[Illustration: 975]
The first process to which the silk is subjected, is winding the skeins,
as imported, off upon bobbins. The mechanism which effects this winding
off and on, is technically called the _engine_, or swift. The bobbins to
which the silk is transferred, are wooden cylinders, of such thickness
as may not injure the silk by sudden flexure, and which may also receive
a great length of thread without having their diameter materially
increased, or their surface velocity changed. _Fig._ 975. is an end view
of the silk-throwing machine, or _engine_, in which the two large
hexagonal reels, called swifts, are seen in section, as well as the
table between them, to which the bobbins and impelling mechanism are
attached. The skeins are put upon these reels, from which the silk is
gradually unwound by the traction of the revolving bobbins. One
principal object of attention, is to distribute the thread over the
length of the bobbin-cylinder in a spiral or oblique direction, so that
the end of the slender semi-transparent thread may be readily found when
it breaks. As the bobbins revolve with uniform velocity, they would soon
wind on too fast, were their diameters so small at first as to become
greatly thicker when they are filled. They are therefore made large, are
not covered thick, but are frequently changed. The motion is
communicated to that end of the engine shown in the figure.
The wooden table A, shown here in cross section, is sometimes of great
length, extending 20 feet, or more, according to the size of the
apartment. Upon this the skeins are laid out. It is supported by the two
strong slanting legs B, B, to which the bearings of the light reel C are
made fast. These reels are called _swifts_, apparently by the same
etymological casuistry as _lucus à non lucendo_; for they turn with
reluctant and irregular slowness; yet they do their work much quicker
than any of the old apparatus, and in this respect may deserve their
name. At every eighth or tenth leg there is a projecting horizontal
piece D, which carries at its end another horizontal bar _a_, called the
knee rail, at right angles to the former. This protects the slender
reels or swifts from the knees of the operatives.
These swifts have a strong wooden shaft _b_, with an iron axis passing
longitudinally through it, round which they revolve, in brass bearings
fixed near to the middle of the legs B. Upon the middle of the shaft
_b_, a loose ring is hung, shown under _c_, in _fig._ 976., to which a
light weight _d_, is suspended, for imparting friction to the reel, and
thus preventing it from turning round, unless it be drawn with a gentle
force, such as the traction of the thread in the act of winding upon the
bobbin.
[Illustration: 976 977]
_Fig._ 976. is a front view of the engine. B, B, are the legs, placed at
their appropriate distances (scale 1-1/2 inch to the foot); C, C, are
the swifts. By comparing _figs._ 975. and 976., the structure of the
swifts will be fully understood. From the wooden shaft _b_, six slender
wooden (or iron) spokes _e_, _e_, proceed, at equal angles to each
other; which are bound together by a cord _f_, near their free ends,
upon the transverse line _f_ of which cord, the silk thread is wound, in
a hexagonal form; due tension being given to the circumferential cords,
by sliding them out from the centre. Slender wooden rods are set
between each pair of spokes, to stay them, and to keep the cord tight. E
is one of the two horizontal shafts, placed upon each side of the
_engine_, to which are affixed a number of light iron pulleys _g_, _g_
(shown on a double scale in _fig._ 977.) These serve, by friction, to
drive the bobbins which rest upon their peripheries.
[Illustration: 981]
To the table A, _fig._ 975., are screwed the light cast-iron
slot-bearings I, I, wherein the horizontal spindles or skewers rest,
upon which the bobbins revolve. The spindles (see F, _fig._ 981.) carry
upon one end a little wooden pulley _h_, whereby they press and revolve
upon the larger driving pulleys _g_, of the shaft E. These pulleys are
called _stars_ by our workmen. The other ends of the spindles, or
skewers, are cut into screws, for attaching the swivel nuts _i_ (_fig._
981.), by which the bobbins K, K, are made fast to their respective
spindles. Besides the slots, above described, in which the spindles rest
when their friction pulleys _h_, are in contact with the moving stars
_g_, there is another set of slots in the bearings, into which the ends
of the spindles may be occasionally laid, so as to be above the line of
contact of the rubbing periphery of the star _g_, in case the thread of
any bobbin breaks. Whenever the girl has mended the thread, she replaces
the bobbin-spindle in its deeper slot-bearings, thereby bringing its
pulley once more into contact with the star, and causing it to revolve.
