
 It is possible to arrange a swing frame drive in such a 
 way that there is no gain on the down stroke or loss on the 
 up stroke. Frames with swing frame connections have been 
 used in the cotton trade for many years, and the theories of 
 the motion have been so carefully studied, that the best 
 position for the driving shaft with relation to the lifter is 
 
156 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 thoroughly understood. An epicyclic train of three wheels 
 can be arranged to give a practically perfect drive, and there 
 is also a patent four-wheel train with three links which 
 obviates all revolution of the bobbins on account of lifter 
 movement. Both these motions have been well known, and 
 have been in constant use in the cotton trade for many years, 
 and it therefore seems absurd that there should be modern 
 boxes in the worsted trade of imperfect construction. 
 
 The figures below were obtained from a worsted box with 
 a 10 in. traverse, and they show the amount of difference that 
 there may be in the take-up, at different parts of the rise and 
 fall. The bobbin of this machine revolves five-eighths of a 
 revolution during one rise or fall of the motion, and if the 
 bobbin be 3^- in. in diameter, it will gain or lose on calculation — 
 I in. during the 1st 2^ in. of fall of the lifter 
 
 1 9nfl 
 
 J-g )5 11 iii-V^ „ „ „ 
 
 9 1 3rd 
 
 „ „ IS'St „ „ „ 
 
 So that even if the traverse motion is set to give an absolutely 
 
 accurate take-up for the first 
 quarter of the descent of the 
 lifter, the total difference between 
 C theory and practice will natur- 
 ally be 4 times | in., or 3 in., 
 whereas the total gain or loss 
 is actually no less than 7^- in. 
 D in that time, and the difference 
 between these figures leaves a 
 discrepancy of in. between 
 theory and the best possible 
 practice. Naturally the nearest approach of theory to 
 
CONE DRAWING 157 
 
 calculation would be obtained by setting for one of the 
 middle sections; but as every quarter differs from every 
 other quarter, it is obvious that theory and practice can never 
 be made to fit exactly with such a motion. 
 
 The same results are shown graphically in Fig. 53, which 
 shows how much the peg that drives the bobbin will move 
 during each quarter of a revolution. When the lifter is at 
 the top the peg will be in the position marked A, and it will 
 move — 
 
 20° to B in the 1st 2i in. of fall. 
 
 45° „ 
 
 c „ 
 
 2nd 
 
 j> 
 
 55° „ 
 
 D „ 
 
 3rd 
 
 J) 
 
 85° „ 
 
 E „ 
 
 4th 
 
 
 There is naturally no means of compensating for a varia- 
 tion of this kind at different parts of the lifter stroke, except 
 by structural alteration, and it must strike every reader as 
 anomalous, that such a theoretical defect should be allowed 
 in a machine, on which so much thought and money have 
 been expended with the sole practical object of avoiding the 
 slight drag which there must be in every open roving box. 
 
 Parallel Motion. — In the larger boxes the swins; frame 
 connection with the lifter rail is replaced by a much more 
 scientific arrangement (Fig. 54). In this motion the three 
 wheels of the swing motion are replaced by four bevel wheels, 
 one of which rises and falls on a slotted vertical shaft, which 
 is always running at the calculated speed. 
 
 It is easy to see that however much the lifter may rise or 
 fall, its motion can have no effect on the rotation of the bevel 
 wheel D, and consequently the bobbins will not be affected 
 in any way by the movement of the lifter. The wheel A on 
 the shaft which drives the bobbins, rises and falls with them 
 
158 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 on the lifter, and is driven by the wheel B, which also rises 
 and falls with the lifter ; but B is driven all the time by the 
 vertical shaft C, on which it is free to slide, having a key 
 fitting into a long key way in the shaft. This simple arrange- 
 ment involves no discrepancy between theory and practice, 
 and it is very difiicult to see why some modification of it is 
 not used as a substitute for the swing frame. 
 
 Fl}. 54. — Parallel motion. 
 
 Differential Motion. — In Figs. 55, 56, and 57, the driving 
 shaft X carries the two 72-teeth wheels A and B. Fig. 56 
 shows a bobbin drive, and Fig. 55 a spindle drive, whilst Fig. 
 57 is another elevation of the differential motion, the swing 
 frame links, and the bobbin and spindle drives. B is keyed 
 fast to the shaft X, but A is fixed to a sleeve which is con- 
 nected to the shaft only through the differential motion Z, so 
 that it can gain or lose to any desired extent on the shaft X, 
 according as the drum of the differential motion Z (Fig. 57), 
 
CONE DRAWING i59 
 
 is moved round by the cone gear through the shaft Y. The 
 intermediate wheels in the two trains of gearing have, of course, 
 no bearing on the calculations ; they are different in size, but 
 with that one exception, every wheel in each train corresponds, 
 from the wheels A and B, of 72 teeth each, on the driving 
 shaft X, to the bevel wheels C and D which drive the collar 
 
 Fig. 55.— Spindle drive. Fig. 56.— Bobbin drive. 
 
 and the spindle respectively. Therefore, when the drum of 
 the differential gear Z is stationary, the spindle and the 
 bobbin must rotate at the same speed. 
 
 Every time the cones cause the drum Z to revolve once, 
 the wheel W with its sleeve, and the wheel A, make two 
 revolutions more than the shaft X, causing the bobbins to 
 
i6o PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 gain six and one-third revolutions on the spindle and flyer. 
 These calculations make it appear that the spindle and the 
 bobbin can theoretically be adjusted in exact relation to the 
 speed of the cone, whereas it has just been shown that in 
 practice the two speeds are not correctively relative, and 
 
 Fig. 57. — Differential motion and spindle drive. 
 
 therefore the ordinary swing frame is distinctly inferior in 
 practice to the parallel motion which is in use in heavier boxes. 
 
 The differential gear itself is well known in many classes 
 of machinery, and has many various uses; for the present 
 purpose it is best regarded as acting only one part. If the 
 three bevel wheels U, V, and W are of equal size, and if all 
 have a simple rotary motion, U being the driver, W must 
 
CONE DRAWING i6i 
 
 make the same number of revolutions as U, but in the reverse 
 direction. The wheel V, however, does not rotate on a fixed 
 axis, but on a shaft within the drum Z, and when Z and V 
 rotate together in the same direction as U, every revolution 
 of the drum Z reduces the speed of W by two revolutions. 
 On the other hand, if it rotates against U, each revolution 
 will add two revolutions to the previous speed of W. There 
 is thus a means either of adding revolutions to or subtracting 
 them from the constant speed of the bobbin, and it is only 
 necessary to find how many revolutions of the bobbin equal 
 one revolution of the wheel W to arrive at any necessary 
 calculation. 
 
 Cones. — Although the user of cone drawing has little 
 interest in the construction of cones, a clear understanding 
 of the reasons for their curious shape will probably save him 
 trouble. In the first place, the cones must never be regarded 
 as part of the gearing that drives the spindle. This is clearly 
 proved by the fact that if the cone belt breaks, the spindles 
 will not stop. On the contrary, when a box is running with 
 " flyers leading," the bobbins would increase in speed if the 
 cones were thrown out of gear, so that the drum Z of the 
 differential gear was stationary. With the cones standing, 
 or the cone belt broken, the spindles and the bobbins must 
 continue to rotate at exactly the same speed, so that there 
 can be no relative movement between them, to take up the 
 yarn as it comes from the front roller. It is the purpose of 
 the cones to regulate this take-up with the utmost nicety. 
 
 As they can only be driven by a belt which is always of 
 one length, their centres ought always to be equi-distant, and 
 the sum of their diameters must be constant on any section at 
 right angles to their common axis, so that the belt may be 
 
 M 
 
x62 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 equally tight on whatever part of the cones it is working. 
 The very peculiar construction of the cones is necessary in 
 order to obtain a uniform addition to the speed of the lower 
 cone, from a uniform motion of the belt along their length. 
 
 It is easy to see that this cannot be obtained with recti- 
 linear cones. If a pair were so made, tapering one inch per 
 foot (see Fig. 58), it is true that the belt would always be 
 equally tight, but the speed of the lower cone would be 
 reduced from 180 revs, to 100 revs. ; that is to say, the speed 
 would be reduced by 80 revs, in moving the belt over the 
 
 Fig. 58. 
 
 first foot, whereas the movement over the second foot would 
 only give a reduction of 40 revs., the third 24, and the last 16. 
 This irregular decrease would, of course, be no use whatever, 
 and consequently the form of cone adopted, has to be of such a 
 nature that the added diameters of the two cones are the same 
 at any point, but they must be so curved, that the reduction of 
 speed is uniform for each foot or inch which the belt traverses. 
 
 Fig. 59 shows a pair of cones which fulfil all these require- 
 ments. With the upper cone running at 60 revs., the lower 
 one makes 180 revs, and 20 revs, respectively, with the belt 
 at the extreme ends of the cones, which give a difference 
 
CONE DRAWING 163 
 
 of 40 revs, for each stage, of 1 foot moved by the belt. In 
 practice the speeds would be calculated for each inch instead 
 of for each foot of length, but the above examples serve to 
 show the principle involved. 
 
 The same results may be obtained from cones of very 
 varying dimensions, but it is found that the belt traverses 
 better when they are long in proportion to their diameter. 
 The figures given do not apply to any cone in use, but are 
 chosen for the sake of simplicity. In setting out a pair, it is 
 necessary to decide : — 
 
 60 REVS. 
 
 REVS. 180 140 roo 60 20 
 
 Fig. 59. 
 
 1. On a suitable speed for the upper cone. 
 
 2. On the amount of reduction in the speed of the lower 
 cone for every foot or inch traversed by the belt, which must 
 be in exact proportion to the increase in the size of the 
 bobbin on the addition of every successive lap. 
 
 3. The sum of the diameters of the two cones. 
 
 Eight inches has been taken as a convenient figure for 
 the sum of the diameters, 60 as the speed of the upper cone, 
 and 40 revs, as the amount of reduction for every foot moved 
 by the belt, beginning with 180 and ending with 20. 
 
 Cones have been so exhaustively discussed by other writers 
 
1 64 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 in books concerning both cotton and worsted machinery, that 
 it would be out of place to go into a detailed analysis of the 
 formula by which their curves are designed. It is usual to 
 employ algebraic formulae such as those given in Mr. Buck- 
 ley's excellent little book on this subject; but there are com- 
 paratively few people who think in letters, as easily as they 
 think in figures. It may, therefore, be of interest to state the 
 case in the simplest possible way, leaving all algebra out of 
 the question. 
 
 In the first place, it must always be taken as an axiom, 
 that the diameter of the lower cone at any point along its 
 length must bear the same relation to the diameter of the 
 upper cone, that the speed of the upper cone bears to the 
 required speed of the lower cone. That is to say — 
 
 If the top cone is running 60 revs, per minute, and the 
 lower cone is required to run 180, the diameter of the two 
 must be in the proportion of 180 to 60, or 3 to 1. 
 
 Then, if 8 in. is the sum of the diameters of the two 
 cones, it is only necessary to divide that figure into two such 
 parts that they will bear to one another the proportion of 
 180 to 60. This may be done by simple arithmetic, by adding 
 the two numbers together (to 240) to form a common denomi- 
 nator, and then taking of 8 and .^'^^^ of 8. 
 
 These two fractions work out to 6 and 2 respectively. 
 
 Added together they give 8, the sum of the diameters, and 
 when 60, the speed of the upper cone, is multiplied by 6 and 
 divided by 2, it gives the required speed of 180 for the lower 
 cone. Diameters at any other part of the two cones, to give 
 any desired speed, may be found in the same way. 
 
 If the required reduction of speed is to be 40 revs, for 
 every foot of traverse, 140, 100, 60, and 20 will be the speeds 
 
CONE DRAWING 165 
 
 at the points shown in Fig. 59. Thus the following figures 
 are obtained : — 
 
 Speed of 
 upper cone. 
 
 Kequired 
 speed. 
 
 Common 
 denominator. 
 
 Proportion. 
 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 
 140 
 100 
 60 
 20 
 
 200 
 160 
 120 
 80 
 
 X 8 to 2^QQ X 8, or 53 to 2f 
 
 100 3 60 „ , ^ ^ 
 160 ^ 160 ^ ^' ^ *° 3. 
 
 60 Q, 60 „ , , 
 X « to X 8, or 4 to 4. 
 
 20 GO 
 
 X 8 to X 8, or 2 to 6. 
 
 As a matter of practice it is unnecessary to work out the 
 figures for both upper and lower cones ; the one can always 
 be obtained by subtracting the other from the sum of the two ; 
 thus 2f from 8 leaves og. 
 
 After seeing cone machinery treated in the critical method 
 here adopted, the reader will naturally ask himself, Why, 
 then, is it being so rapidly introduced for worsted drawing ? 
 The answer is simple and convincing. Greater lengths of 
 roving and reducing can be put on to larger bobbins without 
 extra piecings, so that the cost of attending to spinning 
 frames is thereby reduced, and if the machines are rightly 
 made and perfectly set, an extra size of bobbins can be filled 
 with practically no drag at all. 
 
 The question for each user to settle is, whether his staff 
 will be able to adjust all the different parts so accurately 
 with respect to the altered conditions of each succeeding lot 
 of material, that practically all drag can be avoided ; remem- 
 bering that anything of the nature of drag in cone boxes is 
 not only drag, but becomes actual draft. 
 
 Unless the user can answer the question with certainty 
 
1 66 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 in the affirmative, it is to his interest to consider how much 
 he will gain by having the larger size of bobbins, and reckon 
 whether the chance of misadjustment in the more compli- 
 cated machinery will outweigh its advantages in regular use, 
 as compared with the smaller and simpler " open " machines, 
 in which a certain amount of strain must always be present 
 on the roving, though the conditions must be very far wrong 
 to make the yarn visibly uneven. 
 
OHAPTEK VII 
 
 SPINNING 
 
 Any person who makes his first acquaintance with the 
 spinning frame through the history of its invention, is 
 almost certain to regard it, not as a single process, but as 
 a combination of three processes, the invention of which was 
 separated by many centuries. In this respect he will regard 
 it more nearly in its true light than does the novice, who 
 simply sees a complicated series of rollers, wheels, bands, 
 pulleys, and spindles, fastened in bewildering compactness on 
 to a single framework. For the easy understanding of the 
 various problems at issue, it is best to divide the frame into 
 its three essential parts, and consider them one by one in 
 practical detail, in relation to one another, rather than to the 
 theories of the various parts propounded in Chapter III. 
 
 In all throstle frames, four processes are in constant 
 progress. 
 
 1. Roving is unwound from the bobbin and carried to 
 the back rollers by means which are so simple as to be 
 hardly worthy of mention. 
 
 2. The roving is drafted or extended by the back and 
 front rollers, which draw the ribbon of fibres out to several 
 times its previous length. 
 
 3. Twist is inserted into the extended roving until it is 
 strong enough to be wound on to the bobbins. 
 
1 68 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 4. By three different means, in the three different types of 
 frame, the yarn is wound on to the bobbin during the whole 
 time the spindle is rotating. In this winding-on process it 
 receives the drag which is necessary to build a firm bobbin, 
 but from the nature of things the drag is not uniform, and 
 there are consequent disadvantages. 
 
 In early hand-spinning, each of these three processes were 
 separate, and in the one-thread wheel the winding was not 
 continuous. In the Saxon wheel winding became automatic 
 and dependent on the arrangement for introducing twist, but 
 it was not till a hundred years after the introduction of the 
 Saxon wheel, that any attempt was made to make the drafting 
 automatic as well. For an intelligent understanding of the 
 practice of machine spinning, the relations of drafting, twist- 
 ing, and winding on are quite as necessary as an under- 
 standing of the theories which underlie each of these separate 
 movements. 
 
 Three objects are attained in all throstle frames. 
 
 1. By a simple arrangement of pegs on which the roving 
 bobbins stand in such a manner, that the drag of the back 
 rollers unwinds the roving from the bobbins with very little 
 strain. The only thing that need be said of them is that 
 the less strain which is put upon the roving the better. 
 
 2. As in all other drawing or drafting processes, draft 
 depends entirely on the relation of the output of the back 
 rollers to the output of the front rollers. 
 
 3. The twist depends on the number of turns made by the 
 spindle during one revolution of the front roller. 
 
 4. The winding-on depends on the construction of the 
 spindle and its adjuncts, and on the movement of the lifting- 
 motion, which continually alters the position of the bobbin in 
 
SPINNING 
 
 169 
 
 regard to the cap, ring, or flyer. By this motion the yarn is 
 deposited equally over all portions of the bobbin. 
 
 Having dealt in detail with the theories involved in 
 Chapter III., it is only necessary to consider the mechanical 
 relations of the various parts and of the wheels, bands, and 
 belts by which they are connected, taking the most approved 
 drafts and twists as examples, and working them out in such 
 a way, that any other desired draft or twist can be calculated 
 by a reader without difficulty. A general view of a spinning 
 frame is given in Fig. 80, in which the re- 
 lations of all the various parts are clearly 
 shown. 
 
 No. 1. — The pegs A carry the roving 
 bobbins in such a way that the bushes at 
 the top and bottom of the bobbin (see Fig. 
 16) reduce the friction against the pegs to 
 a minimum, and the cone, which stands at 
 the bottom of each peg is so tapered that 
 only a very small portion of the bobbin (a 
 circle of very small diameter) is in contact. 
 The friction is consequently reduced to the 
 smallest possible amount. The nearer the peg is to a vertical 
 position, the less is the friction on it. Unless the roving is 
 very thin and weak, there is little advantage in complicating 
 this arrangement, but when it is desirable to spin yarn from 
 roving containing very little twist, or to twist from soft fine 
 yarn on a twisting frame, the peg may be turned to a fine 
 point, on which a long tube or sleeve rests in such a way that 
 there is practically no friction caused when it rotates. It 
 has a broad flange at the bottom to support the bobbin, and 
 is so arranged that the point of the spindle carries all the 
 
 Fig. 60. 
 
I70 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 weight of the bobbin and reduces friction to a minimum (see 
 Fig. 60). 
 
 Before the l oving reaches the back roller it passes through 
 a guide which leads it to its right place in the nip. In order 
 to guide the roving into just the right part of the back 
 roller, each end is taken through a wire twizzle or through a 
 slit guide, which stands on a bar two or three inches behind 
 the back roller. If these guides were not used, the roving 
 would always be running off the rollers and ceasing to be 
 drafted, but the duty of keeping the end between the rollers 
 is only a small portion of the function of the guide, for the 
 roving is less than one-sixth of an inch in diameter even when 
 it is under pressure, and it was found that the process of 
 drafting this narrow ribbon of fibres caused such wear on one 
 portion of the leather of the front roller, that a groove was 
 quickly worn in its centre, whilst the leather on both sides 
 was untouched. 
 
 As soon as the pressure in the middle was reduced by the 
 thinning of the leather, the front rollers failed to draw all the 
 fibres which came to them, so that thicker, curly yarn resulted. 
 To obviate this rapid wear of one portion of the leather, the 
 back guide is made to traverse slowly backwards and 
 forwards. For example, if the face of the front roller is 
 \\ in. wide, the traverse may be f in.; just so much that 
 there is no fear of the end running off the roller, although 
 almost all parts of the surface of the roller are utilized in turn 
 for drafting. If all parts receive an equal amount of wear, 
 the apparatus serves its purpose well, but usually a piece of 
 mechanism which is so small, and moves so slowly, receives 
 but little carcj and it is usually considered that an eccentric 
 is a good enough method of supplying the reciprocating 
 
SPINNING 
 
 motion to the traverse bar, although it is a well-known 
 principle of mechanics that neither a crank nor an eccentric 
 give a uniform speed throughout their stroke. Both systems 
 move a rod faster in the middle than at either end of the 
 stroke, and unless every joint is in perfect condition there is 
 no motion at all for a perceptible time as the end reaches the 
 sides of the roller (see p. 200, Chapter VII.). 
 
 The parts nearest to the sides of the roller are therefore 
 subjected to the strain of drafting for a longer time than any 
 other part of the leather, and they naturally wear away more 
 in consequence. When long wool is being treated, the in- 
 creased distance to the front roller from the guide, and also 
 the condition of the carriers, tend to reduce the traverse and 
 to increase the dwell at each end of the stroke ; and because 
 long wool is difficult to draw, the sides of the roller are not 
 infrequently worn into very narrow grooves or nicks, which 
 are quite fatal to good spinning (see Chapter XI., p. 281). 
 
 To ensure a uniform traverse speed over all portions of 
 the roller, a heart-shaped cam or other device is necessary, 
 and there is no doubt that where such a method is in use, the 
 risk of nicked rollers and curly yarn is decidedly reduced. 
 
 No. 2. — The work of drafting agrees so accurately with 
 theory, that it is necessary to add very little to what has 
 already been said on this question, for spinning rollers are 
 never made on the tooth and pinion principle, but are always 
 smooth, with scratch flutes to give the necessary gripping 
 power, and their output is consequently just about 3f times 
 their diameter. For very fine botany yarns perfectly smooth 
 rollers sometimes spin even better than those which are 
 scratch fluted, but for the majority of qualities the extra grip 
 afforded by the scratch surface is a decided advantage, and 
 
172 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 this type of low roller is now universally used for both front 
 and back low rollers. 
 
 Scratch Fluting.— People often fail to notice the fact that 
 the scratches are irregularly disposed. Over one-half of the 
 roller they become gradually wider and wider apart, getting 
 closer together as the revolution is completed. This means 
 that no two grooves are the same distance apart. If they were 
 of equal distance, it would often happen that the diameter of 
 the top roller would be just so much, that every time it 
 rotated, the same portion of leather would exactly fit into one 
 of the grooves, so that in a very brief time the leather would 
 be pressed into a series of ridges, which would cause the yarn 
 to stick to it and spin badly. As things are arranged, no 
 portion of the top roller can ever come twice running over a 
 groove, unless the upper roller is exactly the same size, or 
 twice the diameter of the low roller ; but any one who has 
 ever seen such a roller will easily understand how useless 
 it is. 
 
 Milled FlvA,ing is a type of fluting which has seldom even 
 been tried for cap, ring, or fly frames, although it is adopted 
 in the cotton trade, and for the rollers of some worsted mules. 
 Not only are the rollers usually very small in diameter, but 
 the flutes occur so frequently, and are relatively so deep, that 
 the surface of the roller almost resembles a series of ribs. 
 These ribs are very smooth, because they are cut in wrought 
 iron with a fine milling tool. The grip of such a roller is 
 relatively great, and as it is satisfactory for certain uses, with 
 such difficult materials as cotton and dry wool, there seems to 
 be no reason why it should not also have its advantages in 
 other departments of the trade, provided only that suitable 
 pressing rollers are used. 
 
SPINNING 
 
 173 
 
 The Back Rollers of a spinning frame are the only excep- 
 tion to the rule that small quantities of wool fibre will be cut 
 if held between a single pair of metal rollers. Theoretically, 
 of course, they ought to cut the fibre ; but in practice, all 
 counts from 12" to 120'^ are spun in this way, and as the 
 roving from which 120" are spun is thicker than 12* yarn, it 
 is clear that many roving boxes might also be made with 
 their back rollers of a similar type, and it raises the interest- 
 ing problem as to how far down the drawing, the same 
 alteration might be carried with advantage, or, on the other 
 hand, whether it would be better to have, on spinning frames, 
 the type of rollers now always used for roving boxes. 
 
 As in all other places where roller draft is used, the out- 
 put of the two low rollers are the essential figures in the 
 calculation, and it is because their actual output is the same 
 as their diameter multiplied by 3f, that spinning drafts can 
 be calculated so easily. In spinning calculations the diameter 
 of the rollers is always used instead of the circumference, 
 because of the simplicity of the figures, and because they 
 bear exactly the same relation to one another, as the cir- 
 cumference measurements do; the latter being simply the 
 diameters of the respective rollers multiplied by 3|. 
 
 As this question of roller output is sometimes confusing 
 to beginners, it may be worth while to state a draft in three 
 different ways, to show how they all give just the same result. 
 
 When stated in terms of the complete circumference, we 
 have a draft calculation as follows : — 
 
 7f" X 100 X 100 
 
 44 X 63 X ^" ^ ^8^0 
 
 The figures are so complicated that it is pot easy to see 
 
174 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 how they will cancel one another, and consequently a long 
 multiplication would very likely be necessary. 
 
 But this may be stated very much more simply — 
 
 2 ^" X 3f X 100 X 100 
 
 44 X 63 X l^"~x"3i ^ 0 
 
 And as the 3f in the top line obviously cancels the same 
 figure in the line below, it is just as well to leave that figure 
 out in both lines. So that the calculation always stands in 
 practice — 
 
 X 100 X 100 
 
 44 X 63 X 1^" ^ 
 
 Carriers. — The drafting arrangements of all spinning 
 frames are so nearly alike that there is no need to go into 
 further details in regard to any but the simplest and most 
 general method ; but it is well that the draft of each pair of 
 carriers should not be forgotten, and the train of wheels which 
 regulates each of them is given as a reminder that the first 
 should keep a definite lead on the back roller, whilst the 
 second overruns the first, but that both leads should vary, 
 according as the draft is great or only small (see p. 206). 
 
 Upper carriers deserve much more attention than they 
 usually receive ; they should always be kept free from waste 
 and oil, and they should never be allowed to show signs of 
 wear, because if they are at all worn they are much more 
 liable to retard the traverse of the end to and fro across the 
 face of the front roller. 
 
 Output of Rollers. — It is quite possible that at first sight 
 some students will conclude that an alteration in the size of 
 the top front roller will alter the output of the box, but this 
 is, of course, a mistake, because the top rollers are simply 
 
SPINNING 175 
 
 driven by friction, and their surface traverse is exactly the 
 same as that of the low roller, against which they are pressed, 
 and from which they receive their motion. In the drawing 
 boxes the amount of sliver passing between the back rollers 
 separates them so far that there is no friction left between 
 the upper and lower rollers, and when they are in work the 
 upper roller as well as the lower rollers have to be driven 
 round by wheels, lest they should slip ; but iai a spinning 
 frame the amount of fibre passing between the two front 
 rollers is so small, and the elasticity of the roller covering is 
 such, that the fibres are really squeezed into the substance of 
 the leather, and carried through the nip without separating 
 those parts of the surface where there are no fibres. Being 
 thus always in partial contact, the upper roller has no 
 inclination to slip on the lower one, and therefore the surface 
 traverse of its circumference must always be the same as that 
 of the low roller, no matter what the size of the upper roller 
 may be. For example, if rollers of 3 in. diameter and 5 in. 
 diameter are put on to the same frame, spinning single 60^ 
 with a 4 in. low front roller, the yarn produced by all of 
 them will be found to be exactly alike in weight, if the 
 pressure on each is made to suit its altered diameter. This 
 makes it worthy of notice that large upper rollers will always 
 draw with less weight on their bearings than small ones, 
 because the same area of contact will be obtained with less 
 pressure, and it is therefore clear that if there are two frames 
 equally efficient, if one have large rollers and one small, the 
 latter will take the most driving, because the increased 
 pressure necessary to get the same amount of grip, must mean 
 increased friction all through the machine. 
 
 Pressing Rollers. — Almost every statement made in regard 
 
176 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 to top front rollers in drawing may be applied with equal 
 truth to the spinning process. For very long wools and 
 mohair, the rollers are soft covered, whilst for botany and fine 
 crossbreds, hard leather, glued on to iron or wood bosses, is 
 almost invariably used. Probably a very large majority of 
 all the rollers now running are made of wood, but since 
 means have been found to stick leather so securely to iron 
 that no amount of rotation under pressure will wear it loose, 
 the majority of rollers for new frames are now being made 
 entirely of metal, covered with layers of leather, both of 
 which are accurately turned up in a lathe, and the surface of 
 the top layer polished. Hard, oak-tanned ox hide is still 
 considered by most people to be the most springy and durable 
 for the purpose ; but some brands of the blue-grey, chrome- 
 tanned leather are now very good, and their elasticity is 
 bringing them rapidly into favour (see Appendix C). 
 
