Spinner (textile)

“ Ironsyde came to the works one morning to watch a new Twist Frame and a new operator. The single strand yarn for material from the spinners was coming to the Twist Frame to be turned into twines and fishing lines. Four full bobbins from the spinning machine went to each spindle of the Twist Frame, and from it emerged a strong 'four-ply.' It was a machine more complicated than the spinner; and, as only a good billiard player can appreciate the cleverness of a great player, so only a spinner might have admired the rare technical skill of the woman who controlled the Twist Frame. ”

“ When, from the length of the thread, the spindle approached the ground, or descended below the reach of the fingers, the thread was wound on the spindle, except a short piece left for insertion in the slit, preparatory to the formation of another length. The distaff was about three times as long as the spindle, and commonly made of a reed, with an expansion near the top, over which the prepared flax or wool was placed, and secured by a ribbon or tape; the fibres being left sufficiently loose to be easily drawn out by the fingers and thumb of the spinner. ”

“ After a few strokes of the spinning tool have been taken, the shell will appear about as shown at B, Fig. 12, and at this point it is necessary to trim the shell at the edges with the diamond-point tool. Trimming is required because spinning stretches the stock and the resulting uneven edge will cause splits in the metal if it is not trimmed occasionally. As a carpenter is known by his chips, so a spinner is known by the way his work stretches. ”

“ The products of metal spinning are used in a great many lines of manufacture. Examples of this work are chandelier parts, cooking utensils, silver and brittania hollow-ware, automobile lamps, cane-heads and many other sheet metal specialties. Brass, copper, zinc, aluminum, iron, soft steel, and, in fact nearly all metals yield readily to the spinner’s skill. At best spinning is physically hard work, and the softer the stock, the easier and quicker the spinner can transform it into the required product. ”

“ Platt Brothers and Company have, however, devised a method by which the setting of the flats can be instantaneously ascertained, and power is thus given to a spinner or overlooker to check the setting. In the flexible bend, at four points, narrow oblong slots are formed by casting, and are made of such a width that the carder’s gauge can be easily slipped between the cylinder and flat teeth, whatever may be the condition of the wire. ”

“ Such skill is far superior to that of the Russian metal worker, who, instead of making a vase or ornament of one piece, cuts up several sections and soft solders them together, after covering them with crude “gingerbread” work to disguise his poor metal work.
The amateur can imitate the Russian work, but never the work of the skilled spinner. There are several grades of spinners, most of them never attaining the skill of the model-maker or the facility for handling the different metals. ”

“ The limits of accuracy are not as closely defined as in straight machine work, but there are times when good fits are absolutely necessary, as in cases where two shells must slip snugly together. In this chapter we have taken up only the plain every-day kind of spinning, and were we to follow its work in the gold and silversmith’s trade, we would see it evolve into a fine art. In order to insure really good work coming from the spinning lathe, there is a wide range of knowledge that the spinner must have. ”

“ He can only talk about the water wheel to-day and the boilers to-morrow. When I find a chap, he'll have to know a powerful lot more about life than that chap—and shave himself oftener also."
"He'd shave every day if you took him, same as Mister Roberts does," said Sarah.
Elsewhere Mr. Best was starting a run of the Gill Spinner, a machine which took sliver straight from the Drawing Frames and spun it into a large coarse yarn. A novice watched him get the great machine to work, make all ready and then, at a touch, connect it with the power and set it crashing and roaring. ”

“ The spindle was a stick ten or twelve inches long, having at the top a slit or catch in which to fix the thread, so that the weight of the spindle might continually carry down the thread as it was formed. Its lower extremity was inserted into a small wheel of wood, stone, or metal, the use of which was to keep the spindle more steady, and to promote its rotation: for the spinner, who was commonly a female, every now and then twirled round the spindle with her right hand, so as to twist the thread still more completely ”

“ The attendant takes a layer from each bale in succession, and places it on the feed lattice of the bale breaker, by which it is broken and partially mixed, so that when stacked the elements of the mixing are well incorporated. The size of the stack depends very largely on the requirements of the spinner, but as most mills now are employed on a small range of counts, some of them on one or two, it is most usual to make a large one containing sufficient cotton to last for several weeks. ”

“ The silk-waste spinner receives his silk in quite a different form: merely the raw material, packed in bales of various sizes and weights, the contents being a much-tangled mass of all lengths of fibre mixed with much foreign matter, such as ends of straws, twigs, leaves, worms and chrysalis. It is the spinner’s business to straighten out these fibres, with the aid of machinery, and then to so join them that they become a thread, which is known as spun silk. ”

“ Guest states, that “it was no uncommon thing for a weaver to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on five or six spinners, before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of the day; and when he wished to weave a piece in a shorter time than usual, a new ribbon or a gown was necessary to quicken the exertions of the spinner.” This check existing on the industry of the weaver, it is no wonder that mechanical ingenuity was tasked to invent a quicker way of spinning. ”

“ Specimens of Metal Spinning
Hand Tools
Hand tools, in great variety, form the principal asset of the spinner’s kit. Spinning tools are made of tool steel forged to the required shapes, and are hardened and polished on the working end. The round steel from which they are made varies from 1⁄2 inch to 11⁄2 inch in diameter, according to the class of work upon which they are to be used. The length of a spinning tool is about 2 feet, and it is fitted into a wooden handle 2 inches diameter and 18 inches long, making the total length of the handled tool about 3 feet, as shown in Fig. ”