G is a long ruler or bar of wood, which is supported upon every eighth
or twelfth leg B, B. (The figure being, for convenience of the page,
contracted in length, shows it at every sixth leg.) To the edge of that
bar the smooth glass rods _k_, are made fast, over which the threads
glide from the swifts, in their way to the bobbins. H is the guide bar,
which has a slow traverse or seesaw motion, sliding in slots at the top
of the legs B, where they support the bars G. Upon the guide bar H, the
guide pieces _l_, _l_, are made fast. These consist of two narrow, thin,
upright plates of iron, placed endwise together, their contiguous edges
being smooth, parallel, and capable of approximation to any degree by a
screw, so as to increase or diminish at pleasure the ordinary width of
the vertical slit that separates them. Through this slit the silk thread
must pass, and, if rough or knotty, will be either cleaned or broken; in
the latter case, it is neatly mended by the attendant girl.
[Illustration: 978 979 980 982]
The motions of the various parts of the _engine_ are given as follows.
Upon the end of the machine, represented in _fig._ 975., there are
attached to the shafts E (_fig._ 976.), the bevel wheels 1 and 2, which
are set in motion by the bevel wheels 3 and 4, respectively. These
latter wheels are fixed upon the shaft _m_, _fig._ 975. _m_ is moved by
the main steam shaft which runs parallel to it, and at the same height,
through the length of the _engine_ apartment, so as to drive the whole
range of the machines. 5 is a loose wheel or pulley upon the shaft _m_,
working in geer with a wheel upon the steam shaft, and which may be
connected by the clutch _n_, through the hand lever or geering rod _o_
(_figs._ 975. and 976.), when the engine is to be set at work. 6 is a
spur wheel upon the shaft _m_, by which the stud wheel 7, is driven, in
order to give the traverse motion to the guide bar H. This wheel is
represented, with its appendages, in double size, _figs._ 979. and 980.,
with its boss upon a stud _p_, secured to the bracket _q_. In an
eccentric hole of the same boss, another stud _r_, revolves, upon which
the little wheel _s_, is fixed. This wheel _s_, is in geer with a pinion
cut upon the end of the fixed stud _p_; and upon it is screwed the
little crank _t_, whose collar is connected by two rods _u_ (_figs._
975. and 976.), to a cross-piece _v_, which unites the two arms _w_,
that are fixed upon the guide bar H, on both sides of the machine. By
the revolution of wheel 7, the wheel _s_ will cause the pinion of the
fixed stud _p_ to turn round. If that wheel bear to the pinion the
proportion of 4 to 1, then the wheel _s_ will make, at each revolution
of the wheel 7, one-fourth of a revolution; whereby the crank _t_ will
also rotate through one-fourth of a turn, so as to be brought nearer to
the centre of the stud, and to draw the guide bar so much less to one
side of its mean position. At the next revolution of wheel 7, the crank
_t_ will move through another quadrant, and come still nearer to the
central position, drawing the guide bars still less aside, and therefore
causing the bobbins to wind on more thread in their middle than towards
their ends. The contrary effect would ensue, were the guide bars moved
by a single or simple crank. After four revolutions of the wheel 7, the
crank _t_ will stand once more as shown in _fig._ 980., having moved the
bar H through the whole extent of its traverse. The bobbins, when
filled, have the appearance represented in _fig._ 982.; the thread
having been laid on the mall the time in diagonal lines, so as never to
coincide with each other.
