[Illustration: FIG. 10.--BLOWING ROOM.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--CARDING ROOM.]
(_From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by
R. Banks._)
Plate II.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--JACK-FRAME ROOM.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--SPINNING-ROOM.]
(_From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by
R. Banks._)
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
_Cotton-ginning_ is the process by which cotton seeds are separated
from the adhering fibres. The most primitive machine employed in India
and China for this purpose is the churka, which consists of two wooden
rollers fixed in a frame and revolving in contact. Seed cotton is fed
into these rollers and the fibres pass forward but the seeds remain
behind. It is a device which does not injure the fibres, but no
improvement has been found by which the churka can be converted into a
sufficiently productive machine for modern requirements. In a modified
form Whitney's saw gin is still used to clean a large portion of the
annual crop of short and medium stapled cottons. It consists of from
60 to 70 saws (A, fig. 1), which are mounted upon a shaft and revolve
between the interstices of an iron grid (B); against this grid the
seed cotton is held whilst the fibres are drawn through, the seeds
being left behind. The operation is as follows:--seed cotton is fed
into the hopper (C), and conveyed by a lattice (D) to a spiked roller
(E), which regulates the supply to the hopper (F). Whilst in (F) the
cotton is engaged by the teeth of the saws (A), and drawn through the
grid (B), but the bars are too close to permit the seeds to pass. A
brush (G) strips the cotton lint from the saws, after which it is
drawn through a flue (H) to the surface of a perforated roller (I) by
pneumatic action; it then passes between (I) and (J) out of the
machine. The Macarthy gin is the only other type in extensive use; it
is employed to clean both long and short stapled cottons. In this gin
the fibres are drawn by a leather-covered roller (A, fig. 2) over the
edge of a stationary blade (B) called a doctor, which is fixed
tangential to the roller. Two cranks (E) move two other blades (C, D)
up and down immediately behind, and parallel to, the fixed blade (B).
The cotton is thrown into the hopper (F) and the fibres are drawn by
the roller (A) until the seeds are against the edge of the doctor (B),
when the beaters (C, D) strike them off, but permit the fibres to go
forward with the roller. Attempts continue to be made so to improve
both machines, that production may be increased, and labour charges,
and the risks of injuring the fibres, reduced.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
_Baling._--As cotton leaves the gin, it is in some cases rolled, under
compression, into cylindrical bales; but it is usually packed into
rectangular bales, that vary in weight from 160 lb. to 750 lb., by
steam or hydraulic presses. After pressing, the cotton is covered with
coarse jute bagging, and the whole secured by iron bands. In this form
it arrives at the spinning mills.
In the mill treatment of cotton it soon became an established practice
to divide the work into the following operations, namely (1) Mixing
the fibres into a homogeneous mass; (2) removing impurities; (3)
combing out entanglements in, and ranging the fibres in parallel
lines; (4) simultaneous combination and attenuation of groups of
parallel fibres; (5) completing the combination and attenuation, and
twisting the fibres into a thread; (6) compounding, finishing and
making-up of threads. These remain the essential conditions of
cotton-spinning. The principal machines used to carry out the
foregoing stages are: The bale breaker, opener and scutcher; the card
and comber; the drawing, slubbing, intermediate and roving frames;
ring and mule spinning; winding, doubling; clearing and gassing the
reel, and bundling press, together with several auxiliary machines.
All the operations included in this list are not necessarily employed
in the production of all kinds of yarn; low counts require fewer, and
high counts more processes.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
A _bale breaker_ is used to disentangle fibres which have been, by
hydraulic or steam presses, converted into hard masses that resist
manual efforts to disentangle them. It may consist of three pairs of
spiked and one pair of fluted rollers. If so, the matted cotton is fed
into the first pair, seized by the second pair, which have a higher
surface velocity, and pulled, while the third pair reduce the whole to
a more or less fluffy mass, and the fluted rollers deliver it upon a
travelling lattice by which it is conveyed to, and deposited upon, the
floor of the mixing room. Instead of rollers, a _hopper breaker_ may
be used. In this machine the cotton is carried by a horizontal lattice
into contact with a sloping spiked one, whose spikes tear away small
tufts and deposit them upon a second lattice for removal to the mixing
room. A stack of pulled cotton is formed by superposing thin layers
from different bales, and when completed the cotton is drawn from top
to bottom of the stack. By this means a thorough mixing of fibres is
effected.
