Making Rubber Warps
The machine used for making the warps, shown at Fig. 3, is mounted on an iron frame A, which carries the power driven warp beam B. Behind this is an open top expansion reed C, the dents of which are regulated to open, coarse or fine by an internal spring which is regulated by a hand wheel. This reed also has a screw sidewise adjustment for centering. Behind the reed C are fixed two pairs of nip rolls, D and E, and an open roller F, which is followed by a belt-driven beater roll G, used to beat the threads out straight as they leave the chain.
The rubber warp is first laid on a cloth on the floor, under the beater roll. The end is then passed over the beater roll G, over the open roll F, through the two pairs of nip rolls D and E, over the expansion reed C, and then looped to a leader on the rubber beam, where the knot is put in a counter-sink on the beam barrel, so as not to interfere with the lay of the warp. The section of the warp between the two pairs of nip rolls is brought down in loop form, shown at H, and the nip rolls are then closed while the warp is in this position. The two sets of nip rolls are speeded alike and the rubber is always kept slack between the gripping points, so that all threads passing through the last set of nip rolls, D, are perfectly gauged in length and tension when passing through the reed C and on to the beam B. The threads of rubber are under considerable tension, inasmuch as the beam B is driven faster than the nip rolls D and E.