The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-05-10
SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.
ALL THE WAY FROM THE PICKER to
THE CLoTH-RCOM.


Processes OF MISUNDERSTANDING e"ti"h
Goods Con,bing, Drawing and Spinning
Out the Raw Material Weaving.
The writer presented himself at the Office
OF one oil the Lowell mills ANA Requested the
privilege of Inspecting the processes of manu-
featuring cotton goods The PERMISSION was
finally given, the only ce'7'iition being that
the null Should not be named
TO begin with the hfst process, SAID the
agent, VINO kindly accompanied the "fiter
through theh mil, we VIII take IN the picking
room Inc picker Is, as you see, something
Ike hay cutter, only instead of cutting the
cotton 1t simply beats it by means of knives
set IN cylinder which revolves. The object
IS to open the matted Jumps OF cotton and
-ic'h ti'e fihcrs
Inns was the opener picker fach ma
chime was tended by man, generally a
French-Canadian, whose duty Is TO break up
the cotton, which comes III 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 snowdl1ft of opened
cotton hay on the floor near each of the ma
chimes. Upon the other side OF the machine
is fan arrangement and long shute, by
means of which the loosened cotton is blown
| over Il wire screen, through which most OF
| the sand and other foreign substances fall,
until the light flakes come Ia the 'tinisher
| picker The cotton comes out of
| the finisher picker in tilmy sheet
a.. 4
upon roller The picker heater makes
| from | ,5n to 900 revolutions per min
| ute in performing its work, and the fan
rather more.
CoMBED OUT, DRAWN OUT, STUN OUT.
From the tinisher picker the laps" or rolls
| of partially cleaned cotton are taken to the
| "breaker card This consists of n brush Of
] wire teeth upon n cylinder three feet in di-
ametar. revolving at the rate of 125 times prr
minute. and coming almost in contact with
1 another system of similar cards The object
| of Che card is Ia still further clean the cotton,
| and To acnmh ont the fiber and remove any
| knots or bllnps which NAV have remained in
1 il After passinc around on the large cylin.
/ der of the ma,.hine the filters are taken in &
| fine fleece by the teeth of a smaller cylinder
| called a "dofTerr and from the doTcr this
| fleece is taken by the ",loffer comb" an!
| formed by means of "A tin funnel into an end,
les ribbon.
After going through the breaker card the
| Ian of cotton is taken to the .'finisher card, ;
| which finishes the process of cleansing. The
cotton comes ont in n lioht and fieecy ribbon
as t.fo,., and those ribbons from many cards
,r, uuii,si at fine "railUay head " By means
Of the drawing frame and the ..finisher
drawing frame a number are united and al
tho san,a time drawn ont at praater lencth
nv that means se,.uri,p great uniformity in
the ribbon of cotton. Following the drawing
frames come the ..s,eelerS." coarse and fine
iy means of which. surcessively, this process,
of drawing ont 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, AM
contains from 100 10 215 spindles, according
to circumstances and the nature of the WORK
required The Spndles are placed at the