 In the chapter on defects and remedies, it is pointed out 
 that if any portion of leather gets detached from the wood 
 or iron boss, the loose or " bellassed " portion does not draw 
 properly, and the roller will make uneven yarn ; but that a 
 soft roller, which is only a roller with the whole of its 
 leather bellassed, or loose from the boss, will draw a perfect 
 thread when working on the same frame side by side with 
 a hard roller. Soft rollers are made either of iron or wood, 
 and to give the surface greater elasticity than hard rolleis, 
 they should have a layer of thick felted cloth, over which 
 the leather is tightly stretched, and fastened by means of 
 tacks or string as the case may be. All fastenings must 
 naturally be done entirely on the side, and not on the surface 
 of the roller, because any peg or stitching would give extra 
 inequality of surface, which might cause uneven drafting, and 
 
SPINNING lyy 
 
 for this reason the amount of leather used in fastening is so 
 considerable, that most soft rollers need quite as much leather 
 to cover them as a hard roller, double covered. 
 
 From the nature of their construction it is quite impossible 
 to turn up a soft roller after covering, and consequently they 
 are run much less true, than do rollers which are hard 
 covered, turned and polished (see Appendix C). 
 
 Repairs.— There is no point in the process of spinning 
 where the question of up-keep is as prominent, as in the 
 levelling of spinning frames. In modern frames it is not 
 uncommon to have rollers for a hundred spindles in one or 
 two lengths only, supported by twelve or fourteen bearings 
 along the entire length of the frame, and from the nature of 
 things it follows, that so long a line, depending for its rigidity 
 on a wooden floor, as is generally the case, must soon have 
 one or more of the brasses out of line, above or below the 
 majority. In the case of frames that are built with all their 
 joints milled, this tendency is greatly reduced, because the 
 frame is so rigid that if any small portion of the floor should 
 give way slightly, the frame bearers will not necessarily 
 follow, and the line of rollers will remain straight, when a 
 frame is as much as twenty-five or more feet between the 
 end bearers. It stands to reason that in the course of years 
 a wooden floor, in even the best built mills, will give way 
 to a certain extent, and the rollers are then certain to be 
 bent more or less. In that case they must be subjected to 
 very severe strains during rotation, which are so injurious 
 to the machinery that it is no uncommon thing for a roller 
 to break clean across, or "twist in two" as it is accurately 
 described in common parlance. 
 
 In such a case, no work can go on again, until the roller 
 
 N 
 
178 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 is repaired, but minor faults can occur which may cause 
 deficient, or unequal drafting, and consequently cause trouble 
 later on. For example, if one bearer sinks slightly, the brass 
 nearest to it will naturally be relieved from the weight of the 
 roller, whilst the brasses on both sides will have their work 
 increased, so that they will wear away faster in proportion, 
 and in a short time, the front roller will be " down " at that 
 place. The carrier stands will also be affected in a less 
 degree, because the greater speed and weight of the front 
 roller will make it wear down faster, and consequently the 
 whole series of the back roller, the carriers, and the front 
 roller will be out of line, not only longitudinally, but trans- 
 versely as well. If this occurs to any serious extent it will 
 increase the strain on the fibres, because the drafting will pull 
 them down on to the faces of the carriers, and therefore, both 
 in the interests of economy and good work, frames should 
 always be kept absolutely " in line." It will certainly increase 
 their length of life, and they will tend to turn out better work. 
 
 How far it is advantageous to continue repairing old 
 machinery instead of buying new of a similar type, is a 
 question for each practical man to settle for himself. Clearly 
 a firm which spends its money in mechanics' wages to keep 
 machinery always efficient, will not have as much to spare 
 for new plant. There is always a tendency to squeeze new 
 machines into smaller compass than their predecessors, but 
 space has its equivalent in rent, and if we suppose that the 
 man who spends his money in repairs can .run his spindles as 
 fast as those in new frames, he will still be handicapped in 
 the matter of rent, unless by saving expenditure, he has 
 accumulated capital equivalent to pay for it. Of course no 
 one would ever dream of leaving new machinery entirely 
 
SPINNING lyg 
 
 unrepaired, until it was broken up and replaced by a more 
 modern type. Such a practice would be extravagant in the 
 extreme, unless for a part of its life the machinery was 
 allowed to make bad work. All machinery must be repaired 
 periodically ; the difficulty is, to decide when to stop repairing 
 and buy new machines. Probably the most economical length 
 of life for a machine will depend upon the improvements 
 which are being effected in the construction of similar types, 
 and for this reason every spinner must judge of the life of 
 each machine upon its merits. 
 
 No. 3. Twist— The process of putting twist into yarn is 
 one which has received a great deal of practical attention, 
 because it involves a definite relation between the speed of 
 •the front roller and the spindle, and because the speed of 
 every frame is limited by the speed at which it is possible to 
 run the spindle. This limit of speed, in ring and cap spindles 
 is seldom due to mechanical laws which make further increase 
 of speed impossible, but more frequently because the various 
 influences exerted by the air, upon the thread, become too 
 powerful when the spindles are running above a certain 
 speed, or else because the combined effects of air resistance 
 and increased vibration increase so very rapidly above 7000 
 revolutions per minute. 
 
 Fly spindles, on the contrary, are so difficult to balance 
 that it is their great vibration at high speeds (of over 3600), 
 and not the effects of the air on the fibre, that limits the 
 speed at which it is possible to run them. 
 
 This statement may be emphasized in regard to cap yarn 
 by a very simple example. Suppose a sample of 1/60' with 
 10 turns per inch, for fine dress goods, is spun on a frame 
 with spindles running 6000 revolutions per minute, and 
 
iSo PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 makes a good piece when sold to the manufacturer. Such a 
 frame of 200 spindles would do about 333 lbs. per week. 
 Before the manufacturer comes to buy the further quantity 
 from the same lot, the spinner has found that he can run his 
 spindles at 8000 revolutions per minute, and so turn out 
 444 lbs. per week, reducing the cost of his yarn by perhaps 
 twopence per gross. If the yarn is spun from the same 
 quality at the higher speed, the increase in drag will probably 
 make the yarn break down more in consequence, and the 
 increased speed will certainly have increased the hairiness of 
 the yarn, so that when it is woven the piece will not have 
 the same appearance, and the yarn will be rejected. On the 
 other hand, if the spindles had been run at some intermediate 
 speed of say 7200, the frame would have turned out 388 lbs. 
 per week, saving about lid. in wages without making any 
 serious alteration either in appearance or spin. In other 
 words, it is necessary to find the medium speed at which cost 
 is not too high, whilst vibration and air resistance are reduced 
 as far as possible. 
 
 The output of the frame and the consequent cost of 
 production vary in exact ratio to the spindle speed within 
 certain limits. No one can say definitely what this limit of 
 speed should be, because so many facts have to be considered ; 
 but with modern machinery in good condition, 7200 may be 
 taken as over the average for fine, soft, single yarns, because 
 the twist necessary to make them stand the strain involved 
 by this speed would probably have to be increased from 10 to 
 12 turns per inch, and at 12 turns the output would be exactly 
 the same with 7200 revolutions as with 10 turns per inch 
 and 6000 revolutions, and it goes without saying that the 
 yarn made at the higher speed would be rougher. 
 
SPINNING i8i 
 
 The spindles themselves do not regulate output, and to 
 speak of a frame in terms of spindle revolutions, often 
 conveys entirely wrong impressions, for output is limited 
 finally, by the speed of the low front roller, and it is the 
 number of inches, yards, or grosses which are turned out by 
 the front roller that regulates the cost of spinning per gross. 
 It is obvious that every alteration in twist will necessitate 
 an alteration in the speed, either of the front roller, or the 
 spindle, in order to alter their relation to one another, and as 
 the speed at which the frame can be run is limited by the 
 spindles, they must always be kept rotating at the highest 
 efficiency speed, and all alterations of ratio between them 
 and the rollers must be made by altering the speed of the 
 rollers. This is done by changing the twist wheel, and all 
 modern frames are so constructed that with any given driving 
 pulley on the frame, the speed of the roller is in direct 
 proportion to the number of teeth in the twist wheel 
 (see p. 207). 
 
 This makes the teeth of the twist wheel an exact indica- 
 tion of the speed in the front roller, if the spindles and 
 cylinders always revolve at a uniform speed ; but as the speed 
 of the spindles, and the speed of the whole frame in con- 
 sequence, is altered for various reasons, the size of the driving 
 pulleys or the speed of the cylinder must always be noticed 
 as well as the size of the twist wheel. From these two 
 factors the- output of the frame in a week can easily be 
 calculated, if it is kept running, and no time is wasted in 
 doffing or changing ; but as a matter of fact, nearly all frames 
 do stand more than is calculated for, and many firms now 
 employ " clocks " or counters on the shaft of the front roller, 
 which show at the end of the week exactly how many 
 
1 82 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 revolutions have been made in the 56 hours, or how many 
 grosses the frame has turned out in the same time. A compari- 
 son of the various frames with one another will show if any of 
 them has stood longer than it ought to have done ; and where 
 counts are fairly uniform, if the figures from every frame in 
 a room be added together and divided into the wages paid, 
 the result will give a most accurate guide to the total cost of 
 production, and will be a useful indication of the efficiency of 
 various overlookers to keep down the cost of wages per gross. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the speed limit of every different 
 class of spindle must vary with the size and quality of the 
 yarn being spun, it is clearly impossible to give any statistics 
 except of the very broadest nature, and as such figures are of 
 little use to anybody, nothing will be added to the particulars 
 given for each spinning frame on pages 206 and 207, where 
 typical cases are illustrated. These illustrations may be 
 taken as accurate for some class of yarn, but as different 
 firms prefer to work similar qualities at different speeds, 
 each practical man must consider at which speed he will 
 attain that compromise between smoothness, softness of twist 
 and output, which suits his purpose best. 
 
 No. 4. Winding on. — It is a peculiarity of all throstle 
 frames that the winding of yarn on to the bobbin continues 
 slowly, all the time that the spindle is whirling round at 
 6000 revolutions or more per minute, and the arrangement is 
 such that whilst the circumference of a l^in. bobbin moves 
 786 yds. per minute, only 11 yds. are wound on to it. 
 
 In cap spindles this is accomplished solely by the 
 agency of air resistance, and in ring spindles the same force 
 is the chief factor in the process, because the rotation of 
 the end is retarded just sufficiently for the bobbin to take 
 
SPINNTNG 
 
 183 
 
 up the amount of yarn that is paid out by the front 
 roller, however much that may be, and however fast the 
 spindle may rotate. This was described in detail in the 
 chapter on spindle theories. 
 
 There is one point of practice which deserves attention 
 here, because there must always be a slight difference between 
 calculation and actual turns inserted by this means. It is 
 clear that if a front roller is paying out 11 yds. per minute 
 or 396 in., a 1-in. bobbin would have to rotate 126 revolutions 
 in order to wind on the yarn as it came from the rollers. At 
 that speed no twist at all would be put into the thread, and 
 it would not gyrate round the cap, so that when the spindle 
 is running at full speed, say 6000 revolutions, the balloon will 
 only be making 6000 minus^l26, or 5874 gyrations per minute, 
 which is a loss of rather over 2 per cent. In a yarn of ten 
 turns per inch this is, of course, only one-fifth of a turn, 
 and not worthy of consideration ; but when the front rollers 
 are making 120 revolutions per minute, as would be the case 
 with 18^ or 20^ yarn, the loss would be 8 per cent., and it is 
 only because the difference is less easy to see in the thicker 
 yarn, that it receives so little attention in practice. 
 
 In fly spindles the twist is determined by the speed of the 
 flyer, which is constant ; whilst the speed of the bobbin is 
 determined by the take-up, and is variable. Hence, if a very 
 thick yarn were spun on both cap and fly spindles, the fly 
 yarn would contain 8 per cent, more twist than the cap yarn 
 if the calculation twist on both frames were exactly alike. 
 
 Lifter Motions. — Apart from the effect of the lifter motion 
 on the drag, which is described in the chapter on the theory 
 of spindles, it is most essential that the speed and length of 
 stroke of a lifter should be made to suit the different classes 
 
1 84 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 of yarn with which the frame is to deal. For this purpose 
 the spinner must first decide for himself what speeds and 
 dimensions are best suited to his purpose, and then arrange 
 to make his machinery give the desired results. To under- 
 stand this question fully, it is necessary to understand also 
 why spools are used in preference to straight wound bobbins, 
 a spool being a bobbin on to which the yarn is wound in 
 conical layers, as in Fig. 64, whilst the layers on a parallel 
 bobbin are all wound one on to the top of another parallel 
 with the spindles. 
 
 Spools are designed for use in shuttles, so that the yarn 
 can unwind at any speed, without the bobbin rotating and 
 without putting any appreciable drag on to the yarn. In 
 order to attain these ends it is necessary — 
 
 1. That the yarn should unwind or slip over the nose of 
 the bobbin ; and 
 
 2. That in so doing it must not rub against the yarn 
 which remains on the spool, because that would cause 
 
 sufficient friction to break it, even if it were 
 / pulled through an eye 2 in. from the end of the 
 spool. In a parallel wound bobbin (see Fig. 61) 
 it is clear that as the yarn unwinds it will run 
 easily from one end A to the eye, but when 
 unwinding from the other end B it is equally 
 clear that all the thread between A and B will 
 have to move round the bobbin, as well as moving 
 forward, in contact with the fibres of the yarn 
 still on the bobbin. In fine single yarns this 
 friction would break the thread, and therefore 
 some means had to be adopted to remove the friction. Any 
 one who will trouble to draw the yarn off a 5-in. bobbin 
 
SPINNING 185 
 
 1 in. in diameter in this way will at once understand the 
 difficulty, much better than by any mere study of the dia- 
 grams here given, for although they show the relative positions 
 of the thread, they do not give any idea of the rotary motion 
 caused by unwinding, and it is the rotary motion, not the 
 movement lengthwise, which causes the trouble. 
 
 A theoretically perfect bobbin for the purpose would be 
 one built with the layers of yarn at right angles to the axis 
 (see Fig. 62), but, in the first place, such a bobbin could never 
 be built ; and, in the second, a large proportion of the yarn 
 
 Fia. 62. Fig. 63. Fig. 64. Fig. G5. 
 
 would fall over the nose of the spool before it could be used ; 
 a compromise had, therefore, to be adopted between parallel 
 and vertical winding, and in all spool bobbins, yarn is built 
 on at an angle. The angle ought to be such that when the 
 yarn is drawn straight out from the thickest part of the spool 
 to the eye, it will be quite clear of all other strands of yarn 
 on the spool, but as this simple rule gives a great deal of 
 latitude, it will be best to consider a few typical cases, and 
 compare their various merits and defects. 
 
 Doubtless the first variation from parallel winding would 
 
1 86 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 be a slight inclination of the whole outer face of the spool 
 (Fig. 63), so that there would be no actual pressure of the 
 moving thread on the layers of yarn on the spool. But a 
 bobbin built in this way would hold very little yarn indeed, 
 and although the pressure of the moving thread would be 
 removed from the yarn near to the nose of the spool, it would 
 not be clear of the fibres or "beard" on the spool, and it 
 would receive considerable drag in consequence. The obvious 
 way to reduce the friction further was to increase the angle 
 at which the yarn lay, but as this could not be done over the 
 whole length of the spool, it doubtless occurred to hand 
 spinners to adopt a rough method of winding, of which the 
 modern spool is the outcome (Fig. 64). 
 
 When the yarn is built on to a bare spindle for cops, it 
 will wind easily from almost any angle, but on bobbins, the 
 steeper the angle, the greater will be the freedom from friction, 
 and the larger amount will each bobbin hold ; but the angle 
 of slope which can be adopted is limited in practice by the 
 impossibility of building beyond 45°, and, what is still more 
 important, by the fact that if the slope exceeds 30° or 35°, 
 rings composed of two or more strands of yarn are liable to 
 slip off altogether from the bobbin, and go forward into the 
 piece, as loops and extra thick places, which will be sure to 
 cause serious damage to the cloth. As in many other places, 
 we are here confronted with two exactly opposite needs. 
 
 First, to reduce the friction, and to increase the amount 
 of j'^arn on the bobbin, it is desirable to have a very steep 
 slope ; but, on the contrary, 
 
 Second, to prevent the yarn slipping off unduly fast, a 
 slope of 20° would probably be the best ; and therefore some 
 compromise between the two has to be made. For various 
 
SPINNING 
 
 reasons different spinners use different angles and lengths of 
 pick, to suit the many different classes of yarn which they 
 prepare. 
 
 The caps used for this purpose are of two kinds. 
 
 For all double-headed bobbins the caps must have parallel 
 sides, so that the upper head of the bobbin can go right up 
 into it when the lifter is at the top of the stroke (see Fig. 66). 
 A cap of the same shape, but of smaller diameter, was also 
 used for spools until about ten years ago (Fig. 67). 
 
 Fig. 66. Fig. 67. Fig. 68. Fio. 69. 
 
 Now, on the other hand, caps for spool spinning are almost 
 always made bell-mouthed (see Fig. 69). 
 
 The bell-mouthed, or, as it is better known, the " bell cap," 
 was originally designed to reduce the friction which always 
 takes place between the yarn and the outer surface of the 
 cap. When the yarn (balloon) is not flying clear of the cap, 
 but is "licking," as described in Chapter III., it is clear that 
 the tendency to " lick " must be reduced by making the upper 
 portion of the cap only just large enough in diameter to admit 
 
1 88 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 the spool barrel, because the centrifugal force developed in 
 the balloon must tend to swing the yarn in a direction exactly 
 the reverse of that in which the cap slopes. 
 
 The first alteration from a cap with parallel sides was 
 one of conical shape (see Fig. 68). This in itself was a slight 
 improvement on the original shape, but the bell cap, which 
 was evolved from it, gives even more general satisfaction. 
 
 In spite of its construction, the tendency to " lick " is so 
 strong in some kinds of yarn, that the balloon appears to 
 adhere to the surface of a bell cap, for more than an inch 
 from its rim, under certain circumstances. Although this is 
 sometimes the case, the bell cap may be said distinctly to 
 reduce the surface friction, and it is now almost universally 
 supplied for botany spool spinning, especially for fine counts 
 with few turns of twist. 
 
 Lifter Motions. — In cap and fly frames, the cap and flyer 
 are instrumental in guiding the yarn on to the various parts 
 of the bobbin, although they do not rise and fall. In both cases 
 the bobbin or spool is moved by the lifter motion up and down, 
 in such a way as to make the yarn wind on to it in layers, 
 arranged as desired, either parallel or conical. In these cases, 
 when the bobbin is at its highest point, the yarn is being 
 wound on to the bottom of the bobbin, and vice versa ; but 
 with ring frames it is quite diflerent, the bobbin is stationary 
 as regards traverse, and the ring and ring rail rise and fall 
 so as to guide the yarn on to all parts of the bobbin. With 
 this exception, the lifters in all different kinds of frame may 
 be said to be alike, and it is now so common to spin on to 
 spools for two folding that nearly all frames are provided 
 with the necessary motion. 
 
 Hodgson's Motion. — Some years ago a good many frames 
 
SPINNING 
 
 might still have been found fitted with a lifter motion which 
 was known as Hodgson's. It consisted of a curious spiral 
 disc cam, on which a bowl travelled as the disc rotated. This 
 bowl was fixed to a lever in such a way that it communicated 
 a reciprocating motion to the lifter rail, at the same time 
 allowing it to descend gradually. It was an ingenious 
 arrangement, giving a different length of stroke for every 
 pick, until the bottom of the bobbin was perfectly built, and 
 then continuing regular until the bobbin was full ; but, un- 
 fortunately, it allowed of little or no adjustment, so that the 
 length and number of picks could not be altered, and when 
 any portion was worn away, the whole thing had to be 
 renewed. 
 
 The cam is shown in three positions in Figs. 70, 71, and 
 72. In Fig. 70 it is seen from above, with the bowl B on 
 the outer circle of the cam, which may well be likened to a 
 spiral switchback railway, over which the bowl moves. In 
 reality the bowl does not move forward at all, but rises and 
 falls as the undulations of the rail, or cam, move under it, and 
 it keeps its place on the rail by moving along the rod on 
 which it swings to and fro, and on which it rotates. When 
 a bobbin is empty at the lifter at the top, the bowl is at the 
 centre of the cam A, and as the undulations of the cam are 
 less at that part, the rise and fall of the bowl are then short, 
 for the formation of the short picks near to the bobbin-head ; 
 but, as the rotation continues, the bowl comes to deeper and 
 deeper undulations, which give a steadily increasing length 
 of pick to the lifter, until the full length of pick is reached, 
 when the bowl gets on to the outer ring of the cam, on which 
 it continues to rise and fall until the bobbin is full. 
 
 In addition to this motion it is, of course, necessary to 
 
I go PRINCIPLES, OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 allow of a steady descent of the whole lifter plate, and this 
 is secured through the bowl, by allowing the plate to recede 
 slowly throughout the whole time the spool is filling. The 
 plate cam is free to move backwards several inches, and is 
 always pressed in that direction by the pressure of the bowl 
 against it, but the horizontal position of the plate is determined 
 by a cam D, shaped like half a heart, against which it rests. 
 This cam might be driven by screw or other .gear so as to be 
 adjustable in speed, but in practice it has teeth on its outer 
 edge, which gear into a worm on the back of the cam, and as 
 the position of the heart is altered by the movements of this 
 
 Fig. 70. Fig. 71. Fig. 72. 
 
 worm, the plate cam is allowed to move backwards, and as 
 the bowl follows it, the lifter rail is lowered. The half heart 
 D has about thirty teeth on its surface, and as it moves one 
 tooth for each revolution of the worm, it follows that if there 
 are four undulations on the outer ring of the lifter cam, there 
 must be 4 X 30, or 120 picks of the lifter in a doffing, and 
 it is one of the greatest drawbacks of the Hodgson motion 
 that this relation cannot be altered. 
 
 By counting the number of undulations on the spiral cam, 
 we find that, before the full length of pick is reached, the 
 machine has made 14 shorter picks, varying in length from 
 
SPINNING 
 
 g to 1^ in. In order to fill a 4^ spool with a Ig^-in. pick, it 
 is clear that the lifter must fall 3 in. after the long pick is 
 reached; that is to say, it will fall j^j^ or in. for every 
 pick which is put on to the bobbin, including the short picks. 
 But if the head of the bobbin is to be properly filled, it is 
 essential that the lifter should rise to the same point at every 
 pick until the short picks are completed (see Fig. 64) ; for if 
 each successive short pick ended above its predecessor, it 
 is clear that the last one would be or f in. above the first 
 (see Fig. 65), and the bobbin would hold less than its full 
 quantity. Unfortunately, it is very difiicult to make a motion 
 which would be stationary for part of the time the frame 
 was run, only coming into action when the long picks were 
 reached, and a compensating motion has therefore to be 
 arranged, to bring the bottom of each short pick to exactly 
 the same point, although the cam wheel is retiring through- 
 out the whole time that the frame runs. 
 
 Scaife's Motion. — In modern frames the Hodgson motion 
 and, indeed, all others, have given place to Scaife's lifting 
 motion, a piece of machinery undoubtedly worthy of the 
 monopoly that it enjoys. It really contains three distinct 
 mechanisms, each of which is capable of adjustment and 
 alteration of speed, so that any possible modification of 
 straight or spool-built bobbins can be turned out from the 
 same frame. It consists — 
 
 1. Of a heart-shaped cam motion, which gives the quick 
 
 1^ to 2-in. stroke. 
 
 2. An adjustment which alters this short stroke, so that 
 
 when a spool is quite empty the stroke is only about 
 I in. in length, increasing steadily until it reaches 
 its full length, just at the time that the full thickness 
 
192 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 of the spool is first attained. If preferred, this 
 motion may remain quite inoperative, so that the 
 shape of the spool may resemble that of a paper 
 tube (Fig. 65). 
 
 3. There is a screw motion which comes into operation 
 only when the quick stroke has reached its full 
 length, and then continues quite independent of the 
 other movements until the spool is full. 
 
 No. 1. — If a frame be turning out 600 in. per minute, with 
 10 turns per inch, it is clear that the 10-in. cylinder will also 
 be running 600 revolutions per minute, if the wharles are 
 1 in. in diameter. The calculation on p. 206 shows that the 
 heart shaft on such a frame would revolve 3^ revolutions in 
 the same time, or once for every 171 in. turned out by the 
 rollers. It is, however, one of the greatest advantages of this 
 motion that this and all other figures can be altered to almost 
 any extent by simple alterations of the wheels employed. 
 
 No. 2. — The method of altering the length of the pick is 
 also adjustable ; the varying length of stroke being obtained 
 through a combination of two levers with their fulcrums at 
 opposite ends, so arranged that the point at which they 
 bear upon one another is continually altered, during the 
 alteration from the short to the long pick. If the heart C 
 (Fig. 73) has a stroke of | in., it is clear that the bowl against 
 wliicli it works and the lever L will also swing backwards 
 and forwards the same distance (at a point opposite the centre 
 of the bowl) all the time the frame is running. This lever 
 communicates its motion to a second lever, M, by means of 
 another bowl, A, fixed on a slide S, which is moved slowly 
 down the lever M by the wheel W on the screw-shaft. 
 When the bobbin is empty and the lifter at the top, the slide 
 
SPINNING 193 
 
 S is also wound up to the top position, so that it is pressed 
 against the lever L halfway between its fulcrum and the 
 bowl. That portion of the lever will, therefore, lift | in., and 
 will communicate its motion to the lever M at a point which 
 is I of its total length, distant from the fulcrum, and for 
 this reason the top of the lever M and the lifter plate will 
 therefore move f x | = |- in. 
 
 As the head of the spool is filled, the slide and bowl A 
 descend along the lever until A is halfway down M. During 
 this process the length of the stroke, where the screw is 
 
 SIDE ELEVATION. END ELEVATION. 
 
 Fig. 73. 
 
 fixed to the lever, is steadily increasing, so that when A 
 reaches its lowest position the stroke of the screw has ex- 
 tended to 2 in., because — 
 
 The distance from Z to F is | times the length of F - B, 
 And the distance from Z to E is half the distance E - Y, 
 Therefore the point Y moves | x f x f= 2 in. 
 As in many other cases, it will not be very easy for the 
 student fully to comprehend all that is involved in this ex- 
 planation, without making himself acquainted with the work- 
 ing of a Scaife motion in practice; but if he tries a few 
 experiments relative to the length of stroke of the heart 
 
 P 
 
194 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 and lifter rail, with the slide in various positions, he will 
 quickly understand the meaning of the above figures, and 
 will be able to adjust the motion of any frame to suit his 
 own convenience. 
 
 No. 3. — The slow lowering motion is driven from the 
 heart shaft, by means of a screw and three 40-teethed wheels, 
 which means that the screw will make revolution for each 
 pick or revolution of the heart shaft, so that it will give 
 exactly the same ratio of pick to traverse as in the illustra- 
 tion given of the Hodgson motion ; but in this case the rela- 
 tion of the two speeds can be altered exactly as desired, by 
 putting a larger or smaller wheel in place of one of the 40'. 
 Such an alteration will cause the screw shaft to move faster, 
 so that the wheel W will lift the rack in a shorter time, and 
 will increase the length of stroke quickly in proportion. 
 
 If an 80-change wheel were put on instead of a 40, the 
 short picks would increase their length from f to 2 in. in 
 just half the time required with a 40, and the total amount 
 of lowering of the rail would be instead of ^^ery 
 pick of the heart, so that the traverse would be completed in 
 just half the time, and the bobbins would only contain half 
 their proper quantity. The relation of all these various figures 
 can, however, be easily altered, either by changing the size 
 of the wheel W, or altering the pitch of the screw. If a 
 double-thread screw is in use with a 40-change wheel, it is 
 clear that it will give exactly the same fall per minute, as 
 would a single thread, with an 80-change wheel. Whilst at 
 the same time the revolutions of the screw shaft and the 
 wheel would be quite different, and the alteration from a I to 
 a 2-in. pick can therefore be made in half the time, without 
 necessarily altering the total speed of the lifter and the total 
 
SPINNING 195 
 
 amount of yarn on the spool. All that will have been altered 
 will have been the angle at which the layers of yarn lie in 
 regard to the barrel of the bobbin, and the faster the screw 
 revolves the gentler will be the angle of this slope. 
 