_The Opener._--Mixed cotton may be thrown upon a lattice and conveyed
to a spiked roller to be pulled, beaten, discharged into a trunk, and
drawn by pneumatic force to the opener. Or it may be spread (fig. 3)
upon a lattice (I), and carried between feed-rollers (E) to be
subjected to the action of a beater (A) whose teeth first seize tufts
of cotton and then fling them upon a grid (B), to be subsequently
seized by other teeth and again flung off until dirt and other
impurities pass between the grating. The beater may be cylindrical (as
at A) or in the form of a truncated cone: in either event, from four
to twelve rows of teeth project from its surface. It is from 18 in. to
upwards of 36 in. in diameter, approximately 40 in. wide, and the
largest cylindrical beaters make from 300 to 700 revolutions; whilst
conical beaters make about 1000, and small ones make from 1000 to 1500
revolutions per minute. The opened cotton is carried, in the direction
indicated by the arrows, upon a strong blast of air which is generated
by a fan (H), and this deposits it in patches upon the surfaces of two
perforated zinc or wire cylinders (C), but dust and foreign particles
pass through the interstices. As these cylinders revolve towards each
other the cotton passes between them in the form of a sheet to a pair
of feed-rollers (D), which may again deliver it to a beater with two
or three blades; if so, from this beater the cotton is next borne on
an air current to, and between, a second pair of perforated cylinders.
In either event, the final cages (C, C) deliver the cotton to
feed-rollers (D) and they pass it to calender-rollers (F), by which it
is compressed into a sheet, and finally coiled into a lap (G). Various
kinds of openers have been patented, all of which differ in some
important respects; for example, a hopper feed may be substituted for
the trunk or the lattice feed, in which event the cotton from the
mixing room is conveyed mechanically upon lattices, and deposited in a
hopper affixed to an opener. In this hopper a sloping spiked lattice
elevates the cotton to an evening roller, whose office is to sweep
back the surplus supply from the spikes, but allow the requisite
quantity to pass forward to the beater. A regular supply of cotton to
an opener is of great importance, and in order to insure it a table is
often formed by substituting for the lower roller (E) a series of
levers (A, fig. 4) all mounted upon a fulcrum (B), and having their
free arms weighted by wedge-shaped pendents (C), that are separated by
bowls (D). A fluted feed-roller (E) is fixed above this table and the
cotton is led over the lever but beneath the roller. If the cotton is
unequally distributed, thick places will press down the levers and
thin ones will permit them to rise (as at A', E'). The rise of one
pendent may be cancelled by the fall of another, but any balance of
their movements is transmitted to a belt fork which governs a belt
running upon a pair of inverted cones, and by this means the belt is
traversed to and fro to drive the feed-roller (E) at a superior speed
when the supply of cotton is insufficient, and at an inferior speed
when the supply is excessive.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
_The Scutcher._--In many respects a scutcher resembles an opener; its
function is to continue the cleaning and form laps of uniform weight
and density for the carding engine. Occasionally the scutcher is the
first cleaning machine, in which event cotton, in a loose fleece, is
spread evenly upon a lattice. But in order to carry the combination of
fibres one stage further, three or four opener laps are generally
placed upon the feeder, so that, as the laps unroll, three or four
sheets of cotton will be superposed, and in this form are passed by
the lattice (F, fig. 4) and the feed-roller (E) to either one or two
beaters, which are furnished with two or three blades. The beater (G)
flings the cotton against the bars of a grid (H) to loosen, and cause
the dirt to pass between the bars, after which the cotton is carried
forward upon an air current, in the same manner as in an opener, and
formed into a lap. In case two scutchers are required, the laps from
the first are fed into the second, where they are similarly treated;
in both machines the lever and pendent mechanism furnishes the means
by which uniformity is attained. A beater may consist of a straight,
smooth blade (as at G), or of a blade provided with stout teeth; in
the latter event the operation resembles combing rather than beating.
Two-bladed beaters revolve from 1200 to 1500 times per minute; those
with three blades from 900 to 1000 times per minute.
_Carding Engine._--The functions of a card (see CARDING) are: to place
the fibres parallel; to remove remaining impurities and immature
fibres; and to form mature fibres into a porous band, called a sliver.
A carding engine consists of three cylinders which are covered with
cards; the first, or taker-in (see fig. 5), is the smallest; the
second and largest is the main cylinder; and the third is the doffer.