_Doubling_ is the next operation of the silk throwster. In this process,
the threads of two or three of the bobbins, filled as above, are wound
together in contact upon a single bobbin. An ingenious device is here
employed to stop the winding-on the moment that one of these parallel
threads happens to break. Instead of the swifts or reels, a creel is
here mounted for receiving the bobbins from the former machine, two or
three being placed in one line over each other, according as the threads
are to be doubled or trebled. Though this machine is in many respects
like the _engine_, it has some additional parts, whereby the bobbins are
set at rest, as above mentioned, when one of the doubling threads gets
broken.
[Illustration: 983]
_Fig._ 983. is an end view, from which it will be perceived that the
machine is, like the preceding, a double one, with two working sides.
[Illustration: 984]
_Fig._ 984. is a front view of a considerable portion of the machine.
[Illustration: 985]
_Fig._ 985. shows part of a cross section, to explain minutely the mode
of winding upon a single bobbin.
[Illustration: 986]
_Fig._ 986. is the plan of the parts shown in _fig._ 985.; these two
figures being drawn to double the scale of _figs._ 983. and 984.
A, A, _figs._ 983. and 984. are the end frames, connected at their tops
by a wooden stretcher, or _bar-beam_, _a_, which extends through the
whole length of the machine; this bar is shown also in _figs._ 985. and
986.
B, B, are the creels upon each side of the machine, or bobbin bearers,
resting upon wooden beams or boards, made fast to the arms or brackets
C, about the middle of the frames A.
[Illustration: 987]
D, D, are two horizontal iron shafts, which pervade the whole machine,
and carry a series of light movable pulleys, called _stars_, _c_, _c_,
(_figs._ 985, 986.) which serve to drive the bobbins E, E, whose fixed
pulleys rest upon their peripheries, and are therefore turned simply by
friction. These bobbins are screwed by swivel nuts _e_, _e_, upon
spindles, as in the silk engine. Besides the small friction pulley or
boss, _d_, seen best in _fig._ 986., by which they rest upon the star
pulleys _c_, _c_, a little ratchet wheel _f_, is attached to the other
end of each bobbin. This is also shown by itself at _f_, in _fig._ 987.
The spindles with their bobbins revolve in two slot-bearings F, F,
_fig._ 986., screwed to the bar-beam _a_, which is supported by two or
three intermediate upright frames, such as A´. The slot-bearings F, have
also a second slot, in which the spindle with the bobbin is laid at
rest, out of contact of the _star_ wheel, while its broken thread is
being mended. G is the guide bar (to which the cleaner slit pieces _g_,
_g_, are attached), for making the thread traverse to the right and the
left, for its proper distribution over the surface of the bobbin. The
guide bar of the doubling machine is moved with a slower traverse than
in the engine; otherwise, in consequence of the different obliquities of
the paths, the single threads would be readily broken, _h_, _h_, is a
pair of smooth rods of iron or brass, placed parallel to each of the two
sides of the machine, and made fast to the standards H, H, which are
screwed to brackets projecting from the frames A, A´. Over these rods
the silk threads glide, in their passage to the guide wires _g_, _g_,
and the bobbins E, E.
I, I, is the _lever board_ upon each side of the machine, upon which the
slight brass bearings or fulcrums _i_, _i_, one for each bobbin in the
creel, are made fast. This board bears the _balance-lever_ _k_, _l_,
with the _fullers_ _n_, _n_, _n_, which act as dexterous fingers, and
stop the bobbin from winding-on the instant a thread may chance to
break. The levers _k_, _l_, swing upon a fine wire axis, which passes
through their props _i_, _i_, their arms being shaped rectangularly, as
shown at _k_, _k´_, _fig._ 986. The arm _l_, being heavier than the arm
_k_, naturally rests upon the ridge bar _m_, of the lever board I. _n_,
_n_, _n_, are three wires, resting at one of their ends upon the axis of
the fulcrum _i_, _i_, and having each of their other hooked ends
suspended by one of the silk threads, as it passes over the front steel
rod _h_, and under _h´_. These faller wires, or stop fingers, are
guided truly in their up-and-down motions with the thread, by a
cleaner-plate _o_, having a vertical slit in its middle. Hence, whenever
any thread happens to break, in its way to a winding-on bobbin E, the
wire _n_, which hung by its eyelet end to that thread, as it passed
through between the steel rods in the line of _h_, _h´_, falls upon the
lighter arm of the balance lever _k_, _l_, weighs down that arm _k_,
consequently jerks up the arm _l_, which pitches its tip or end into one
of the three notches of the ratchet or catch wheel _f_ (_figs._ 986. and
987.), fixed to the end of the bobbin. Thus its motion is
instantaneously arrested, till the girl has had leisure to mend the
thread, when she again hangs up the faller wire _n_, and restores the
lever _k_, _l_, to its horizontal position. If, meanwhile, she took
occasion to remove the winding bobbin out of the sunk slot-bearing,
where pulley _d_ touches the _star_ wheel _c_, into the right-hand upper
slot of repose, she must now shift it into its slot of rotation.