 The reader will have observed that when the bobbin is 
 empty and the lifter at the top, the rack, slide, and bowl A 
 are also at their highest point, in gear with the wheel W, 
 and that, as the screw shaft and wheel revolve, the rack is 
 gradually lowered until the wheel has made one revolution, 
 when a large tooth which it contains, together with the screw 
 motion of the shaft, throw a wheel out of gear and leave the 
 rack stationary, so that the length of pick is constant for the 
 remainder of the doffinp". 
 
 In this description we have discussed a combination of 
 two motions, the one short and quick, the other slow and 
 continuous, as if it were quite a simple matter, but if the 
 reader will try to make any arrangement which will achieve 
 this end, he will find that it is far from simple. In Scaife's 
 motion the screw which lowers the rail passes through a 
 hinged screw plate Y fixed at the top of the lever M, so that 
 the end of the rail can rest against the end of the screw. 
 When the rail is at the top, the screw protrudes say 4^ in. 
 beyond the lever, and by its own slow rotation it retreats 
 31 in. during the doffing, until its point is only 1 in. beyond 
 the lever. 
 
 This slow unscrewing through the rapidly moving lever 
 naturally gives a very complicated motion to the screw shaft. 
 It is constantly rocking and rotating, as well as steadily 
 moving backwards, and in order to keep it in gear with the 
 chain of wheels that move it round, it contains a long key way 
 parallel with its axis, so that it is free to slip in and out 
 
196 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 through the wheel which drives it, whilst the key within this 
 wheel fits loosely into the keyway and gives the necessary 
 rotary motion. 
 
 In old-fashioned frames the screw shaft carried a hand 
 wheel on its extremity, which of necessity projected at times 
 far beyond the end of the frame and moved backwards and 
 forwards with the screw. In the most recent patterns, the 
 hand wheel is attached to the toothed wheel on a long collar 
 which projects within the frame, in such a way that there is 
 no need for the screw shaft to extend beyond the frame end. 
 
 Heart-shaped Cams are devised for the special purpose of 
 transforming a universal rotary motion into a horizontal or 
 vertical reciprocating motion, in which the whole of the up 
 and down strokes are traversed at exactly the same speed, 
 and are so arranged that there is absolutely no dwell, or space 
 of time when the motion is stationary at the point where the 
 direction is reversed. 
 
 Probably the simplest way of regarding the subject is to 
 consider the action of a true wheel or circular cam, acting on 
 a bowl, as compared with the action of a crank pin, eccentric 
 and heart motions when used as cams, not coupled with con- 
 necting rods. It must be clear to every one, that if the 
 wheel revolves on its own centre, the position of a bowl rest- 
 ing upon it will remain unchanged, no matter through how 
 many degrees the wheel rotates; but if the wheel be so 
 arranged that it revolves round some point which is not its 
 own centre, so that it is in fact eccentric, the bowl will rise 
 and fall for a distance equal to the difference between the 
 shortest and longest radii of the eccentric. That is to say, 
 that if the circle ABC (Fig. 77) be caused to rotate on the 
 point E, instead of round its own centre D, its stroke would 
 
SPINNING 197 
 
 be equal to the length of EA minus that of the shortest 
 radius EB. 
 
 This is the same in all cams, but the eccentric and crank 
 transform a regular rotary motion into a reciprocating motion 
 which differs in speed at different parts of its stroke. 
 
 Of the means used to obtain a reciprocating motion from 
 a crank pin, the slot-headed sliding rod is the simplest and 
 best because it gives a perfectly harmonic motion, and has 
 the fewest moving parts ; but it is unsuitable for heavy work 
 because of the large amount of sliding friction which is 
 always present (see Fig. 74). 
 
 The ordinary connecting rod is always used for the trans- 
 
 FiG. 74. 
 
 mission of heavy strains (as in steam engines), but the angle 
 which the connecting rod takes up in regard to the crank pin 
 and the piston rod, makes the speed of the reciprocating 
 motion different at opposite ends of the stroke. For instance, 
 if the crank is rotating once a minute, it will traverse 30° in 
 5 seconds, and the spaces between the irregular line of 
 dots in Fig. 75 will indicate the distance which the piston 
 moves at consecutive periods of 5 seconds. These distances 
 will vary according to the length of the connecting rod. A 
 harmonic figure would be made with a connecting rod of 
 infinite length, but as it is impossible to use such a connection 
 in practice, this mechanism can never give a motion in which 
 
198 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 the speeds at opposite ends of the stroke are equal (a simple 
 harmonic motion), but a slot-headed sliding rod (Fig. 74) will 
 give exactly the same result at both ends, because the rod 
 must always move horizontally ; and as the crank revolves, 
 parallel lines drawn through the positions of the crank pin at 
 equal intervals, must show the length of stroke during that 
 time (see Perry's " Applied Mechanic," p. 222). 
 
 An eccentric and its rod may also be regarded as a crank 
 and connecting rod in which the length of crank is the 
 distance between the axis round which the eccentric revolves, 
 and its true centre. This will, of course, give exactly the 
 same figure as a crank proper, and if it were used for a lifting 
 
 Fig. 75. 
 
 motion it would therefore build a bobbin thin in the muddle, 
 thick at one end, and thicker still at the other, but in the 
 practice of machine construction the eccentric is nearly 
 always used as a cam, and this involves more complicated 
 considerations. 
 
 The stroke of a cam working against a flat foot, or a bowl, 
 is always equal to the distance between its longest and 
 shortest radii, that is the difference between AE and EB 
 (Fig. 77). 
 
 To build a perfect bobbin it is necessary that the yarn 
 should move over every portion of the traverse, with exactly 
 equal speed, and to attain this end, it is necessary that for 
 
SPINNING 199 
 
 every 30° which the cam revolves it shall force a bowl an 
 equal distance from its centre. Almost any distance may be 
 selected without relation to the diameter of the cam or heart. 
 To construct such a cam it is only necessary to draw a number 
 of radii at equal angles from any point, let them be say 30° 
 apart, and on one of them (B, Fig. 76) mark off a certain 
 length and describe a circle which will cut the point on the 
 cam where the periphery comes nearest to the centre. If it is 
 desired that the total stroke of the cam shall be 3 in., its 
 periphery must be 1 in. further from the centre on each radial 
 line, with radial lines 30° apart, and if these half inches are 
 
 Fig, 76. 
 
 marked off on succeeding radii, each ^ in. further from the 
 centre than the last, and connected with one another, an 
 angular cam will be built up, which will give the desired 
 results. In designing such a cam for practical use the circle 
 would, of course, be divided into many more degrees, so that 
 the angles on the surface would be much less acute and more 
 easily rounded off, to give a steady motion. 
 
 In order thoroughly to understand the movement given by 
 an eccentric, we must examine it as if it were a cam, and it 
 must, therefore, be judged on the principle just stated. Let us 
 see what the result would be if the end of a radius of the 
 circle EB represents the point at which the periphery of the 
 
200 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 eccentric is nearest to the centre E, and the point where 
 the largest circle is farthest from that centre, is exactly 
 opposite to it at A. It follows that the difference between the 
 two radii is equal to the total stroke of the cam, and if 
 the circle is divided into angles of 30°, the distance between 
 the large circle and the small circle on each radius, shows the 
 distance that the eccentric will move the bowl, in each 5 sec. 
 
 If these figures are plotted out in the line formed, it will 
 show that a similar amount of rotation at opposite ends of the 
 stroke give very different lengths of parallel motion, that no 
 two sections of the stroke are similar, and that a movement of 
 
 Fig. 77. 
 
 30° from the dead centre gives only 0"07 in, horizontal move- 
 ment, whereas the centre give 0'54 in. It is clear that 
 not only would the bobbin be smaller at the top than at the 
 bottom, but it would also be four times thicker at the top than 
 in the middle. This is, of course, such a serious drawback as 
 to make the eccentric quite useless for such a purpose as 
 lifter motions, and as the crank and crank pin do not give 
 much more uniform results, neither of them should ever be 
 used to give a traverse of any description ; for it was pointed 
 out elsewhere that unequal speed of traverse conduces very 
 seriously to the unequal wear and consequent nicking of 
 roving and spinning rollers. 
 
SPINNING 
 
 20I 
 
 Spindle Driving. — For purposes of driving, spindles may be 
 considered under two classes only. 
 
 1. Ring, Fly and Mule spindles, in which the relations of 
 the band and whorle to the cylinder are always constant. 
 
 2. Cap spindles, in which yarn is guided on to different 
 parts of the spool or bobbin by moving it, together with the 
 tube and whorle on which it stands, up and down a fixed 
 spindle, in such a way that the distance from the centre of 
 the cylinder to the centre of the whorle is always altering. 
 
 All frames made more than twenty years ago, had the 
 simplest possible arrangement for driving from the horizontal 
 cylinder to the vertical spindles, no matter to which class 
 they belonged. In every case a cotton band was tied as 
 tightly as possible over both the cylinder and the whorle ; 
 on the half-cross principle. In the first of the two classes 
 mentioned above, where the tension on a band of definite 
 length always remains uniform, this system has the advantage 
 of simplicity, and there is no more tendency for a band to 
 slip when the lifter is halfway down, than there is when it 
 is either at the top or the bottom of the stroke. When 
 round driving bands are used to work on flat surfaces, or 
 in grooves of much larger sweep than their own diameters, 
 they have naturally less grip than a tape or flat belt under 
 the same amount of tension. For this reason it is often 
 necessary to stretch round bands very tightly into their 
 places to ensure sufficient grip. When thus stretched, they 
 pull the spindles or tubes with very great pressure against 
 their bearing surfaces, causing much unnecessary friction, 
 involving extra cost in power, as well as extra wear and tear. 
 
 In the second class, where the whorle is constantly 
 moving up and down in a straight line, as shown in Fig. 78, 
 
202 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 it is clear that its distance from the cylinder must vary 
 very greatly, and that with this variation, the length and 
 tension of the band must vary also. Theoretically, the axis 
 of the cylinder ought always to be exactly the same height 
 as the whorle when it is halfway up the traverse ; but the 
 difficulty of altering the position of the cylinder, and the 
 frequent necessity for altering the height of the spindle 
 rail, often gives them very different relative positions. 
 
 For example, if the cylinder is opposite to the whorle in 
 its lowest position, A (Fig. 78), with a 36-in. frame and a 5-in. 
 lift, the centre of the cylinder will be 18 in. from the whorle 
 
 Fig. 78. 
 
 in that position. But when the lifter has reached its highest 
 point, the distance will have altered to 18f in,, so that there 
 will be f in. of stretch in half the length of a 48 in. band, or 
 3 per cent, extension and contraction at every rise and fall 
 of the lifter. It is true that a new cotton band ought to 
 possess quite sufficient elasticity to maintain a fair amount 
 of friction under these circumstances, even when it was 
 least extended ; but when the same band gets old and 
 saturated with oil, it becomes stiffened and extended to the 
 length of the longest stretch, so that it has little friction on 
 the whorle, when the cylinder and the whorle are nearest 
 together. 
 
SPINNING 
 
 203 
 
 In such a case, when the Hfter is at the top and the band 
 tight, the full calculation amount of twist will be put into 
 the yarn; but as the lifter falls, the band will get steadily 
 slacker, and the twist will become gradually softer, until the 
 yarn may contain as little as 70 per cent, of the correct 
 amount. This would naturally make a very irregular yarn, 
 and in order to avoid all chance of its occurrence, tension 
 pulleys and tapes have been substituted for simple bands, in 
 almost all cap frames. 
 
 Tension pulleys work on a principle that is simple in the 
 extreme. Whorles, instead of being grooved to take a round 
 band, are made barrel shaped, so that the tape will run 
 easily over them, as shown in Fig. 79. Each tape is arranged 
 to run, not only round the cylinder, C, and one or more 
 spindles, but also round the tension pulley, J, to which a 
 constant weight is applied. Therefore, however long the 
 distance between the cylinder and the whorle may be, the 
 tension on the tape remains exactly the same. 
 
 The simplest way of applying tension, would be to arrange 
 for each tape to drive two spindles, carrying it back towards 
 the cylinder between the two, to a third and larger pulley 
 in the same plane as the whorles ; this third or tension pulley 
 always being drawn towards the cylinder by weights or 
 levers, with a definite force, equal, say, to 2 lbs. 
 
 If mechanical difficulties could be overcome, this would 
 be a good system in one respect, because the tape would 
 touch each whorle for fully half its circumference. As a 
 matter of fact, such an arrangement would be unpractical, 
 because for every 200 spindles in a frame, 100 extra pulleys 
 would be required. They would be running at 2500 revolu- 
 tions per minute, and it would naturally absorb a calculable 
 
204 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 amount of additional power to drive them at any such 
 speed. 
 
 The system on which tapes are now generally run, needs 
 only one tension pulley to every four spindles ; the axis of 
 the pulley being almost parallel with that of the cylinder. 
 This pulley is carried on a hanger, with a horizontal arm so 
 arranged that a weight hung at its extremity will bring 
 additional weight to bear on the tape, by tending to draw 
 the tension pulley J away from the cylinder C (Fig. 79). 
 See also Fig. 82 of a twist frame. 
 
 Fig. 79. 
 
 Under this arrangement, the tape only touches each 
 whorle for a quarter of its circumference, but the wide 
 surface of the tape is found to give so much friction that 
 there is practically no slip with reasonable tension, and the 
 system has the advantage of only requiring one 4-in. tension 
 pulley to every four 1-in. whorles. The extra pulley there- 
 fore runs comparatively slowly and needs but little driving. 
 If such a frame were driven by bands, some of them would 
 be slack whilst some were very tight, with consequent un- 
 necessary friction; but the tension pulleys maintain every 
 tape under exactly the amount of strain that will keep the 
 
SPINNING 
 
 205 
 
 spindles at full calculation speed, with the least possible 
 expenditure of power. 
 
 Twist in spinning. — Under this head, the student will not 
 unnaturally look for some treatise, which will enable him to 
 estimate the requisite number of turns of twist per inch in 
 various counts and types of yarn ; but, on the other hand, all 
 practical men are painfully aware of the futility of theorizing 
 on a subject which is liable to such endless variations and 
 exceptions. Two courses are open to any one desirous of 
 writing a treatise on the subject. He might repeat any or 
 many of the elaborate and complete mathematical formulfe, 
 w^hich have been worked out with great expenditure of care 
 and time, but which are often useless, because they are based 
 on axioms which are not common to all classes of single yarn. 
 The second course would be to give tables (if they were 
 procurable), to show the various twists adopted by different 
 firms, for similar counts, at different speeds, from different 
 qualities. 
 
 The first course would result in the formulation of some 
 system, which every spinning manager knows would not bear 
 the test of practice. 
 
 The second would only confuse the student, by showing 
 that hardly any two firms use the same twist in the single, 
 for their various equivalent counts. 
 
 It is pointed out elsewhere, that a soft weft yarn, spun 
 on the same frame at two different speeds, would require 
 two different twists. The drag which is caused in all 
 throstle frames, by variations in spindle speed, is a con- 
 stantly altering factor in the amount of twist required ; 
 and as different counts and qualities are spun at greatly 
 varying spindle speeds, it follows that their number of 
 
2o6 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 Particxjlaks of Cap Spinning Frame for Weft. 
 
 Length and breadth over all . 
 
 Spindles, number of . . . . 
 
 „ pitch of 
 
 „ speed of .... 
 Bobbin^ size of 
 
 „ „ barrel . . . 
 
 Cap 
 
 Eollers, low front 
 
 „ front pressing (iron) . 
 
 „ low back 
 
 „ back pressing . . . 
 Carriers, low 
 
 „ upper (tumblers) . . 
 
 Draft (about) 
 
 Ends up 
 
 Lifter motion 
 
 Knocker-off 
 
 Front roller (output per revo-"» 
 
 lution) / 
 
 Back roller (output per revo-"! 
 lution / 
 
 For 603 botany. 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 (26 ft. 11 in., or32ft.\ 
 10 in. X 4 ft. or 5 ft./ 
 
 160 to 200 
 
 3i in. 
 
 6500 to 7000 
 
 4 J in. X IjJg in. (spool) 
 
 \% in. 
 
 IJ in. (bell shape) 
 
 4 in. or 2i in. 
 
 5 in. (covered doub]e\ 
 
 hard) 
 
 li in. 
 21 in. 
 
 |m., |m., I in. 
 
 »> 5> 5) 
 
 6-6 
 1 
 
 Scaife's 
 
 Spool (if any) 
 
 4 in. X 31 "or 0-321 
 
 metres ' J 
 IJ in. X 3i or O-lOl 
 
 metres 
 
 x22x35x 7 
 
 Draft of back carrier'l 
 
 on back roller / " rx~18 x 22 x l| 
 Draft of front carrier'^ ^ x 22 x 35 x 7 
 
 on back roller / 7 ^ 15 ^ 22 a 1^ 
 
 Draft of front roller on^ 4 x 22 x 84 x 100 x 7 
 
 back roller / - 7 xT4 x 63 x 22 x 1^ 
 
 Draft of front roller on\ 0-32 x 84 x 100 
 back roller by metres ) 44 x^ 63l<(H0 " 
 
 Ixl0xl4x215x 7 
 ' ixlOx 40722x4 
 
 26 ft. 11 in. X 4 ft. 
 
 or 5 ff. 
 160 
 'Ah in. 
 6500 
 
 Al 'm. X Ijin. (spool) 
 
 in. (bell shape) 
 
 4 in. 
 
 5 in. (cloth and 
 leather laced) 
 
 IJ in. 
 2^ in. 
 
 8 in-, i in-> 8 
 i m., I in., i in. 
 6-6 or 7 
 1 
 
 Scaife's 
 Spool (if any) 
 
 = 11. 
 
 320 
 33 
 
 _q23 
 
 Twist per inch 
 
 Twist per metre, deci-\ 1 x 10 x 14 x 215 
 metre, or centimetre / 
 
 Picks of lifter 
 per minute 
 
 IxlOx 40x0-.32 
 
 heartj 600j< 6j< 40 x 1 
 / "7i:xT00x60 
 
 320 ^Q23 
 33 ^33 
 2107 
 "352 
 
 rl,i =235 per metre, or 
 Og per deci- 
 
 = 6. 
 
 per 
 metre. 
 
 96 
 29 
 
SPINNING 
 
 207 
 
 Particulabs of Flyer Spinning Frame for Warp. 
 
 
 For crossbreds. 
 
 Length and breadth over all . . . . 
 
 26 ft. 1| in., or 32 ft. x 5 ft. 
 
 
 160 to 200 
 
 
 31 in. 
 
 
 2300 
 
 
 4 in. X 1| in. 
 
 
 11 in. 
 
 
 
 
 4 in. 
 
 
 5 in. (covered soft, cloth 
 
 and leather) 
 
 
 liin. 
 
 
 2% in. 
 
 
 t in., f in., I- in. 
 
 „ upper (tumblers) .... 
 
 1 i in-. 1 in. 
 
 
 66 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Scaife's 
 
 Fig. 80. — Cap spinning frame. 
 
2o8 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 turns of twist per inch do not bear any constant relation 
 to one another. 
 
 The length of the fibres in the material which is being 
 spun, and the proportion of the long to the short fibres in 
 that material, have also great bearing on the strength, and 
 therefore on the amount of twist required in any yarn. This 
 may be given as the reason why the twist in a hosiery yarn, 
 made from short Buenos Ayres wool, does not bear any 
 permanent relation to finer hosiery counts, spun on the same 
 machine, from wool of different nationality and longer fibre. 
 
 The same argument applies to Cashmere and Italian weft 
 yarns ; and as different manufacturers are constantly asking 
 for special twist for special purposes, in twofold as well as in 
 single yarn, the whole subject would be out of place in a 
 book, of which the leading idea is to propound working 
 theories, based on practice, which shall have some bearing 
 on the everyday work of practical men. 
 
CHAPTER VlII 
 
 DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 There are few questions exciting more general interest in the 
 English worsted dress goods trade, than that which concerns 
 the spinning of dry yarns, to compete with, and take the 
 place of, French and Belgium mule or dry spun yarns, which, 
 in some types of dress goods, give good results at very 
 reasonable prices. 
 
 Few questions have ever been treated with less display 
 of scientific method. 
 
 Few salesmen of the finer grades of worsted yarn can have 
 escaped the oft repeated question, " Can you make dry spun 
 yarn ? " Every firm the sellers represent ought to be able to 
 answer such a question in the affirmative, for dry spun yarns 
 are spun, and can be spun, quite easily from any ordinary 
 botany top, on ordinary worsted frames, to counts but little 
 thicker than those to which the self-same tops would spin, if 
 combed in oil. 
 
 To spin dry tops to counts of this description, without 
 incurring undue waste and fly in all the processes, means that 
 the tops themselves must be in perfect order. 
 
 Dry tops will always make more brush waste, and more 
 fly, in going through the ordinary drawing, used for worsted 
 yarns, than will tops combed in oil ; but if the dry tops are 
 
 p 
 
210 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 allowed to lie until they have picked up just sufficient mois- 
 ture from the air, to put them (to the very centre of the ball) 
 in standard trade condition, all decent tops will lose the 
 harshness which we associate with dry-combed tops, and 
 draw out smoothly without " whistling," without the fibres of 
 the broken end forming a brush-like tassel, but lying as they 
 should do, in a normal state, parallel, side by side. 
 
 Such tops will draw and spin with little difficulty, unless 
 the weather is very frosty, but, so far as the writer knows, 
 there is no possible artificial means of securing this miich 
 desired condition. With particularly hard fibred tops, the 
 time of keeping may have to extend to many weeks. 
 
 Of course, if in the washing, every particle of nature is 
 taken from the fibres of the top, it never will regain entirely 
 the suppleness and softness that it ought to have; it will 
 remain both dry and harsh to the feel. 
 
 If, on the other hand, all its exterior grease is thoroughly 
 removed in washing, and that put on in carding is removed in 
 backwashing, but if every atom that constitutes the actual 
 substance of the fibre, as it appears when growing on the 
 sheep, is left intact, by reason of judicious management in the 
 washing processes ; then, if no oil is added in or after combing, 
 the yolk or suint will slowly work its way from within the 
 fibre to the scales which form its outer coat, and thereby 
 largely kill all tendency to electrify, when in the processes of 
 drawing and of spinning, fibres are moved on one another and 
 on iron. 
 
 The top itself is certain to feel harsh and rough, if handled 
 as it comes straight from the comb, but nearly all the harsh- 
 ness passes off from good tops when well treated. A fortnight 
 may be reckoned as the shortest time for which a dry-combed 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 21 1 
 
 top should lie, before it goes up to the drawing gill boxes. All 
 tops go on improving for at least three weeks, and if the very 
 best condition is desired, so that the waste produced in all the 
 processes may reach a minimum, four, five, or seven weeks is 
 not too much. 
 
 No dry-combed top, if washed with proper soap, will take 
 the slightest harm if left in cool, dry cellaring for three or 
 four months. How long improvement goes on it is not 
 possible to say. The writer has seen tops which have been 
 left to lie for many months which have completely lost all 
 tendency to electrify when drawn; and they have so com* 
 pletely lost their harshness, that it was very difficult indeed to 
 tell, by anything but smell, whether or not they were in oil 
 or dry. 
 
 A top in such condition would go right through an 
 ordinary worsted drawing without the slightest trouble, and 
 would spin well to nearly the same counts that the same top 
 would spin to, if combed in oil. 
 
 Unluckily, it does not follow even then, that yarn so spun 
 would do the work that Belgian or French yarn would do. 
 
 The reasons are not simple, on the other hand, they are 
 compounded from a long series of variations, which themselves 
 differ in almost every yarn that is imported. To simplify the 
 case, it will be best to make a list of all the various ways in 
 which yarns can differ, and then endeavour to select the 
 various causes that make a Bradford yarn less suitable than 
 French or Belgian yarn for various types of dress goods. 
 
 1. For English worsted yarns, the fibres of the top should 
 always be uniform in length, and every one as long 
 as possible. French tops are often shorter, and are 
 composed of fibres differing in length. Hence it can 
 
212 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 often happen that for cashmere yarns, the English- 
 man is using Australian or else Cape wool, to make 
 his yarn spin to the proper counts. The Frenchman 
 or the Belgian, on the other hand, is using Buenos 
 Ayres at lower price with greater filling power. 
 
 2. In the washing there is often serious difference as 
 previously explained. 
 
 8. In combing there is greater difference still, for most 
 French "dry-combed" tops are not dry-combed at 
 all. They are first combed in oil, then backwashed, 
 and then finished through two or more fine gill 
 boKes. This makes it possible to take away less oil, 
 and do away with all the various troubles inherent 
 to the combing of a very short dry carding; the oil 
 being removed from the top after it has left the 
 comb. 
 
 4. Under the fourth head there is probably the greatest 
 
 difference of all between English and French prac- 
 tices. In open drawing, twist is inserted in, at 
 the very least, six processes, and in them all, there 
 is no attempt to separate the various fibres as they 
 are drafted by the rollers. In all " French drawing," 
 on the other hand, there is no twist in any single 
 process, and every box has porcupines in it. The 
 draft is also generally greater on the Continent. 
 
 5. The rollers of the mule are less than half the size 
 
 of those in English worsted drawing. The draft is 
 always greater than in a throstle frame. 
 
 6. The method by which drag is put upon the yarn is 
 
 wholly different in the mule from that in every 
 kind of throstle frame. 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 213 
 
 7. Bobbins are used on frames ; on them the yarn is 
 wound. Cops, often without tubes, come from the 
 mule, and there is naturally a difference in the drag 
 caused in the loom by these two diverse methods. 
 Readers will doubtless notice that methods by which 
 twist is introduced are not included, principally for the 
 simple fact that theory, and what facts are to be had, do not 
 agree. 
 
 It is a well-known fact, that if a length of yarn is held 
 out straight and twist inserted ; the twist will not be uniform 
 in every inch of that yarn's length. No yarn is absolutely 
 uniform in diameter. To get two different diameters of yarn 
 equally hard, as regards twist alone, the one which is 
 the greatest in diameter, requires a proportionately less 
 number of turns of twist per inch. Strangely enough, 
 the working of this law is automatic in its action. The 
 thicker parts reach their proportionate degree of hardness 
 before the thinner places which exist in every yarn, and 
 therefore, as more twist is added, it runs past the thicker 
 places, causes them to revolve, and passes into the thinner 
 parts. 
 
 If, as is always said to be the case, mule yarn is leveller 
 in twist than throstle spun, this law must be restricted in 
 its action from some cause quite unknown. The proof is 
 simple. In a mule yarn the twist is absolutely free to run 
 from any part of a full stretch of 60 in. to any other part, 
 and if there were, as there is sure to be, a place in the whole 
 length which is considerably thinner than the rest, it will 
 accumulate the full amount of twist it needs, from all the 
 rest of the 60 in. 
 
 But in a throstle frame the length from the cap edge 
 
214 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 or ring, up through the eye or guide, right to the nip is 
 seldom 15 in., and therefore, there is only just about a 
 quarter of the length for irregularities to draw upon. One 
 would imagine that in a throstle yarn, each length of 15 in. 
 must resemble every other length of 15 in. through its entire 
 length. 
 
 At least in theory, then, the twist in mule yarn cannot 
 be very much more even than that in throstle yarn, but as 
 explained before (Chapter III.) it is quite possible that with 
 equal sizes made from equal sorts, the mule yarn may be 
 softer than all competitors, because the drag, caused by the 
 cop, has no connection with the insertion of twist; in fact 
 a cop may be built practically without drag. In throstle 
 frames the spindle speed, diameter of cap, and many other 
 things are bound to alter the drag. 
 
 From the seven headings given in the list, the luckless 
 spinner is expected to find out what faults he is to avoid, 
 by intuition. All he is told is, that the buyer wants a " dry- 
 spun " yarn. Often enough he does not even know — 
 
 "What it is to be used for. 
 
 How it is to be washed. 
 
 Whether to be made of B.A. or P.P. 
 
 Whether the wool should be short or long, regular or 
 
 irregular in length. 
 W^hether on cop or bobbin ; what the best size of each. 
 Whether French drawn or open drawn. 
 Whether hard or soft, he is not told, and is not over-fond 
 
 of trying to find out. 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 215 
 
 Until he knows the answer to each single head in the 
 complicated array, he is assuredly bound to fail in substituting 
 English for French yarn, at any price likely to come within 
 the range of practical considerations. 
 
