Class __J[..^1_611
Book .T3
Copyright )1°_
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
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CHARLOHE SUPI
CHARLOTTE, INI. C.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. SPARTANBURG, S. C.
Everything in Mill Supplies
Small Tools of All Kinds
Carried in Stock
Brown & Sharpe Tools B. & S. Wrenches
Starratt^s Tools Williams Wrenches
Card Gauges Weavers Combs
Card Hammers Weavers Scissors
Card Tubes Pick Glasses
Card Tooth Pullers Reed Hooks
Card Stretchers Drawing Hooks
Card Sheet Markers Burling Irons
Nippers
Special Attention Given to Mail Orders
Write for Prices
H. C. CLARK, Pres. JEREiVIlAH GOFF, V.-Pres.
H. W. EDDY, Treas.
CITY MACHINE FLY FRAMES
SCCTION BETWEEN. HEAD END AND FIRST SAMP90N
Gives even tension full length of rail traverse.
Improvements that No Other Make of Machine Contains.
Safety Stop Motion, Improved Spindle Step, Cone Stop Motion,
Daly's Differental Gearing-, Campbell Ball Bearing- Top Roll.
Improvement for Driving- liifter Shaft.
Woonsocket Machine and Press Co.
WOONSOCKET, R. I.
STUART W. CRAMER, Charlotte, N. C, Southern Agent.
OUR NEW HOPPER
IFOR OUR"
NORTHROP LOOM
With a Record of 100,000 Looms Sold, it|is no
long^er necessary for us to predictlwhat
these Looms will do.
WE POINT TO WHAT THEY
HAVE DONE
The DRAPER COMPLY
HOPEDALE, MASS.
CATLIN & COMP'Y
Broadway, Coi*. Leonard St., New York
No. 345-347 No. 92
67 Chauncy Street, Boston
206 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
605 Medinah Temple, Chicago
SELLING AGENTS FOR.
COTTON GOODS
Grey ^ Bleached Colored
COTTON YAR.NS
All Numbers ^"^ Single or Twisted
Skeins, Chains, Beams, Balls,
Spools, Cops, Cones, Tubes
AMERICAN PEELERS, SEA ISLANDS,
AND EGYPTIANS
Carded and Combed, also Jaegers and Silvers
MASON
MACHINE WORKS
TAUNTON, MASS.
COTTON MILL
MACHINERY
CARDS
DRAWING
COMBERS
SPINNING
MULES
LOOMS
SOUTHERN OFFICE
AT
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
CARDING AND SPINNING
A BOOK FOR
PRACTICAL MILL MEN
BY
G. F. IVEY,
Author of "Loom Fixing and Weaving."
5 • • -J > »
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Published by
G. F. IVEY & CO., HICKORY, N. C.
Printed by Edwards & Broughton, Raleigh, N. C.
LIBRARY ni CONGRESS
Two Cooies Received
JUL 1904
(' Oooyrfifht Entry
CLASS (I XXo. No.
COPY B /
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1904, by
G. F. IVEY,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
c c c c c c « ,
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n^o^
PREFACE.
Several years ago I published a book called
"Loom-Fixing and Weaving," which treated the
subject in a thoroughly practical manner. This
book has been very favorably received, and the
secon4 edition is now almost exhausted. From
time to time I have received many inquiries for a
book on carding and spinning, written on the
same general lines, but no such book could be
found. To fill this demand, the present work
has been written, and if by simply being read it
imparts information which has been acquired by
many years experience, the object of the writer
has been attained.
Believing that no one man possesses all of the
knowledge available on the subject, I have had
assistance from some of the best mill men in the
country, among whom are Mr. Eben Willey, Al-
lenton, E. I., and Mr. H. D. Martin, Fall River,
Mass.
G. F. IVEY.
Hickory, N. C, July, 1904.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. — Cotton, Varieties of Cotton. Classification
of Cotton. Cotton Futures. Speculation. Ginning.
Saw and Roller Gins. Egyptian and Sea Island Cotton.
CHAPTER II. — Bale Breakers. Mixing. Openers. Split
Laps. Poor Help. Excessive Breakages. Excessive
Waste. Fires. Uneven Laps. Calculations. Draft.
Production. General Information.
CHAPTER III.— Cards. Card Setting. Uniform Carding. Cyl-
inders Rubbing. Cloudy or Uneven Carding. Electricity.