The motions are given to the doubling machine in a very simple way. Upon
the end of the framing, represented in _fig._ 983., the shafts D, D,
bear two spur wheels 1 and 2, which work into each other. To the wheel
1, is attached the bevel wheel 3, driven by another bevel wheel 4
(_fig._ 984.), fixed to a shaft that extends the whole length of the
apartment, and serves, therefore, to drive a whole range of machines.
The wheel 4 may be put in geer with the shaft, by a clutch and
geer-handle, as in the silk _engine_, and thereby it drives two shafts,
by the one transmitting its movement to the other.
The traverse motion of the guide bar G, is effected as follows:--Upon
one of the shafts D, there is a bevel wheel 5, driving the bevel wheel
6, upon the top of the upright shaft _p_ (_fig._ 984., to the right of
the middle); whence the motion is transmitted to the horizontal shaft
_q_, below, by means of the bevel wheels 7 and 8. Upon this shaft _q_,
there is a heart-wheel _r_, working against a roller which is fixed to
the end of the lever _s_, whose fulcrum is at _t_, _fig._ 983. The other
end of the lever _s_, is connected by two rods (shown by dotted lines in
_fig._ 984.) to a brass piece which joins the arms _u_ (_fig._ 984.), of
the guide bars G. To the same cross piece a cord is attached, which goes
over a roller _v_, and suspends a weight _w_, by means of which the
lever _s_, is pressed into contact with the heart-wheel _r_. The fulcrum
_t_, of the lever _s_, is a shaft which is turned somewhat eccentric,
and has a very slow rotatory motion. Thus the guide bar, after each
traverse, necessarily winds the silk in variable lines, to the side of
the preceding threads.
The motion is given to this shaft in the following way. Upon the
horizontal shaft _q_, there is a bevel wheel _g_ (_figs._ 983. and
984.), which drives the wheel 10 upon the shaft _x_; on whose upper end,
the worm _y_ works in the wheel 11, made fast to the said eccentric
shaft _t_; round which the lever _s_, swings or oscillates, causing the
guide bars to traverse.
_The spinning silk-mill._--The machine which twists the silk threads,
either in their single or doubled state, is called the spinning mill.
When the raw singles are first twisted in one direction, next doubled,
and then twisted together in the opposite direction, an exceedingly
wiry, compact thread, is produced, called _organzine_. In the spinning
mill, either the singles or the doubled silk, while being unwound from
one set of bobbins, and wound upon another set, is subjected to a
regular twisting operation; in which process the thread is conducted as
usual through guides, and coiled diagonally upon the bobbins by a proper
mechanism.
[Illustration: 988]
_Fig._ 988. exhibits an end view of the spinning mill; in which four
working lines are shown; two tiers upon each side, one above the other.
Some spinning mills have three working tiers upon each side; but as the
highest tier must be reached by a ladder or platform, this construction
is considered by many to be injudicious.
[Illustration: 989]
_Fig._ 989. is a front view, where, as in the former figure, the two
working lines are shown.
[Illustration: 990]
_Fig._ 990. is a cross section of a part of the machine, to illustrate
the construction and play of the working parts; _figs._ 996, 997. are
other views of _fig._ 990.