 Each point must now be studied with the utmost care 
 so that its b'earing for or against efficiency can be ascertained. 
 
 1. Under head 1, all questions bearing on the average 
 length of various qualities must be considered. Of course 
 no hard and fast line can be laid down, but it is always 
 safe to say that Buenos Ayres wool is shorter and less 
 regular in length than is Port Philip. We always take it 
 as an axiom, that shorter wool will make inferior yarn. 
 Of this no proof is given and is seldom attempted. The 
 levelness of many cotton yarns, spun from fibres of equal 
 sectional area and a third the length of 60' botany wool 
 refute the theory altogether. If 1^ in. cotton can be spun 
 to 80' worsted counts, why should not 2 in. wool do likewise ? 
 The quality and levelness of French and Belgian yarns made 
 from such wools, make it seem possible. The simple fact is 
 clear. They get machinery made to suit the trade ; and we 
 do not. We order our machinery of such dimensions as will 
 suit all trades, that is to say, of such a size that it will do 
 a long wool perfectly, but cannot possibly be set to be 
 efficient for very short wool. With 1-in. rollers, cotton 
 rather more than 1 in. long will stand a draft of 15 or 16, 
 say full 12 times its length measured in inches. A 4 in. 
 botany would usually get a draft of 6 or less, and short 
 B.A., reckoned at 2 in. average of length, might possibly be 
 drafted 3 or so. This, from existing instances, is clearly 
 proved to be both waste of time and output. Both mean 
 waste of money. 
 
2i6 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 We make our drawing rollers such a size, that they will 
 draw long wool as well as short, and because long wool laps 
 are hard to take from off small rollers, we make them large 
 enough. Not so our oversea competitors ; they specialize and 
 order rollers in their mules of such a size that they will nip 
 short wool in such a way as makes full use of every milli- 
 metre of its length. If we would also order frames for 
 every type of wool we wish to spin, and let them stand 
 rather than put them on to work they were not built for, 
 then we should be upon the way to stop the import, 
 because we should be able to turn cheaper wool into fair 
 yarn. 
 
 This is not empty theory, it is being done with great 
 success in isolated instances here in Yorkshire. 
 
 2 and 3. Under these heads nothing need here be said, 
 for every one acknowledges that if a top is spoiled in washing 
 or in combing, the carelessness can never be remedied. 
 
 4. Head 4 is probably the most important of them all 
 as regards filling power, in what we always know as mule- 
 spun yarn. The prime essential principle of all French 
 drawing lies in the separation of every fibre, for all its length, 
 from its near neighbours, in every single process. This is 
 the business of the porcupines. They do their work so well, 
 that any one who sees a 2-dram roving made on both open 
 and on French drawing, can hardly bring himself to believe 
 that both weigh just the same amount per yard. When such 
 is the acknowledged fact, it is no wonder that yarn spun 
 from the two will differ in the finish that they take. 
 
 In worsted drawing, not only is there no attempt to 
 separate the fibres, but, on the contrary, each process puts 
 in twist which, in the usual practice of running all the 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 217 
 
 spindles of the various processes in one direction, is cumu- 
 lative. In the first processes, the action is not noticeable ; 
 but in a finishing box, with four ends up and with a draft 
 of six, there must be definite binding of various groups of 
 fibres to one another. 
 
 Imagine for a moment that each of the four slivers going 
 into the back rollers contains one turn per inch. Each will 
 emerge from the front roller as a. much smaller sliver, just \ 
 the size, and with one-sixth the turns that it contained when 
 it went in, that is, \ per inch. 
 
 Of course this is a slight exaggeration to make the point 
 clear. The fact is this, that these four slivers, each of which 
 contains this small amount of twist, are bound together by 
 the rotation of the spindle, which adds another percentage 
 of twist in the same direction to that they already contain. 
 
 With spindles running in the reverse direction in each 
 succeeding process, the twist would not be wholly taken out, 
 but those who know the kind of yarn a twist frame makes 
 with spindles running in the same direction as a spinning 
 frame, and in the opposite, will form no very incorrect idea 
 of what would then go on. There is no need to press the 
 argument, whichever way the spindles run, one thing is 
 clear, the various fibres are bound together in every process 
 in a set of cone or open drawing, instead of being separated 
 from one another. For certain makes of cloth it is quite 
 possible that this is desirable. In every kind of yarn 
 destined to compete with dry or mule-spun French yarn, 
 for hosiery or dress goods, every half turn of twist used in 
 the drawing means so much filling power done away, in yarn 
 spun from the roving thus prepared. 
 
 It is explained elsewhere how much twist costs the 
 
2i8 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 maker. The speed of almost every box is limited by the 
 speed at which the spindles can be run. The output of the 
 box depends on the front roller, and therefore every extra 
 turn of twist reduces output and increases cost. This is not 
 all. As we have seen in every case where bulk is a deside- 
 ratum in the yarn, it does distinct harm. 
 
 If English dry-spun yarns are to compete with those of 
 continental nations spun on mules, the roving must be made 
 to resemble that which is used by our competitors. But the 
 very nature of our machinery makes twist an absolute 
 essentia], and if we really mean to attain the end in view 
 we must begin to rearrange our ideas. 
 
 If drawing is to be conducted without twist, something 
 akin to the French system must be adopted. The fibres in 
 sliver or roving, made without twist, have very little cohesion. 
 A sliver of that kind could never be expected to stand the 
 drag which must be present with any kind of flyer. A ball 
 built very lightly, with practically no drag, must be adopted, 
 and for this purpose several peculiarities will be found in all 
 French drawing. 
 
 In the first place, the creel is so constructed that balls 
 from previous boxes can be unwound without the slightest 
 drag or tendency to pull apart, or draft the fragile, twistless 
 sliver. 
 
 The balling head itself is made to work with little or no 
 drag, so that the ball is built up very soft, in order that the 
 tender sliver may not be stretched at all. It is a very 
 natural consequence, that balls must all be handled with the 
 greatest care, for every box is just alike, producing twistless 
 slivers rolled up, and built up into quite large balls, which 
 have to be unwound with greatest care if they are to be 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 2ig 
 
 unwound at all. To this end special creels are always used. 
 Each ball, built on a hollow barrel, stands upright, on a 
 spindle that revolves on a line point, supported in a little 
 cup or pot. Friction in every case is at a minimum. In 
 fact, the whole arrangement works extremely well. 
 
 Once in the rollers, as there is no twist, fibres move far 
 more easily on one another. The work the rollers do is, there- 
 fore, easier, and porcupines — rollers with rows of pins, that 
 act as combs to separate the fibres passing through them — are 
 used instead of carriers to make the drafting regular for all 
 the various lengths of fibre (see Chapter IV.). At first sight 
 any one might easily suppose that porcupines might take the 
 place of carriers in cone and open drawing. But fibres going 
 through them must be parallel. When twist is .present, 
 things at once reach a deadlock. The twist with which the 
 sliver passed the back roller, could not by any possibility get 
 through the porcupine without some of the fibres being 
 broken, knots would be formed as well. In fact, the two 
 words, porcupine and twist, are incompatible. 
 
 The natural outcome of this reasoning is one that has 
 been reached by isolated firms and found a great success. 
 French drawing lends itself in many ways to treating shorter 
 fibres, and in it, longer drafts are possible than is the case 
 with the large rollers and the fast-running flyers of worsted 
 drawing. 
 
 Long drafts, as is well known, mean cheap production, 
 if other parts are set to coincide. There is no reason why 
 French drawing should not be used with either cap or ring 
 or flyer frames. 
 
 Just as French drawing differs from all other drawing in 
 theory, because the slubbing and roving contains no twist ; so 
 
220 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 in practice tlie boxes differ from every other type in that 
 they have nothing of the nature of a spindle. The drawing 
 process usually begins with three processes of can gill boxes ; 
 from the last of which the sliver goes to the first drawing 
 box; this box is typical of all the set that follow it, and 
 strongly resembles a 4-head balling gill box. The sliver 
 passes through two pair of dead-weighted back rollers, AK, 
 BL (Fig. 81), between which there is little or no draft, before 
 it reaches the porcupine C, a roller thickly covered with 
 fine pins, which takes the place, and does the duty of fallers. 
 From the porcupine, the sliver is drafted by the group of 
 
 — ^ c 
 
 Fig. 81. — Low rollers A, B, D, E have milled flutes. All are less than 1^" 
 diam. Scale ahout \. 
 
 front rollers, DEJ, exactly as explained in Chapter IV., but 
 after the front rollers a contrivance is employed which has 
 no counter-part in other worsted processes. 
 
 The sliver as it comes from the front roller, is quite flat, 
 and if any attempt were made to build it up into a ball, in 
 such a condition, it is true that an excellent ball could be 
 made, but if once wound, it would never unwind again, 
 because the loose fibres at the edge of these flimsy slivers 
 would become entangled, and the slivers themselves would 
 tear rather than unwind. Between the front rollers EJ, and 
 the balling head GH, a most ingenious arrangement of leathers 
 is introduced. Each pair of leathers has a double movement. 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 221 
 
 Not only do they run continually forward at the same pace 
 at which the roller surface and the sliver move, but they 
 move sideways, going backwards and forwards for perhaps 
 the distance of an inch, or rather more, some sixty times a 
 minute (see FFF). 
 
 By this extraordinary complex movement, the sliver is 
 rolled up until it almost looks as if it had a very little twist 
 in it, though it has none at all, and all the time it keeps on 
 moving slowly forward to the balling head. 
 
 The mechanism by which the curious leather motion is 
 obtained is naturally very complicated, but it is capable of 
 being strongly made, and works extremely well. 
 
 5. The lessons to be learned under this head are rather 
 negative than positive. They point to no essential difference 
 in the mechanical construction of the yarn spun on a mule, 
 from yarn spun on a throstle frame, from similar rovings. 
 
 It has been pointed out in Chapter IV. in what the twist- 
 ing of a mule-spun yarn differs from that of yarn spun on a 
 cap or flyer. 
 
 The insertion of twist into mule-spun yarn causes one motion 
 only — rotation on its own axis ; there is no flying sideway 
 through the air, as is the case when caps or rings are used, 
 but in both cap and ring, as well as mules, the twist runs into 
 the flat ribband of fibres combing through the front rollers, 
 without the slightest difference of principle or practice, except 
 that in the mule the twist runs absolutely up to the front nip, 
 without resting in any way on the low roller. There is, 
 therefore, not the slightest reason to look for structural 
 difference in the two types of yarn, if both have been pre- 
 pared on the same set of drawing. This, as most people 
 know, is very seldom done. 
 
222 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Most mule yarn, therefore, has a structural difference from 
 cap-spun yarn; but this is simply due to what took place 
 before, not in the spinning, and is as well quite unconnected 
 with different types or lengths of wool, or with the entire 
 absence of oil, in many mule-spun yarns. 
 
 Why people very seldom draw a lesson from the small 
 size of rollers used in mules is quite another matter. It is a 
 very general belief that rollers should be as large as possible 
 for worsted yarn. This is an argument of pure utility; it 
 simply means that 4-in. rollers are most suitable for good 
 long crossbred sorts, and that they also can be used to spin 
 numerous other qualities of wool, not perfectly, but well. A 
 2^-in. roller, on the other hand, will spin a 2^-in. botany 
 better than will a 4-in. roller, but as it is very nearly im- 
 possible to spin a crossbred sort on such small rollers, 
 largely because laps have to be cut off if they get thick, all 
 2^-in. rollers are discountenanced as not being sufficiently 
 adaptable. 
 
 Few people would deny that smaller rollers should be 
 used for shorter wool, and yet in practice Bradford stands 
 where it stood in this respect quite thirty years ago. It is a 
 simple axiom that for special trades special machinery must 
 be made and used, but this need certainly not be read to 
 mean that dry-spun yarn cannot be made on frames. 
 
 It has been pointed out, that small-sized rollers do not grip 
 as well as larger ones, if both have equal pressure. Large 
 sizes should not be adopted on this account alone, for other 
 things than size may play their part in grip between two 
 rollers. 
 
 The Yorkshire worsted trade seems to consider itself 
 bound hand and foot to what are called scratch fluted rollers. 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 
 
 223 
 
 Mule rollers are not made in that way. Their flutes are 
 far more frequent, deep, and regular, giving a grip on fairly 
 soft top rollers, much more like that obtained with fluted 
 drawing rollers. These should at least be tried for worsted 
 frames. 
 
 No one can tell how much or how little alteration would 
 evolve the most perfect frame for spinning quite short tops, 
 or tops combed without oil, but it is probable that longer 
 drafts would come in as a consequence. Drafting, as pointed 
 out in Chapter lY., has nothing whatever to do with the 
 insertion of twist, and therefore if a mule with 1-in. rollers 
 can give a draft of 8 to any top of short B.A., it must be 
 possible to make a frame to do quite as well, or better. 
 
 All that is wanted is that brains should be applied to 
 every detail of the many processes through which a dry top 
 goes from wool to yarn. 
 
 6. The question of the drag applied to build a cop or build 
 a cop-shaped spool is treated so exhaustively in Chapter III. 
 that nothing more needs to be said about the subject here, 
 except one thing. The drag in a cap frame is altered in pro- 
 portion to the distance from the surface on which the cop or 
 spool is being built and the cap edge. If cops were to be 
 spun on the bare tube on which the spool rotates, the drag 
 would be so great as to require a great amount of twist to 
 stand the strain. For this cause, extremely thick, soft, hosiery 
 yarns cannot be spun with advantage on frames which have 
 large caps, whilst on a mule, no matter what the size of cop, 
 no matter whether it be built on bare spindle or on paper 
 tube, the drag is not excessive. This is one of the very few 
 points in which a mule stands without any comparison ahead 
 of all throstle frames. 
 
224 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 The sizes of flyers, caps, and rings are bound to affect the 
 drag in their own way; presumably they will always do so 
 more or less^ but if a traveller can be found for use on all 
 ring frames of such a nature that when the cop or spool is 
 empty the traveller is nearer to the spindle than when the 
 spool is full, it will be possible to do more theoretically 
 perfect work on throstle ring frames. 
 
 7. The difference in the weaving qualities of cops and 
 spools ought to be well considered by every weaver who is 
 called upon to use dry yarns ; and when he knows the extent 
 to which the properties of each affect the output of his looms, 
 and affect the proportion of waste made, as compared with 
 the total weight of w^eft actually made into cloth, the result 
 should be communicated to the spinner, who then at least has 
 the option of putting his yarn on to spools, parallel paper, or 
 conical paper tubes. 
 
 It must not be expected from what has here been said 
 that spinning dry-combed tops will always be as easy as 
 dealing with a top of similar make and length, but combed 
 in oil. 
 
 The first essential, that a dry-combed top should be 
 mature in age and therefore in condition (using the word 
 '* condition " in its ordinary English sense), is not an easy one 
 always to fulfil ; at times it is impossible, and if the luckless 
 spinner is driven from sheer force of circumstances to try 
 and draw new dry-combed tops, or even tops which though 
 they may be some days old, as yet are immature, he must 
 expect results far from desirable. Put into other words, this 
 means that though dry tops under favourable conditions can 
 be treated without unreasonable waste and cost, on ordinary 
 worsted machinery, there is no doubt that they can be treated 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 225 
 
 in a more satisfactory manner on machinery specially con- 
 structed for their treatment. 
 
 This machinery is French drawing. 
 
 In addition to its other numerous peculiarities and advan- 
 tages it has this one besides : that for some reason, very 
 difficult to understand, it makes less roller fly and brush 
 waste from a given top, than will an ordinary worsted draw- 
 ing, from the same top. 
 
 Probably it is because the construction of the French 
 drawing gives more opportunity for the escape of electricity 
 generated by the moving of the fibres on one another. It 
 may be that the sharp points of the numerous porcupine pins 
 act as conductors fi'om which discharge can readily take place 
 into the air. 
 
 This question of electrical action in wool spinning and 
 drawing is far too little understood as yet, to make any 
 theoretical statements worth reading ; but, on the other hand, 
 no one must forget that signs of electrical action are present 
 whenever try tops are drafted between metal rollers, and any 
 means that can be taken towards destroying or leading it 
 away from the fibres or rollers, are of the utmost possible 
 importance. 
 
 As yet, by far the most valuable known means of re- 
 ducing electrical action in worsted processes is obtained by 
 humidification of the atmosphere in which the process takes 
 place. 
 
 It has been known ever since the discovery of frictional 
 electric machines, that they worked best in a dry frosty 
 atmosphere ; and as wool fibres moving on themselves and on 
 metal surfaces are known to be undesirably good electric gene- 
 i-ators their activity in this particular direction can be best 
 
 Q 
 
226 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 reduced, by placing machines which work them, in a warm, 
 damp atmosphere. An atmosphere which is warmed and 
 moistened by the blowing in of free steam is very effective in 
 killing static electricity which makes fibres mutually repellant 
 when they are similarly charged. Steam, however, is un- 
 pleasant to the workers, some people say unhealthy, and 
 there are many efficient methods by which water can be 
 pulverized or turned into spray so fine that it will never fall, 
 but be absorbed by the atmosphere in the vicinity of the 
 humidifier. Any of these methods may be used; the only 
 desiderata being, that all the air in the room should be fresh, 
 equally humid, and equally warm. 
 
 To obtain the desired degree of moisture some firms use 
 one central station from which fresh, warm, moist air is 
 distributed to various rooms and various parts of every room 
 by large pipes. Some systems use high-pressure water to 
 pulverize itself, and in the process to produce a local draught 
 of air. In such an apparatus only the very finest water 
 atoms are absorbed, the coarser spray is used to wash im- 
 purities out of the air that passes through them. All that 
 which is absorbed diffuses evenly throughout the room, the 
 heavier drops collected in the cylinder run back to a central 
 filler where they first part with impurities, and then are 
 pumped again to pulverizers. 
 
 One system which is very simple to erect, and has been 
 made to give extreme humidity, consists of apparatus 
 strongly resembling the ordinary spray diffuser used for 
 scent. Its drawback is that it does not introduce fresh 
 air in any quantity, nor does it cleanse the air already in 
 the room. 
 
 In regard to all methods of humidifying, there is one 
 
DRY SPUN YARNS 227 
 
 curious anomaly which is well worthy of the notice of those 
 who propose to practise it. 
 
 Any room where any type of artificial moisture is 
 employed, comes under the jurisdiction of cotton factory 
 inspectors, and daily returns from every such room are 
 required from worsted factories, showing the hygrometer 
 reading. These have to be sent monthly to the head office. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 TWISTING 
 
 Twisting, as understood by all spinners, is a simple process 
 comprising only the one operation of binding together two 
 or more threads, by wrapping them round one another a 
 certain number of times in every inch of their length ; or, 
 in more technical words, twisting two or more threads 
 together, by putting into them so many turns per inch. 
 
 This process must never be confused with that which a 
 weaver speaks of by the same term. When he orders a warp 
 to be twisted, or, more correctly, " twisted in," he means that 
 every separate end of some new warp is to be twisted in a 
 peculiar way, which is almost as good as tying, to every other 
 end of some other warp, which is running out of a loom or 
 set of heralds, so that all the ends of the new warp can be 
 drawn through the mails without the necessity for each of 
 the several thousand ends to be separately threaded before 
 they can be woven. 
 
 Theoretically and practically the process is comparatively 
 simple, a twisting frame consisting of — 
 
 1. A series of pegs A, Fig. 82, on which the spinning 
 bobbins stand, so that the single yarn may be wound from 
 them with uniform tension. 
 
 2. A series of twizzle guides B, through which the 
 
TWISTING 229 
 
 threads run, so that they may direct the yarn on to all parts 
 of the leather-covered roller as the twizzles rise and fall, 
 
 3. Vertical leather-covered rollers C, so arranged that 
 when the end is running, and the front twizzle is down, they 
 are " in gear " driven by worms and wheels or by some other 
 positive motion, so that no amount of friction will stop them ; 
 
 Fig. 82. — Cap-trap twist frame. 
 
 but SO arranged that they will fall out of gear and stop as 
 soon as one end breaks. Old-fashioned devices, where the 
 rollers are driven by friction of bands or leather faces, should 
 be treated with the utmost suspicion, because they are alwa\'s 
 liable to slip and to cause hard or soft twist. 
 
 Some frames, especially for three- or four-fold yarns, are 
 made with a horizontal roller, similar to that of a spinning 
 
230 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 frame, but they carry on this roller two upper rollers, which 
 are supported in such a way that when an end breaks, and 
 the trapper rises, the stands which carry them fall forward, 
 away from the low roller, so that no friction with it remains, 
 and they come to a standstill (see Figs. 86 and 87). 
 
 4. The trapper, T, is a guide placed exactly over the 
 spindle, to form a centre from which the thread can swing 
 freely round the cap or ring, and so arranged that if the 
 strain on the yarn is removed, from any reason, the trapper 
 will rise and stop the roller. 
 
 5. The spindles S, either cap, ring, or flyer, 'are on exactly 
 the same principles as those described for spinning, but 
 they are larger dimensions in order that bobbins of larger 
 size, to hold as much as four ounces, may be used, and run 
 at high speeds. 
 
 No. 1. The pegs A, from which the yarn runs, are quite 
 simple, often of unturned iron placed nearly vertical, and of 
 such diameter that the bobbins can easily run round on the 
 conical washers at their bases. For the very large majority 
 of counts and qualities, this arrangement is amply good 
 enough, but there are exceptional qualities for which this 
 system will not do at all. 
 
 Hosiery qualities and other very soft yarns sometimes 
 contain so little twist that they cannot drag the bobbins 
 round, in spite of the very slight friction of the pegs, and 
 one or two courses must be adopted. Either a sleeve, such 
 as that described on p. ] G9 in the chapter on Spinning, must 
 be employed, so that the bobbin may rotate without friction ; 
 or a rod must be run along the whole length of the frame, 
 exactly over the pegs, and the yarn must be carried from the 
 spools over this rod, so that it may slip over the noses of the 
 
TWISTING 
 
 231 
 
 bobbins without making them rotate. The former is the more 
 costly but the better plan, because there is very little likelihood 
 of the yarn running off too fast, whereas if new yarn is run 
 over the bobbin nose, it is always apt to come off too fast 
 and to curl up into snarls, which are certain to make bad 
 places in the piece. On the other hand. 
 
 Very hard twisted yarns may require more drag than can 
 be obtained with pegs and cones, because in crepon and other 
 hard twisted kinds of yarns, the ends will run into snarls, 
 unless they are kept under definite tension, and cases arise 
 in which some method of washer drag must be adapted to 
 the bobbins, so that there can never be any slack yarn between 
 them and the rollers. 
 
 No. 2. The absence of pressing rollers makes the wear and 
 tear of the leather covering of the vertical rollers very slight. 
 Nicking is therefore impossible, and the regular traversing 
 of the end is of much less importance than in spinning, because 
 very little damage can result if the traverse motion gets out 
 of gear ; but in this, as in all other cases, some traverse motion 
 which gives an equal speed at all points should be used. 
 
 No. 3. Twist-frame rollers. — The use of vertical instead of 
 horizontal rollers makes it necessary to have a separate roller 
 for each spindle, and because every roller must stop and 
 start independently of the others, each of them must be 
 driven separately in such a way that all will move at exactly 
 the same speed all the time the trappers are down and the 
 rollers are revolving. 
 
 It is probable that the first machine twisting was done on 
 spinning frames, using only the front rollers ; but it was soon 
 found that a great deal of unnecessary waste was made when- 
 ever an end broke down, because there was no automatic 
 
232 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 motion to stop the roller running ; in fact, it was impossible 
 to stop the rollers at all, either to save waste or to tie a 
 broken end, and for that reason all kinds of expedients had 
 to be adopted in practice which tended to inferior work and 
 bad knots. It was soon discovered that it would pay well 
 to have special machinery, in which each roller and spindle 
 could be stopped at pleasure. In the very earliest type of 
 twisting frame there was no special shaft to drive the upright 
 rollers, but each was driven by a band from a slow moving 
 cylinder, placed above the cylinder which drives the spindles. 
 Each roller carried one or more pegs, and when an end broke 
 down the inner end of the trapper fell against one of the pegs 
 and so prevented the roller from rotatino-. 
 
 In a second type of twist-frame trap rollers, a shaft was 
 carried along each side, directly under the row of rollers, 
 and the shaft of each roller was driven 
 by a little pair of bevel wheels B B all 
 the time the frame was running (see 
 Fig. 83), The roller itself R carried pegs 
 P, as in the first type, but R was loose 
 on the shaft, and had a square bottom 
 F which rested on the broad flange or 
 washer W, which was fastened to the 
 upright shaft. Naturally the friction 
 between the flange and the heavy iron 
 roller drove the latter round until the 
 pegs were stopped by the trapper T, 
 on the breaking of an end. When the 
 roller stopped there was naturally a 
 great waste of power in friction, between the two surfaces 
 of the rotating washer W and the stationary friction plate F. 
 
 Fig. 83. 
 
TWISTING 233 
 
 Both these systems have two serious drawbacks. In the 
 Urst type the bands may get slack, so that the rollers will 
 revolve at less than full speed ; and in the second the washers 
 may get greasy, with the same result. This will, of course, 
 cause soft and irregular twist. The most serious drawback 
 to both these types is the great increase of power needed to 
 drive such a frame when the rollers are standing. Their 
 method of construction made it necessary that the fewer 
 spindles there were running, the greater is the amount of 
 friction going on, with proportionately greater cost of driving 
 the frame ; whereas things ought to be exactly the other way 
 round. Stopping rollers ought to save power, and the most 
 modern, positively driven rollers are all designed with this 
 end in view. 
 
 The trapper and the upright roller are so intimately con- 
 nected, that it is almost impossible to describe them apart, but 
 when the roller is revolving it ought to have nothing what- 
 ever to do with the mechanism which stops it, although, for 
 the sake of calculation, it should be considered as a portion of 
 the machine in positive connection with the rest of the frame, 
 by means of screw and wheel gearing. 
 
 Positively Driven Rollers.— There are several different types 
 of rollers which fall quite out of gear when the trappers 
 are not down, and the two which are here described may be 
 taken as typical, because no amount of friction can stop the 
 rollers when they are in gear ; yet when they are not running, 
 the whole mechanism is so completely separated from its 
 driving gear, that less power is needed to drive the frame with 
 the rollers standing than when they are running. This is a 
 great contrast to the old friction-driven roller. 
 
 Compared with the simplicity of the old type of roller, 
 
234 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 all the modern ones appear complex. They are, however, 
 much simpler in work than a description would indicate. In 
 Fig. 84 the trapper consists of a lever T in two parts, hinged 
 at A, and so balanced that when no end is running, the twizzle 
 rises and the inner end falls. This inner end is also hinged, 
 so that the portion nearest to the roller can swing sideways 
 when it falls against the rotating peg D in the upright roller 
 shaft. When it is thus pushed to one side, it moves the hinged 
 
 Fig. 84. 
 
 support B from under the bent lever L, and the whole roller, 
 with its frame and wheel, then swing on the pivot P, because 
 the centre of gravity of the roller is forward of this support, 
 and whilst the roller R comes half an inch forward, the lower 
 part of the hanger and the wheel W swing backwards, clear 
 of the screw-worm S, which drives it when in gear. 
 
 The small movable parts of this motion are so cleverly 
 arranged that all of them resume their proper positions 
 
TWISTING 
 
 235 
 
 automatically, directly the trapper goes down, and the roller 
 is once more in an upright position. 
 
 To show how possible it is to attain a similar end by two 
 entirely different mechanical devices, the reader cannot do 
 better than examine the motion shown in Fig. 85. In its 
 simplicity, and in many of its arrangements, it resembles the 
 old-fashioned type of roller, driven as it is by a simple pair of 
 
 Fig. 85. 
 
 bevel wheels (B B). In Fig. 85 the bearings are not shown, 
 but an upright shaft runs up to the roller R, as in Fig. 83. 
 Here the resemblance ends, for, instead of the broad surface 
 of the friction plate, the only frictional contact between the 
 roller R and the bevel wheel B is that against the small 
 collar below the trigger-plate P. The friction between these 
 two portions is too small to cause the roller to revolve against 
 the slightest drag, but when the trapper- end is up, a positive 
 
236 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 drive is obtained through the trigger which falls into the 
 ratchet wheel F. 
 