If the main cylinder is surmounted with a series of small ones (as at
A), the engine is called a roller and clearer card. If a series of
fixed strips of card are placed above the main cylinder, the engine is
known as a stationary flat card. But if the strips move forward (as at
B), it is a revolving flat card. In a roller and clearer card the
small cylinders (E) are also covered with cards, but their teeth are
bent to oppose those on the main cylinder, and they revolve with a
different velocity. The taker-in is covered with saw teeth cut in a
strip of steel which is fixed in the surface of that cylinder; it
receives the cotton (I) from a feed-roller (C) that turns above a
smooth iron table (D) called the feed plate, and strikes out the
heaviest particles of remaining dirt. In passing through the fringe of
lap, the teeth comb the attached fibres but deliver the loose ones to
the main cylinder. The latter carries them into contact with the teeth
on the rollers (E), by whose lower surface velocity combing is again
effected. Short fibres become fixed amongst the teeth of (A) and (E),
but those lying crosswise are transferred from (A) to (E) and from (E)
to the clearer, which again presents them to the cylinder.
When long fibres are turned to point in the direction of rotation they
advance upon the cylinder A to the doffer teeth, where the scattered
fibres on the surface of A are collected into a light fleece. In this
condition they are stripped by a vibrating comb (F), drawn together by
a funnel, formed into a sliver, and deposited in a can (G). This
machine is now chiefly used to card waste and low-class cotton. If
such a card is made with two main cylinders, a connecting cylinder
called a tummer collects the fibres from the first and passes them on
to a second main cylinder, where they are again treated as already
described. In a stationary flat card the teeth in the flats are bent
to oppose those on the main cylinder, and by this means the fibres are
combed and straightened. In a revolving flat card the flats (H) are
formed into an endless chain, and they travel slowly in the same
direction as the cylinder. In other respects both flat cards are
similar to a roller and clearer card. Formerly double carding, namely,
two passages of the fibres through separate cards, or one passage
through a double card, was general, but single carding is now employed
for most purposes.
_Combing._--For counts from 60s upward, and for exceptionally good
yarn of lower counts, from 14 to 20 cans from the carding engine are
taken to a _sliver lap machine_ where the slivers are drawn alongside
each other, passed between three pairs of drawing rollers and two
pairs of calender rollers, and formed into laps that vary in width
from 7-1/2 in. to 12 in. This machine is provided with mechanical devices
for stopping it on the failure of a sliver, and on the completion of a
predetermined length of lap. When the sliver lap machine furnishes
laps for the comber, the slivers are previously put through one head
of drawing, namely, between four lines of drawing rollers, to
straighten out the fibres. The more general practice is to pass sliver
laps to a _ribbon lap machine_, at the back of which six laps are
placed, end facing end, in one long line and simultaneously unrolled
to feed each web between four pairs of drawing rollers. From the
rollers the cotton passes in separate films over curved plates to a
smooth table where one is superposed upon another, and in the combined
state it is led between two pairs of calender rollers and formed into
a lap from 7-1/2 to 10-1/2 in. wide. In the cotton industry the _Heilmann
comber_, or some modification of that machine, is used to straighten
thoroughly the fibres of carded cotton, to cast out all below a
certain length, and leave only those that are perfectly clean and
approximate to uniformity in length. For fine yarns of medium quality
only part of the slivers required to form a thread are combed. But for
fine yarns of good quality all slivers are once combed, and those for
superfine yarns are twice, or "double combed." This machine is made
with six or eight heads, each of which is supplied with a ribbon lap.
One end of every lap is fed by a pair of rollers between the open jaws
of a nipper which immediately closes upon the sheet of cotton, but a
fringe is left protruding into the path of a cylinder, on whose
periphery either one set of 17, or two sets of 13, graduated needle
combs, and one, or two, fluted segments are secured. The first comb to
reach the cotton may have as few as 16, and the last 90 teeth per
inch. After the combs have passed successively through the overhanging
fringe of fibres, the nipper opens and a fresh length of about 3/16
to 4/10 of an inch is fed in. Meanwhile, a fluted segment on the
cylinder has moved up to support the fringe; a top comb, which was
inoperative when the cylinder combs were acting, has descended into
the fringe, and three rollers first return a portion of the material
already combed so that it may overlap that last treated. The rollers
then reverse the direction of their rotation; one of them and the
segment engage the fringe, and draw the tail ends of all free fibres
through the teeth of the top comb. The product of all the heads is
next united, condensed, formed into a continuous sliver, and deposited
in a can. One cycle of movements, therefore, only combs from 8/16 to
4/10 of an inch of each fibre; the top comb deals with the tail
ends, and the major portion of the work is done by the cylinder combs.
