[United

2CG Class G.—MANUFACTURING MACHINES AND TOOLS.

North Areas A. H. 10 to 31; C. D. E. I to 10, & 19 to 33 ; G. II. ‘25, 20.

one spins the liavd yarns, which are chiefly used in warps,and the other the softer yarns of wefts. This, however,is by no means a general rule.

The bobbins filled with rovings from the bobbin andfly-frame occupy the upper part of the throstle-frame.Each roving is passed through three pairs of drawingrollers, which draw it out to the proper degree of fineness.On quitting the front pair, the roving is guided by a smallring or a notch of glass let into the frame, towards thespindles, which revolve with great rapidity, and produce,by the motion of their flyers, a low musical hum, which issaid to have given the name to this machine. By therapid motion of the spindle, the roving is twisted intoyarn, which, passing through an eyelet at the end of oneof the prongs of the flyer, proceeds to the bobbin, whichis threaded upon the spindle, and is wound upon it. Thebobbin fits loosely on the spindle, its lower end restingupon a shelf, called a copping-rail, which has a slow up-and-down motion, and thus distributes the yam equallyupon the bobbin. The motion of the bobbin upon itsaxis is derived from the tension of the yarn in winding:for while the flyer is spinning, the yarn drags the bobbinafter it, but its weight and its friction on the copping-railcause it to hang back; by this contrivance the yarn is keptstretched, and is wound upon the bobbin by the morerapid revolutions of the flyer.—C. T.]

Weft self-acting mule, 402 spindles: used for drawingor elongating the fibres, and twisting and winding the yarnon cops, for the shuttles of the looms.

Twist self-acting mule, 348 spindles. The same kindof machine as the one last described, but used for spinningthread or yarn for the warp instead of weft.

The improvements in these mules consist, first, in animproved patent drawing-out motion for the carriage,which can also be used, if required, for the purpose of“jacking or after-draught,” in spinning fine numbers ofyarn. Secondly, in the squaring of the carriage bymeans of a back-shaft, which secures steadiness whilsttraversing; and is, consequently, of great utility in longmules. Thirdly, in a new mode of winding-on the yarnby a “ catcli-box,” which dispenses with all the springsand levers previously used, thereby preventing the fre-quent breaking of the yarn, and the wear and tear of themachine.

[The mule or spinning-jenny consists essentially of twoprincipal portions: one, which is fixed, containing thebobbins of rovings and the drawing rollers; the other acarriage moving upon iron rails, and capable of beingdrawn out to a distance of about 5 feet from the fixedframe. The carriage carries the spindles, to which a rapidrotatory motion is given by means of slender cords pass-ing round them and a drum. There is one drum to aboutevery 24 spindles, and as many as 1,000 to 1,200 spindlesin one mule. At the commencement of the spinning, thecarriage is run up close to the drawing-rollers, which bytheir revolutions give out the roving which is twisted byrapidly revolving round the points of the spindles; thecarriage is then moved away from the roller-beams some-what more quickly than the rovings are delivered, bywhich means the yarns become stretched and equalised.When the carriage has been drawn out about 54 to 64inches from the drawing-rollers, it is said to have com-pleted a stretch; the drawing-rollers cease to give outroving, but hold it firmly, while the spindles now whirlingwith increased rapidity complete the spinning into yarn.In spinning the finer yarns, the carriage makes a secondstretch, during which the spindles are made to revolvewith great rapidity. Any threads which may happen tobreak, are now pieced, or mended by children called“ piecers” or “ pieeeners.” This drawing, stretching, and

twisting of a length of yarn being completed, the mule isdisengaged from the parts of the machinery by which itwas driven out, and the spinner then proceeds to do hispart of the work, which consists of three simultaneousoperations: he pushes the carriage in with his knee; hedepresses with one hand a copping wire, which places theyarns in such a position, with respect to the spindles,that they can be wound up upon them ; and, thirdly, hemoves with the other hand a fly-wheel, which sets all thedrums and consequently all the spindles in motion, liecauses the spindles to revolve backwards for a moment,in order to slacken the yarns just completed, and tothrow them off the points of the spindles. Considerableskill is required to perform these three operations suc-cessfully. The spinner must guide the copping wire soas to insure the regular winding of the yarn on thespindle; he must regulate the velocity of the spindles,and he must push the carriage in at such a rate as toenable the spindles to take up the proper quantity ofyarn without stretching or breaking. These difficult anddelicate operations can now be accomplished by self-actingmachinery: the self-acting mule does the work in manyrespects better than it can be done by the spinner.

The quantity of yarn collected upon each spindle iscalled a cop. The yarn is wound from the cops, or fromthe bobbins of the throstle-frame, upon a six-sided reel,one yard and a half in circumference. The reel ismounted in a frame containing the cops or bobbins, andwhen the reel has made 80 turns, a check is struck,or a bell rung, which warns the attendant that a ley orrap of 120 yards has been wound. Seven of these rapsmake a hank of 840 yards. The size of the yarn is ascer-tained by weighing the hanks in a quadrant balance. Thenumber of hanks to the pound may vary from 2 to 600.The hanks are made up in cubical bundles of 5 or 10 lbs.weight, by a machine called a bundling-press.—C. T.]

A doubling machine: used for doubling and twisting anumber of spun yarns into thread.

[The better descriptions of yarn are gassed, or passed twoor three times through a gas flame, in order to get rid ofloose fibres, and to make it more level and compact. Twoor more yarns, doubled and twisted together in an oppositedirection to the twist of the yarns themselves, formthread, properly so called.—C. T.]

A winding-machine: used for winding the yam fromthe mules and throstle, and preparing it for the warpiug-machine. One side of this machine winds from cops spunin the mule, and the other from bobbins spun on thethrostle. A warping-machine.

[When the yarn is required for weaving, it is preparedin different ways, according to the purpose for which it isintended. The yarns for the warp or long thread of awoven fabric are wound upon bobbins from which theyare drawn in the process of warping. The warping-miGor machine is a large reel or frame-work of wood, with12, 18, or more sides, which serve to measure the totallength of the warp. This reel is mounted on a verticalaxis, to which motion is given by an endless band, con-necting the lower part of the axis with a wheel set wmotion by the warper. One-sixth of the number of thebobbins of yarn required for the warp is usually mountedloosely upon upright spindles, in a frame called a traverse.The yarns pass from these bobbins to the large ree ,through an instrument called a heck-box, which is mato slide up and down between two upright posts, by bemt,suspended by a cord which, passing over a pulley at 1 ^top of the posts, is made fast to the axle : so that as t mreel revolves, the heck is gradually raised from 1L