 This bell-crank shaped trigger is pivoted on the plate P, 
 in such a way that when the inner end of the trapper falls, 
 the rotation of the roller and the plate bring the upper end 
 of the trigger against the trapper, forcing the trigger back, 
 and thereby lifting its catch-end out of the teeth of the 
 ratchet wheel. 
 
 These two modern motions, when compared, offer so many 
 points of contrast that they form an excellent illustration of 
 the possibility of great structural diversity in similar 
 machines. 
 
 If the various adjustments are automatic in any type of 
 trap motion, its efficiency may be judged by noting — 
 
 1. The efficiency of the positive method by which the 
 roller is caused to rotate. 
 
 2. The amount of friction removed from the total needed 
 to drive the frame, on the stoppage of each separate roller on 
 the breaking of an end. 
 
 3. By the simplicity or otherwise of the trap motion and 
 its parts. 
 
 4. By the rapidity with which the roller stops on the 
 breakage of an end. 
 
 Three- and Four-fold Twisters. — Before going further into 
 the question of folding, it is essential that the reader should 
 understand why a twofold end invariably breaks down, if 
 one of its strands gives way or runs out, whereas it does not 
 follow that a trapper will rise, or the end cease running on 
 to the bobbin, even if three ends out of a five-fold yarn should 
 give way. 
 
 Except for a few very special purposes, yarn is invariably 
 
TWISTING 
 
 237 
 
 twisted in the reverse direction to that in which it is spun. 
 When two ends are thus being twisted together, their relation 
 to one another prevents the escape of the twist put in, in the 
 spinning process ; but as soon as one of them is removed, the 
 twist-frame simply takes out the twist of the remaining single 
 thread, and the moment all the twist is gone, the drag which 
 is caused by the size of the cap, pulls the fibres apart. 
 
 In three or more folds yarn things are entirely different. 
 So long as there are two threads left to run together on to 
 the bobbin, the reversed twist binds them together, and makes 
 them stronger than they were as two separate single threads. 
 Unless the trapper is very delicately balanced, the loss of 
 the weight of one or two strands will not cause the trapper 
 to rise, and the frame will continue to turn out three-, instead 
 of five-fold yarn, until the absence of the broken ends is 
 detected by the operative. 
 
 For this reason frames for trapping three or more fold 
 yarn must be made on an entirely different principle, with 
 detectors behind the rollers, so arranged that the breakage of 
 one end in any group will allow a detector to fall and stop 
 the roller. This alteration introduces a whole series of causes 
 and effects which have altered the nature of the frame. 
 The reasons for only a few of the more obvious changes should 
 be carefully noted. 
 
 1. Failure of a front trapper to rise on the breakage of 
 one strand of a three- or four-fold yarn makes trapping 
 behind the rollers absolutely necessary. 
 
 2. Trapping behind the rollers makes it possible to tie 
 all knots in the single strands behind the roller, instead of 
 breaking down all the ends at once, and tying bunch knots, 
 as in ordinary two-fold work. Every one knows that four 
 
238 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 small single knots in a four-fold yam will cause infinitely less 
 damage in a piece, than one bunch knot of the same yarn in 
 the same piece. 
 
 3. But if the rollers should stop automatically until a 
 knot is tied, whilst the spindle continued running, the yarn 
 
 Figs. 86 and 87. 
 
 between the spindle and the roller would be twisted far too 
 hard, before the new end was tied in, and therefore — 
 
 4. The spindle must be stopped automatically, or else 
 faulty yarn will go forward. 
 
 5. But if anything of the nature of a brake were used to 
 
TWISTING 239 
 
 stop the spindles, all the bands would be rubbing over the 
 standing whorles whenever the frame was running with only 
 a few spindles in work, and this would create a terrible 
 amount of friction and a waste of power in proportion to the 
 number of spindles standing. 
 
 6. To save this waste of power, and the terrible wear and 
 tear on the bands and whorles, it is found necessary to 
 " throw off " the bands whenever a spindle stopped ; and in 
 the type illustrated in Figs. 86 and 87, the cylinder shaft, 
 the low front roller, and the lifter are practically the only 
 things which are running in a four-fold trap twister, which 
 has no yarn in it. 
 
 A type of roller often adopted for this purpose is exactly 
 like the low roller in a spinning frame, but instead of having 
 leather-covered upper rollers pressed tightly against it, each 
 boss on the low roller R supports two iron rollers U, round 
 which the yarn travels and by which it is held. So long as 
 all the threads are perfect, this position is maintained, but 
 directly one end breaks, behind the roller, a detector D drops 
 into such a position that it is caught by a wiper W, which 
 loosens a catch C, and allows the roller-frame F to fall for- 
 ward until both the upper rollers are out of contact with the 
 lower one, R (Fig. 86). In this position they can only be 
 stationary, because there is nothing to drive them, so the 
 yarn is no longer paid out. At the same moment that they 
 come to rest, a lever L, attached to the lower end of the 
 roller frame, moves the driving band from the fast to the 
 stationary pulley on the cylinder, and stops the spindle 
 as well. 
 
 In this type of frame, just as in a two-fold twister, the 
 trapper rises, if the yaru breaks between the rollers and the 
 
240 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 bobbin ; but its action is different. When the front end of 
 the trapper rises, the hinged portion of its inner end falls 
 upon the wings of the rotating wiper W, and is thereby lifted 
 in such a way that it disengages the catch, and lets the upper 
 rollers U fall forward out of contact with the low roller R, in 
 exactly the same way as would be the case if a single thread 
 had broken behind the rollers, and allowed a detector to drop. 
 The rollers then stop at once, and they also stop paying out 
 yarn or making waste. 
 
 The whole thing takes place so instantaneously that it is 
 difficult to believe that so many parts are involved ; and 
 when the frame is running at a normal speed, it stops so 
 quickly after an end has run from one of the bobbins, that 
 sufficient length of thread is left behind the roller to tie a 
 new end to it. 
 
 Spindle Brakes. — In ordinary two-fold twisters with ver- 
 tical rollers, we have already seen that if one end runs out, 
 the other is absolutely certain to break down, and therefore 
 there is much less need for automatic stopping of the spindle, 
 because no waste is going on, and the girl can easily stop the 
 spindle by hand to pick up the thread prior to tying in a new 
 pair of ends. If the spindle could be allowed to run again 
 directly the end had been put through the eye of the trapper, 
 there would be no need for anything to assist the fingers in 
 stopping the spindle ; but if the spindle is allowed to run 
 whilst the knot is being tied, before the roller begins to 
 deliver yarn again, it is clear that all the yarn between the 
 roller and the spindle would receive too much twist. For 
 instance, if the spindles were running 6000 revolutions, and 
 the whole operation of tying a knot took only 10 seconds, 
 the 20 in. or less of yarn between the spindle and the roller 
 
TWISTING 
 
 241 
 
 would receive 1000 turns, or 50 turns per inch too much 
 twist. This would, of course, ruin any yarn, and all spindles 
 ijiust therefore be stopped whilst a knot is tied. 
 
 Only a few years ago it was the general practice to make 
 twist-frame tubes with a large flange nearly 3 in. in diameter, 
 so that the edge of the flange projected beyond the bobbin 
 head, and was in a position convenient for the operative to 
 press her knee against it, whenever she desired to have the 
 spindle standing. Unfortunately the continual rise and fall 
 of the lifter made the pressure so irregular, that the spindle 
 would often revolve slowly for at least part of the time 
 
 STOPPED. RUNNING. RUNNING. 
 
 Fig. 88. 
 
 STOPPED. 
 
 during which it ought to have been stationary, and as a con- 
 sequence, pieces of hard twisted yarn often occurred in the 
 neighbourhood of knots. 
 
 Hand-brakes of many kinds were tried by various users 
 to remedy this defect with varying success ; some of them 
 being complicated and patented, whilst others were very 
 simple and only used by their designers. 
 
 The first really efiicient mechanism for this purpose was 
 known as Garnett's, and practically its only drawback was 
 its cost, for it is one of the very few brakes which reduce the 
 friction when the spindle is standing (see Fig. 88). It is 
 especially suitable for spindles driven with tapes and tension 
 
 R 
 
242 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 puUej^s. Near to each spindle a whorle, W, stands, free to 
 rotate with little or no friction on a pin which is held vertical 
 in a plate P, also centred on or near the spindle centre. Wheft 
 the spindle is running, the whorle is behind the spindle or 
 within the tape (see Fig. 88), but as soon as it moves forward 
 by a small handle on the plate, it carries the tape clear of the 
 spindle whorle and at the same time presses a pad, not shown 
 in the figure, against the tube to stop its rotation. As the 
 whorle is light and easily driven, it absorbs less power than 
 the spindle, and can easily be applied to almost any type of 
 frame, but unfortunately few people thought it worth while 
 
 SPINDLES STOPPED. SPINDLES RUNNINa 
 
 Fig. 89. 
 
 to pay the price necessary for a device which required such 
 careful workmanship, and consequently it never came into 
 general use. 
 
 A patent of a simpler, but very similar kind is now made 
 by Prince Smith & Son (see Fig. 89). It can be slipped over 
 the spindle like a washer, and when it is in place, with the 
 spindle running, a curved piece of metal takes the place of 
 the whorle in Garnett's patent, and slips in between the tape 
 and the spindle whorle on the movement of the trigger on 
 the disc D. The curved plate is so hinged that the tape 
 presses it like a brake against the whorle, which is instantly 
 
TWISTING 243 
 
 stopped; the plate absorbing the whole of the friction of the 
 tape. Its one drawback is extra wear and tear on the tape, 
 and increased absorption of power when spindles are standing ; 
 but as spindles are very seldom kept standing in frames 
 of the type for which it is designed, the objection is more 
 theoretical than real. 
 
 Probably the best brake for general purposes is one hinged 
 in front of the spindle] rail, or lifter rail, in such a way that 
 the operative can hold it to 
 one side with her knee. 
 Each lever KL controls two 
 spindles, hanging idly be- 
 tween them when at rest, 
 and so pivoted, that when 
 pressed to the right it stops 
 the spindle on its left and 
 vice versa (see Fig. 90). It 
 is less effective than the last- 
 named type because the mo- 
 ment pressure is relaxed the 
 spindle will begin to rotate, Fig. 90. 
 
 but it will do very effective work, and the position of the 
 lever, or knee plate, makes it very easy for the operative to 
 use, especially in ring or fly frames where the whorles and 
 brakes are always stationary. 
 
 For spindles and their theories, see Chapter III. 
 
 For methods of spindle drive, see the end of previous 
 chapter. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 
 
 Although the structure of a yarn is completed in the 
 twisting process, it often happens that it is there put on to 
 bobbins which are not suitable to be sent from one factory to 
 another ; and processes are therefore introduced after twisting, 
 to put the yarn into such a form that — 
 
 1. It can be packed into small space with little cost. 
 
 2. There is as little superfluous tare as possible. 
 
 3. In a form from which the weaver can use it with the 
 least possible expense. 
 
 Yarns may be delivered in nine different forms. 
 
 1. Fine single yarn is usually put on to spools, or single- 
 headed bobbins measuring 1^ X 4f in., whilst thicker counts 
 are put on to similar spools of larger size (see Appendix C). 
 
 2. Paper tubes are used for the same classes of yarn, 
 which are likely to go abroad, or to any place to which 
 carriage is expensive. 
 
 3. Twofold yarns may likewise be twisted direct on to 
 
 large spools. 
 
 4. Or on to paper tubes. 
 
 5. Yarn for export, or for dyeing, is usually twisted on to 
 large double-headed bobbins, and reeled from them on to 
 swifts li or 2 yds. circumference, into hanks of 560 yds. 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 245 
 
 These hanks are packed into tight bundles, usually weighing 
 10 lb. each. 
 
 6. Warp yarn is also delivered on large bobbins 5 x 4^ in., 
 to firms who make their own warps ; but as these large and 
 heavy bobbins break very easily, it is now more usual to 
 deliver yarn for this purpose on— 
 
 7. Cheeses, or barrels, which are really balls of yarn, 
 often 5 in. long by 4 in. or more in diameter, weighing about 
 1 lb. They are built in such a way that they will not fall to 
 pieces, and they are very much used for export, because the 
 paper tubes on which they are wound, form so small a 
 percentage of the total weight, that they add practically 
 nothing to the price per pound of yarn or to the cost of 
 carriap-e. 
 
 8. All those who have any knowledge of weaving will be 
 aware that it is necessary to have a large number of threads 
 arranged side by side to form the warp, into whicli the weft 
 is to be interlaced. Through force of circumstances it has 
 come about that this process of arranging the threads side by 
 side is regarded as the duty of the spinner. Such a series of 
 threads form one warp and may contain, let us say, 2800 
 ends, each 250 yds. long. This would make five pieces of 
 cloth, each requiring 50 yds. of warp, and if the counts are 
 2/50' such a warp would weigh 50 lb. 
 
 This number of threads may be delivered either in a large 
 ball or on a beam. In the first case they would be wound in 
 groups of 200 at a time on to a swift or mill 15 yds. in 
 diameter, from which they would again be wound, into a ball, 
 when the full number of ends was complete. 
 
 9. They might be beamed at one operation, by means of 
 any of the various types of warping mills which are now in 
 
246 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 use, and this would save the cost of beaming and dressing to 
 the weaver. This process is therefore of mutual advantage 
 to the weaver and the spinner, because the latter can put the 
 warp on to beam, with modern machinery, quite as cheaply 
 as he can make it into balls, under the old-fashioned plan. 
 
 As none of these nine processes involves any alteration in 
 the relation of the fibres within a thread, either as to lateral 
 position or to twist, very few principles are involved in any 
 of them, and there is comparatively little opportunity for 
 causing damage. They may, therefore, be dismissed with 
 briefer notice than would otherwise be necessary. 
 
 Under heads 1, 2, 3, and 4 no further descriptions are 
 necessary, because the winding on to spools, tubes, or cops 
 takes place on the spinning and twisting frames re- 
 spectively. 
 
 No. 5. Reeling. — Both single and twofold yarns are very 
 often delivered in hanks. Single yarns are generally made 
 into hanks of 1 yd. circumference, whilst twofold yarns 
 may be used equally well from either l\ or 2 yds. hanks. 
 For ease of calculation, the hanks are nearly always reeled to 
 a length of 560 yds., which is the standard unit of length, on 
 which all English counts are based. When a spinner accepts 
 an order in hank, he is responsible for delivering correct 
 length as well as correct weight in every hank, and 
 means must therefore be adopted, to insure that successive 
 wraps of yarn are spread uniformly over the surface of the 
 reel and not heaped up into ridges, of which the outer 
 layers would be longer than the inner. For this purpose 
 it is necessary that the yarn should traverse across the face 
 of the reel, and two entirely different methods have been 
 adopted for this purpose. Clearly the narrower the hank can 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 247 
 
 be wound on the swift, the more threads will each machine 
 wind at one time, and the more weight will it turn out. 
 Therefore the pitch of the frame is usually not more than 
 4 in. If the hanks were allowed to touch one another on 
 the reel they would get inextricably entangled, and therefore 
 a space must always be left between them ; this limits the 
 traverse to about 3 in., and the pitch of the frame to about 
 3^ in. 
 
 Lea Eeeling. — The usual method of dividing each hank 
 into leas, seems to be a curious relic of hand-winding days, 
 when the only method of obtaining a traverse was to lift the 
 thread from one guide to another. In modern reels the process 
 is, of course, automatic, and though it would be easier to make 
 a slow and steady traverse motion, the intermittent one is 
 preferred, because in tying up the loose threads of the hank 
 it is customary to interlace the lease band, so that each lea 
 of 80 yds. is separated from its neighbours. The whole 
 hank is therefore much less likely to get entangled in the 
 process of dyeing. In the worsted trade this method was 
 at one time almost universal, but some years ago cross reeling 
 became much more general. 
 
 Cross Beeling. — In cross-reeled hanks the guide is made to 
 traverse quickly to and fro, making about one traverse for 
 every three-quarter revolution of the reel, so that each successive 
 thread of yarn must cross the one laid on before it. No two 
 threads lie parallel, and there is less fear of their getting 
 entangled. The traverse motion is so simple that it does not 
 receive the attention it deserves. The speed at various parts 
 is certainly not very important, but this is not a very good 
 excuse for the frequent use of eccentrics for the purpose ; and 
 the extra thickness of the edges of a hank, as it lies on the 
 
248 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 reel, is a clear proof of the statement made when dealing with 
 other traverse motions (see Chapter VIII.). 
 
 In this process as in almost every other, cost is regulated 
 directly by output or speed ; and as the speed at which a reel 
 can be run depends solely on the speed at which the yarn can 
 be unwound from the bobbins, the spindles on which the 
 bobbins stand are one of the most important parts of the 
 machine. The one object of all spindles from which bobbins 
 are unwound, should be to keep a gentle and uniform tension 
 on the yarn as it leaves them ; for if at any time the tension 
 should vary for any reason, the speed of the bobbins will 
 become irregular, so that at times they will overrun the swift, 
 turning out more yarn than is wanted, and then stopping or 
 moving at a very much reduced speed. As they slacken down, 
 or stop, the swift overtakes them, and they then have to start 
 again with a violent jerk which strains the yarn much more 
 than a considerable tension, steadily applied. 
 
 Probably the best way to obtain steadiness is to use 
 some well-made spindle revolving smoothly in bearings so 
 shaped that the bobbin will have sufficient friction on it to 
 cause both bobbin and spindle to rotate together. Means 
 could then easily be adopted, to apply the right amount of 
 tension, but when stationary pegs are used, conical steel 
 washers with cloth washers on the top of them may possibly 
 give satisfaction. 
 
 Most reels are so constructed that when 560 yds., or 
 other desired length, has been reeled, the machine will stop 
 automatically, or will ring a bell so that the reeler may stop 
 it. The swift will now be covered by a certain number of 
 hanks, all containing the desired length, very tightly stretched 
 over its arms. The reeler's first duty is to tie both the 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 249 
 
 loose ends of every hank to a lease band, which may separate 
 every lea in a straight-wound hank, or simply encircle the 
 hank at any one place, if it be cross-wound. This leasing 
 makes it easy for the user to find the right end to unwind, 
 when the time comes to wind the yarn on to bobbins for use, 
 and if the lease band is of a different colour or material to the 
 material of the hank, it will always be easier to see and to 
 remove. 
 
 It now only remains to take the yarn from the reel, and 
 the first movement necessary is to slacken the tension by one 
 of several methods. The oldest reels had one wing hinged so 
 
 Fw. 91. 
 
 that it could be collapsed (see Fig. 91), reducing the total 
 circumference of a 54-in. reel to about 50 in., and making 
 it easy to slide the yarn along to the end from which it could 
 be taken off. In more modern reels, all the wings collapse 
 together, still further reducing the size (see Fig. 92), and 
 there are other more complicated ways of attaining the 
 same end. 
 
 There have also been many patents for taking the hanks 
 from the spindles without touching the shaft by hand, but in 
 one of the most recent types of machine a simple method has 
 been evolved by which the hanks can be removed in a way 
 
2 so PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 which strongly resembles the old-fashioned method, but 
 without any need for the reeler to lift the shaft from the 
 bearing as in the old-fashioned type. 
 
 As many hanks as will weigh four ounces are next twisted 
 up together, in a way too well known to need description, and 
 forty of these are then put into a press and tied, under pres- 
 sure, into a 10-lb. bundle which only measures 8 x 10 x 12 
 in. or less. 
 
 Fig. 92. 
 
 Winding. — Yarn which is wanted for warping is often 
 wound from twist bobbins on to warping bobbins of 5 in. 
 traverse by about 4 in. diameter. Five, six, or seven twist 
 bobbins are put on to one warping bobbin, each being carefully 
 knotted to the one before it, so that when they are in the 
 warping creel, the bobbins will run for a long time without 
 coming out. By this means the time of the warper is 
 economized, and the warping mill can turn out more and 
 better work. 
 
 Old-fashioned winding frames consisted of two long rows 
 of upright spindles, one of them driven at a uniform speed. 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 251 
 
 the other free to rotate ; the driven spindles carried warping 
 bobbins on to which the yarn was to be wound, whilst twist 
 bobbins stood on the other row, free to rotate. The speed of 
 such a frame is limited only by the speed at which the bobbins 
 can revolve steadily, because the drag increases as they increase 
 in speed. Let us say that 2000 revolutions per minute will 
 be satisfactory. The difficulty is that the take up of the warp 
 bobbins is very variable, and if they run 2000 revolutions when 
 they are empty and the twist bobbins are 2 in. in diameter, 
 the latter will only be revolving 1000 revolutions ; but when 
 all the yarn is transferred to the warp bobbin, it will be 2 m. 
 in diameter and the twist bobbin only 1 in., and the latter 
 will therefore be going at 4000 revolutions per minute. When 
 a new bobbin is tied in, the twist bobbin and the warping 
 bobbin will both be one size and the speed of both will be 
 2000 revolutions ; but before this second twist bobbin is empty 
 it will be about two-fifths of the diameter of the warping 
 bobbin and will be revolving 5000 revolutions per minute; 
 and lastly, when the warp bobbin is full and the last twist 
 bobbin is empty, their diameters will be as four to one, and 
 the speed of the twist bobbin 8000 revolutions. 
 
 It will be safe to say that the strains on the yarn are not 
 in exact proportion to the speeds, but it is pretty certain that 
 if the strain at 2000 revolutions is as much as the yarn will 
 stand, there would be at least four times too much tension 
 when a speed of 8000 is reached. If, on the other hand, we 
 set the frame so that 2000 is the speed of the twust bobbin 
 when the warp bobbin is full, the frame will only do full work 
 for a very short part of each doffing ; the output would be 
 less than half the full amount for a large part of the time, and 
 at the beginning, the yarn would be travelling at less than 
 
252 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 one-fourth the proper speed, so that the total output of the 
 frame would be a long way under the real maximum. 
 
 These figures are insisted on, not because of the importance 
 of the machine they illustrate, but because the same principle 
 is in force more or less whenever bobbins of any kind are 
 unwound at high speeds. 
 
 Brmn Frnf^m^/.— Nowadays, warping bobbins are almost 
 invariably wound on a drum-winder, so that the amount of 
 yarn moved per minute' is always exactly the same, and the 
 only alteration of drag will be caused by the acceleration 
 of the bobbin from which the yarn is being wound. As 
 the bobbin empties, the drag will also increase slightly, 
 because, although the weight of the yarn diminishes in pro- 
 portion to its diameter, the weight of the bobbin itself 
 remains constant, and has to be moved at an ever-accelerating 
 speed as the yarn decreases in diameter. 
 
 The machine so strongly resembles the one shown in 
 section on Fig. 94, as to need no description, but for reasons 
 explained in Chapter VIII., the traverse motion must have 
 a constant speed, if the layers of yarn on the bobbins are all 
 to be parallel to the barrel. 
 
 If the foregoing reasons have conveyed the desired mean- 
 ing to the reader, he will understand that the strain on the 
 yarn which is being wound from any bobbin or ball, can only 
 be kept uniform if every alteration of its diameter is accom- 
 panied by corresponding alteration in weight. 
 
 Cross Winding.— of course, can never happen if 
 bobbins are used, but the substitution of balls wound without 
 side supports really solved the problem, for they may be better 
 described as bobbins without ends. The tubes on to which 
 the yarn is wound are so light that their weight has no 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 253 
 
 calculable effect on the yarn, and the drag in winding from 
 them, will always be constant, unless it should happen that 
 their reduced weight on small diameters causes so much less 
 friction on the bearings, that the strain is still further reduced. 
 
 There are two ways of building cheeses or cross-wound 
 balls, both o£ which give similar results, when only one thread 
 is wound on to each cheese ; but for several purposes it is 
 found useful to wind two, three, or more ends, side by side, 
 on to the same cheese, and for this purpose the machine de- 
 
 SIDE ELEVATION. SECTION. 
 
 Fig. 93. — Quick traverse drum winder. 
 
 scribed second is much the better, because it has an automatic 
 motion which stops the cheese, if any one of the threads going 
 on to it should break down. 
 
 Sjylit-drum Winder. — In the machine which is known 
 by this name, made by Whiteley's of Huddersfield, the end is 
 not moved backwards and forwards by any traverse motion, 
 but each drum has a diagonal slit running right round it, or, 
 more correctly, right through it ; for the drum is really split 
 to its centre, so that the thread running up from the hank or 
 
254 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 bobbin enters at the bottom, and, passing close to the shaft 
 emerges on the other side of the drum at the point where 
 the cheese is rotating as it rests on its upper circumference. 
 
 As is shown in Fig. 94, the slit traverses from side to 
 side of the drum in half a revolution, completing the double 
 traverse as the drum completes one turn; and as the cheese 
 is driven from the drum by friction, the take-up of yarn 
 must continue the same as the surface traverse of the drum, 
 no matter whether the diameter of the cheese is 1 in. or 4 in. 
 This gives a uniform take-up and tension, together with a 
 traverse motion so smooth that, like the ordinary drum- 
 winder, the speed is only limited by the rate at which the 
 yarn will come from the hanks or bobbins being wound. For 
 this reason the machine is without a competitor for strong 
 yarns, which can be run at high speeds, because — 
 
 1. The traverse motion of the slit across the face of the 
 cheese is of equal speed at every point. 
 
 2. There is no dwell at either end of the stroke. 
 
 3. And as there is no mechanism needed to move the yarn 
 backwards and forwards, there is no reciprocating motion or 
 traverse rod to jerk and vibrate. 
 
 With drums 12 in. in diameter running at 200 revolutions 
 per minute, each drum would wind 630 ft. per minute, and 
 in that time the yarn would have moved 400 times across 
 the face of the cheese, laying the yarn at an angle of 15 degrees 
 to the circumference, and so binding the various threads 
 together that a compact and cohesive ball is the result. In 
 winding from hanks which have been at all matted in dyeing, 
 this pace would probably be so high as to break the yarn ; 
 but, on the other hand, good warp sorts which were only 
 being wound for warping could be run at a great deal higher 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 255 
 
 speed, and it is for this purpose that the frame is pre-eminently 
 suitable. 
 
 It should, perhaps, be pointed out here that verj^ high- 
 speed machines do not reduce cost of production in proportion 
 to their speed, because it is impossible for a girl to look after 
 as many spindles, which are winding 1200 ft. per minute, as 
 it would be if they were running at only half that speed. 
 In fact, if the work is to be well looked after, the cost of 
 wages in both cases will be about the same, but the high- 
 speed machine will naturally save floor space, and it may do 
 more work in proportion to the power absorbed. 
 
 Quick Traverse Winding Frames— K we take 15 degrees 
 as the lowest angle which will bind the yarn into a ball 
 which will stand packing and handling, it is clear that the 
 relation of output to traverse must be the same for all frames 
 which are building cheeses, because, for every 38 in. of yarn 
 wound, the thread must be taken twice across the face of the 
 5-in. cheese, and this necessarily means that some traverse 
 motion and bar must move a series of guides, one for each 
 cheese, backwards and forwards once in that time. For yarn 
 which would wind at 1200 ft. per minute, it is obvious that 
 the bar would have to move at a speed of 170 ft. per minute, 
 and reverse its motion instantaneously 400 times in doing 
 so. ■ As yet no motion has been found which will stand this 
 strain for any length of time, and most quick-traverse 
 machines cannot compete, where speed alone is a desideratum, 
 but there are several of them which do' good work at more 
 than half that speed; with the additional advantage that 
 four parallel ends may be wound together on to the same 
 cheese, being so arranged to run through detectors, that all 
 of them stop at once, if any one of them breaks down. 
 
256 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Where three- or four-fold yarns are required with very 
 little twist, practical men know that it is almost impossible 
 for any girl to "mind" more than a very few twisting 
 spindles efficiently, if she is twisting from spinning spools ; 
 thus the output of a twist frame is greatly less than calcu- 
 lation, and money is lost; but if the same yarns are first 
 wound parallel on to cheeses and sent to the twist frame in 
 that condition, there is no possibility of one end breaking 
 whilst the others run, and there is no artificial limit to the 
 speed at which the work may be turned out. All winding is 
 an illustration of the fact that the introduction of an extra 
 process may actually save money, and in this particular way 
 the development of winding has not yet reached perfection. 
 