The foregoing operations are repeated at the rate of from 85 to 90
times per minute, during which from 15% to upwards of 25% of carded
material is removed; but this is capable of being spun into coarse
yarns. A comber invented by John W. Nasmith is a modification of the
foregoing. In his machine the cylinder combs act upon the forward ends
of the fibres whilst under the control of the nipper, after which two
pairs of rollers return a sufficient portion of the previously combed
film to overlap, and to enable the front rollers to engage the fringe.
The rollers then draw a part of the fringe through the teeth of the
top comb, which, as a sequence, treats all but the forward ends of the
fibres. Since one passage through the cylinder and top combs completes
the operation for one set of fibres, this machine gives a higher
production; it also gives a wider range of adaptability, and a lower
percentage of waste than the Heilmann machine.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.]
_The Drawing Frame._--For fine counts the slivers from the comber, and
for low or medium counts those from the card, are passed to the
drawing frame, because in both conditions the material is irregularly
distributed throughout the several slivers, and it is the function of
the drawing frame to eliminate all such irregularities by drawing
several slivers down to the dimensions of one, for here the processes
of combination and attenuation are carried further than in any other
machine. A drawing frame consists of three or four heads, each of four
pairs of drawing rollers (A, B, fig. 6). The lower rollers (B) are
fluted longitudinally and the upper ones (A) are covered with leather,
and weighted as at (H) to give the two a proper hold of the cotton.
Each head contains several deliveries. Six or eight slivers (C) are
put up to each delivery and drawn down into one by causing succeeding
lines of rollers (A, B) to move at an accelerated speed; the front one
revolving about six or eight times faster than the back one. On
leaving the front roller the sliver is conducted to a trumpet-shaped
tube (D), thence between a pair of calender rollers (E), and, finally,
through a diagonal passage in a plate (F); the latter coils the sliver
into a rotating can (G). Back and front devices are provided to arrest
motion in this machine when a sliver fails. At the back, each sliver
passes over and depresses a separate spoon-shaped lever (I), thereby
lifting the hooked lower end of (I) high enough to allow an arm (J) to
vibrate. On the failure of a sliver the hook of (I) engages with (J)
and dislocates the driving gear. In front, the trumpet-shaped tube (D)
is mounted on a lever (K), and so long as a sliver presses down the
mouth of (D), the machine continues in motion, but when a sliver
fails, the lever (K) causes the driving gear to stop the machine. Six
or eight cans containing once drawn slivers are put up to the second
head and similarly drawn, and finally, a similar number of twice drawn
slivers are fed into the third head and again drawn, giving in all 6 X
6 X 6 = 216 doublings; or 8 X 8 X 8 = 512 doublings. Occasionally four
heads of drawings are used and eight slivers drawn into one, which
gives 8 X 8 X 8 X 8 = 4096 doublings; hence, irregularities in an
original sliver have been minimized by successive combination and
attenuation.
_Flyer Frames._--Cotton in cans, from the final head of drawing, is
transferred to the _slubbing frame_, by which it is attenuated,
slightly twisted, and wound upon spools. Each sliver is drawn out by
means of three pairs of rollers, and as it emerges from the front
pair, a flyer (A, fig. 7), which revolves uniformly upon a spindle
(B), carries the sliver (C) round with it to twist the fibres axially.
This flyer coils the twisted material upon a wooden tube (D) in
close-wound spirals and in successive layers. The tube is loosely
mounted upon, but driven independently of, the spindle, in order that
as the tube increases in diameter the number of revolutions it makes
may be reduced to suit the constant delivery of the roving. This is
effected by a differential motion which usually consists of a large
wheel, within which two other wheels are made to work; the interior
wheels have a regular motion, but the large wheel is driven from a
pair of cone drums at a decreasing speed.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
_The intermediate frame_ comes between the slubbing and roving frames
and is of similar construction to the slubber, but has a larger number
of spindles and smaller tubes. Instead of having cans put at the back,
the slubbing tubes are mounted vertically in a creel, passed in pairs
through the rollers, and drawn down to a smaller diameter than a
single slubbing. In this machine, therefore, the fourfold processes of
combination, attenuation, twisting and winding are effected
consecutively and continuously.
