The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1877-03-31

ty per cent. to the cost of manufacture. Six
of the rolls of webbing are now passed to-
gether through the combiug machine be-
tween two rollers, and combed by innumer-
able steel teeth to the fneness of gossamel
and the thinness of a spiders web. II
"sliver" again, goes through rollers once
more, when it is coiled into cans as hefo .,
with loss of twenty per cent. on the ma
| terial which composed the web when it was
put on the French machine. 1t Ia q 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
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
doubled four hundred and thirty five thou
sand, four hundred and fifty-six times. The
lastcans are now taken to
THE FIRST sLUBBING FRAME,
from which cans they are passed through
rollers, then twisted to about the size of a
lead pencil, and wound on bobbins, all by
the same machine. From this they go to
the second slubbing frame, where one hun
dred and two spindles on each machine are
winding yarn from two hundred and four
bobbins, which came from the first slubber,
| two threads being wound upon one spool.
| The next or intermediate slUbbing machine
winds upon one hundred and seventy six
spools, from three hundred and fifty-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
doubling and twisting the yarn is fast be-
coming strong and hard. We now follow
the yarn called rowing" to the self-actipg
mule" which makes eight hundred and
forty threads of yarn from sixteen hundred
and eighty bobbins. This wonderful ma
milne, two of which are operated by one
man, draws out the yarn and twists it from
sixteen hundred and eighty spools, when it
comes away, and on its return winds it on
eight hundred cops (spools) making the last
number of thread yarn. We now come to
THE THREAD MILL,
which is distinct and independent depart
ment. The cotton yarn comes here, and
first goes to the cop winding machines,
cate balances, over soft felt ground, upon
bobbins, two threads together upon one.
From the cop winding departm ent, the
bobbins go to 10 the singing department,
where the two threads that were run to-
gether on the spool, in the cop winding de-
partment, 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 revolves five
thousand times per minute, twisting hun
dreds of threads on each machine After
being twisted, two threads together making
one hard thread, three of the latter are again
run together on bobbin, the same as in
the first cop winding department. Three
of these are now twisted together, making
six strands, and
THE PROCESS OF TWISTING THEM
is exactly the same as the one last de-
scribed. 1t is known as the finishing twist
ing department. When the thread comes
from the finishing twisting department, it is
inspected with the greatest care by skillful
persons, and put through several tests be.
fore passing the Keeling 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
yarners, they never forget to tell the same
| story without variations. Again, after COM
ing from the reefs,
THE THREAD IS CAREFULLY INSPECTED,
the work employing several girls, who take
all the rough and imperfect thread 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,
counted and put into large tanks, immense
loads at time, and boiled by steam for
several hours which takes out the dirt and
CLEANS IT PERFECTLY.
1t is then put through washings oft, and
preparations wonderful and curious. The
water used, we judge, would have increased
Noah's ark from the snag on Mount Ararat
| Some of the wash tubs are of stone, and all
are en- 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 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
heated by seven thousand five hundred feet
of steam pipe, and can be regulated to any
desired temperature. After leaving the
Keeling department, the thread that is to be
oolored goes to the dye house, and that
which is to remain white, to the bleach
house. 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 dozen
men.
| ALL CoLORs OF THREAD
are 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 Artesiau wells
of the Clark Thread Company has q capac-
ity of one hundred and fifty thousand gal
Ions per day. This is a remarkable we'll,
sixteen feet deep and eight feet in diameter,
of which Professor Maynard, the New York
chemist, said it produced the purest water
he ever saw. It makes man thirsty to
look at it, and is absolutely free from any
PARTICLES of matter, by chemical test. The
thread is blued on big scale, which gives
that handsome tint so much admired by
| the ladies. Then it is committed to the