The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-03-28

lead pencil, and wound on D0Dplns, all by
the same machine. From this they 90 to
the second slubbing frame, where one hun
bred and two splinters on each machine are
winding yarn from two hundred and four
bobbins, which came from the first slubber,
two threads being wound upon n spool.
The next or intermediate slubbing machine
winds upon one hundred and seventy-six
spools, from three hundred and tifty-two
bobbins, which came from the second Stub
Der. The next and last is called the rowing
machine, and fills two hundred and forty
spools which came from four hundred and
eighty bobbins, from the intermediate Stub
bling machine. By this repetition of doub-
ling and twisting the yarn is fast becoming
strong and hard. We now follow the yarn
called Growing" to the self-acting "mule,"
which makes eight hundred and forty
threads of yarn from sixteen hundred and
eighty bobbins. This wonderful machine,
two of which are operated by n man,
draws out the yarn and twists it from six
teen hundred and eighty spools, when it
m away, and on its return winds 1t on
eight hundred cops (spools) making the
last number of thread yarn. We now come
to
THE THREAD MILL,
which is a distinct and independent depart.
ment. The cotton yarn comes here, and
first goes to the cop winding machines,
where it is run from the cops, through deli
cate balances, over soft felt ground, upon
bobbins, two threads together upon one.
From the cop winding department, the bob
bins go to the singing department, where
the two threads that were run together on
the spool, in the cop winding department,
are twisted or spun in one thread. The
thread, as it is %unwound, runs through
water, and rapidly over glass guides, and
the bobbin which receives it r~eyolves fye
thousand times perminute twisting hundreds
of threads on each machine. After being
twisted two threads together, making one
hard thread, three of the latter are again
run together on a bobbin, the same as in
the first cop winding department. Three Of
these are now twisted together, making six
STRAINS, and
H PROCESS OF TWISTING THEM
is exactly the same as the one last de-
scribcd. 1t is known as the finishing twist
ing department. When the thread comes
from the finishing twisting department, It'll
inspected with the greatest care, by skillful
persons, and put through several tests be-
fore passing the reeling department, to be
wound in skeins for the bleach house. The
machines in this department are very curl
Gus, and daily turn out vast quantities of
thread, which is packed, and given a
through ticket to the bleach and dye houses.
They measure off the thread into skeins of
an exact length and size, and when they
have reeled off just the right amount of yarn,
always stop, and unlike some kind of yarn
ers, they never forget to tell the same story
without variations. Again after coming
from the reels.
THE THREAD IS CAREFULLY INSPECTED,
the work employing several girls, who take
all the rough and unprecedented from the
hanks. After this second inspection, we
find it next in the bleach house. The
bleach and dye houses are among the most
interesting departments Of this vast estab-
lishment, although not the most agreeable.
The progress in washing machinery, that is
here exhibited, would make our grand
mothers think that the millennium had come.
The baby washer, as we call it, Of this con-
Germ, is rather a large child, whose place
and Uses will appear later. After the thread
is sent from the inspection department to the
bleach and dye houses, it is unpacked, count
ed and put into large tanks, immense loads
at a time, and boiled by steam for several
hours, which takes out the dirt and
LEANS IT PERFECTLY.
1t is then put through washings oft, and
preparations wonderful and curious. The
water used, we judge, would have increased
the flood just about enough to have lifted
Noah's ark from the snag on Mount Ararat.
Some of the wash tubs are of stone, and all
are on a scale equal in magnitude to any of
Col. Sellers schemes for making millions.
The loads of thread are put in and taken
out of boilers, %rinsers, washers, dryers and
half a dozen other processes by machinery.
Then after all this, it goes right back to
those huge steam boilers, and the same
thing is done over again. The dry room is
by seven thousand five hundred feet
of steam pipe, and can be regulated to any
desired temperature. After leaving the
department, the thread that is to be
goes to the dye house, and that
which is to remain white, to the bleach
In the dye house is the patent dye
ing machine, used only to dye black. 1t
does the work far better than by hand and
is equal to the labor of more than a dozen
men.
ALL COLORs OF THREAD
arc made, and the quantities of soaps, dye
stuffs, and other material of the kind used,
are immense. Eighty thousand gallons of
water are consumed daily in the bleach
house alone, and one of the Artesian wells
of The Clark Thread Company has a capa-
city of one hundred and fifty thousand gal
Ions per day. This is a remarkable well,
sixteen feet deep and eight feet in diameter,
Of which Professor Maynard, the New York
chemist, said it produced the purcst water
he ever saw. 1t makes a man thirsty to
look at it, and is absolutely free from any
particles of matter, by chemical test. The
is blued on u big scale, which gives
that handsome tint s. greatly admired by
the ladies. Then it is committed to the
tender mercics Of the baby washer, which
are cruel, and goes through it ten times.
The baby is built like an ordinary washing
machine, but each of the rollers weighs a
thousand pounds, and as the thread passes
through the water into the washer
THEY HOP AND JUMP
and pound with antics queer, but it does the
business thoroughly. This was formerly
done by the old fashioned FOUNDER and bar
rel which our grandmothers used to set us
at when we were boys, before going to school
in the morning. Then it is drawn through
the rinser, which is a simple and novel ma
chine: continually supplied with pure Arte'
sian we'll water. The thread passes over "a
roller into the water, comes up again ovel
another roller, then down into the water
and up and down, and out and in, and Out
and up over the reels into great boxes or
wheels, from which it is put into Il large
water extractor, a perforated hollow cylin'
der, revolving several thousands times pei
minute, and then it is transported to the dry
ing room. In this way five hundred heads
can be rinsed in four minutes which used
to take an. hour and q half. After tho
thread has come out Of the drying room,
coLoRED OR UNCoLORED,
it goes to the warerooms, where it is counted
and put in packages to be given out prcpar.