In fine spinning, the yarn, when doubled, is for some purposes singed or gassed, in order to get rid of the loose fibres, and to make it more level and compact. The process of singeing yarn strikes a stranger as being more remarkable than anything else in the mill. In a long room in the upper part of the mill, or in a shed attached to it, are several tables, lighted up with a large number of jets of flame, about twelve inches apart, producing a singular but pleasing effect. Above each flame is a little hood or chimney. On entering this room the smell of burnt cotton is immediately perceived, and on approaching the table, one is surprised to see a fine delicate thread crossing each flame in two or three directions, and apparently at rest; but on following the course of this thread, it is found to proceed from one bobbin, which is rapidly spinning round, and to pass through the flame to another bobbin, which is also in rapid motion. It is then seen that the thread is also moving at a rapid rate, by which means alone does it escape being consumed. The thread is led over pulleys, so as to pass two or three times through the flame, which singes off the loose fibres, converting them into a reddish powder or dust, which, if blown about and inhaled, would do great injury to the lungs; this is why the gassing-room is in a remote or retired part of the building, to prevent the air being disturbed by the bustle of the heavier parts.
Warping Machines.
When cotton is intended to be woven into a fabric, such as calico, &c. the first operation consists in laying the requisite number of threads together to form the width of the cloth; this is called warping. Supposing there to be 1,000 threads in the width of a piece of cloth, then the yarn, wound on the bobbins as it leaves the hands of the spinner, must be so unwound and laid out as to form 1,000 lengths, constituting, when laid parallel, the warp of the intended cloth. The ancient method was to draw out the warp from the bobbins at full length on an open field (and this is still practised in India and China), but the warping-frame is now employed, in which the threads are arranged, by means of a frame turning on an upright centre. When the warp is arranged round this machine, the warper takes it off and winds it on a stick into a ball, preparatory to the process of beaming or winding it on the beam of the loom. The threads in this latter process are wound as evenly as possible on the beam; a separator, ravel, or comb being used to lay them parallel, and to spread them out to about the intended width of the cloth. Arrangements are then made for drawing or attaching the warp-threads individually to certain mechanism of the loom. In this process all the threads are attached to stays fixed to two frames, called treadles, in such a manner that all the alternate threads (1st, 3d, 5th,) can be drawn up or down by one heddle, and all the rest (2d, 4th, 6th, &c.) by the other.
There are three movements attending every thread of weft which the weaver throws across the warp. In the first place he presses down one of the two treadles, by which one of the two heddles is depressed, thereby forming a kind of opening called the shed. Into this shed, at the second movement, he throws the shuttle, containing the weft-thread, with sufficient force to drive it across the whole web. Then at the third movement he grasps the batten, which is a kind of frame, carrying at its lower edge a comb-like piece, having as many teeth as there are threads in the warp, and with this he drives up the thread of weft close to those previously thrown. One thread of weft is thus completed, and the weaver proceeds to throw another in a similar way, but in a reverse order, that is, by depressing the left treadle instead of the right, and by throwing the shuttle from left to right, instead of from right to left. In the commonest mode of weaving the shuttle is thrown by both hands alternately; but, about a century ago, John Kay invented the fly-shuttle, in which a string and handle are so placed that the weaver can work the shuttle both ways with one hand.
Weaving by hand.
In 1678 M. de Gennes invented a rude kind of weaving-machine, intended to increase the power of the common loom; and other looms were invented, which were to be worked by a winch, by water power, or by some contrivance more expeditious than common hand-weaving; but a greater step in advance was made by the invention of Dr. Cartwright’s power-loom in 1785. One cause which delayed the adoption of power-looms was the necessity for stopping the machine frequently, in order to dress the warp with paste or size as it unrolled from the beam, which operation required a person to be employed for each loom, so that there was no saving of expense. But the successive inventions of Radcliffe, Horrocks, Marsland, Roberts, and others, have since brought the dressing-machine and the power-loom to a high state of efficiency.