 From what has been said, it is easy to see that the 
 efficiency of a quick-traverse machine depends on the speed 
 at which the whole series of guides can be moved, and this 
 in its turn depends directly on — 
 
 1. The nature of the cam, or other motion, used to obtain 
 a rapid stroke and instant reversal, without jerk or vibration. 
 
 2. The weight of the traverse bar and moving parts. 
 
 3. The nature of the guides; for it must be possible to 
 thread them without stopping the frames. 
 
 In all these respects the machine made by Arundel & Co. 
 is wonderfully efficient, and is here taken as an illustration. 
 
 In all slow-moving heart motions, cams are only used to 
 move a bar or bowl in one direction, the weight of the rods 
 moved, or springs, being used to give motion in the reverse 
 direction ; but when the speed is very high, as in the present 
 case, a heart would literally throw any bowl from its point, 
 and cause vibration which no machine could possibly stand, 
 and therefore a double-action cam is necessary, which makes 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 257 
 
 both up and down motions positive, and prevents all possi- 
 bility of a jump or jerk at the turn. In the motion adopted, 
 a cam is used, which gives a lift, not at right angles to, but 
 parallel with its axis. It is a cylinder cut off obliquely, in 
 such a way that for each 30 degrees which it revolves, its 
 working edge approaches a certain distance nearer to its line 
 of true circumference, until it has completed half a revolution. 
 Then the motion is exactly reversed. Against this cam two 
 bowls are continually pressed at 
 points on its circumference diame- 
 trically opposite to one another, 
 so that when one is farthest 
 forward the other is farthest 
 back. The bowls are fastened 
 to a rocking bar which is hinged 
 in the same plane as the axis of 
 the cam, and as both of them 
 are held tightly against the face 
 of the cam, it is impossible for 
 one of them to jump at the top 
 
 of the stroke, and as they actu- ^^'S~IIIIZ2I'Sy 
 
 ally run in oil, a remarkably 
 
 . Ftg. 94. 
 
 smooth motion is obtained even 
 
 when the machine is reversing 400 times a minute (see 
 Fig. 94). 
 
 The motion has also the great advantage that cheeses of 
 any length can be made on the same frame by a very simple 
 adjustment. For instance, if the distance from A to C is 4 in, 
 and the pick of the cam 2^ in., it is clear that a point D on 
 the rod, 8 in. from the centre A will move 5 in., and other 
 points between D and C will move 4 in. and 3 in, respectively ; 
 
 s 
 
258 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 so that if it is desired to make a 5-in. cheese, it is only necessary 
 to attach the rod connecting the traverse bar to the point D, 
 •whilst for 4-in, and 3-in. cheeses, connection must be made 
 nearer to the centre A. In this machine it is also possible to 
 alter the ratio of speed to traverse, by changing the wheels 
 vfhich drive the cam ; and as the yarn guides pick up the 
 threads automatically, as soon as the cheese begins to run, 
 everything is provided for doing cheap and efficient work. 
 
 8. Warping is a very simple process for laying side by side 
 any number of ends of equal length, either on a beam ready to 
 be put into the loom, or in a ball or chain, from which tlfey 
 can easily be run through a reed on to such a beam. In 
 addition to being laid side by side, every end must be leased, 
 or so separated from its next neighbour, that each end in turn 
 can not only be selected separately for " twisting in," but can 
 be selected exactly in the order in which it came when it was 
 put on to the mill. 
 
 Probably the ultimate object and reason for leasing are 
 less understood than any process of equal simplicity in the 
 trade, and this may be due to the apparently complex arrange- 
 ment of the threads on the leasing pegs of an upright warping 
 mill. The only way for a student to get over this idea of 
 complexity, is to learn to warp by hand, and to beam, to dress, 
 and to twist in a warp, with his own fingers. A thorough 
 knowledge of all that these processes mean, if acquired in this 
 way, would put a practical spinner in a position to remedy 
 many trifling errors that may give annoyance to the weaver 
 of his warps, for the intricacies of manipulation are such that 
 no amount of explanation in print will ever make them clear. 
 
 The old-fashioned upric/ht warping mill, with its huge 
 swift, 15 or more yards in diameter, has been too long \d, i^s^q. 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 259 
 
 and is far too well known, to need description here ; but it may- 
 be of interest to compare points, in which the different types of 
 warping differ in theory. For instance, in the upright mill the 
 heck rises or falls steadily throughout the winding on of each 
 200 ends, so that the first 200 are arranged in a spiral which 
 falls about 4 in. in each revolution, so that a mill which is 
 10 ft. high will hold 30 circuits of 15 yds. each ; that is, it will 
 take a warp 450 yds. in total length. When these first 200 
 threads are in place, their ends are separated in such a way that 
 alternate threads are taken under and over pegs placed for the 
 purpose. The heck is then lowered ready to begin again at 
 the beginning, but the threads are first divided into strands 
 containing 40 or other number convenient to the weaver, and 
 another 200 ends are then run on to the top of the first layer, 
 throughout their entire length. This process continues until 
 as many as 4000 threads may be laid on the mill in one long 
 spiral, possibly 3 in. wide and as much as 1^ in. thick. If this 
 thickness is reached, the diameter of the final wrap is increased 
 to 15 ft. 3 in. instead of being 15 ft., as in the case of the first 
 one ; which means, in other words, that the outer layers are 
 1 ft. in 60 or 1*7 per cent, longer than the first which was put 
 on to the mill, so that when the threads are stretched out on 
 to a beam those on one side must necessarily be slacker than 
 those on the other. 
 
 Fortunately, the drag applied in dressing, in order to get 
 the yarn tightly on to the beam, is so great that all the threads 
 are stretched more or less, and none of them appear to be slack ; 
 but even in this case, those which have been most stretched 
 will now be lightest in weight, and will lose weight exactly in 
 proportion to their diameter when on the mill, or in this cage, 
 to one count in 60, 
 
26o PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 When the desired number of ends have been run on to the 
 mill, the whole is taken off together, and linked into a plaited 
 chain, prior to being packed into a ball, from which it can be 
 run on to a beam, either by the spinner or the manufacturer. 
 To get the yarn level on a beam it is necessary, first, to run the 
 threads through a coarse raddle (a kind of comb) on to a back 
 beam, from which it is taken, two, three, four or more ends at 
 a time, through each separate division of a sley, so that it 
 reaches the final beam uniformly divided, and equally spread 
 over every part of the beam surface. Heavy friction can be 
 applied to the back beam, so that the yarn may be wound on 
 to the warp beam under great tension, in order that the greatest 
 possible length may be put on to the beam, and a large number 
 of pieces woven without the necessity for twisting in another 
 warp. 
 
 Dressing not only ensures that the threads are all parallel 
 and tight on the beam, but it also gives the spinner an oppor- 
 tunity to take out any faulty pieces or slubs, which are very 
 easily seen and removed as the long stretch of threads moves 
 slowly forward from one beam to the other. 
 
 9. Machines in which Warping and Beaming are comhined 
 are now very general, wherever warps are made for use at no 
 great distance from the spinning factory. Unfortunately, the 
 great weight of beams and their flanges makes the extra cost 
 of carriage prohibit their use whenever the warps have to be 
 sent long distances by rail or sea. 
 
 There are so many different varieties of machines in use for 
 this purpose that it would be impossible to describe them all. 
 Only two types have been selected from them, and as far as 
 possible they will be used to make clear and to contrast points 
 of special importance which occur in many different types. 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 261 
 
 Warping and beaming machines should be designed with 
 a view— 
 
 1. To measure off on to the beam the requisite number of 
 threads, so that every one of them is not only theoretically, 
 but actually, the same length and under equal tension. 
 
 2. That the greatest possible length and number of threads 
 may be put on to a beam of given diameter. 
 
 3. That the best possible work can be done whilst using 
 quite a small number of bobbins, so that the stock necessary to 
 fill the machine is always small. 
 
 4. That the leasing may be easily and quickly done. 
 
 5. That the creel and other parts should be so arranged 
 that no knots, caused by tying in new sets of bobbins, can get 
 into the warp. 
 
 6. That the combined processes of warping and beaming 
 may be done at the cheapest possible rate per pound. 
 
 At fi.rst sight it would seem simplest to take a number of 
 bobbins exactly equal to the number of threads required in the 
 warp, and to run a thread from each of them through a sley direct 
 on to the warp beam; but if one warp of 2800 threads were to be 
 made in this way from full warping bobbins, it would require 
 2800 lb. to fill the machine, and even if five warps were to be 
 made of similar particulars, say 250 yds. long, only 250 lb. of 
 yarn would be required, and there would be an enormous 
 amount left in stock ; moreover, no creel of practical dimen- 
 sions could be made in which 2800 ends could be handled in 
 such a way that all of them could be reached by the warper, 
 and therefore this system has never been adopted. 
 
 Four hundred bobbins are a very large number to use with 
 economy, and creels to hold 250 or 200 are still more common 
 for the ordinary size of worsted warps. 
 
262 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 In the cotton trade, if 10 warps were required 56 in. wide 
 on beam and of the dimensions already given, a creel might 
 be used with 280 bobbins ; the ends running through a reed 
 56 in. wide, so that 5 of them would be wound on to each 
 inch of breadth of the beam. When such a beam was full it 
 would contain 280 ends of 2500 yds., weighing 50 lb., if the 
 counts were 2/50^ Ten of these "back beams" would be 
 made, and then all of them would be run together straight on 
 to the warp beam. If ten warps of exactly the same dimen- 
 sions were required, each back beam having only one- tenth 
 the number of ends, would hold ten times the length which 
 it is possible to put on to one warp beam, and therefore 
 ten warp beams of 2800 ends by 250 yds. could be filled 
 from ten back beams each holding 280 threads 2500 yds. 
 long. 
 
 This system of mixing the ends from all the beams, over 
 the whole width of the warp, gives great uniformity of tension 
 and stretch ; but the necessity for carrying about the heavy 
 back beams, and the smallness of orders which often have to 
 be executed in the worsted trade, has kept it confined almost 
 entirely to cotton. 
 
 Cheese or Sectional Warping is a modification of this system 
 which has successfully been employed in the worsted trade. 
 With a similar creel of 2/50* counts, 280 ends would not be 
 run on to a beam 56 in. wide, but on to one specially con- 
 structed with thin steel flanges only 5 in. apart, so that each 
 cheese would contain 280 ends 250 yds. long, with 50 threads 
 in every inch of its width, and would weigh 5 lb. To com- 
 plete a warp, 10 of these cheeses would be made from the 
 same yarn, and when all were complete they would be threaded 
 on to a strong iron shaft, on which they could not rotate 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 263 
 
 separately. The threads from all the cheeses would then be 
 collected, and would run side by side like ten broad ribands 
 on bo the warp beam ; they would run perfectly straight, and 
 anj desired tension could be put upon them. 
 
 Machines of this type did their work very well, but like 
 the back-beaming method they involved the handling of very 
 heavy cheeses and beams, and the type which is now most 
 popular, is designed to avoid anything of the kind, and at the 
 same time to secure the building of a satisfactory beam, con- 
 taining the greatest possible amount of yarn, from a compara- 
 tively small number of bobbins. 
 
 The machine illustrated on p. 264 works on the sectional 
 sys:em, but its success lies in the ingenious method by which 
 the sections can be built without the necessity of flanges to 
 support their sides. As the 280 threads come through the reed 
 and the rollers, they resemble a riband 5 in. wide, with 50 
 threads per inch, but, of course, they have no cohesion trans- 
 versely, and could not be built up into a square-sided section, 
 as would be possible with a woven riband of the same width 
 (see Fig. 95). If such a formation were attempted the upper 
 threads would squeeze the lower ones out of place, and all 
 those near the sides would fall into disorder. Such confusion 
 has been avoided by moving the ends slowly sideways along 
 the swift as it rotates, laying them very much in the same 
 way that yarn lies on a paper spinning tube ; it is, in fact, 
 laid exactly as yarn lies on a " pirn," but the threads are run 
 on 10 a swift 5 ft. in diameter instead of on to a beam, because 
 every hundred yards that is wound on will make fewer wraps 
 than it would do on a beam only 5 in. in diameter. If the 
 riband of yarn commenced running on to any part of a flat 
 swift, and was then traversed slowly sideways, it is clear that 
 
204 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 the successive layers would have to take the position shown 
 in Fig. 96, and those parts of the top layer which rest on the 
 swift would be shorter and under much less tension than those 
 on the top of the pile of threads, so that when they went on 
 to the beam, they would be thick, curly, and tangled. To 
 avoid this confusion the ribs of the swift are made to end in 
 a series of chocks or inclined planes, which represent the head 
 of the pirn, so that when the yarn traverses, every layer 
 of threads is maintained horizontal and at equal tension 
 throughout (see Fig. 97). 
 
 When 250 yds. of the first 280 threads have been run on 
 to the swift, a lease is taken and the ends cut off'; then the 
 rollers and sley are moved 5 in. to the right, so that another 
 
 wrap of 280 ends can be laid on the swift, edge to edge with 
 those already in place. Only the first layer of threads actually 
 lies on the swift ; the remainder mounting the slope, not of the 
 chocks, but of the surface of the first wrap, at exactly the same 
 speed, so that the two wraps continue edge to edge through- 
 out their entire length, every portion of each being parallel 
 with the swift. This process is continued until ten wraps 
 have been laid on to the swift, and although the sections are 
 laid on separately the final effect is that of one layer of 2800 
 ends side by side, exactly 250 yds. long with 50 ends in every 
 inch, all of them parallel throughout their entire length, but 
 all of them moving slowly sideways and outwards, just as the 
 first edge traversed slowly up the slope of the chocks. As 
 
WINDING, REELING, AND WARPING 265 
 
 each wrap is measured out by the rollers, and not by the 
 diameter of the swift, the increased diameter of the outer 
 layers is of no consequence, and their arrangement prevents 
 their falling sideways or collapsing, so that they are equivalent 
 to ten sections built at right angles. The only difficulty in 
 getting them from the swift to the beam is that when the 
 extreme outside threads of the outer wrap are exactly opposite 
 the flanges, the same threads of the inner layer are 3 or 4 in. 
 to the left of the flange. It is quite clear that if the beam 
 began to draw the yarn from the swift whilst it was arranged 
 in this way, the first few yards would run straight forward 
 from one to the other, but as the yarn was unwound some 
 ends would soon be left by the traverse on the outside of the 
 flange, running entirely to waste. 
 
 In order to keep the two extreme outside edges exactly in 
 line with the inside of the flanges, during the whole time the 
 warp is running off, it is therefore necessary that either the 
 swift with the warp, or the beam should move sideways, just 
 as much as the threads in the upper layer are to the left of 
 the same threads in the layer lying on the swift. As the 
 swift is firmly secured in bearings, it is clear that the beam 
 must move sideways as it fills ; but as the amount which the 
 beam takes up at each revolution increases as it fills, it is 
 clear that no automatic screw motion on the beam shaft would 
 keep the beam in line in the edges of the warp all through 
 the unwinding, and the difiiculty is overcome very cleverly 
 by driving the beam from one set of gear, and at the same 
 time altering its lateral position by a screw or ratchet motion 
 which is not directly driven, but is moved a certain number 
 of times by the swift, every time it is pulled once round by 
 the beam ; and therefore the motion of the beam sideways has 
 
266 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 no relation to the number of its own revolutions, but to the 
 number of yards which are wound off from the swift. This 
 keeps the relative positions of the beam and the yarn on the 
 swift always the same, so that in practice the most satisfactory 
 results are obtained ; various layers of yarn being as parallel 
 on the beam, as if they had undergone a proper dressing 
 process 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 The exhaustive study of the defects inherent to all worsted 
 spinning would be far too extensive for the limits of a single 
 chapter, and at the same time it is a subject so essentially 
 practical, that it is difficult to make it entirely clear in print. 
 Many serious defects in finished goods are caused by faults 
 in the yarn, which are so slight as to be invisible in the yarn 
 itself; and most of those which are dijfficult to remedy are 
 caused by misadjiistments or imperfections in machinery 
 which are often so subtle as to defy the ability of a practical 
 man, who knows exactly what to look for, and, within a 
 very small compass, where to look. 
 
 Photographs of faulty yarn might give some idea of the 
 nature of a defect, to those unacquainted with it by practical 
 experience, but they might convey a very erroneous idea, 
 and they would only be useful in cases of faults which were 
 so glaring that they would be very easy to remedy. The 
 following tabulation is therefore given rather as an index of 
 faults, showing the place where each may originate, than as 
 a treatise from which the novice can learn all about their 
 construction. If a student in a textile school is ever to be 
 equipped with a knowledge that can fit him for management, 
 it is just as essential that he should know every kind of 
 fault, as that he should know a perfect yarn when he sees 
 
268 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 one ; for a manager ignorant of defects and their causes 
 would be like a doctor trained in physiology with no know- 
 ledge of pathology. Such a training could be given better 
 in a textile school than in any other place. Machinery could 
 be set to make every kind of imperfection, and could then 
 be altered by the students, at first under supervision and 
 afterwards alone, until perfect work was turned out. 
 Information so obtained would never be forgotten, and the 
 man who knows how to make imperfections is the most 
 likely man to locate them, when they occur in practice. . 
 
 All defects may be divided in the first place under two 
 great heads. 
 
 1. Those caused by wool of unsuitable length or quality 
 being used for any desired count or kind of cloth. With 
 these we have nothing to do here. They can only be avoided 
 by the manager who knows his business, and knows it very 
 thoroughly, from long experience or much experimenting. 
 
 2. Faults caused by defective or unsuitable machinery, 
 by accidents, or by careless work. To the manager these 
 will again be divided into two heads — 
 
 (1) Those caused by faults already in existence in the 
 tops as they come to him to be spun ; and 
 
 (2) Those which are produced in the drawing and spinning 
 machinery through which the tops go. 
 
 All of these will be dealt with according to the priority 
 of their causes, and descriptions of the resulting defects will 
 be given in each case. 
 
 It is, of course, the duty of every spinning manager to 
 see that the tops as they come to him are fit to spin to the 
 counts for which they are destined ; and if a given quality 
 has once given satisfaction, no trouble must be spared to 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 269 
 
 see that every following lot, which is to be used for the same 
 purpose, is equal in average length, in quality and in colour. 
 If possible, it should also be ascertained that the wool has 
 been grown in the same district as the previous lot. 
 
 Class I. Tops : Fault 1. — Noil knots or " neps " in a top 
 are an almost certain sign that sufficient short wool has not 
 been removed in the combing ; or else that the comb circles 
 have been too coarse, or in bad condition. The presence of 
 an excess of short wool in the first drawing processes, is liable 
 to cause ridges of short material at short intervals along the 
 sliver. As the wool goes through the drawing this will 
 develop into inequalities or "twits" in the roving, which 
 will cause uneven yarn, which varies in thickness from say 
 16 to 32 fibres in a 60^ thread. Noil knots or neps them- 
 selves, if present in great numbers, invariably show on the 
 outside of the yarn when it is spun, and also on the surface 
 of the piece. In this condition they are easily removed in 
 finishing, by cutting or singeing, but they are much more 
 apt to combine in the early processes, to form larger lumps 
 or small slubs, which get into the body of the sliver, the 
 roving, and the yarn. They are too short to be caught and 
 extended by the action of the drafting processes, but they 
 often contain fibres long enough to be affected by twist, and 
 so they are bound into the body of the thread. In the piece 
 they are further fastened by the interlacing of the threads, 
 and even if removed in burling, before dyeing, they may 
 leave a thin place or a hole in the cloth, on account of the 
 way in which they have pushed the neighbouring threads 
 from their normal position. If not removed, they remain 
 in the piece as an unsightly lump, for which the spinner is 
 likely to be held responsible. 
 
270 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 Class I. Fault 2. — Bad piecings caused by careless work 
 in the combing gill-boxes are often responsible for lumps in 
 the sliver, which may be either large or small. They do 
 damage very much in proportion to their size, and by far 
 the best way to avoid ill effects from them, is to have them 
 looked for and taken out by the girls who " mind " the 
 drawing boxes. Their peculiar looped structure makes it 
 quite impossible to draft them, and the only result of gilling 
 is to break them up into smaller lumps which go forward 
 to the spinning as slubs. If slubs can be said to have any 
 advantage at all, it is that they generally appear on the 
 surface of the sliver in the drawing process. It is seldom 
 that they remain quite buried, and for this reason the 
 drawing hands can pick out the lumps and slubs, if they 
 are wisely encouraged to do so. 
 
 Class I. Fault 3. — "Feather edges," or slivers with ragged 
 sides, are very apt to cause small slubs of the same type as 
 the above. There is always a tendency for the fibres to 
 continue adhering to the leather of a gill box instead of going 
 to the calender rollers, and when the sliver is feather-edged, 
 the loose wisps of fibre will often adhere to the leather for 
 a short time, whilst the bulk of the sliver continues to run 
 forward. Whenever such a group of fibres turns back, a 
 small loop will be formed, which is certain to form the 
 nucleus of a slub of the type already described, but in this 
 case it will be composed of rather longer doubled fibres. 
 
 Class II. Gilling: Fault 1. Piecings. — Every sliver 
 which is carelessly put up to the back rollers of a gill box in 
 such a way that the points of the fibres do not lie perfectly 
 straight, but are turned backwards, will cause a small loop 
 to be formed, which is likely to develop into a slub of the 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 271 
 
 type already mentioned. It is not easy for the very best 
 hands to avoid this fault with certainty, and the result is 
 very difficult to detect and to locate afterwards. 
 
 Class II. Fault 2. — Feather-edged sliver may be formed 
 in the drawing just as in the combing gill boxes, and the 
 result is equally bad, for whenever a fringe of sliver turns 
 backward along the leather, there is likely to be a loop which 
 will subsequently form a slub. 
 
 Class II. Fault 3. Cut sliver. — Generally speaking, it 
 is true that the presence of a leather between two rollers 
 will prevent either of them from cutting the wool fibres, but 
 there are times when this is not the case. If the pressure 
 on the rollers is excessive, and the material difficult to draw, 
 the fibres will sometimes cut. The presence of a lump in 
 the sliver may so greatly increase the pressure on adjacent 
 fibres that they will be bruised and broken, or " cut," in 
 passing through the rollers. If a leather happens to come 
 loose at the joint in such a way that one end can turn back, 
 there will be three thicknesses of leather instead of two, 
 and the enormous increase of pressure may then result in 
 cutting. 
 
 The kind of cutting which is commoner than all others is 
 due to the presence of foreign matter in the leather; for 
 instance, a faller pin may break and drop on to the fibres. 
 As it is drawn through the rollers it is squeezed into the 
 leather, and will there remain imbedded, after cutting in two 
 all the fibres which were nipped between the low roller and 
 the pin. Sometimes it is not fixed very securely in the 
 leather and falls out after punching one hole in the sliver; 
 but more generally it remains in the leather, and every time 
 it comes round to the roller, it severs every fibre between 
 
2/2 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 itself and the low roller. The holes thus made are exactly 
 the length of the piece of pin, often only a quarter or half an 
 inch in length, but each place where the fibre is cut, will 
 often develop into a slub in subsequent processes, because an 
 extra amount of short wool is present at that point, and a 
 great many of these short fibres end on the same line. 
 Clearly all the fibres in front of the cut will be drawn away 
 in succession as their tips reach the front roller, just as the 
 fibres on both sides are also being steadily drafted ; but the 
 straio-ht row of ends behind the cut must all reach the roller 
 at the same time and go through together, to form a small 
 butt-ended slub, of a type very often seen in drawing. 
 
 Class III. Drawing: Fault I— Batch which is much 
 longer than the longest fibres, will allow short fibres to slip 
 and so cause lumps and unevenness in the sliver and roving. 
 
 Class III. Fault 2.— Batch shorter than the longest 
 fibres will cause breakage and consequent loss of adhesive 
 power, or spinning property. 
 
 Class III. Fault S.—Too much draft will cause irregu- 
 larity in this and subsequent processes, resulting in yarn 
 with uneven places of considerable length. 
 
 Class III. Fault 4>—Too little draft may cause very 
 similar defects. 
 
 Class III. Fault 5. — Excessive and irregular drag, 
 especially in the later drawing processes, may cause slight 
 drafting between the front roller and the spindle, with 
 consequent irregularity of size, which would cause long 
 thin places in the yarn and a general tendency to unevenness 
 and light weight. Cone drawing which is not perfectly 
 adjusted is particularly liable to produce this fault. 
 
 Class III Fault 6. Tfas^e. —Wherever wool fibre is 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 273 
 
 drawn by metal rollers working against leathers, or by 
 leather-covered top rollers, not only is the leather slowly 
 worn away by friction, but it gets covered with a film of 
 scurfy waste composed of grease, fibres, and scales. When 
 fibre which is not in the best condition for treatment is being 
 worked, the amount of this deposit increases rapidly. Fibres 
 also adhere more or less to the iron roller, and to prevent 
 them accumulating, stationary rubbers are arranged to press 
 against the roller and remove them, and brushes are often 
 placed so that they brush up and remove the fibres from the 
 leather rollers. If these brushes are not continually watched 
 and kept clean, they soon become clogged with wool and 
 grease, and when they are in a position to hold no more 
 fibres, little tufts get detached and go round with the roller, 
 until they reach the sliver just where it is being drafted : 
 here they are almost certain to get entangled with the 
 moving fibres, and to go down on to the bobbin, in the form 
 of dirty and irregular lumps, which are very difficult to 
 extricate. These may break up in subsequent processes into 
 smaller pieces, and be tightly embedded in the body of the 
 yarn. They differ from slubs in appearance, and wherever 
 they occur they are known as " waste." 
 
 Opinions differ as to the best method of dealing with this 
 difficulty ; some firms use brushes, some do not, preferring to 
 clean the top rollers regularly by hand, or with leathers 
 provided for the purpose. 
 
 Cloth covered rubbers are almost always used on the low 
 rollers, but like the brushes they soon need cleaning. If 
 they are neglected, groups of fibres escape and get into the 
 sliver. To remedy this defect rotating rubbers have been 
 .applied with ^op^l results behind the fixed rubbers; the 
 
 T 
 
274 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 latter loosen and collect the fibres until they can hold no 
 more, and when the fibres begin to protrude behind them, 
 the velvet surface of the rotator picks them up, and winds 
 them into a lap around itself, from which they have no 
 inclination or opportunity to get away. 
 
 This fault is liable to occur in a greater or less degree in 
 all processes up to and including spinning. 
 
 Class III. Fault 7. — " Bellassed" rollers are those on 
 which a portion of the upper or outer leather has become 
 loose from the wood, iron, or under leather of the roller. For 
 some reason which involves the abstruse theories of rolling 
 friction, the loose portion fails to draw with the same grip as 
 the firmer part. When we consider that soft-covered rollers 
 are loose all over, and that leathers do not even touch the 
 fluted rollers at all points, this failure to draw must strike us 
 as curious ; but the fact remains, that the fault is very serious 
 in later processes, especially in roving and reducing, for 
 though the irregularities are not very serious when they first 
 appear, they are extended into longer lengths in the spinning, 
 and form uneven threads with faults recurring at distances 
 equal to the circumference of the roving top front roller, 
 multiplied by the draft of the spinning frame (say 12x5, or 
 60 in.) ; and when these uneven places are steadily repeated, 
 as they are by the steady rotation of the front roller, thev 
 naturally make very irregular yarn and pieces. 
 
