The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1877-03-22

its sixty miles of betting asd about seventy
miles of steam pipe for heating purposes.
WE ENTER THE ENGINE HOUSE,
itself large enough for an ordinary factory.
Here is mighty production of human brain
and Drawn. In the presence of this mon
ster, with its majestic tread, one feels his
own insignitcanee and frailty This vast
piece OF machinery, moving silently, save
the sharp click of the improved steam cut
offs, is equal in power 10 the combined
draft OF six hundred horses ard is two
engines in one, usually termed double en-
CINE. The ty-wheel, travelling at the rate of
forty eight revolutions per minute and car
ryiDg three huge belts on its surface, each
| two feet wide, Is seventY-eight feet in cir
| conference, twenty-five feet in diameter and
weighs thirty tons or sixty thousand pounds.
| The shaft is fourteen inches in thickness,
| The double cylinders are tweniy-siy inches
in diameter, with condensers, and a stroke
OF i've feet. They were built by Corliss. in
| 1874. One of the three belts on the fiy-
wheel is one hundred and fifty feet in
length. But even this double monster could
not run the works. 1t has a big twin
brother, and togsther they travel every day
for ten hours on their endless journey, and
never get tired. They are wonders of power
/
| from any one who wants to see the
| BIGGEST PAIR OF TWINS
in New Jersey. They are supplied with
steam from nine immense tubular
boilers and four large upright boilers,
, Corliss' plan. They consume twenty-five
! tons of coal per day, which will give some
| idea Of the amount of steam necessary to
drive the immense establishment. Besides
these there are three ordinary sized engines,
made by Watts, Campbell & Co., of New
ark, IN different parts of the works, making
seven in all, grand total of nearly fourteen
| hundred horse power. The young noun
| tain OF coal, which looks enough to last
the whole city year, is rebuilt by two
! hundred and fifty ton boat loads, at brief
| intervals.
MANUFACTURING THE THREAD.
The cotton is brought in bales to the mix
ing rooms, then it is examined and placed
in bins, according to the different grades,
ready for the scutching machines, which
open and beat the material cleaning it from
The dirt and sand it contains in the bale.
After going through the scutching machine,
1t comes out IN the shape of roll, like wall
paper, comparatively soft, white and clean
Ii Is, however, really IN a very rough state
compared with the ineness and perfection
| that is TO be reached Several of these
scutchlng machines are running continual
llghtnlng express train, as it whirls past the
platform where you stand The first
scutcher is fed with the bale cotton from a
| hopper which lets it through into knives
set IN large rollers, which revolye with ire
meEdous force, and Zig, thing speed, picking
the cotton into small pieces and yassing it
by suction of air, on to the other rollers, be-
| tween which 1t goes and comes out in the
shape of web or "lap" in large rolls. Four
#
machine like the first and run together
through the same process of
PICKING AND BEATING AND CLEANING.
when 1t comes out again in the same shape
as before, rolled to exactly the thickness
which it is desired to make the silver"
from which the thread yarn is to be spun.
What silver is will be learned further
on. The machine is so dslicately set that
it regulates the thickness of the web or lap
to within half an ounce, in web of five
feet, weighing only twelve to eighteen
ounces. Alter being put through three
scutching machines III this way aud coming
out with eight thicknesses of web or Lap
similar to that produced by the first pro-
cess, it is ready for the carding machines.
This department is filled with Carding Ma
chimes, Drawing Frames, Lsppe1s, and
Combing Machines. perfect labyrinth of
| betting, puileps and machinery, the noise
of which is like the roar of many waters
mingled with the olatter of a thousand
wheels. One of the large rolls Of web or
! lap that came from the last scutching ma
chine is placed on carding machine
which takes and runs it
! BETWEEN THE TEETH
! OF large and small cylinder for the pur-
pose OF drawing out the entangled fbers
and laying them parallel or in the same line
of direction and also to remove the small
pellicles or notes which may have escaped
the action of the scutching machine At
ter being treated in this way, comber or
dotfsr takes the web from the small cylin-
der, which is now delicate gauze and it is
gathered up and passed through a small
hole, say half en- inch in SIZE after which it
is c0iled in revolving can. The whole
proc: IS is one of wonderful delicacy, the
| material being so finely worked that
breath OF air would break it. This card
contains ninety thousand square teeth to
foot, or total of four million one hundred
and eighty-six thousand. On the carding
machine is a little joker that WORKS like
some old man, raising the wire covered fats
from the teeth of the oarder, which it
cleans, and throws off the particles of dirt
and coarse cotton left on them. Six of the
TIN CANS CALLED CARD sLIvERs,
in which the roll is wound are now taken
to another machine called Drawing Frame
and run together into one silver" These
six are so light that when they are passed
together through hole and made one, they
fall into another silver and are then no
larger than one of the six from which it
was made, although they have not yet been
twisted at all, Fourteen of these cans full |
of slivers are placed at the "Lapper'' and |
run between two rollers, making new web |
nine inches wide and half an inch thick, |
which comes ont like the original roll from |
the scutching machine that takes the cotton |
from the bales, only that now it is soft and |
delicate as is possible to conceive, weighing |
only one hundred and forty-five grams to |
the yard, nine inches wide. 1t now goes |
in rolls to a wonderful little machine, a |
French invention, first introduced in this |
country by The Clark Thread Company 1t |
is a refined carding machine, the product of |
which is as much superior in fineness to the |
large carriers just described as the most |
elegant silk goods are to
THE CoARsEsT COTTON CLOTH.
1t is called the French combing machine, |
and is only used by the best thread makers, |
as 1T is very expensive, and while it makes |
the thread superior in quality, it adds TWEEN
ty per cent. to the cost ofmanufacture. Six |
OF TIE rolls of webbing are now passed to- |
gether through the combing machine be- |
tween two rollers, and combed by innumer-
able steel teeth to the fineness of gossamer |
and the th1nness of a spiders web. 1t |
passes on, is gathered into one soft round |
silver sgain, goes through rollers once
m ore, when it is coiled into cans as before,
RAJ sit' winch composed the web when it was
put on the French machine. 1t is a texture
so fine and soft that one cannot but wonder
how it bears its own weight. After the last |
process, six of the sliVers are again put |
through the drawing frame, making one
silver no larger than any of the six from
which it is drawn. Then six of these last |
are put through the same process reducing
them in size six times, and adding that to |
the length. This is repeated three times,
and each time they are coiled into cans.
The last silver is the same size and weight |
as when the process began, although |
double four hundred and thirty-fve thou
sand, four hundred and fifty-six times. The
lss. cans are now taken to
THE FIRST sLUBBING FRAME,
from which cans they are passed through |
rol ers, then twisted to about the size of q |
lead pencil, and wound on bobbins, all by |
the same machine. From this they go to |
i 1