_The roving frame_ is similar in principle to the slubber and
intermediate machines, but it contains a greater number of spindles,
and the tubes are smaller than either. It receives the rovings from
the intermediate frame, draws two into one, twists them and winds them
upon tubes. This machine is usually the last employed to prepare
cotton for spinning, but for spinning fine yarns from the best
Egyptian and Sea Islands cottons, a second roving, or _Jack frame_ may
be required, in which event pairs of rovings from the first machine
are similarly treated in the second in order to render the final
product sufficiently fine for spinning yarns of the requisite counts.
_Spinning_ (see SPINNING).--Improvements upon the Saxony wheel caused
continuous spinning to become a mechanical art at an earlier date than
intermittent spinning. Arkwright's water-twist frame was gradually
changed to the _throstle_, which was a duplex machine furnished with
one set of drawing rollers, and one set of spindles and flyers at each
side of the frame-work. All the bosses of one line of rollers were
connected so that one driving gear would serve for the whole length,
and all the spindles were driven by bands from a central cylinder. The
roving spools were placed vertically in a creel between the two sets
of rollers, and the rovings reduced to the requisite fineness by the
latter; after which each was passed through a coiled eye at the lower
end of a flyer leg, and attached to a double-flanged spool which was
loosely mounted upon a spindle. At each revolution of a flyer a twist
was put into the attenuated roving, and the flyer wrapped as much
thread upon a spool as the rollers delivered. The spools rested upon a
piece of woollen cloth stretched over a rail, and this rail rose and
fell through a space equal to the length of the spool barrel. On
account of a thread having to pull a spool round, it was not possible
to spin finer counts than 60^s, and since each flyer was mounted upon
the top of an unsupported spindle, vibration increased with speed. In
order to avoid such vibration Mr Danforth, in or about 1829, placed an
inverted cup upon the top of a stationary spindle, and upon the
spindle a freely fitting sleeve and wharve; the former to receive a
spool, the latter to rotate both. By a traverse motion all the spools
were simultaneously raised or depressed, so as to have their barrels,
when at the highest point, entirely within the cup, and when at the
lowest entirely below it. A thread passed from the drawing rollers,
outside the cup, to a spool. As a spool rotated its thread was
uniformly twisted, the lower edge of the cup built the yarn equally on
every part of the spool barrel, and the requisite drag resulted from
friction set up by the thread rubbing against the surface of the cup.
The throstle has almost disappeared from the cotton industry, and
Danforth's cap frame entirely so, but the latter is still used to spin
worsted.
_Ring spinning_ is practically the only system of continuous spinning
used in the cotton industry; it was first patented in the United
States of America by J. Thorpe, in 1828, and in that country was
extensively used long before it became established in England. Its
chief feature consists in the substitution for the flyer, or the cap,
of a smooth annular ring (A, fig. 8) formed with a flange at the upper
edge, over which a light C-shaped piece of wire (B), called a
traveller, is sprung. The rings are secured in a rail (C) that rises
quickly and falls slowly, but at each succeeding ascent and descent it
attains a higher point than that previously reached. A spindle (D) is
supported by, and turns in a bolster secured to a fixed rail (E). If
the bolster only provides a bearing for the centre of the spindle, and
so leaves the foot free to find its own position of steadiness, it is
known as a self-balancing or gravity spindle. A recess in the bolster
is filled with oil to automatically lubricate the bearing. A spindle
is placed in the centre of each ring; it has a sleeve fitted upon it
which carries a wharve (F) that covers the upper part of the bolster,
and a band from a pair of drums is drawn round the wharve to drive the
spindle. So perfect is the construction of these spindles that they
can be run without appreciable vibration at speeds far beyond the
ability of operatives to attend them; although a speed of 11,000
revolutions per minute is a practicable one. After passing the drawing
rollers (G), the roving (H) is twisted, hooked into the traveller (B),
and made fast to a spool (I) placed upon the spindle. As spinning
proceeds the traveller is pulled round the ring by the thread; it thus
puts a drag upon, and holds the thread at the winding point. In all
continuous spinning the number of twists inserted into a given length
of thread is governed by the surface speed of the front roller,
relatively to the revolutions of the flyer, or to the speed of the
winding surface.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.]