“ The American that has intelligence [16] and skill enough to be a first-class spinner, will generally look around for something easier about the time that he has the trade acquired. It is an occupation that cannot be followed up in old age, as it is too strenuous, the operator being on his feet constantly, and having to use his head as well as his muscles.
General Remarks on Metal Spinning Chucks
For common plain shapes, a patternmaker’s faceplate, with a tapered center screw, is sufficient for holding the wood chuck. ”

“ In brief, the essential consideration is a commercial one, and that machine is the best, and is used most skilfully, which effectually opens the matted cotton and shakes out the largest body of impurities with the least loss of fibre, either from its being driven out with the dirt or by breakage or rupture. Economy and efficiency are the watchwords of a good spinner, and nowhere is this combination more desirable than in the early stages of the manufacture. ”

“ By wiping off thread-boards, waste catching on to the ends and spinning. By rolls not being kept clean and oiled. By spinners not being careful enough when they clean their rolls. By spinners brushing and cleaning their frames. By brushing down over head. By spinners not keeping their clearers clean. The carder should be just as particular about making his roving as the spinner is about making his yarn; then there will be good work all through. A dry front roll will make bunches on spinning frames, and will do the same on speeders. Sweepers should not blow their waste under the frames. ”

“ By means of that apparatus the yarn is wound upon the spindles in the following manner. As long as the stretching and twisting go on, the threads form an obtuse angle with the spindles, and thereby slide continually over their smooth rounded tips during their revolution, without the possibility of coiling upon them. When, however, the spinning process is completed, the spinner seizes the carriage with his left hand and pushes it back towards the roller beam, while with his right hand he turns round the handle of the rim or fly wheel, and consequently the spindles. ”

“ Too much twist in roving makes bad yarn, and spoils the top rolls on spinning frames. The square root of the number is about the twist for roving. It gives the Carder a chance to keep up with the spinning, and gives the Spinner a chance to make a better quality of yarn. If there is too much twist in the roving, you cannot draw it on spinning frames without spreading the rolls ”

“ In starting to spin a difficult shell it sometimes happens that the [9] necessarily small follower will not hold the blank. To prevent this slipping, the face of the follower is covered with emery cloth. Often, however, on rough work, the spinner will not stop to face the follower, but will make a large shallow dent at the center of the blank; the extra pressure required to force the metal against the form will usually overcome the slipping tendency. ”

“ It exhibits the process of spinning, at the moment when the spinner has drawn out a sufficient length of thread from the distaff, and just previous to the act of taking it out of the slit on the top of the spindle, to wind it on that instrument. It is said by classic writers that the spindle was always, when in use, accompanied by the distaff, as "an indispensable part of the apparatus." ”

“ The spinner, by his long practice and skill, is enabled to make any description of yarn, either fine or coarse, by the manner in which he supplies the hemp to the revolving wheel, and can produce with the greatest nicety, any given length of yarn from a given weight of hemp. Each spinner can make about a thousand feet of yarn in about twelve minutes. ”

“ Not only the clerk of the spinners examines the yarn when he receives it, and counts the threads in any of the knots which appear to be too small, but the name of the spinner, with a note of the quantity of knots, accompanies the yarn into the store-room, as was before observed, and from thence to the spooler, by whom it is wound off; any frauds committed in reeling cannot fail to be brought home to the spinner. ”

“ To glance for a moment at the history of Textile Fabrics (into which I hope to
go more fully at a future time) , it may be noticed that the spindle for twisting thread has been found in use in Asia Africa, and North and South America, among people whose ruder neighbours had no better means of making their finest thread or cord than by twisting it with the hand, by rolling the fibres with the palm, on the thigh or some other parts of the body. ”

“ Such is a description of the most intricate machine in the whole range of textile mechanics, which, although threatened more than once with extinction, is yet more largely used to-day than at any previous time. On it yarn of varying qualities can be spun, either soft or hard twisted. The yarn which is used for warp purposes is more commonly known as twist, and that employed for weft is known by that name. ”

“ In some places she uses a wire, for the purpose of drawing through the end of the roving to mend a broken yarn.
This may be considered the inherent evil of flax-spinning,—the spray thrown off by the wet yarn, as it whirls about with the flyer of the spindles. A working dress, indeed, is generally worn by the spinners; but, unless it be made of stuff impermeable to water, like Macintosh’s cloth, it will soon become uncomfortable, and cause injury to health by keeping the body continually in a hot bath. ”

“ To-day, the spinner, who is in a difficulty requiring a mechanical solution, turns the whole matter over to the machinist, who puzzles it out without, in many cases, getting his due reward. It is, however, a general practice for machinists to originate improvements, and the competition in this respect is so keen, that a spinner is never at a loss for a choice of appliances. ”

“ When long stapled cotton is being spun, it is the practice to cause the rollers to deliver a little yarn during the inward run, while winding is going on. The amount varies, but is about three inches, so that only 60 inches is wound on the spindle during each inward run. Messrs. Platt Brothers and Co. make a very good fine spinning mule with a number of well thought out motions of great ingenuity, a full description of which will be found in the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1880, pages 516 to 527. ”

“ But throughout all the changes in yarn-spinning, the rotary spindle continues to be the essential implement; all the improvements have had for their objects, first, the application of mechanical methods for rotating the spindle; second, automatic methods for attenuating the fibers; and, third, devices for working large groups of spindles simultaneously. Weaving has always been done by warp yarns, or threads, running longitudinally, and weft or intersecting yarns thrown at right angles across the warp by hand, by hand-shuttle, or by power-shuttle. ”