[Illustration: 991]
_Fig._ 991. shows a single part of the machine, by which the bobbins are
made to revolve.
[Illustration: 992 993]
_Figs._ 992. and 993. show a different mode of giving the traverse to
the guide bars, than that represented in _fig._ 990.
[Illustration: 994]
_Figs._ 994. and 995. show the shape of the full bobbins, produced by
the action of these two different traverse motions.
The upper part of the machine being exactly the same as the under part,
it will be sufficient to explain the construction and operation of one
of them.
A, A, are the end upright frames or standards, between which are two or
three intermediate standards, according to the length of the machine.
They are all connected at their sides by beams B and C, which extend the
whole length of the machines. D, D, are the spindles, whose top bearings
_a_, _a_, are made fast to the beams B, and their bottoms turn in hard
brass steps, fixed to the bar C. These two bars together are called, by
the workmen, the spindle box. The standards A, A, are bound with cross
bars N, N.
_c_, _c_, are the wharves or whorls, turned by a band from the
horizontal tin cylinder in the lines of E, E, _fig._ 988., lying in the
middle line between the two parallel rows of spindles D, D. F, F, are
the bobbins containing the untwisted doubled silk, which are simply
pressed down upon the taper end of the spindles. _d_, _d_, are little
flyers, or forked wings of wire, attached to washers of wood, which
revolve loose upon the tops of the said bobbins F, and round the
spindles. One of the wings is sometimes bent upwards, to serve as a
guide to the silk, as shown by dotted lines in _fig._ 990. _e_, _e_, are
pieces of wood pressed upon the tops of the spindles, to prevent the
flyers from starting off by the centrifugal force. G, are horizontal
shafts bearing a number of little spur wheels _f_, _f_. H, are
slot-bearings, similar to those of the doubling-machine, which are fixed
to the end and middle frames. In these slots, the light square cast-iron
shafts or spindles _g_, _fig._ 989., are laid, on whose end the spur
wheel _h_ is cast; and when the shaft _g_ lies in the front slot of its
bearing, it is in geer with the wheel _f_, upon the shaft G; but when it
is laid in the back slot, it is out of geer, and at rest. See F, F,
_fig._ 986.
Upon these little cast-iron shafts or spindles _g_, _fig._ 991., the
bobbins or blocks I, are thrust, for receiving, by winding-on, the
twisted or spun silk. These blocks are made of a large diameter, in
order that the silk fibres may not be too much bent; and they are but
slightly filled, at each successive charge, lest, by increasing their
diameter too much, they should produce too rapid an increase in the rate
of winding, with proportional diminution in the twist, and risk of
stretching or tearing the silk. They are therefore the more frequently
changed. K, K, are the guide bars, with the guides _i_, _i_, through
which the silk passes, being drawn by the revolving bobbins I, and
delivered or laid on by the flyers _d_, _d_, from the rotatory
twisting-bobbins F. The operation of the machine is therefore simple,
and the motions are given to the parts in a manner equally so.
Upon the shaft of the tin cylinder or drum, exterior to the frame, the
usual fast and loose pulleys, or riggers, L, L´, are mounted, for
driving the whole machine. These riggers are often called steam-pulleys
by the workmen, from their being connected by bands with the
steam-driven shaft of the factory. In order to allow the riggers upon
the shafts of the upper and the under drums to be driven from the same
pulley upon the main shaft, the axis of the under drum is prolonged at
L, L, and supported at its end, directly from the floor, by an upright
bearing. Upon the shafts of the tin cylinders there is also a fly-wheel
M, to equalize the motion. Upon the other ends of these shafts, namely
at the end of the spinning-mill, represented in _fig._ 988., the pinions
1 are fixed, which drive the wheels 3, by means of the intermediate or
carrier wheel 2; called also the plate wheel, from its being hollowed
somewhat like a trencher. 1, is called the change-pinion, because it is
changed for another, of a different size and different number of teeth,
when a change in the velocity of wheels 2 and 3 is to be made. To allow
a greater or smaller pinion to be applied at 1, the wheel 2 is mounted
upon a stud _k_, which is movable in a slot concentric with the axis of
the wheel 3. This slot is a branch from the cross bar N. The smaller the
change-pinion is, the nearer will the stud _k_ approach to the vertical
line joining the centres of wheels 1 and 3; and the more slowly will the
plate wheel 2 be driven. To the spur wheel 3, a bevel wheel 4, is fixed,
with which the other also revolves loose upon a stud. The bevel wheel 5,
upon the shaft _l_, is driven by the bevel wheel 4; and it communicates
motion, by the bevel wheels 6 and 7, to each of the horizontal shafts G,
G, extending along the upper and under tiers of the machine. At the
left-hand side of the top part of _fig._ 988. the two wheels 6 and 7 are
omitted, on purpose to show the bearings of the shaft G, as also the
slot-bearings for carrying the shafts or skewers of the bobbins.