Fires. Draft. Production. Constants. Table of Draft
Constants for Different makes of Cards. General In-
formation about Cards. Drawing Frames. Setting the
Rollers. Irregular or Cut Drawing. Varnish for Rol-
lers. Production. Draft. Tables of Production and Draft
Constants. Draft with Metallic Rollers. General In-
formation about Drawing Frames. Sliver Lap Ma-
chines. Calculations and General Information. Calcu-
lations and Information for Ribbon Lap Machines.
Combers. Waste in Combers. Settings for Combers
of Different Makes. Draft and Production. General
Information.
CHAPTER IV. — Numbering of Cotton Yarn. Tables for
numbering Yam and Roving. Slubbers and Fly Frames
Generally. Tavist of Roving. Draft. Other Calcula-
tions. Table of Draft, Twist, Lay and Tension Con-
stants. Cut or Uneven Roving. Tangled Bobbins. Ends
Slacking Down. Hard Ends. Black Oil. Clearer
Waste in Roving. General Information.
CHAPTER V. — Ring Spinning. Spinning Frames Com-
pared with Mules. Draft and Twist. Table of Draft
and Twist Constants for five Different Makes of Ma-
chines. Production Tables. Strength of Yarn. Ex-
cessive Draft. Excessive Speed. Cut Yarn. Bunchy
or Lumpy Yarn. Cockley Yarn. Ends Running Bad.
Waste. Bobbins Wound too Low. Soft Bobbins and
Soft Nose Bobbins. General Information.
12 Contents.
CHAPTER VI. — Mule Spinning. Development of the Mule.
The Various Motions Described. Draft and Twist.
Rules for Calculating Draft and Twist. Tables of
Production. Mule Cop Building. Bad Cop Noses. Cut
Yarn. Squaring the Carriage. Mules for Fine Yam.
General Information.
CHAPTER VII. — The Spooler. Production and Speed of
Spoolers. Proper Size of Spools. Big Ended Spools.
General Information. Twisters. Twist of Twisted
Yam. Productionof Twisters. Lean Yam. Single and
Double Yam. Fuzzy Yarn. Cork-Screw Yarn. Slack
Twisted Yam. Reels. Production of Reels. Loose
Ends. Tangled Skeins. Packing Yam. '
CHAPTER VIII.— Warpers. Beam Warpers. Weight of
Yarn on Beams. Unequal Lengths. Excessive Break-
ing of Ends. Selvage Piled Up. Production. General
Information. The Denn Warper. Production. Stop
Motion not Acting. Slack Ends. Tight Water Bands.
Broken Ends. The Cone-Winder. Production Tables.
Defects in Hosiery Yam. Long Knots. Bunchy Yam.
General Information.
CHAPTER IX. — The Manufacture of Fine Yarn. Selecting
Cotton. Pickers. Reducing Speed. Carding. Twist for
Fine Work. Drawing Frames. The Flyers, Traverse
and Rollers. The Tension. Overseers and Help. Creel-
ing Roving. Contraction in Twisting. Spindle Bands.
Rings and Traverse. Easy Drafts. Importance of
Cleanliness.
Carding and Spinning.
CHAPTER I.
Cotton.
It is not the intention of the writer to discuss
this question exhaustively, as it is not in the
province of this book. "The Student's Cotton
Spinner," by Nasmith, devotes over 80 pages to
this subject, and the reader will find it treated in
a very interesting and instructive manner.
There are nearly fifty varieties of cotton, but in
the United States very little attention is paid to
this fact. An increasing amount of Egyptian
cotton is used in this country, principally for
making fine hosiery yarn. It is also found that
Egyptian is an excellent variety for mercerizing,
and a good deal is used for this purpose.
American cotton is classed as follows, the first
named being the best:
Fair.
Strict middling fair.
Middling Fair.
Strict good middling.
Good Middling.
Strict middling.
14 Carding and Spinning.
Middling.
Strict low middling.
Low Middling.
Strict good ordinary.
Good Ordinary.
Strict ordinary.
Ordinary.
The grades in capital letters are known as full
grades, and those with the prefix "Strict" as half-
grades. Besides these, there are quarter grades
known by the prefixes "Barely" and "Fairly."
These quarter grades are very seldom used in
classifying. Contrary to general belief, the
grade is not affected by the length of staple.
Both the length and staple are used in designa-
ting a particular kind of cotton, and we speak of
inch and an eighth strict middling Mississippi
cotton. Tinges and stains are terms frequently
used in cotton reports, and usually belong under
the lowest classification.
The grades mentioned above are for American
cotton only, and for the United States only.
The Liverpool Exchange has a different classifi-
cation from this, and also a different one for Bra-
zillian, Egyptian, or Indian cotton.