_Intermittent Spinning_.--The essential difference between continuous
and intermittent spinning is that the former draws and twists
consecutively, whilst the latter draws and twists simultaneously. In
the _mule_, a creel (A, fig. 9), fixed at the back of the machine, is
designed to hold the rovings (B) in three or four tiers, from whence
they pass between three lines of drawing rollers (C) and two faller
wires (D). They are next led to spindles (E) mounted in a carriage (F)
whose wheels run upon rails (G) called slips. As the rollers (C) feed
the partially attenuated rovings the carriage recedes from the rollers
a little faster than the rovings are delivered, thus completing the
attenuation. Meanwhile, the spindles are revolved rapidly by bands
passing from a tinned cylinder (H) and the threads are twisted. This
twist goes first to the thin places where least resistance is offered
to it, leaving thick places almost untwisted; the pull of the
carriage, therefore, causes the fibres to slip most readily where
there are fewest twists, and gives to a thread an approximation to
uniformity in diameter. For fine yarns the rollers cease to rotate
slightly before the carriage has attained the end of its outward run,
or stretch, and at such times all attenuation is due to the pull of
the spindles upon the threads. On the termination of a stretch the
carriage stops, the twisting is completed, the spindles reverse the
direction of their rotation to back off, or remove the yarn which is
coiled round the spindles above the winding point, and whilst one
faller wire (D), operating on all the threads at once, descends to the
winding position of each spindle, the other rises to take up the yarn
delivered by the spindles. This completed, the carriage returns to the
roller beam, and in doing so the spindles revolve in their normal
direction to wind the stretch of 48 to 66 in. of yarn spun in the
outward journey. All the foregoing movements are regulated to succeed
each other in their proper order, the termination of one operation
being the initiation of the next.
Crompton's original machine was controlled manually throughout, but
later he devised means for moving the carriage out mechanically, for
stopping the rollers at the proper time, and for locking the carriage
whilst the spindles added the final twist to the threads. After which
all parts became stationary and the manual operations commenced. These
consisted in backing off, operating the faller wire, rotating the
spindles and pushing the carriage home. In the year 1785 the first
steam-engine was employed for cotton spinning, and in 1792 William
Kelly placed the headstock of a mule, in which the chief mechanism is
situated, in the middle of the carriage, instead of at one end. By
this device one machine was doubled in length, and shortly afterwards
two mules, each of 300 to 400 spindles, were allotted to one spinner
and his assistants. Kelly also attempted to control all parts of the
machine mechanically, but in this he failed, as did Eaton, Smith and
many others, although each contributed something towards the solution
of the problems involved in automatic spinning. Eventually the hand
mule became a machine in which most of the work was done
automatically; the spinner being chiefly required to regulate the
velocity of the backing off, and the inward run of the carriage, and
to actuate the fallers. As a result of these alterations the machine
was made almost double the length of Kelly's. In this state many mules
continued to be used until the last decade of the 19th century, and a
few are still in use. Between the years 1824 and 1830 Richard Roberts
invented mechanism that rendered all parts of the mule self-acting,
the chief parts of which are shown at (I, J), and they regulate the
rotation of the spindles during the inward run of the carriage. At
first his machine was only used to spin coarse and low-medium counts,
but it is now employed to spin all counts of yarn. Although numerous
changes have since been made in the self-acting mule, the machine
still bears indelible marks of the genius of Roberts.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
For many purposes the threads as spun by the ring frame or the mule
are ready for the manufacturer; but where extra strength or smoothness
is required, as in threads for sewing, crocheting, hosiery, lace and
carpets; also where multicoloured effects are needed, as in
Grandrelle, or some special form of irregularity, as in corkscrewed,
and knopped yarns, two or more single threads are compounded and
twisted together. This operation is known as doubling. In order to
prepare threads for doubling it may be necessary to wind side by side
upon a flanged bobbin, or upon a straight or a tapering spool, from
two to six threads before twisting them into one.
_Winding machines_ for this purpose are of various kinds. There are
those in which the threads are laid evenly between the flanges of a
bobbin, and those that coil the threads upon a straight or a tapering
tube to form "cheeses." In the latter the tubes may be laid upon
diagonally split drums and rotated by frictional contact. By placing
each group of threads to be wound in the slit of a rotating drum, it
is drawn quickly to and fro and coiled upon a spool. If solid instead
of split drums be used, the guides for all the threads on one side of
a machine are attached to a bar, which is traversed by a cam placed at
one end of the frame. Or independent mechanism may be provided
throughout for treating each group of threads to be wound. The bobbins
or tubes may be filled from cops, ring spools or hanks, but a stop
motion is required for each thread, which will come into operation
immediately a fracture occurs.
