The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-03-29

ing and blessing mankind at every step,
from the womb Of ages to the spindles Of
Newark. We will now examine into the
intermediate sources OF the power which
drives the endless machinery OF this vast
hive of industry, with its sixty miles OF
betting and about seventy miles OF steam
pipe for heating purposes.
WE ENTER THE ENGINE HOUSE,
itself large enough for an ordinary factory.
Here is a mighty production OF human
brain and Drawn. In the presence OF this
monster, with its majestic tread, one feels
his own insignifcance and frailty. This
save the sharp click Of the improved steam
cut-otfs, is equal in power to the combined
draft OF six hundred horses, and Is two en-
gines in one, usually termed a double en-. |
CINE. The fy.wheel, travelling at the rate |
of forty-eight revolutions per minute, and |
carrying three huge belts on its surface, |
each two feet wide, is seventy-eight feet in |
and weighs thirty tons, or sixty thousand |
pounds. The shaft Is fourteen inches in |
thickness, the double cylinders are twenty
six inches in diameter, with condensers, |
and stroke of five feet. They were built
by Corliss, in 1874. One of the three belts
on the fy.wheel Is one hundred and fifty
feet in length. But even this double mon
ster could not run the works. 1t has big
twin brother, and together they travel every
day for ten hours on their endless journey,
and never get tired. They are wonders OF
power and elegant workmanship, worthy OF
a visit from any one who wants to see the
BIGGEST PAIR OF TWINS
in New Jersey. They are supplied with
and four large upright boilers, Corliss's 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 es-
tablishment. Besides these there are three
ordinary sized engines, made by Watts,
Campbell & Co., of Newark, in different
parts of the work, making seven in all, a
grand total of nearly fourteen hundred horse
power. The young mountain of coal, which
looks enought 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, when tits 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 machines
it comes out in the shape of roll, like wall
paper, comparatively soft, white and clean,
1t is, however, really in very rough state,
compared with the fineness and perfection
that is to be reached. Several of these
scutching machines are running continu-
ally, and their sound is like the roar of a
lightning express train as it whirls past
the platform where you stand. The first
scutcher is fed with the bale cotton from
hopper which lets it through into knives
set in large rollers, which revolve with tire.
mendous force andlightning speed, picking
the cotton into small pieces, and passing il
by suction of air, on to other rollers, be.
tween which it goes and comes out in the
shape of web or clap" in large rolls.
machine like the first and run together
through the same process of
PICKING AND BEATING AND CLEANING,
when it comes out again in the same shape
as before, rolled to exactly the thickness
which it is desired to make the "sliver "
from which the thread yarn is to be spun
What silver" is will be learned furthe,
on. The machine is so delicately set that il
regulates the thickness of the web or lap ia
within half an ounce, in q web of five feet
weighing only twelve to eighteen ounces
After being put through three scutchine
machines in this way and coming out with
eight thicknesses of web or lap similar to
that produced BY the first it is ready
/ is filled with Cardipg Machines, Drawing
Frames, Lappers, and Combing Machines, .
perfect labyrinth of betting, pulleys and
machinery, the noise of which is like the
roar of many waters mingled with the clat
ter of q thousand wheels. One of the large
! rolls of web or lap that came from the las
scutching machine is placed on cardinl
machine, which takes and runs it
BETWEEN THE TEETH
of a large and small cylinder for the pur
pose of drawing out the entapgled FIBER
and laying them parallel or in the sam,
line of direction and also to remove tn,
small pellicles or notes which may have es
capped the action of the scutching machine
After being treated in this way, a combe
or doffer takes the web from the small
cylinder, which is now delicate gauze
and it is gathered up and passed through
small hole, say half an inch in size, afte
which it is coiled in a revolving can. Tn,
whole process is one of wonderful delicacy
|. the m aterial being SO finely worked that
breath of air would break it. This care
contains ninety thousand square teeth to
! foot, or a total of four million one hun
bred and eighty-six thousand. On tn
carding machine is little joker that work
2 like some old man, raising the wire covere,
t flats from the teeth of the carder, which i
cleans, and throws off the particles of dir
and coarse cotton left on them. Six of tn
TIN CANS CALLED CARD sLIvERs,
in which the roll is wound are now taken t
{ another machine called Drawing Fran
/. and run together into one "sliver." Thes
a six are SO light that when they are pssse
v together through hole and made one, the
e fall into another silver and are then n
/. larger than one of the six from which it wa
J, made, although they have not yet bee
n twisted at all. Fourteen of these cans flu
}. of slivers are placed at the Lapper" an
!. run between two rollers, making new we
4 nine inches wide and half an inch thick
e which comes out like the original roll fror
O the scutching machine that takes the cotto
n from the bales, only that now it is soft an
l. delicate as is possible to conceive, weighin
e only one hundred and forty.ive grains
r the yard, nine inches wide. 1t now goes /
q rolls to wonderful little machine, a Frenc
invention, first introduced in this countr
by The Clark Thread Company. 1t is a n
fined carding machine, the product Of whie
8 is as much superior in fneness to the larg
o carders Just described as the most elegar
u silk goods are to
;, THE CoARsEST COTTON CLOTH.
u 1t is called the French combing machine an
\ is only used by the best thread makers, as
9 is very expensive and while it makes tn
n |
q per cent to the cost Of manufacture. Six Q
n the rolls of webbing al low passed togethe
q through the combing machine between tw
= rollers, and combed by innumerable stee
!. teeth to the fneness Of gosssmer and tn
, thinness of spiders web. 1t passes on, /
!. gathered into one soft round" silver again
4 goes through the rollers once more, when
4 is coiled into cans, as before, with loss o
a twenty per cent. on the material which CON
a posed the web when IL was put on tn
:. French machine. tits texture so fine an,
: soft that one cannot but wonder how il bear
q its own weight After the last process, si
of the sliveis are again put through tn
q same process reducing them in size ST.
. times, and adding that to the length. Thi
is repeated three times, and each time the
are coiled into cans. The last silver
the same size and weight as when tn
). process began, although doubled fou
e hundred and thirty.fve thousand, four hur
a dred and 6fty.six times. The last cans ar
!. now taken to
Q THE FIRST sLUBBING FRAME,