When cotton is spoken of in the cotton market,
the Middling grade is meant, and the cotton con-
tracts, or futures, call for this grade, although a
better or a poorer grade may be delivered at a
proportionate price. As a matter of fact, how-
Carding and Spinning. J.5
ever, hardly one per cent of the cotton bought and
sold on the New Orleans or New York Exchange
is ever delivered. At or before the time of deliv-
ery the buyer or seller simply makes good the dif-
ference between the contract price and the price
then current. In other words, the transactions
are gambling pure and simply, and without
doubt these transactions are largely responsible
for the present inflated price of cotton (March,
1904) . However, these contracts can be used for
legitimate purposes. For instance, a mill man
sells 100,000 or 500,000 pounds of yarn at a price
he knows will bring him a fair profit at present
price of cotton. He does not know, however,
that cotton will remain at this figure, and to in-
sure this profit, he must buy the cotton. Under
any condition, and especially if cotton is 15 cents
a pound, it would take an immense amount of
money to buy the cotton, and a good deal to store
and insure it. He can therefore purchase the
cotton he needs for future delivery, paying only
the nominal sum of |1.00 a bale. When the ac-
tual cotton is used it is generally bought at home,
and the contract representing this cotton sold at
New York. While this method is legitimate,
and presents many advantages, there is no deny-
ing that the ease with which a contract may be
bought and sold is a temptation for speculation,
which not many can resist, and on the whole, the
method does more harm than good.
16 Carding and Spinning.
Ginning. — Briefly stated, a modern cotton gin
consists of a number of circular saws, from 60
to 90, about 10 inches in diameter, all on one
shaft. These saws are about one-half inch apart,
the space between them being filled by metal fin-
gers. When the gin is in operation, the teeth of
the saws, which are very fine, seize the fibers of
cotton and carry the whole mass towards the
fingers. These are too close to the saws to allow
the seed to go through. The fibers are there-
fore torn from the seed, and are taken off the
saws by a brush and blown to any convenient
point. The cotton gin, except in matters of de-
tail, is exactly what it was sixty years ago. If
it had developed in the same proportion as other
cotton machinery, the spinner would certainly
have less cause to complain, for there is no doubt
that the rough treatment cotton receives does the
fibers great injury. Not only are they badly
broken, but the shorter fibers are rolled in little
balls, which it is almost impossible to get out,
especially in long-staple cotton.
Egyptian cotton, and the best Sea Island, is
not ginned with a saw gin, but with what is
known as a knife, or roller gin. In this process
the fibers are held firmly by rollers and revolving
or oscillating knives scrape the seed away. This
is an expensive method, but incomparably supe-
rior to the other.
Carding and Spinning. 17
CHAPTER II.
Opening and Picking.
Strictly speaking, ginning is not considered a
part of cotton manufacturing, although many
mills in the South operate gins in connection
with their mills. The first process which claims
our attention is opening. In the United States
this is generally done by hand. The bagging is
removed from the bales, perhaps a dozen at one
time, and the cotton is piled in successive layers
until the whole has been distributed. Other bales
are then opened and piled on top of the first. It
is considered good practice to open as many as
the space will allow, and to feed from the face
of the pile rather than from the top, so as to get
part of each bale. This practice is of much more
importance in England than in this country, for
here we are much more likely to get a large quan-
tity of cotton from the same locality, and pos-
sessing practically the same characteristics; but
even here there are advantages derived from this
method. It has become the custom in recent
mill construction to have the opening room in
the cotton warehouse, and blow or rather suck
the cotton to the mill building. This saves haul-
ing the cotton to the mill, and has other advan-
tages, especially for a large plant. For a small
2
18 Carding and Spinning.
mill, or one on fine numbers, and therefore using
but little cotton, it is of no practical benefit, as
it requires the attention of two men where only
one is needed by the old method.
In England the common practice is to use a
bale-breaker for opening the cotton. This is a
machine with four sets of large rollers with very
coarse fiutes, or short spikes. The catton in large
armsfull is fed to this machine, and as there is
a draft, of say two, between each set of rollers, it
is thoroughly torn up by the time it gets through.
There is now an improved bale-breaker on the
market, manufactured both by Howard and Bul-
lough, and Dobson and Barlow, known as the
HoiDper Bale-Breaker. It is similar to the older
style, except that it has a hopper instead of a
lattice. Two men can put half a bale of com-
pressed cotton in the hopper at a time, and in
less than five minutes it will be broken in fine
flakes, and done much better than by hand. One
of these machines can easily open 50 or 60 bales
a day, and do it thoroughly. These machines
will probably soon come into general use in the
larger mills.