_Doublers_.--In action doublers are continuous and intermittent. The
former resemble throstle and ring spinning machines, but since they do
not attenuate the material, only one line of rollers is provided. The
folded material is placed in a creel and led through the rollers to
the spindles to be twisted in a wet or dry condition. If wet, the
moisture flattens down most of the protruding ends of the fibres and
produces a comparatively smooth thread; if dry, the doubled yarn
retains some of its furry character. There are two types of continuous
doublers, which are known respectively as English and Scotch. By the
English system of dry doubling the yarn from the creel may be treated,
on its way to the spindle, in various ways to obtain the desired
tension. It may be led under a rod, over a guide, round and between
the rollers, and round a glass peg. For wet doubling, a trough
containing water is placed behind the rollers, and the yarn passes
beneath a glass rod in the water, thence over a guide, beneath,
between and over the rollers to the spindles. By the Scotch system the
trough is placed below the rollers, and the bottom roller is partly
immersed in water. It is claimed that this system wets the fibres more
thoroughly than the English one. For the purpose of twisting the
strands together the spindles may be provided either with flyers, as
in throstle spinning, or with rings and travellers, as in ring
spinning. The twist is generally in the opposite direction to that in
the single threads. When more than three strands are required in a
compound thread it is customary to pass the material more than once
through the doubler, as, for example, in a sixfold thread, two strands
may be first twisted together in the same or in the opposite direction
to the spinning twist; after which the once-doubled thread is
"cleared," folded, and three strands of twofold yarn are twisted in
the opposite direction to that employed in the first operation. In
some machines folding and twisting proceed simultaneously, and some
are furnished with an automatic stop motion. But when twisting two
threads together to oppose the spinning twist, the failure of one
causes the other to untwist and break, therefore, under such
circumstances a stop motion is unnecessary.
Intermittent doublers are known as twinners, and these are of two
kinds, namely, English and French. In the former the spindles are
fitted in a stationary rail, but the creel, containing the cops or
ring spools, is mounted upon a carriage and moves in and out, as in
Hargreaves' spinning jenny (see SPINNING). French twinners have a
stationary creel, and the spindles move in and out with the carriage,
as in the spinning mule. The material to be folded is often subjected
to the action of steam in order to render it less resilient, after
which it is mounted upon skewers in the creel, and two or three
threads are passed to each spindle to be twisted together and formed
into a cop. Between the creel and the spindles all the strands are
kept equally tense by drawing them over flannel-covered boards and
under porcelain weights. For wet doubling, the strands pass through a
trough containing water, and the flannel surfaces are also wet.
_Clearing_.--After the first, or the final, doubling it is often
necessary to remove lumps, imperfect knots and loose fibres from a
thread. This is accomplished by passing each through a slit, or
clearer, whose width is adjusted to the diameter of the thread to be
treated. By this means anything which gives a thread abnormal bulk
will be prevented from passing the slit. Once through the slit, a
thread is coiled upon a friction-driven, double or single-headed
bobbin. If the former, the coils are evenly laid; if the latter, they
are disposed into a bottle shape. Or, again, cheeses may be wound.
_Gassing_.--In cases where a thread with a smooth surface is required
the extending ends of fibres must be burned off. Thus: each thread
from a creel is drawn over a tension rod to two freely mounted
pulleys, having parallel grooves cut in their surfaces and axes in the
same horizontal plane. After bending a thread forward and backward in
the grooves of both pulleys, it passes through a Bunsen flame and is
coiled upon a tube, which is held against the face of a rotating drum,
while a vibrating guide distributes the thread across the tube. The
gas-burner is situated midway between the grooved pulleys, and so
mounted beneath the thread that it will automatically swivel sideways
and thus move the flame away from a stationary thread. Winding begins
slightly before the flame moves beneath a thread, and the rapid motion
of the latter permits the flame to burn off undesirable matters
without injuring the thread.
_Reeling_.--Doubled or gassed yarn may be wound upon warpers' bobbins
and made into warps for the loom, or it may be reeled into hanks for
the preparing and finishing processes. But a reel hanks yarns for
bleaching, dyeing, printing, polishing and bundling, and is adapted
for cops, ring spools, doubling bobbins or cheeses. From cops, ring
spools and cheeses the yarn is usually drawn over one end, but flanged
bobbins are mounted upon spindles and the yarn is drawn from the side.
