In these machines, known as Revolving Flat Top Cards, the cotton passes
over revolving cylinders clothed with wire teeth, and the fibers are
combed out and laid parallel with each other. They are delivered at the
front of the machine as a filmy web, which is gathered together and
formed into a soft downy ribbon or rope, known as card sliver. This is
automatically coiled and delivered into cans.]
[Illustration: DRAWING FRAMES.
To insure uniformity in weight, so that the yarn when spun shall run
even, the card slivers are doubled and drawn out, redoubled and again
drawn out, somewhat in the manner of a candy maker pulling taffy, only
here the process is continuous. Six strands of the card sliver are fed
in together at the back of the drawing frames, pulled out and delivered
as one; and the process repeated. This produces a sliver more uniform
in weight, and in which the fibres are more parallel.]
[Illustration: SLUBBERS.
The sliver from the drawing frames is taken to machines called
slubbers, where again the fibers are drawn out, and the strand of
cotton, now much finer and known as slubber roving, is given a bit of
twist to hold it together, and is wound on large bobbins.]
[Illustration: PUTTING THE COTTON FIBER ON BOBBINS