The cotton does not go direct from this ma-
chine to the hopper of the opener, but by an in-
clined lattice it is distributed on the mixing pile
from which it is fed by hand.
Openers. — A great many mill men are not so
young but that they remember when cotton was
Carding and Spinning. 19
fed entirely by hand. The lattice on which four
laps are now placed, was marked off in sections
of a yard each. A man would weigh a pound of
cotton and distribute it as evenly as possible on
this yard. While it was being fed he would weigh
another pound, and so on indefinitely. For prob-
ably fifteen years the hopper feed has been al-
most universally used. It must not be taken for
granted that because this machine is automatic,
it will feed a uniform quantity regardless of the
amount the hopper contains, and it is best to keep
it from one-half to three-quarters full.
So far as the writer is aware, no American
builder makes an opener with other than a
horizontal beater. In England practically all
openers have perpendicular beaters. These are
known as Crighton openers, and have conical
beaters, which revolve about 900 times a minute.
The cotton is fed at the bottom, and is withdrawn
at the top by a current of air in the usual man-
ner. The only advantage, which in some cases
may be considerable, which we see in this ar-
rangement, is that as the beater is entirely sur-
rounded by grids, the dirt will have a much bet-
ter chance to be beaten through, than in the
American machine where there is less than half
the grid surface.
From the opener the cotton is sucked to the
next machine, where it is formed into a lap. This
may be done on the same machine, and as there
20 Carding and Spinning. .
is an almost unlimited number of combinations
of beaters, it is impossible to say exactly where
the next machine begins. However, it is be-
coming more and more common to have the next
machine — known as a lapper or picker, and in
England as a scutcher — connected with the
opener by a cleaning trunk. This may be 10 feet
long, but in some cases it is 50. It is of great
service if kept properly clean, but we see no es-
pecial benefit to be derived from the extreme
lengths. It is customary to have three of these
pickers, known as the breaker (a misleading
term), intermediate and finisher. In some cases
the intermediate is being omitted, and in all cases
where extra long cotton is used, as the less this
is beaten the fewer fibres are broken.
TROUBLES ABOUT THE PICKER ROOM.
Split Laps. — One cause of split laps, where the
trouble only occurs occasionally, is too much
waste in the mixing. This waste having been
worked, has had the fibers all straightened out,
and therefore there is not the same tendency to
stick together as in raw cotton. Experience has
taught us that where the mill is large enough to
produce waste in sufficient quantity, it is best to
run it separately and make laps of it. One of
these waste laps is put on the apron of the inter-
mediate, and the four laps run while this one is
on the machine, containing one-fourth waste, are
Carding and Spinning. 21
laid aside, and only one at a time is used on the
finishing lapper. The resultant laps have only
one-sixteenth waste, or 6 per cent. By using
this we know that the waste is evenly mixed, and
we do not know it if it is put in the mixing hap-
hazard. In many mills waste is never used in
the mixing for warp yarn, bat for the filling only.
Another cause of split laps is too much fric-
tion on the horse-head. This may occur on ac-
count of the weather, or the picker -hand may put
soap or belt grease on the friction strap in order
to make a nice, compact lap.
Probably the most fruitful cause of split laps
is that the suction through both cages is equal,
or nearly so. This causes the cotton to be mat-
ted in two sheets, with very little to hold them
together. The remedy is simple. All modern
lappers have dampers, so that the draft from each
cage may be regulated. Arrange these so that
the greater part of the draft is from the top cage,
and the defect is generally overcome. Some-
times a careless operator allows the cages and
air passages to become choked with waste or
sand, and the draft not operating properly, trou-
ble results. Occasionally the same trouble oc-
curs by the air pipe leading from the fan becom-
ing choked, and as they are often hard to get at,
the trouble is consequently hard to discover and
remedy. There is a certain patent arrangement
by means of which tongues of leather or tin are
22 Carding and Spinning.
placed so as to almost feed into the bite of the
cages. We fail to see, however, where the effi-
ciency comes in.
Poor Help, — The troubles in many picker rooms
are caused primarily by poor help. Many man-
agers fail to realize the importance of this depart-
ment, and think any green hand will do. In fact,
it is usually considered the job for an unskilled
man, and there are dozens of men throughout the
country who apply for work, stating that they are
picker-hands, who perhaps never worked a month
in that department. On account of the isolated
character of the work it is especially desirable to
have a man in charge who can be relied on to tell
the truth, and do what he is told to do without
being watched. When a picker-man is told to
weigh every lap and record the weight, also
marking it on the end of the lap with colored
chalk, many will do the recording all right, but
will neglect the weighing.