A reel has a circumference of 54 in., and after making 80 or 560
revolutions it automatically stops; the first gives a lea of 120 yds.
and the last a hank of 840 yds. For grant reeling, however, a hank may
be from 5000 to 10,000 yds. long. Reeling is of two kinds, namely,
open and crossed. Open reeling forms lease, and seven of these are
united in one hank by a lease band which retains the divisions. In
cross reeling a thread is traversed over a portion of the reel surface
by a reciprocating guide to form a hank without divisions. On the
completion of a set of hanks the reel is made to collapse and thus
facilitate the removal of the yarn.
_Bundling Press_.--Hanks are made into short or long bundles, each
weighing 5 or 10 lb. In short bundles it is usual to form groups of
ten hanks, and these are twisted together, folded and compressed into
bundles; but in long bundles the hanks are compressed without being
folded. A press consists of a strong table upon which a box, with open
ends, is formed. The bottom of this box is grooved transversely and
made to rise and fall by wheel gearing or by eccentrics. The sides and
top are made of vertical and horizontal bars, set to coincide with the
grooves in the bottom. To one set of vertical bars a similar number of
horizontal top pieces are hinged, and to the other set levers are
jointed, which hold the horizontal bars in position. When the hinged
bars are turned up, strings are drawn through the grooves, and the
bottom is covered with stout paper. The hanks are then laid in the
box, another paper is placed above them, and the hinged bars are drawn
down and locked. The bottom then rises a predetermined distance, and
automatically stops. While in this position the strings are tied, the
bottom of the press next descends, and the bundle is removed.
(T. W. F.)
COTYS, a name common to several kings of Thrace. The most important of
them, a cruel and drunken tyrant, who began to reign in 382 B.C., was
involved with the Athenians in a dispute for the possession of the
Thracian Chersonese. In this he was assisted by the Athenian Iphicrates,
to whom he had given his daughter in marriage. On the revolt of
Ariobarzanes from Persia, Cotys opposed him and his ally, the Athenians.
In 358 he was murdered by the sons of a man whom he had wronged.
See Cornelius Nepos, _Iphicrates_, _Timotheus_; Xenophon, _Agesilaus_;
Demosthenes, _Contra Aristocratem_; Theopompus in Muller, _Fragmenta
Historicorum Graecorum_, i.
COUCH, DARIUS NASH (1822-1897), American soldier, was born at South
East, Putnam county, N.Y., on the 23rd of July 1822, and graduated from
West Point in 1846, serving in the Mexican war and in the war against
the Seminole Indians. He left the army in 1855, but soon after the
outbreak of the civil war he was made a brigadier-general U.S.V. He
served as a divisional commander in the battles of the Army of the
Potomac in 1862, and at Fredericksburg (December 1862) and
Chancellorsville (May 1863) he commanded the II. corps. He had been made
a major-general U.S.V. in July 1862. During the Gettysburg campaign he
was employed in organizing the Pennsylvanian militia, and he
subsequently served in the West, taking part in the battle of Nashville,
and in the final operations in the Carolinas. He left the army after the
war. General Couch died on the 12th of February 1897 at Norwalk,
Connecticut.
COUCY, LE CHATELAIN DE, French _trouvere_ of the 12th century. He is
probably the Guy de Couci who was castellan of the castle of that name
from 1186 to 1203. Some twenty-six songs are attributed to him, and
about fifteen or sixteen are undoubtedly authentic. They are modelled
very closely on Provencal originals, but are saved from the category of
mere imitations by a grace and simplicity peculiar to the author. The
legend of the love of the Chatelain de Coucy and the Lady of Fayel, in
which there figures a jealous husband who makes his wife eat the heart
of her lover, has no historical basis, and dates from a late 13th
century romance by Jakemon Sakesep. It is worth noting that the story,
which seems to be Breton in origin, has been also told of a Provencal
troubadour, Guilhem de Cabestaing, and of the minnesinger Reinmar von
Brennenberg. Pierre de Belloy, who wrote some account of the family of
Couci, made the story the subject of his tragedy _Gabrielle de Vergy_.
The songs of the Chatelain de Coucy were edited by Fritz Fath
(Heidelberg, 1883). For the romance see Gaston Paris, in the _Hist.
litt. de la France_ (vol. 28, pp. 352-360). An exquisite song,
"Chanterai por mon courage," expressing a woman's regrets for her
lover at the Crusade, is attributed in one MS., probably erroneously,
to the Lady of Fayel (_Hist. litt._ xxiii. 556). An English metrical
romance of "The Knight of Curtesy," and the "Fair Lady of Faguell,"
was printed by William Copland, and reprinted in Ritson's _Eng.
Metrical Romances_ (ed. E. Goldsmid, vol. iii., 1885).