 Unless means are taken to inspect every roller periodically 
 the defect is liable to go undetected for long periods, because 
 the inequality of the rovings is never so great as to make it 
 visible whilst the box is running ; nor is it likely to break 
 down the ends. Faulty rollers cannot be detected by 
 sight, but it is most important that they should at once be 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 275 
 
 discovered, and this can only be done by feeling each roller 
 as it runs ; the softness of the loose portion being easily and 
 immediately distinguishable to the touch of a trained hand. 
 This fault applies to every process including spinning. 
 Class III. Fault 8. Piecm^s.— The necessity for making 
 and taking out piecings in all drawing boxes after the gills, 
 is due to the absence of fallers and their pins, which prevent 
 the extreme end of a sliver (which is running out) from 
 going undrafted through the front roller, after it has been 
 released from the back roller. If one of four ends behind 
 a drawing box be running out, it must be clear to all readers 
 that it is the end of the old sliver and not the be^innino- of 
 the new one which makes the lump after drafting ; this can 
 easily be demonstrated or observed, for if a pointed sliver be 
 run into an empty box, no excessive thickness will be visible 
 in the first few inches which come from the front roller. 
 Clearly the bulk of the sliver is fast in the back roller, and 
 drafting must begin the moment the point of the first fibre 
 touches the front roller ; but in running out, it is quite 
 different, for the moment all fibres are free from the back 
 roller the weight of the carriers is quite inadequate to hold 
 them, and every one of them goes undrafted through the 
 front roller, as a lump. 
 
 It is practically impossible to make a piecing behind a 
 box so good that this end lump will not show, and conse- 
 quently the joining is usually made in such a way that the 
 points of the new sliver go straight to the front roller and 
 form many inches of reduced sliver, before the end of the old 
 sliver passes the back roller and slips undrafted through the 
 front roller on to the bobbin. This makes a well-defined 
 lump which is quite detached from the sliver at the end 
 
276 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 nearest to the rollers, so that if it be drawn gently away from 
 the point of attachment, it can be removed without turning 
 other fibres in the wrong direction, in such a way that the 
 place of the piecing is very difficult to find. If by any 
 accident or carelessness a piecing lump is not taken out, it is 
 certain to cause serious damage later on, for it is clear that a 
 lump which does not reach from the back to the front roller 
 of one drawing box is not likely to be drafted in any 
 subsequent processes. 
 
 Class IV. Roving: Fault 1. — Variation in twist, due 
 to slack or to excessively tight bands, will seriously affect the 
 spinning. If the twist be too hard for any reason, drafting in 
 the spinning will be irregular, in other words, the fibres will 
 " pluck " rather than draw regularly, and if the twist is too 
 soft, due to slack bands, several things may take place. 
 
 If there is very little twist indeed, the roving may be so 
 soft that it will not run off the bobbin, and it must all be made 
 into waste ; hut a more serious defect, of a much more subtle 
 kind, may result from the same cause. We have amply proved 
 that the twist in a roving affects the twist in a yarn which is 
 made from it, and this is only natural, for the twist cannot be 
 expected to disappear without some cause. The twist which 
 existed in one inch of roving will be spread out in the spinning 
 over 5 or 6 in. as the case may be, and if the roving for a 
 60 yarn contain 1^ turns per inch, after it has been drafted 
 and before receiving twist again, it would be a 60 yarn con- 
 taining three-tenths of a turn per inch. Wherever it is necessary 
 to have a fine botany dress yam as soft as it can be spun, the 
 addition of this three-tenths is a factor of some importance, its 
 absence or presence must be calculated on, and in extreme 
 cases this alteration may even affect the spinning. 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 277 
 
 Left twist in roving is more serious still, simply because 
 there would be three-tenths to deduct instead of to add to the 
 calculated twist of the frame, for any given count ; and this 
 difference of nearly a turn per inch might have very serious 
 effects on the appearance of a piece, occurring as it would do 
 in complete bobbins, forming bars of harder or softer yarn 
 right across the piece for a space of 3 to 6 in. at a time. 
 After dyeing this would probably show as a different colour. 
 Such an accident might easily happen. Slight carelessness in 
 putting on a roving band often results in the upper instead of 
 the lower side of a driving pulley leading on to the right of 
 the spindle whorle, and consequently the spindle would rotate 
 in the wrong direction. 
 
 The absence of twist also gives the fibres greater freedom 
 of motion on one another, so that the nature of the drafting 
 will not be exactly the same in both cases ; probably the yarn 
 will vary slightly in size on this account, but this depends so 
 much on the length and quality of the wool, that experiment 
 is the only method of finding how it will affect any given 
 quality. 
 
 Class IV. Fault 2. — " Bellassed " rollers, as described in 
 Class III., Fault 1, are liable to occur in the roving with very 
 serious effects. 
 
 Class IV. Fault 3. — Waste may accumulate on the rubber 
 until there is sufficient to run round the roller and get into 
 the roving (see Class III., Fault 6), making uneven ragged 
 slubs which are difficult to pick out in later processes. 
 
 Class IV. Fault 4. Uneven Roving. — It is also possible 
 for accumulations of waste to adhere to the rollers, and when 
 a lump gets on to the back roller it may cause a particularly 
 serious fault. Such a lump is usually caught by one edge of 
 
2/8 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 a roller, in such a way that every time it comes round, a part 
 of it goes between the upper and lower back rollers, and 
 lifts one edge of the upper one. This relieves the fibres from 
 all pressure as they come through, and for the whole time the 
 roller surfaces are apart, the full size of the reducing is drawn 
 through the back rollers by the front rollers without any 
 drafting or reduction taking place. This means that 6 in. 
 to 1 ft. of roving runs forward on to the bobbin, six times 
 the thickness that it ought to be, and unduly hard in conse- 
 quence. As the waste moves round, the back roller once 
 more exerts its normal pressure, drafting is resumed, and 
 perfect yarn is again produced, so that with a 2-in. back 
 roller and a draft of 6, the box would be turning out say 
 30 in. of normal roving interspaced with hard twisted lengths 
 of from 9 to 6 in., which would be six times the normal thick- 
 ness. Such work is, of course, useless, but the impossibility 
 of spinning such roving prevents it causing serious damage 
 to the pieces. On the contrary, when the same fault takes 
 place in spinning, it causes very expensive damages, because 
 it does not follow that the yarn will break down. The waste 
 may fall off the back roller, so that only one thick place is 
 made, and the bobbin may go forward to the loom, or to the 
 twist frame, without showing any sign of the defect. It 
 would be impossible to take such yarn out of a fine piece 
 without leaving a very bad mending mark. 
 
 Class V. Spinning Faults, i.e. all faults caused in the 
 actual spinning process are naturally very serious, because in 
 the case of single wefts, which form such a large proportion of 
 the Bradford trade, they go straight from the frame to the 
 loom, and aiford very little chance of detection. A certain 
 proportion of these faults may be detected, if the process of 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 279 
 
 looking over is done as carefully as it ought to be, when the 
 bobbins are taken from the frame ; but the process becomes so 
 much a matter of habit to the majority of the boys who do it, 
 that it is the exception rather than the rule for all defects to 
 be detected, and a continual inspection of frames by over- 
 lookers and manager is necessary to prevent bad work going 
 to the loom. It will also do a great deal to prevent the waste 
 caused by its production. On the simple ground that pre- 
 vention is better than cure, not only the weft, but the frames 
 themselves, should be subject to the strictest inspection at 
 frequent, regular intervals. 
 
 Of the twelve faults tabulated under this class, those caused 
 by tuaste, rollers, left twist, and lumps on the hack roller have 
 already appeared in regard to other processes; but the fact 
 that there is now no process, following the spinning, to 
 modify their results, makes them more serious and more 
 difficult to detect and to cure, until the damage is done. 
 
 Class V. Fault 1. " Bellassed " Rollers. — Rollers which 
 have a portion of the leather loose, are apt to cause greater 
 damage than almost any other single fault in a spinning 
 frame. Hard-covered rollers have their leather covering 
 secured by glue or other cement to the wood, iron, or cork of 
 which the roller is composed. Often two thicknesses of leather 
 are glued to one another to give additional springiness. This 
 type of roller is deservedly popular, and is extensively used 
 for botany and medium crossbred wool. It is also popular 
 with many spinners, in preference to the soft roller, for 40* 
 qualities. The necessity for absolute uniformity of surface 
 makes it impossible to secure the surface by nails or sewing 
 of any kind, and its one drawback is the tendency of the 
 leather to work loose, either at the joint or at some other 
 
28o PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 point, if inferior glue has been used, if the work has been 
 carelessly done, or if the natural fat has not been removed 
 equally from all parts of the leather (see p. 132). 
 
 It has already been stated, that the theories involved are 
 very complicated, and when we consider that there is no 
 difference between the draft of a hard roller and a soft roller 
 working on the same frame, and also consider that a soft roller 
 is really a roller " bellassed " or loose on every part of its 
 surface, it is not easy to see why the yarn from a particular 
 bellassed roller should be so very uneven. 
 
 Fortunately, or unfortunately, the effects of this fault are 
 too well known by practical men to need demonstration here, 
 and readers must be content to take the statement on trust, 
 that it is a fault which must be guarded against by every 
 available means. Although the leather is stretched and 
 fastened on to the rollers whilst wet, it is well known that a 
 patch where the glue has come loose soon gets slack, by reason 
 of the continued rolling-out process. Doubtless it is the 
 slackness, not the lack of adhesion, which causes the lumpy 
 yarn, and it is also the slackness which makes it possible to 
 detect faulty rollers by touch. 
 
 Class V. Fault 2. — Dry rollers, i.e. top front rollers 
 which have not been properly oiled, have a very curious 
 effect. To understand the reason it is well to look carefully 
 at the frictional surfaces. The leather of the upper roller 
 may touch the low roller for a space measuring perhaps 
 ^ X 1 in., whilst the surface of the central bearing will be 
 about ^ X ^ in. ; the surface of the two side bearings will 
 be considerably less. Owing to the relation of their diameters 
 the friction on the leather has eight times the power of the 
 friction on the bearing, and when the bearing is well oiled 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 281 
 
 there can be no chance of its retarding the rotation of the top 
 front roller ; but it' the central bearing once gets dry and hot, 
 the axle will swell slightly, and if it fit tightly in the half- 
 round brass, the friction increases to such an extent that the 
 contact between the two rollers is not sufficient to overcome 
 it altogether, and the surface of the upper roller will not 
 move as fast as the surface of the lower one. This means 
 that there is a severe rubbing action on the fibres in the nip. 
 There is sure to be more than one layer of fibres between the 
 rollers, and therefore the lower ones attempt to move with 
 the low roller, whilst the upper fibres go no faster than the 
 upper roller, thereby making the peculiar type of rough and 
 uneven yarn which is known as the result of a dry roller. 
 
 The same thing may happen at the back roller, but the 
 effect is not so serious, because the draft straightens out any 
 curly fibres before the twist is put into them. 
 
 Class V, Fault 3. — Nicked rollers are often capable of 
 doing damage which seems altogether out of proportion to the 
 microscopic nature of the defect in the roller, and the formation 
 of nicks is obscure enough to merit some little notice. 
 
 In every spinning frame, behind the back roller there is 
 a guide, through which the roving runs to the roller. If this 
 guide were stationary, the end would always be drawn by 
 exactly the same part of the front roller, and that portion, 
 little broader than the width of a spun thread, would be worn 
 away in a day or two. To prevent this happening, the thread 
 is made to traverse backwards and forwards across the face 
 of the rollers, so that the wear is well distributed. Unfortu- 
 nately the eccentric motion usually employed for this purpose 
 does not give the same amount of wear to all portions, for 
 though the thread moves at a fairly uniform pace backwards 
 
282 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 and forwards, there is a time at each end of the stroke when 
 the traverse is stationary, and therefore at each side of the 
 roller there is one point which receives more wear than all 
 the rest of the surface ; it is at that point that nicks usually 
 occur. The same thing also applies to the carriers. Wooden 
 carriers are regarded as so essentially durable that they do 
 not receive much attention, and are often left to run long 
 periods without renewal ; in course of years they also form 
 slight nicks, into which the end runs every time it moves 
 across. In a bad case, if the end has once got into a nick it 
 will stay there until the traverse guide is nearly halfway 
 across the roller again, and for the whole of that time it is 
 drawn by exactly the same part of the front roller. Under 
 such circumstances a new front roller may be nicked in the 
 course of a very few days. 
 
 Nicked rollers do great damage, because, like dry rollers, 
 they allow some fibres to go forward and some to be less 
 drafted. The fibres which lie in the nick are not drafted at 
 all, and the effect produced is very similar to that of a fancy 
 yarn, where two strands are paid out at irregular speeds on 
 to the same spindle ; the longer one being bunched up, and 
 wound round the shorter one at intervals, so that a nick 
 wide enough to miss a couple of fibres may cause great 
 unevenness, which will recur at each pick of the traverse. 
 As all rollers are liable to this fault it can only be avoided by 
 constant inspection, but if the carriers are also well looked 
 after and kept in perfect order, and if the traverse is not 
 allowed to dwell at the end of each pick, there will be much 
 less liability for the fault to occur. 
 
 Class Y. Fault 4. Hard Twist. — Whilst dealing with 
 the traverse question, it is as well to mention the possibility 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 283 
 
 of ihe guide being twisted or bent in such a way that the end 
 ma7 not be in the centre of the front roller, so that it may 
 ruE off at one side of the roller when the traverse is at one 
 extremity or the other. With 4-in. rollers this fault is almost 
 certain to be detected, because the moment the yarn slips off 
 the roller the supply of yarn is reduced to one-sixth, and the 
 twist continues to run into the undrafted roving, so that it 
 sooa becomes brittle and snaps. No matter how the traverse 
 may be arranged, in the case of 4-in. rollers it is never possible 
 for the yarn to get back again into the nip, and so down on 
 to the bobbin, without breaking down, but when the rollers 
 are only 2| in. it may happen, under certain circumstances, 
 when the draft is very low. If it ever happens that the yarn 
 could slip off the roller and regain its place in a few seconds, 
 the absence of draft would cause a thick place, and the con- 
 tinued twisting, with lessened output, would cause a whipcord 
 twist, which would utterly ruin any kind of cloth. If this 
 intermittent action took place once for every pick of the 
 traverse, there would be many yards of soft twisted fine yarn 
 interspaced, right through the bobbin, by a foot or two of extra 
 thickness containing five times the normal twist. Fortunately, 
 this can only occur in very unusual circumstances ; generally 
 it is impossible for the yarn to get back on to the roller with- 
 out assistance, and if it were put back after a few seconds' 
 displacement, so much twist would run into the roving that 
 it would snap, instead of being drafted, so that the end would 
 break down sooner or later. 
 
 All the same, the fault is a very serious one, for it often 
 occurs that a yard of terrible hard thread will run on to the 
 bobbin before it breaks, and if the girl does not notice the 
 reason of the breakdown and fails to pull back the hard 
 
284 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 thread, this yard of hard twist will precede a very bad piec- 
 ing, and there will be a serious damage in the piece ; more- 
 over, the reason of the breakage will not be detected, and the 
 fault will recur until the guide on the traverse bar is put in 
 its right position by the overlooker. It is really a machine 
 fault, but the girls should be trained to notice it, and en- 
 couraged to report everything of the kind at once, as it will 
 save them labour and will obviate much imperfect work. 
 
 Class V. Fault 5. — Waste on the back rollers may cause 
 exactly the same defect as in the roving (see Class IV., 
 Fault 4), but the unevenness in the yarn is much more 
 serious, because it does not follow that the yarn will break 
 down, and all uneven work will therefore go forward to the 
 weaving. 
 
 Class V. Fault 6. Laps. — There is probably no place 
 in the trade where the tendency of wool fibres to adhere to 
 one another, in preference to adhering either to leather or 
 iron, is so clearly marked as in spinning. When an end 
 breaks down, that part which continues to come from the 
 nip frequently adheres to the leather and forms a lap round 
 the upper roller, in spite of its tendency to lall and wrap 
 round the low one. The lap will, of course, continue to 
 increase in size until an end is pieced up, or the roving runs 
 out, and if a new roving should be put through the rollers, 
 the fibres from it would follow the existing lap, rather than 
 make a new one round the other roller. So well is it known 
 that loose fibres adhere to one another, that no hand would 
 ever try to make an end run on to the spool without first 
 taking the lap off the roller ; but, unfortunately, a lap on the 
 low back roller or carrier does not necessarily break down 
 the end, and for this reason it is far too often allowed to 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 285 
 
 remain where it formed, in spite of the roughening influence 
 it has on the thread. 
 
 In addition to this constant tendency to roughen the 
 yarn, a back roller lap may have exactly the same effect as a 
 lump, if there happened to be two layers of roving at any 
 portion of the lap and only one in others. Wherever the two 
 layers come (at a place, for instance, where two of the strands 
 cross one another), the weight is certain to be removed from 
 the roving which is being drafted; it will not be held 
 securely, and a thick place will be formed (see Class IV., 
 Fault 4). 
 
 A carrier lap has a different effect. From force of circum- 
 stances the. lap often happens to be several layers thick at 
 one end of the carrier, and this means that, of the two ends, 
 that nearest to the lap is relieved of all weight, and the other 
 is also very likely to have the pressure of the carrier upon it 
 reduced. Whichever carrier has a lap formed upon it becomes 
 useless, the short fibres, which it ought to control, go hap- 
 hazard to the front roller, and the yarn is therefore less even 
 than it ought to be. 
 
 Class V. Fault 7. Double Ends. — All the spinning 
 faults which have been noticed up to this point have been 
 those due to defects in the rollers, and all those which follow 
 are due to spindles. In this case only, both rollers and 
 spindles are concerned. A sudden draught of air or careless- 
 ness on the part of the hand may cause a broken thread 
 corning from one roller to touch the unbroken thread which 
 is running from the nip of the next roller to the next spindle. 
 At times the touching of the one by the other may cause 
 both to break down, but nine times out of ten they will unite, 
 and both will run down as a single thread of twice the normal 
 
286 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 size, and more than proportionately twisted. This thick 
 thread will continue to run for any length of time, and as it 
 may take a long time to pull back the whole of it, and as the 
 process will also make a lot of waste, for which the girl may 
 be reprimanded, there is a temptation to separate the two 
 threads without fully rectifying the fault. If this is done, 
 as it easily can be done, there is not much chance of the bad 
 work being detected until it has been woven and made a 
 serious fault in the piece. 
 
 Class V. Faults. Slack hands. — Where the old-fashioned 
 bands are still used, in preference to tapes, slackness is a fertile 
 source of irregular twist ; for the bands must be stretched so 
 tight that they are still considerably extended when the 
 wharle is nearest to the cylinder, or else there is sure to be 
 slack twist at that part of the lifter stroke. Because the 
 whorle rises and falls in a straight line, there must be two 
 points in that line which form the base of a right-angled 
 triangle with the centre of the cylinder for its apex, and 
 therefore the increased lengthening and shortening due to 
 the rise and fall of the lifter are easily calculable. With a 
 5-in. lift on a 36-in. frame, that is 18 in. from the centre of 
 the cylinder to the whorle, the alteration in the distance of 
 the centres is about | in. or over 3 per cent. It is possible 
 for a new band to have this elasticity, but as it gets older 
 and saturated with oil it naturally stretches to the length of 
 the longest span and stiffens, so that when the whorle is 
 nearest to the cylinder the band is not tight ; in other words, 
 when the lifter is down in a frame thus set, the twist would 
 be softer than when it was at the top (see Fig. 78, p. 202). 
 
 For this reason many spinners have adopted tension 
 pulleys and tapes^ so that the strain on any tape and whorle 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 287 
 
 may remain the same throughout the entire life of a tape, 
 however far the lifter may rise and fall, and however much 
 the tape may stretch. 
 
 It is clear that a band which has lost its elasticity, and 
 has set to such a length that it is just tight when the whorle 
 is most distant from the cylinder would be very loose with 
 the lifter at the bottom, and that the yarn would receive full 
 twist at one time, whilst it might be 10 per cent, or even 
 20 per cent, too soft at another. This difference would occur 
 between the extreme ends of the bobbin if the cylinder 
 centre is opposite the whorle when at its lowest point, 
 whereas if the cylinder were raised two inches, the difference 
 would be less, and the contrast would be between the centre 
 of the bobbin and its extremities. For the sake of example, 
 we will assume that the first is the case : in a double- 
 headed bobbin there will then be a change of 20 per cent, 
 in the twist each time the lifter rises and falls, but in a spool 
 build, each pick will be slightly softer at the top than the 
 bottom (because the lifter falls as the spool fills), and each 
 succeeding pick will also be softer than the one before it, 
 until the bobbin is full. 
 
 Since the introduction of tape and tension pulley drives, 
 variations of twist have been greatly reduced, but there is 
 one accident which sometimes happened on band-driven 
 frames which was much more frequent with tapes, in the 
 early days of their introduction. If for any reason a tape 
 has run off the whorle, or has never been properly put on 
 to a new tube, the tube will rest upon the tape, and if it 
 revolves easily upon the spindle, there will be sufficient 
 friction to drive it at perhaps half the nominal speed. If 
 the whorle be of the old type tapering to the bottom (Fig. 98), 
 
288 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 it is possible for the tape to mount on to that portion 
 which may be from \ to f of an inch in diameter, and in that 
 case the spindle would rotate at much greater speed than it 
 would do with the tape on the proper part of a 1-in. whorle. 
 In the newest form of spinning tube (see Fig. 99) all metal 
 below the lower flange of the whorle is cut away, and the 
 bottom is slightly recessed to take the point of a conical 
 washer which greatlj?^ reduces the friction. Even in this 
 
 case, if the tape were off 
 the whorle, and the whorle 
 resting on the tape as it 
 continued to run round the 
 bare spindle, there might 
 still be sufficient friction to 
 cause rotation, rapid enough 
 to make yarn spin. This 
 fault is, therefore, capable 
 of causing both soft and 
 hard twist, as well as twist 
 of great irregularity, and although it is now decidedly un- 
 common, it is a fault to be guarded against. 
 
 The effect of such irregular twist in a piece would be 
 disastrous, because twist always affects the filling power of 
 a yarn, and the less twist there is, the fuller the piece will 
 appear. In the first case, each succeeding pick in the piece 
 would vary slightly, and every bobbin would begin by being 
 hard, and would get steadily softer until it was empty. If 
 the softest portion of the bobbin were not too soft to 
 weave, it would look fuller, and the cloth would be better 
 covered ; but in fine dress goods the hard beginning 
 of the next jiew bobbin would show plainly, looking 
 
 Fig. 98. 
 
 Fig. 99. 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 289 
 
 threadier, and showing the different interlacings more 
 distinctly. 
 
 Any material alteration in the twist of either weft or 
 warp is also certain to affect its shrinkage in the piece. 
 Sometimes the difference will be visible as the piece comes 
 from the loom, but often it shows more clearly after scouring, 
 and if hard and soft bobbins are mixed, by any fault or 
 accident, the hard-twisted yarn will shrink the most, and 
 the soft-twisted bobbins will show as less shrunk, and conse- 
 quently cockled places right across the piece. 
 
 If very old and very new yarn be woven into the same 
 piece, the same result will occur, although both have been spun 
 with the same turns per inch, for the old yarn will have lost 
 all its inclination to curl and contract, it will apparently have 
 lost some of its twist, and, in the piece, the old will differ 
 from the new, quite as much as would two yarns of the same 
 age which contained a different amount of twist per inch. 
 
 Class V. Fault 9.~I)ry tubes may cause effects in all 
 respects similar to Fault 8, and may cause them in a more 
 exaggerated form. The tubes of a cap spindle are always 
 lubricated from the bottom by a washer steeped in oil, to 
 which more oil is added at stated intervals. If the oil in 
 one of these washers gets exhausted from any cause, the top 
 of the spindle will get dry first ; and if it heats at all, the 
 tube will become so much tighter, that the extra friction will 
 considerably retard its revolution, and soft twist will result. 
 In extreme cases, the twist will be so soft that the yarn will 
 not be strong enough to weave, in others it may be softer 
 and more bulky than is desired ; and cases occur sometimes 
 where the twist is very irregular, because, as the tube rises 
 and falls, more or less of its surface comes into contact with 
 
 i; 
 
290 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 the dry and heated portion of the spindle, and therefore it 
 revolves more or less quickly at different portions of the 
 stroke. 
 
 Class V. Fault 10. Worn Tubes— good work is to 
 be turned out, it is easy to see that dry tubes must be 
 avoided; they should also be avoided in the interests of 
 economy, for a dry tube will wear away a great deal in a 
 few minutes. From the nature of things it always wears 
 away on one side, thereby throwing itself out of balance in 
 such a way that it continues to wear more quickly still. 
 Thus things act and react ; the rotation of a badly balanced 
 tube running 100 revolutions per second, naturally sets up 
 a vibration in the spindle and the cap, which causes wear 
 at the top of the spindle, where the cap fits on to it, and 
 when once this is worn the vibration never again ceases. 
 The larger the cap and the longer the spindle, the worse will 
 the eff'ect of vibration become. Badly balanced bobbins, 
 bobbins with holes too large for the tube, or bobbins which 
 from irregularity of grain have one side heavier than the 
 other, will also affect the balance of the spindle and cause 
 vibration. They ought, therefore, to be rigorously rejected. 
 
 This fault may be compared to a malady which, from very 
 small beginnings, gets steadily worse until the final stage is 
 reached. When spindles are running at high speeds it does 
 not require much wear of parts to cause the caps to shake 
 until their edges touch the yarn on the bobbin, or even jump 
 down from their places. If they fall on to the floor, they 
 may crack and be done for, or they may have their edges 
 bruised in such a way that no yarn will spin well upon them 
 in future. If they only touch the yarn, they give the bobbin 
 a peculiar appearance, roughening the fibres so badly that 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 291 
 
 the different threads become entangled in one another, and 
 making the yarn look rough and uneven when woven into the 
 piece. 
 
 Class V. Fault 11. — Cap-touched bobbins andjumping- 
 caps may also be caused by filling spools too full. If the 
 lifter be run too slowly in proportion to the output of yarn, 
 the bobbin will get so thick, that its thicker part will not go 
 up inside the cap, but will touch the edge of the cap at each 
 rise of the lifter. When the touching is very slight, the only 
 result is a badly built bobbin, which will not easily unwind, 
 and which will make a rough mark in the piece ; but if the 
 spool gets very full, it may lift the cap from the spindle and 
 throw it violently from its place. 
 
 Class V. Fault 12. — Old bobbins which are worn in the 
 groove into which the driving-pegs fit are liable to jump from 
 their proper place when the spindle is allowed to start sud- 
 denly, because one side of the groove gets cut away until it 
 forms an inclined plane up which the pegs can slide. If an 
 end should happen to break down when such a bobbin is 
 partially filled, it is very likely that it will not fit well down 
 on to the pegs when the spindle is allowed to start again ; and 
 in that case it is certain to touch the cap, unless it is small 
 enough to go right inside it. The result is certain to be 
 injurious; it may also knock off the cap. The same fault 
 may cause slightly uneven twist, for a bobbin which has once 
 risen over the pegs can hardly ever fall on to them again, and 
 it is then possible for it to rotate less slowly than the tube, 
 although the friction of the wood on the tube is generally 
 great enough to make this loss of twist very minute. 
 
 Class V. Fault 13. Left Tivist.~The ability of fibres 
 to appear bright or dull, according to their inclination to the 
 
292 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 light, is never more clearly demonstrated than in this case; 
 and it may be taken as a simple proof of the statement, that 
 woollens are dull because no two fibres lie in the same plane 
 or at the same angle ; and that worsteds are bright because, so 
 far as possible in weft and warp respectively, all fibres lie 
 parallel to one another. If a tape or band is put on to a 
 spindle in such a way that it rotates in the reverse direction 
 to others in the frame it will cause serious loss, because the 
 yarn will spin perfectly well, and continue to spin for any 
 length of time. There may be some difficulty in first piecing 
 the right to the left-hand twisted yarn, the ends will natu- 
 rally be wrapped round the spool in the reverse direction to 
 others, and the girl will find that the spindle must be stopped 
 in another way ; but these things do not always come to the 
 overlooker's notice, and he must be a very careful man to 
 detect them. If a left-hand bobbin is woven into dress goods 
 amongst a lot of right-twisted weft, it will appear as a bar, 
 running right across the piece, and looking either brighter or 
 darker than the rest, according to its relation to the light. 
 Many faults may give a similar effect; the bar may simply 
 appear to be caused by a dirty bobbin, but left-twist weft has 
 this peculiarity, that in an altered position in regard to the 
 light, the light and shade change places, so that what appeared 
 as a light bar on a dark ground, will alter to dark bar on 
 light ground, or vice versa, by simply reversing the position, 
 the piece (see Fig. 101). 
 
