Fig. 35.—Bundling machine.
The bundles of yarn made up on the bundling machine are usually 5 to 10 pounds weight, the latter being by far the more common size. The bundle shown in the yarn-box of our illustration is 10 pounds in weight and is practically ready for removal.
Before placing the yarn in the machine, several hanks are twisted together to form a knot, and these "knots" comprise the individual members of the bundle shown in the illustration.
In the sides of the yarn-box there are four divisions, through which are threaded as many strings, upon which may be placed cardboard backs. Then the knots of yarn are neatly placed upon the strings, and the cardboard and the strong top bars of the press securely fastened down. Certain cams and levers are then set in motion, by which the yarn table is slowly and powerfully raised so as to press the yarn with great force against the top bars. A sufficient pressure having been exerted, the bundle is tied up and withdrawn from the press, only requiring to be neatly wrapped in stout paper to be quite ready for transit purposes.
Sewing Thread.—A very large quantity of spun yarn is subsequently made into sewing thread. It is a fact well known to practical men that we have no means in cotton spinning by which a thread can be spun directly of sufficient strength to be used as sewing thread. For instance, suppose we wanted a 12's sewing thread, i.e., a thread containing 12 hanks in one pound of yarn; it would be practically impossible to spin a thread sufficiently good to meet the requirements of the case. The method generally adopted is to spin a much finer yarn and to make the finished thread by doubling several of the fine spun yarns together in order to form the thicker final thread. For instance, to produce a 12's thread it is probable that 4 threads of single 48's would be doubled together, or say 4 threads of 50's, to allow for the slight contraction of the yarn brought about by twisting the single threads round one another.
In order to perform this doubling operation in an efficient manner for the production of thread, it is usual to employ two machines.
The first of these is shown in the illustration, and is termed the quick traverse winding machine. Here the cops from the mule, or the bobbins from the ring frame, are fitted in a suitable creel, as shown clearly at the front and lower part of our illustration. Each thread of yarn is conducted over a flannel-covered board which cleans the yarn and keeps it tight. Then each thread passes through the eye of a small detector wire which is held up by the thread and forms part of an automatic stop motion which stops the rotation of any particular bobbin or "cheese" when an end or thread belonging to that "cheese" fails or breaks, leaving the needles or detector wires. All the threads—from two to six in number—belonging to one "cheese" are combined to form one loose rope or thicker thread.
Fig. 36.—Quick traverse winding frame.