Roughly speaking, there are three modern methods of spinning, namely, the flyer, cap, and ring frames. All of them are derived from Arkwright’s original water throstle, and, if we want to go further back, from the old-fashioned spinning wheel. The chief difference between the three types lies in the method of driving the spindle and guiding the yarn on to the bobbin. The flyer arm we have described briefly above. In the cap system, the bobbin is moved up and down in a fixed metal cap, something like the front end of a two-inch shell-casing, and this method of guiding the yarn has the advantage that, because of its lower vibration, the spindles may be driven faster. It also causes considerably more friction on the yarn. For worsted spinning it is probably the most commonly employed. Ring spinning, the most frequently used for cotton, and described briefly on page [28], is very similar (to the layman) except that the spindle revolves in a metal sleeve, and that the yarn is guided by a metal ring with a traveller, instead of by the end of the cap.
Reducing
Twisting
What follows now is merely an auxiliary process of spinning. The yarn has been completed, but it is rarely used for weaving, as it comes off the spindle. Several strands are usually twisted together, both to make it stronger and to give various effects of body and color. The number of strands in a yarn are designated as plys. Yarn consisting of two strands is called two-ply, three strands are three-ply, and so on. Yarns of two or more colors, or yarns of varying counts, are frequently twisted together. It is possible also to twist worsted and cotton yarns.
Cap spinning
Spindlage
Twisting is done in a manner similar to spinning. A worsted spinning mill usually has about a third as many twisting spindles as spinning spindles, but it is important to remember that when speaking of a mill’s capacity in terms of spindles, it is only the spinning spindles that are counted.
Winding or Skeining