If it be desired to communicate twist in the opposite direction to that
which would be given by the actual arrangement of the wheels, it is
necessary merely to transpose the carrier wheel 2, from its present
position on the right hand of pinion 1, to the left of it, and to drive
the tin cylinder by a crossed or close strap, instead of a straight or
open one.
The traverse motion of the guide is given here in a similar way to that
of the engine, (_fig._ 975.) Near one of the middle or cross-frames of
the machine (see _fig._ 990.) the wheel _f_, in geer with a spur wheel
_h_, upon one of the block-shafts, drives also a spur wheel _m_, that
revolves upon a stud, to which wheel is fixed a bevel wheel _n_, in geer
with the bevel wheel _o_. To wheel _o_, the same mechanism is attached
as was described under _figs._ 979. and 980., and which is here marked
with the same letters.
To the crank-knob _r_, _fig._ 990., a rod _x_, is attached, which moves
or traverses the guide bar belonging to that part of the machine; to
each machine one such apparatus is fitted. In _figs._ 992. and 993.
another mode of traversing the guide bar is shown, which is generally
used for the coarser qualities of silk. Near to one of the middle
frames, one of the wheels _f_, in geer with the spur wheel _m_, and the
bevel wheel _n_, both revolving on one stud, gives motion also to the
wheel _o_, fixed upon a shaft _a´_, at whose other end the elliptical
wheel _b´_ is fixed, which drives a second elliptical wheel _c´_, in
such a way that the larger diameter of the one plays in geer with the
smaller diameter of the other; the teeth being so cut as to take into
each other in all positions. The crank-piece _d´_ is screwed upon the
face of the wheel _c´_, at such a distance from its centre as may be
necessary to give the desired length of traverse motion to the guide bar
for laying the silk spirally upon the blocks. The purpose of the
elliptical wheel is to modify the simple crank motion, which would wind
on more silk at the ends of the bobbins than in their middle, and to
effect an equality of winding-on over the whole surface of the blocks.
In _fig._ 993. the elliptical wheels are shown in front, to illustrate
their mode of operating upon each other. _Fig._ 994. is a block filled
by the motion of the eccentric, _fig._ 900.; and _fig._ 995. is a block
filled by the elliptical mechanism. As the length of the motions of the
bar in the latter construction remains the same during the whole
operation, the silk, as it is wound on the blocks, will slide over the
edges, and thereby produce the flat ends of the barrel in _fig._ 995.
The conical ends of the block (_fig._ 994.) are produced by the
continually shortened motions of the guide bar, as the stud approaches,
in its sun-and-planet rotation, nearer to the general centre.
[Illustration: 996]
[Illustration: 997]
_Figs._ 996, 997. are two different views of the differential mechanism
described under _fig._ 990.
The bent wire _x_, _fig._ 990., is called the guider iron. It is
attached at one end to the pivot of the sun-and-planet wheel-work _t_,
_s_, _o_, and at the other to the guide bar _f_, _f_, _fig._ 989. The
silk threads pass through the guides, as already explained. By the
motion communicated to the guide bar (_guider_), the diamond pattern is
produced, as shown in _fig._ 994.