As many readers will be aware, it is partially in consequence of this disadvantage being removed in mills entirely on the ground floor, and partially in consequence of the increased dampness thereby obtained, that such mills can obtain good results out of inferior yarns. A position in the neighbourhood of good workpeople is most important; such an advantage more than compensates for the increased rents, rates and other dues of a town as compared with a country district, for with inferior employés, inferior work, and therefore less advantageous prices and fewer orders, are a consequence, while the cost of production is increased. Good coal and water supplies are of importance, and are best obtainable in the vicinity of a canal, and if the district under consideration be a hilly one, it will be worth while considering how to be sheltered from that bête noir of a weaver, the east wind.
CHAPTER II.
WINDING AND WARPING, WARP YARN, WINDING FROM COP, BOBBIN AND HANK, BEAMING, SECTIONAL WARPING, BALL WARPING.
As has been previously mentioned, the weft yarn, when it leaves the mule, is in the requisite form for use at the loom, whilst the twist or warp yarn passes through at least three processes to fit it for the operation of weaving. The object of these processes is to coat the yarn with a layer of the adhesive substance necessary to protect it from the chafing in the loom, and, secondly, to coil the threads of warp upon a flanged roller evenly, so that they will unwind at the loom in a level sheet the width of the beam, and containing the requisite number of ends to make a cloth of desired dimensions. Bearing this object in view, it is not difficult to understand the three processes—winding, warping, and sizing.
The Twist.
The warp yarn is generally received by the manufacturer from the spinners in skips of 200/250lb. weight, and in the form of a cop. This has a cylindrical formation coned at each end, the more pointed end from which the yarn is unwound being called the nose, the opposite end the cop bottom. The best Oldham spinners make the cop about 7-1/2 inches long and 1-3/8 inches in diameter.
In judging twist yarn preference is given to the most even thread, round and free from motes, soft places, and snarls. The latter are caused by slack ends at the mule, the torsion of the thread taking up the loose yarn in the form of a twisted loop. A similar effect called a snick is caused by loose ends and inferior traverses at the winding frame, but wherever caused, the fault is most annoying to the weaver, and deteriorative to the cloth if intended for printing, as the loops rise after the cloth has received the impression of the pattern, showing white specks of an objectionable character. The twist cop should be of full dimensions, firm and hard copped, free from loose ends, and having clear apertures at the bottom for the winder’s skewer. Any fault in these respects causes an increased percentage of waste—most objectionable to a manufacturer.
The selection of a yarn for profitable use depends upon the foregoing qualities, but care must be taken to select for heavy sizing an openly spun yarn; for lightly sized printing cloths a strong, well-twisted yarn; for sateens and velveteens a level one; and for other goods yarns suitable to them.