The record-union., 1891-04-26
Act well their part,
There all the honor lies -
SPOOL COTTON.
How Machinery Has Changed the Max
ing From Early Methods.


The first attempts at working cotton
over for thread were naturally slow and
clumsy. To clean out the dirt and seeds
was long, difficult work, done by hand.
The cotton was spread out and beaten,
and days work would not clean enough
for a yard of cloth. Now the picker
cleans about 1000 pounds a day, and
needs no attention but to be kept sup
piled. Carding, which is really combing
out the tibers, just as woman combs her
hair, except without mirror, was all
hand work, and thus with much time
and effort the workmen only partially
succeeded in laying the tibers parallel
to one another. Now carding machine
catches the confused mass that comes
from the picker and smooths out the
strands into gossamer web that is even
and clean and nearly light enough to float
in the air. These filaments, drawn out
and worked over by machinery, are
finally spun into yarn upon the mule"
that ingenious machine which takes the
place of the old-time "spinster."
The term ''spinster," as is probably
generally known, comes from the spin
ning-wheel. This was introduced from
India into England in the time of Henry
VIII, and spinning became so important
and general an element of household
work that it gave its name to the women
| to whom that duty fell. The spinning
and the women continued to spin here
| until the English jenny and mule were so
perfected as to take away their tiresome
| but rather picturesque employment.
Even now spinning wheels are very
| plenty, and thousands of them, only
partly broken down by age and neglect,
| are slowed away IN country garretS.
! In thread-making, as at present carried
on, drawing is one of the most import
| ant things done. After the cleaned fibers
| have been Strengthened into a strand, the
| latter is run between sets Of rollers, one
set revolving faster than the other. This
| is drawing If one set turns ten times
as fast as the other the strand that passes
out between them is ten times heightened
and ten times as fine as the original. This
| is draft of ten," as it is cSlled. The
| drawing may be in any ratio, and any
| number of strands may be run together
| into one at the same time that that is
| drawn. Five strands drawn with draft
! of ten would make a new strand half the
size and ten times as long. This process
of uniting strands is called doubling"
and the doubling, running together
| drawing down and reuniting and redraw-
| ing are kept careful account of, so that
! the size of the strand and the amount of
work on it are or may be constantly
! known. The operation is repeated again
and again, until the original strand, if it
could be followed up, would be found re-
| duced TO millionths OF its original size.
! The doubling from first to last is about
90, 0,000, 600 times
AT this stage the cotton is called "sli-
ver." AS soon as given twist it becomes
rowing" and when it is spun, becomes
yarn" Spinning is the simultaneous
drawing" and twisting, and is done by
| the "mule,n derivative of the German
''muhle," mill. The yarn is then twisted
into thread. In old times three strands of
yarn were put together for spool cotton,
| but now six strands are used as a stand
ard. 1t is established by all spinners that
seven thousand grains shall be a pound
in cotton and that yarn of which $40 yards
weigh this pound shall be number 81"
When $40 yards of yarn weigh 1000
grains Ia cotton pound), the yarn is No. L;
if 1850 yards weigh pound, it will be
No. 2 yarn. For No. so yarn it will take
50XS40 yards to weigh q pound This is
the whole Of the yarn measurement.
Thread measurement rests on il, The
early thread was three-cord, and the
thread took its number from the number
of the yarn il was made of. No. go yarn
made No. 60 thread; though in point of
fact the actual caliber of No. 60 thread
would equal No. 20 yarn. being three
sixty strands. When the sewing machine
came into market as the great consumer,
six-cord cotton had to be made as a
smoother, rounder product. AS thirty
| numbers were already established, they
| were not altered for the new article. and
No. 90 six-cord and No. 90 three-cord
are identical in size as well as num-
ber. To effect this, the six-cord has
to be made of yarn twice as
fine as the three-cord demands. The No.
90 six-cord would be six strands of No.
l20 yarn. To summarize: yarn gets its
number from the arbitrary formula that
$40 yards weigh 1000 grains. Three
cord spool cotton is the same number as
the yarn it is made of. Six-cord spool
cotton is made of yarn that is double its
number.
Up to No. 60, this is true of the foreign
thread also; but, beginning with this
number, the foreign makers diminish
the ratio in the six-cord, thus 60 is made
of ITO yarn, instead of 120, 20 of 12O, and
SO on, 100 being made of $50.
Spools are made of white birch, and one
New England mill viii use 5000 cords a