doffer definition
Doffer boys in Aragon Mills, Rock Hill, South Carolina, photographed by Lewis Hine on 13 May 1912. A doffer is someone who removes (doffs) bobbins, pirns or spindles holding spun fiber such as cotton or wool from a spinning frame and replaces them with empty ones. Historically, spinners, doffers, and sweepers each had separate tasks that were required in the manufacture of spun textiles.