 Class V. Fault 14. — Cracked spools must be sorted out 
 and destroyed at all costs, because yarn will never unwind in 
 the shuttle from such spools, and it will be returned to the 
 spinner as tare* Thus he will be compelled to make into 
 waste every ounce of yarn spun on to cracked bobbins. 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 2^5 
 
 Class VI. Twisting Faults. — The great similarity be- 
 tween the spindles used in cap spinning and cap twisting 
 makes many of the faults of Class V. equally serious in this 
 process, but their causes and effects are alike so similar, that 
 they will only be tabulated, without any repetition of detail. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 1.— Slack hands. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 2. — Gap vibrations. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 3.— Dry tubes. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 4^.— Left tivist. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 5. — Slij:) of bohhins on the tube deserves 
 some additional comment here, because the conditions are more 
 severe. The necessity for tieing in, instead of piecing any 
 new end, compels the girl to keep the spindle standing, and 
 often to remove the heavy bobbin. There is then great 
 temptation to drop the bobbin on to the rotating tube, instead 
 of first stopping it again. In such a case the inertia of the 
 bobbin prevents its beginning to rotate immediately, at the 
 full speed of the tube ; and until it does attain full speed, the 
 driving pegs act like milling cutters, and wear away the off side 
 of the driving groove. This action also causes the bobbin to 
 "dance," and thereby adds to the vibration of the spindle. 
 Very sudden stoppage of the tube by mechanical means has 
 a similar tendency, if the bobbins are v/orn, but in this case 
 the inertia of the moving bobbin makes it tend to rotate 
 when the tube and spindle suddenly stop, so that the one side 
 of the groove slides up over the driving pegs. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 6. — Accidental right twist from a frame 
 which ought to be turning out left twist (i.e. the reverse of 
 spinning twist) would give a very hard irregular twist, 
 because a 60^ thread which contains 20 turns per inch in the 
 single, ought to receive about 20 turns in the reverse direction 
 
294 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 in the twisting process. The fibres in a properly made two- 
 fold yarn are curiously arranged ; they are interlaced rather 
 than twisted, the twist of the single yarn being minimized, 
 if it is not entirely cancelled, by the reverse direction of the 
 twist in the second process. If the spindles of both processes 
 rotate in the same direction, each strand would contain 
 40 turns per inch, which would make it as hard as a crepon 
 yarn. 
 
 If such a thread were to get into a warp by any accident, 
 it would show as a hard line throughout the entire length of 
 a piece ; and if two or three such threads occurred, near to 
 one another, they would shrink differently from the rest of 
 the piece in finishing and would cockle, or make a crinkled 
 mark along the whole length of the piece. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 7. Left and 'Right Twist — For very 
 similar reasons, a left-hand thread twisted with a right-hand 
 thread, w^ould cause a crinkled yarn ; one of them would 
 lose its twist in the process, the other would have the twist 
 added to it, and a fancy yarn would result which would do 
 serious damage to the piece. In the case of soft-twisted yarn 
 the effect would not be very plain in the yarn, unless it were 
 scoured, when the two strands would shrink very differently ; 
 but in the finishing of the piece, shrinkage would, result in 
 any case, and the soft twist would be thrown up on to the 
 surface, in the form of tiny curls or loops. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 8. Hard Twist. — Trappers which are 
 too delicately balanced, may cause very serious faults. To 
 understand the reason, it must be borne in mind that the 
 speed of spindles always affects the drag. If it is desired 
 that the trappers should rise on the breakage of one end of 
 a 2/16^ thread, their adjustment need not be at all fine, the 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 295 
 
 difference in weight is considerable, and the trappers will 
 rise quickly and stop the roller immediately one end breaks, 
 although it will be held tightly down so long as both ends 
 are intact, even if the speed of the spindle should alter 
 considerably, on account of an imperfect drive ; but if a 2/70" 
 yarn be put into the same frame, the strain is so much 
 reduced that if the speed of the frame alters ever so little, 
 the drag becomes too light to keep the trapper down, so that 
 it rises and stops the roller. If a roller is once stopped, it 
 may continue standing until the twist is so hard that the 
 yarn snaps, but as tlie twist increases, the drag also increases 
 considerably, and it very often happens that the trapper is 
 again dragged down, so that the roller starts again, and the 
 yarn goes forward on to the bobbin. Under certain con- 
 ditions as to size, with an irregular drive, this might be going 
 on, on many spindles at the same time, each of them pro- 
 ducing unequal lengths of yarn with a normal twist of, say, 
 20 turns, alternating with shorter lengths, which might con- 
 tain as much as 40 or 50 turns per inch. On the bobbin 
 these places are practically invisible, and in the warp they 
 may run into snarls ; but in the finished piece each hard place 
 in the yarn will contain so much twist, that it can never 
 swell in finishing, and will leave a mark as if an end were 
 missing altogether. 
 
 This is a very serious fault which is not easy to detect, and 
 it occurs in so many varieties that no one case can be stated 
 as typical. For instance, a temporary slackening in the 
 speed of the mill engine, for any reason, may cause every 
 trapper to rise and stop the roller for a few seconds, but the 
 trappers may be so balanced that they are all pulled down 
 again, when the engine regains its normal speed. Such an 
 
296 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 accident would cause a piece of hard twist on every bobbin, 
 and unless twist frames are thrown off the moment the engine 
 begins to slacken, at stopping time, the same result will 
 happen. It would happen every time the frame stopped or 
 started whilst the spindles were below the necessary speed ; 
 but every frame is, or should be, fitted with a contrivance, 
 either automatic or otherwise, for holding the trappers down 
 dui ing this period of increasing or decreasing speed. 
 
 It is possible to have trappers so accurately balanced that 
 the slightest increase in vibration causes them to rise and 
 stop the roller momentarily, until the added twist gives 
 increased drag, so that the trapper is again pulled down. 
 This may go on indefinitely, and its natural consequence is a 
 series of places containing a few extra turns of twist in every 
 inch ; they may be very regular, or very much the reverse ; 
 but in any case, the twist from the hard places will tend to 
 run into those which are softer, and when long lengths are 
 unwound at one time, as in warping, the twist will be 
 averaged, and the piece will not appear as if the yarn were 
 very uneven, but as if it were all twisted more than it 
 should be. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 9. —Soft Twist is most easily caused in 
 twisting, by neglect on the part of the hand, to loop the two 
 ends round the roller, after they have been tied in. In this 
 case, the amount of yarn which runs down in one minute, 
 depends on the amount of drag on the yarn, due to spindle 
 speed, and on the friction of the bobbins which contain the 
 single yarn, on the pegs. Sometimes yards of yarn may go 
 down, with not more than one or two turns per inch, whilst 
 in other cases, the output will be jerky, and the twist irregu- 
 lar. The fault is serious because so much yarn is made in a 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 297 
 
 few seconds, but the faults are not so glaring as those caused 
 \iy excessive twist. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 10. Curly Yarn. — When only one end 
 is round the roller and the other runninor free, from the bobbin 
 to the twizzle, there is so much difference of tension between 
 the two strands of the folded yarn that the end which is 
 round the roller, and has borne all the strain, is nearly 
 straight, whilst the other end is wound round it corkscrew 
 fashion; the amount to which this will show, depends on 
 many circumstances; the fault may be very apparent or 
 practically invisible, and the amount of damage it will cause 
 in a piece depends entirely on circumstances. 
 
 Class VI. Fault 11. — Hard twist may also be made by 
 the spindle moving whilst a knot is being tied. However 
 quickly a girl may be able to tie good knots, she must hold 
 the ends for an appreciable length of time, say five seconds, 
 and if the spindle is not stopped, it will revolve about 500 
 times during the process, and each of the 20 in. between the 
 cap and the knot would therefore receive about fifteen turns 
 more than it ought to have, which would make a terribly 
 hard place just before the knot. Of course no one ever 
 allows piecings to be made in this way, the spindle is always 
 stopped in some way or another ; in many frames the twist 
 tube whorle is made with a larsje fiang-e, ao-ainst which the 
 girl can press her knee ; but this is a very crude device, for 
 the pressure is bound to alter as the lifter rises and falls, and 
 it often happens in consequence that the spindle is rotating 
 slowly for part of the time during which the knot is being 
 tied. If the spindle rotates at all, it increases the twist in 
 the yarn close to the knot, and it must be admitted that there 
 is no commoner fault in twofold yarn than this. Wherever 
 
298 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 careless hands are employed, it will occur more or less when- 
 ever an end breaks down, and as it always makes a knot 
 show very badly in the piece, it usually proves an expensive 
 item for the spinner. 
 
 Considering how very difficult it is for a girl to hold the 
 spindle stationary the whole time she is tying the knot, it is 
 curious that automatic or other devices to hold the spindle 
 are so uncommon. Many of those on the market seem in- 
 trinsically expensive, but a good automatic brake or clutch 
 is a great convenience to the girl, and a great safeguard 
 against bad work to the spinner (see Chapter IX.). 
 
 Class VI. Fault 12. Thick Yarn.— If the ends from two 
 adjacent rollers happen to touch one another, they are just 
 as likely to run down together on to one of the spindles, as in 
 the case of the equivalent spinning fault, and the results will 
 be very similar. A fourfold yarn is formed, say 4/16', which 
 contains the twist which would have been right for 2/16'- A 
 fourfold yarn would not require half the twist to give it 
 equivalent strength and bulk, and consequently it is screwed 
 up so hard, that it looks like whipcord. It will run for any 
 leno-th of time without breaking, but the excess twist makes 
 it so compact, that it looks very little thicker than twofold 
 when it is stretched on the warping mill. It is therefore 
 liable to run along the whole length of a piece and cause very 
 serious damages in consequence. 
 
 Class VI. Fault IS.—Soft hvist may, of course, be caused 
 by dry tubes, as in spinning (see Class V., Fault 9). 
 
 Class VII. — Reeling, or winding yarn from bobbins on 
 to hanks, is such a simple process that nearly all the possible 
 defects which occur in it, are due not to defects in the 
 machines, but to carelessness on the part of the overlooker 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 299 
 
 or the minder, and they may therefore be dismissed very 
 briefly. 
 
 Class VII. Fault 1. Overweight. — If the machine is so 
 set that it winds more than 560 yards on to the hank before 
 tlie bell rings or the machine knocks off, or if it is allowed 
 to run one or two revolutions after the bell has rung, the 
 spinner will lose every extra yard so added to the hanks, 
 because all hank yarn is sold by calculation weight, and 
 if the calculation weight is exceeded, it will certainly not be 
 paid for. 
 
 In the same way, if yarn is spun too heavy, and full length 
 is given, each bundle will weigh more than calculation weight, 
 and the overweight will also be dead loss. 
 
 Class VII. Fault 2. Bhori weiglit. — On the other hand, 
 if the yarn is correct in weight at standard condition, the 
 hanks will be light if the machine gives short length for any 
 reason, and in this case also the spinner is responsible. In 
 other words, when a spinner accepts an order for yarn in 
 bundle, he guarantees correct weight and correct counts ; if 
 he gives too much length or weight he cannot charge for it, 
 but if there is too little length or weight he can be charged 
 for the difference. 
 
 Class VII. Fault 3. — Neglect to tie in a new end 
 immediately a bobbin runs out is a frequent cause of trouble, 
 because short hanks naturally result. 
 
 Class VII. Fault 4. — Carelessness in tying knots is the 
 most general cause of complaint against this process. Knots 
 which slip when the yarn is being woven are the most fatal 
 fault of all ; but clumsy knots, or any kind of knot with long 
 ends left hanging to them, are also likely to cause trouble, 
 and for this reason the reeling overlooker should be very 
 
300 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 careful to know that all his hands are competent to tie the 
 best knot for each different class of trade. 
 
 Class VIII. Fault 1. — "Winding yarn for warping, from 
 twist bobbins on to warping bobbins, cones, barrels, or 
 cheeses, has few faults except those caused by bad knotting ; 
 but as nothing causes more annoyance to a weaver than a 
 warp in which knots slip and ends break down in consequence, 
 every spinner should not only be sure that all his hands 
 know which is the best knot to tie, and how it can be tied 
 most quickly, but he should also take care that overlookers 
 rigorously enforce instructions in this matter. 
 
 Class VIII. Fault 2. — One of the most inexplicable 
 faults in the whole range of spinning is that caused by 
 winding a bobbin twice over, or by any other means which 
 causes the thread to lie on some bobbins, in the reverse 
 direction to that of the bulk of the yarn. It is difficult to 
 find terms to express the relation exactly, but if we use 
 the term " point first " for yarn as it runs from the spinning 
 frame on to the spool, it is obvious that at the twist frame, 
 it is heel first, and on the warp bobbin, it is point first again : 
 a second winding would make it heel first. This must never 
 occur. If yarn is rewound once, it must be rewound twice, 
 so that all yarn on warping bobbins is arranged exactly as 
 it came from the spinning frame. 
 
 If by any ill chance a dozen bobbins should be rewound 
 and warped near together, a stripe would occur right down 
 any piece made from botany yarn which had a clear finish. 
 There seems to be no possible reason why this should occur, 
 for we know that weft lies with every alternate pick in a 
 reversed direction. People who have not thought the matter 
 out for themselves, are apt to imagine that when the direction 
 
DEFECTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 301 
 
 of the thread is reversed, the direction of the twist is reversed 
 as well ; but this, of course, is not the case (see Fig. 100). It 
 is easy to see that several strands of left-twist yarn will all 
 reflect the light in the same way when lying side by side, 
 and that they will therefore appear to be slightly different in 
 
 Fig. 100. 
 
 quality or nature (see Fig. 101); but it is extremely difficult 
 to formulate any theory to account for a similar appearance 
 when the twist is all in one direction, because we know that 
 the fibres in all threads are blended almost alternately heel 
 and point first, and their scales must therefore reflect the 
 light almost equally whichever end of the thread is towards 
 the light. 
 
 N, Normal twist. 
 L, Left twist. 
 S, Soft twist. 
 
 Fig. 101. 
 
 If a brushing back of the fibres by the guides of the 
 preceding process has anything to do with the appearance, 
 it is only natural to conclude that a second winding process 
 would be just as efficacious as the first in this respect; but 
 as it is clear that this is not the case, we are driven to the 
 
302 PRINCIPLES OF WORSTED SPINNING 
 
 conclusion that there is some arrangement of the fibre in the 
 spinning process which no one yet clearly comprehends. 
 
 No reader must conclude that this list necessarily includes 
 all the faults likely to be met with in the trade. They are 
 only those with which the writer is personally acquainted 
 in the spinning of fine botany and crossbred yarns. Com- 
 binations of faults from different processes will naturally 
 obscure their double origin, and the continual wearing out 
 parts of the machinery is always tending to make it 
 incapable of perfect work. For this reason, faults are very 
 seldom found to conform accurately to any rule, and the 
 reasons for each fault have been given as fully as possible ; 
 because the reason is more likely to suggest remedies to 
 a thinking mind, than is the tabulation, to clear up the 
 difficulties of those who wish to use this chapter as a 
 directory of remedies. 
 
 For ease of reference, the faults given in order of pre- 
 cedence are here tabulated in index form, and opposite to 
 each fault is placed the class and fault number, which 
 indicates the process under which it is likely to originate. 
 
 Nature of fault. 
 
 ClabB. 
 
 Faults. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Faults. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Faults. 
 
 Slubs 
 
 I. 
 
 1,2,3 
 
 11. 
 
 1,2,3 
 
 111. 
 
 6 
 
 
 III. 
 
 6 
 
 IV. 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Uneven Yarn . . 
 
 111. 
 
 7,8 
 
 IV. 
 
 2,4 
 
 V. 
 
 1,2,5 
 
 Curly Yarn . . . 
 
 V. 
 
 2, 3,11 
 
 VI. 
 
 6, 10 
 
 
 
 Thick Yarn . . . 
 
 V. 
 
 7 
 
 VI. 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 Hard Twist . . . 
 
 V. 
 
 4,8 
 
 VI. 
 
 6, 8, 11 
 
 
 
 Soft Twist . . . 
 
 V. 
 
 8,9 
 
 VI. 
 
 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 13 
 
 
 
 Weft Bars in pieces 
 Warp Bars in pieces 
 
 V. 
 
 9,13 
 
 VI. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 8,9 
 
 VIII. 
 
 2 
 
 
 
r 
 
 CONE DRAWI.XC 
 
 A 
 
/>!(! •r/.O) 
 
GONE DRAWING. AfMM^NDIX 
 
 SrKKU (W SPINDI.KS 
 no X 4^) 9(H) 
 
CONE DRAWING. AiMM^NDIX A 
 
 Sl'Klvl) OF DIFKKKENl'lAi, ^.i.Ali 
 44 X 
 
 For a full bobbin . . IIG x 
 Vi"l 
 
 For an empty bobbin 1 1 (i x 
 
 40 y 
 44 > 
 
 3/8" PITCH. 
 
 A. Fig. 4. 
 
 308 
 
J 
 
CONE DRAWING. APi^KNDlX A 
 
 UPTAKE OF BOBBIN: i.e. SPEED ( )F P.OBP.iX Si:iiEA( ' K 
 EXCKSS OF SPINDLE SIGHED 
 
 A. Fig. 5. 
 
 309 
 
310 
 
xid/.-M'ri/ 
 
 .)/l/0>l -i/io^ 
 
1 'i 
 
I 
 
 CONE ROVING. APPENDIX P 
 
 Speed of (liffei-entia] ^oar with liolt nn two equal dianuM 
 gives a gauge point) — 
 
 B. Fig. ;! 
 
 313 
 
CONE ROVING. APPKXDiX I. 
 
 UPTAKE OF BOBBIN: SPEED Ol- P.OBISI 
 EXCESS OF SPINDLE SPEEI* 
 
 Empty bobbin 4^" circnmfereuec. Coi 
 Full „ Hi" 
 
 One revolution of different! i ' ^ ■>. m'm ,i • i .>; ei A 
 
 •.• Empty 13-8 x 2 x .^.^ x 4^ = 4I2"5'' M.n- 
 
 Full 5-52 X 2 X ! r>- l"p' 
 
 Bevel wheels C are 50 and 22. 
 
 B. Fig. 5. 
 315 
 
CONE ROVING. APPENDIX B 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 YARNS FROM VARIOUS PROCESSES 
 
 1. -5" spool. 5. Twist bobbin. 
 
 2. 5" paper tube. 5a. l\ yd. hank, 560 yds. 
 
 3. 7" mule cop. 6. Warp bobbin 5" x 4|". 
 4.. 7" cop, two fold. 7. Cross wound barrel. 
 
 7a. Cross wound cone. 
 
 317 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 SPINNING EOLLERS 
 
 1. Iron, double covered hard. 3. Iron, soft covered, laced. 
 
 2. Wood, single covered hard. 4. Wood, soft covered, nailed. 
 
 DRAWING ROLLERS 
 
 1. Wood, soft covered, nailed. 2. Iron, soft covered, laced. 
 
 318 
 
INDEX 
 
 Average length, 44 
 Arkwright, 13, 23 
 
 Back rollers, IIG, 173 
 Bad piecings, 270, 275 
 Ball warps, 245 
 Balancing, 129 
 Balloon, 57, 69 
 Barrels, 245, 252 
 
 Beaming, 245.* £66*26*^ : ; .• : 
 Bell caps, 18t l ', /'*•. • \\ I 
 
 Bellassed rollers, 176, 274, 2*77-2*79* 
 Bobbins, cap touched, 291 . ... 
 
 , cracked, 292 :*•*••• 
 
 , old, 291 • •* * • "..* 
 
 , size, 145 
 
 , speed of, 66, 182 
 
 , drag, 65, 137 
 
 , drive, 159 
 
 Botany, 36 
 
 Botany coating yarn, 37 
 Box of tricks, 152, 155 
 Breaks, spindle, 242, 243 
 Buenos Ayres, 42, 215 
 
 Can gill box, 113, 119, 124 
 Cap spindle, 18, 23, 70 
 
 vibration, 75, 290 
 
 , shapes of, 187 
 
 , touched bobbins, 291 
 
 Cape wool, 50 
 Carriers, 90, 174, 206 
 Carrier draft, 133, 206 
 Cashmere, 28, 33, 35 
 Calculations, 
 
 , draft, 118, 122, 134, 142, 206 
 
 , drawing, 118, 122, 134 
 
 , spinning, 206 
 
 Calculations, twist, 122, 134, 142, 206 
 Cheeses, 245, 255. Appendix 0 
 Coating yarn, 39 
 
 Cone drawing, 150. Appendix A 
 
 drag, 153 
 
 draft, 151 
 
 twist, 152 „ 
 
 speeds, 152 „ 
 
 Cone roving. Appendix B 
 
 ^*-7^.'-^y«».'67, 
 
 ' ^.JCories: \52?J6}, |6» '. I l .*. 
 I Cra'cTked'bobbins* 292 *• •* * *•• 
 i Cranky motions, 197, 198 
 
 : Cit*u'ii§***« :*.:*.* ;*•. 
 
 r«Cii)mpk»ii, 16, 2.^ .'*•*•. 
 
 I Crossbred drawing, 111 
 I Cross reeling, 247 
 I Curly yarn, 297 
 i Cut sliver, 271 
 Cut finish, 40 
 
 j Dead spindle, 18, 23, 70 
 ; Demi, 51 
 
 Dereham, Haines, 11, 23 
 
 Diameter of fibres, 49 
 
 Diflerential motion, 158, 160 
 
 Distaflf, 7, 23 
 ! Dofiing, 147 
 I Double draft, 96 
 
 Double ends, 285 
 
 Doublings, theory of, 106, 108, 111 
 Draft calculations, 83, 118, 122, 134, 
 
 136, 138, 142, 171, 173, 206 
 Drafting, 11, 23, 82, 112, 171 
 
 , theory of, 85, 93, 136, 171 
 
 of cotton, 96 
 
 Drag of flyers, 137 
 j of rings, 78 
 
320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Drag of caps, 72 
 
 , theory of, 66, 71, 72, 74 
 
 Drawing calculations, 98, 118, 122, 134 
 
 drafts, 272 
 
 . faults, 272 
 
 , twist in, 217 
 
 ratch, 272 
 
 Dry rollers, 280 
 
 spun yarn, 42, 208 
 
 tops, 210, 212 
 
 tubes, 289 
 
 Drum winder, 252, 253 
 
 Fallers, 88, 117 
 
 Faults, 302 
 
 Finishing box, 140 
 
 First drawing box, 130, 134 
 
 Fluted rollers, 116, 127, 172 
 
 Fluting, 116, 172 
 
 Front rollers, 121, 131, 133 
 
 Hard-covered rollers,. 176 
 Hard twist, i:8£, '/94, 207 
 Hargrepves, IC, 23 
 Heart-sbaped came, 196, 199 
 Henrietta clotli, %^ 
 Highs, Thos., 13, 23 
 Hodgson's lifter, 189 
 Hogs,^,hoggetts, 47 
 Hosiery, 230 
 Humidity, 227 
 
 Italian yarn, 29, 32 
 
 Jenny, 15, 23 
 
 Knookeb-oAF, 122, 128 
 Knots, 237, 240, 299 
 
 Laps, 284 
 Lea reeling, 247 
 Left twist, 291, 294 
 Length of fibre, 91 
 Levelling, 177 
 
 Lifter calculations, 134, 142, 206 
 Lifter motions, 148, 156, 157, 183, 188, 
 191 
 
 Licking of ends, 74 
 Low crossbred, 47 
 Lustre, 52 
 
 Mangle wheels, 149 
 Merino, 35 
 Metric counts, 100 
 
 tables, 100, 103, 104 
 
 Milled rollers, 172, 222 
 Mule, 16, 23, 54, 56, 221 
 
 rollers, 222 
 
 spindles, 42 
 
 spinning, 221 
 
 Nicked rollers, 281 
 
 Nip, 89, 92 
 
 , position of, 62 
 
 Overweight, 299 
 Output of frames, 180 
 of rollers, 127, 175 
 
 Parallel motion, 157 
 
 Paul Louis, 12 
 
 Piecings, 144, 270, 275 
 
 Porcupines, 89, 2S0 
 
 r'ort Philip. £15 
 
 Positively driven rollers, 233 
 
 Pressing rnllcs, 131, 133, 176 
 
 QjALITl, 26 
 
 Quick traverse, 252, 255, 257 
 
 Raised finish, 40 
 Ratch, 88 
 
 Reducing boxes, 141, 144 
 Reeling, 246, 249, 250, 299 
 
 , lea, 247 
 
 cross, 247 
 
 Relative bobbin-flyer speeds, 66, 182 
 Repairs, 177 
 Reversed yarn, 300 
 
 twist, 291, 293, 294 
 
 Ring spindles, 76 
 
 spinning, 23 
 
 Rings, drag of, 78 
 
 , patent, 80 
 
 -, tlieory of, 77-81 
 
 Rollers, draft of, 54 
 
 , drawing, 280 
 
 , fluted, 116, 126, 127 
 
 , output of, 127, 174 
 
 , pressing, 131, 133, 176. Appem- 
 
 dix 0 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 Rollers, nicked, 281 
 
 , size of, 141, 143, 222 
 
 Koving bobbins. Go 
 
 boxes, 142, 148, 144 
 
 guide, 170 
 
 faults, 276 
 
 traverse, 170 
 
 • , twist in, 145 
 
 , uneven, 277 
 
 • waste, 277, 284 
 
 ScAiFE's lifter, 191-195 
 
 Scratch fluting, 172 
 
 Screw gills, 18, 32 
 
 Second gill box, 124 
 
 drawing box, 139 
 
 Serge, 45 
 
 Serrations, 48 
 
 Short weight, 299 
 
 Silk warp cashmeres, 28 
 
 Slaiik bands, 286 
 
 Slabbing, 18, 140 
 
 Soft rollers, 176. Appendix 0 
 
 ■ twist, 286, 296, 298 
 
 South American, 42 
 
 Speed of spindles, 179 
 
 Spindle breaks, 241, 243 
 
 draft, 12, 15 
 
 drive, 146, 159, 201 
 
 , gill box, 122, 124 
 
 , position of, 62, 64 
 
 - — , speed of, 142, 179 
 • — ■— , stop motion, 239 
 
 theories, 53 
 
 Spindles, Egyptian, 6 
 — — , Grecian, 7 
 
 , early English, 8, 23 
 
 Spinning faults, 278 
 
 frame jjarticulars, 206 
 
 wheel, Hindu, 6, 54 
 
 , one thread, 9, 23 
 
 , Saxon, 10, 23, 54, 57 
 
 Spirals, 43, 297 
 S|)ools, build of, 184, 185 
 Super botany weft, 28 
 Swing frame, 154, 156 
 
 , Tension pulleys, 203, 204 
 Theory and practice, 55 
 Thick yarn, 40, 298 
 Third d rawing box, 139 
 Threefold twisters, 236 
 Top faults, 269 
 Tops, dry, 210, 212 
 Trap motions, 232, 234, 238 
 Travellers, 77 
 Tubes, dry, 289 
 , worn, 290 
 
 Twist calculation, 122, 134, 142, 206 
 
 , eftect of, 50 
 
 frame rollers, 231, 233 
 
 , hard, 282, 294, 297 
 
 , left, 291-293, 294 
 
 , soft, 286, 298 
 
 , spinning, 205 
 
 , theory of, 179 
 
 Twisting, 228 
 faults, 293 
 
 Warping bobbins, 215. Appendix C 
 
 mill, 259 
 
 ; sectional, 262, 264 
 
 Warps, 245, 258, 260 
 Washers, 137 
 Waste, 277, 284 
 
 Weight of tops, 99, 104, 106, 108, 111 
 
 roving, 99, 106, 108, 111 
 
 yarn, 100, 101 
 
 Winding, 250 
 
 drum, 252 
 
 faults, 300 
 
 on, 182 
 
 , quick traverse, 255, 257 
 
 Worn tubes, 290 
 Woollen, 24 
 Worsted, 24 
 
 Undulations, 51 
 
 Yarn coating, 39 
 
 , hard, 282, 294, 297 
 
 , soft, 230, 286, 296, 298 
 
 , thick, 40, 298 
 
 THE END