Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-01
SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.
ALL THE WAY FROM THE PICKER TO
THE CLOTH-ROOM.


Processes Of Manufacturing Cotton
Goods-Combing Drawing and Spinning
Out the Raw yIaterial-weaving.
| The writer presented himself at the of1ic
Of one Of the Lowell mills and requested tn,
| privilege Of inspecting the processes of manu-
featuring cotton goods The permission wa,
finally given, the only condition being thai
the mill should not be named.
"To begin with the first process said thu
agent, who kindly accompanied the writel
through the mill, Eve will take in the picking
room The picker is, as you see, something
like hay cutter, only instead Of cutting tie
cotton it simply beats it by means OF knives
set in cylinder which revolves The object
is to open the matted humps Of cotton and
clean the fbers.'
This was the SopeEer picker Each ma
chine was tended by q man, generally q
French Canadian, whose duty is to break up
the cotton, which comes in firmly packed
bales, and throw pieces Of convenient size
upon the endless apron leading into the ma,
chine. On all sides were great bales of cotton
not yet opened, and sncwdrift of opened
cotton lay on the floor nea. each of the ma
chimes Upon the other side of the machine
is a fan arrangement and long shute, by
means Of which the loosaned cotton is blown
over a wire screen, through which most of
the sand and other foreign substances fall,
until the light flakes come to the 'finisher
picker The cotton comes out OF
the fnisher picker in a filmy sheet
of uniform thickness, and is wound
upon a roller. The picker heater makes
from 1 300 to 1900 revolutions per min
ute in performing its work, and the fan
rather more.
CoNBEp OUT, DRAWN OUT, spun OUT.
From the finishcr picker the laps" or rolls
Of partially cleaned cotton are taken to the
"breaker card" This consists of brush Of
wire teeth upon a cylinder three feet in di-
ameter, revolving at the rate of l25 times per
minute, and coming almost in contact with
another system of similar cards. The object
of the card IL TO still further clean the cotton,
and to comb out the fiber and remove any
knots or Jumps which may have remained in
il. After passing around on the large cylin-
der of the machine the fibers are taken in a
fine fleece by the teeth of a smaller cylinder
called "doffer,- and from the dofrer this
fleece is taken by the 'doffer comb" and
formed by means of tin funnel into an end
less ribbon.
After going through the breaker card the
lap of cotton is taken To the @finisher card
which finishes the process of cleansing. The
cotton comes out in a light and fieecy ribbon
as before and these ribbons from many cards
are united at the railway head" By means
of the drawing frame" and the ~finisher
drawing frame" a number are united and at
the same time drawn out at greater length,
by that means securing great uniformity il
the ribbon of cotton Following the drawing
frames come the 'speeders,n coarse and fine,
by means of which, successfully, this process
Of drawing out at greater length Is continued
Two machines for spinning are employed
the ring frame and the mule" The ring
frame is from twenty to thirty feet long, and
contains from 100 10 275 spindles, according
30 circumstances and the nature of the work
required The spindles are placed at the
sides, and the bobbins, from which the rowing
IS drawn, are placed upon rack above. The
,pindles make each from 100 to 5000 revo-
utions per minute.
Samue, Crompton, an Englishman, was the
inventor of the mule. His invention consists
n a railway movement by which the rowing,
,r incipient thread, is alternately spun and
wound upon the spindle. As the mule
.uns out the rowing is drawn out and
visited into thread, and then es it
uns back the continued revolution of the
pindles winds up the thread. Each mule
originally carried only about twenty-five
pindles. but now they are sometimes built to
AIRY over 900, and are still operated by 2
Jingle spinner. Each spindle makes from
500 to 800 revolutions per minute.
Its as good rs walking match" said
mule spinner, who happened to be idle for a
-You watch that man running
hat mule for while, and see how he will
walk. The mule runs out five feet seven
inches, and is about 100 feet long 1t makes
bout five trips in and out every minute; and
10 has to follow it pretty much all the time
With all his walking, up and down and back
nd forth, for ten hours day, it amounts to
bout twenty-five miles.
MADE READY FOR THE sHUTTLEs.
The yarn which is spun ON the mules is
round on the cops" and is ready for tho |
huttles of tine looms The yarn spun on the |
be ring frames, which is used for the warp, |
as a number of processes yet to pass through. |
'irst it is taken to the 'spooling' room,
There by means of machinery the yarn is
III r. s,,ools nr, tho, ,al,a, - ,ho
!. ,,,,on;n. s,,.,,ast;,o 81 s+.ca
-, t,,,,;,,, ,ho r.;ns over tho h,cLs az n
o,,,,,. az b,,r5rod bo,,S,.s ar once The frames
-, i, ,,;po,s n, cont,i, from, go 10
M s,,oois and the warn from tba snooIs
- ,,,r,,,h n comb AMI over :, roller
,,.,,,,,,,, a,,.i.r o,nh ,,d the, i ,yo,,,5 mn
!, ~, .,~,r,er baam The warner has n
o,.t Of .,,ton,,,;c consr;anoa The drum ra-
=, ~, -. - ,h;,.., ~. for,,- ,;,,,os
-, -, 70 ,u,,,h;r,, go ,,-or,- ,s II
h-..a b-o.ts !, imme1;..a,v s.c,,s end
n,I;nr con- cart !, until ovarv.h;ner is s,t |
~. -
4 s,.r th., WARNING, COMES the .s,asb;ng n |
,rocsss ~ sizing orr starcb;ng which is ,,er-
or,,,..l INV means Of :, largo system ef rollers
10 ,-.,s and team cylinders The final nro-
ar,w;ng !, y or nlacino the san,ra.a THREADS |
q the warn in nosition between the fine cords |
4 the 4barness This is an oparation alike |
rv;,e, 10 the evss and III. ,,,ienc,
here is no word to describe the assault which |
be weaving department make upon the |
ars Of the visitor. A good-sized mill has |