Excessive Breakages. — As a breakdown in the
picker-room often stops the whole mill, they
should be especially guarded against. In this
connection, what is said above in regard to poor
help is especially applicable. Breakdowns are
caused by insufficient oiling and cleaning, over
feeding, allowing the machine to run too long
after being choked, machines out of level, or im-
properly balanced beaters or fans. A very fre-
quent cause of breakdowns is not watching the
Carding and Spinning. 23
gears closely enough, and allowing them to run
without being in gear deep enough.
A beater which runs hot as the result of not
being oiled, or from some unknown cause, can be
frequently remedied by simply turning it end for
end.
On the Atherton picker, the fast-running gear
which runs the bottom cone frequently breaks or
wears out, especially the intermediate gear. In
an emergency a 1^-inch belt will do the work un-
til a new gear can be secured.
Excessive Waste. — This is caused by having the
grid bars set improperly. If they are set too far
apart, or too far from the beater, the waste will
be excessive. There may also be too great a
space between the feed roller and the first bar.
In setting the grids, always bear in mind that a
system of grids could be devised so that there
^/ould be no waste at all. Also remember that if
they are set too near the beater the fibers will be
injured. The air flues may be choked with waste,
causing back pressure, or there may be an insuf-
ficient area in the flues or chimneys. In either
case the back pressure will force the good cotton
through the grids into the mote box.
Fires. — Of course any one who works about a
mill knows that fire is more likely to occur in a
picker-room than anywhere else about the mill.
For this reason all kinds of precautions are taken
to guard against it. It is generally in the opener
24 Carding and Spinning.
where the fire starts, but as it is directly connect-
ed with the next machine, it takes but a second
to communicate to it. Where the pickers are in a
separate room, the fire does little damage to
them, although the opening room may be practi-
cally destroyed. The writer was once connected
with a mill where fires occurred in the opener
almost every day. The machine was carefully
examined, and no hot bearings were found, neith-
er was the feed roller too near the beater. It
was finally noticed that occasionally sparks
would be knocked through the grids. Although
the beaters did not touch the rollers by three-
eighths of an inch, they were separated still far-
ther and the trouble was over. All this oc-
curred a good many years ago, but a satisfactory
explanation has never been given.
The chief trouble with fire is that if it does not
get out of the machine, it melts the solder of the
cages and chars and roughens the interior of the
cleaning trunks. Often for hours, and perhaps
for days, after the fire, the cotton is inclined to
choke in the trunks. If they are not fire-proof, it
is sometimes desirable to make them so by lining
with tin, lapped as on fire doors. Where the
wood is charred, about the best thing to do is to
make a brush of card clothing and scour it out,
afterward using powdered soap-stone or graphite
freely. When a fire occurs, it is not best to stop
the whole machine, but the feed only, and the
CxiKDING AND SPINNING. 25
cotton is soon all burned out. If the machine Is
stopped, the screens are almost sure to be badly
damaged. A chemical fire extinguisher is a valu-
able adjunct to a picker-room. A pipe for live
steam with outside valve is more effective than
many sprinklers, especially if the room can be
tightly closed. This applies to the opening-room
rather than to the picking-room proper.
In a mill where there is but one set of pickers,
and the opener is put out of business several
hours, or perhaps days, it is not necessary to stop
the mill, for the cotton may be fed by hand to the
next machine and the mill kept running.
Uneven Laps. — Years ago a lap which was with-
in one pound of the required weight was consid-
ered near enough. Three years ago the require-
ments had become more strict, and laps that were
over one-half pound out were run again. Now,
in some mills, one-half pound is considered too
wide a variation. If the machine is pushed for
production, the light laps may be run at the same
time as the heavy ones, and fairly satisfactory re-
sults obtained. The evening motion should be
adjusted so that the belt is not in the center, but
nearer the small end of the driving cone. It is
probable that one lap on the apron may run out^
but not at all probable that an extra one will be
put on, and room should be allowed for the belt to
shift enough to increase the speed of the feed
mechanism in order to compensate for this loss.
26 Carding and Spinning.
Assuming that the evener is properly adjusted
to begin with, the lack of attention in the way of
cleaning and oiling will cause uneven laps sooner
than any other cause. Pickers should be cleaned
often, and the overseer should personally inspect
them to see that it is done properly. The cages
should be kept clean, or they will soon choke up
around the ends. The apron must be kept at
the proper tension, or it will sometimes slip and