[A] Textile Manufacturer, Manchester, March 15th, 1890.
CHAPTER XIII.
REELING, WINDING, AND SPOOLING MACHINERY.
(389) There are two main classes of goods in the manufacture of which yarn produced as described is used. By far the greatest bulk is utilised in weaving fabrics of various kinds; and, before it can be so employed it necessarily requires treatment by a series of machines. With all the processes so involved it is not intended to deal, but there is a second class of manufacture—the production of thread—which requires special machines, and is worthy of separate treatment. It is also a very common practice in England to form yarn into hanks, a number of which are packed together, and formed into a “bundle.” In this shape large quantities of yarn are shipped, being afterwards employed abroad in the manufacture of cloth. A brief description of the machines used in this connection will therefore be given, and as the simplest mode of dealing with the material, reeling will be treated first.
(390) The yarn, spun either in the form of a cop or on ring bobbins, can be formed into hanks by means of a machine known as a “reel.” It depends upon whether it is employed to wind the yarn from cops or bobbins whether it is known as a “cop” or “bobbin” reel. In either case the hank is wound upon a “swift” or “fly,” consisting of a central barrel or roller, which has centres or axles formed at each end. The latter revolve in bearings in, or attached to, the framing, and the “fly” can be driven either by hand or by a belt from the line shaft or counter shaft. On the barrel is fitted a number of light wooden or iron frames, to the arms of which are attached longitudinal bars or “staves” of timber. These are made about 2 inches wide, and are rounded on their outer edges, being well polished and smoothed so as not to adhere to the yarn. The arms, as ordinarily constructed, are made double with a central boss, so that each has two “staves” fixed to it. When desired, the whole of the arms can be oscillated so as to bring the staves together, and the hanks wound upon the swift are thus left loosely hanging upon them. By drawing them to one end they can be easily slipped off when that end is raised. The number of hanks usually formed at one time is forty on each swift, and ordinarily one swift only is used in a cop reel and two in a bobbin reel. The appearance of the last named machine is well shown in Fig. [204], which is a representation of a double bobbin reel as made by Mr. Joseph Stubbs.
Fig. 204.
(391) The general description thus given of the reel enables some of its details to be more particularly described. If cops are to be “reeled” they are placed on “skewers”—which correspond in size to the upper portion of mule spindles—fixed in a creel board. The cops are held at such an angle that the yarn draws easily off the cop nose. The threads are slipped into slits formed in a guide plate fixed to a guide rail sliding in suitable bearings. The same course is taken with the bobbin reel, but, in this case, the bobbins are mounted in a somewhat different manner. Ring bobbins require a special arrangement to enable the yarn to be easily drawn off without running into “snarls.” The purpose of the guide rail is to traverse the yarn so that the threads may be laid in one of two ways. Either the full hank of 840 yards is wound into seven smaller ones—each containing 120 yards—known as “leas”; or it is “cross wound”—that is, a rapid reciprocal motion is given to the guide rail, so that the coils are laid across each other throughout the whole length. The latter is the usual procedure when it is intended to dye or bleach the yarn, and the former when it is to be shipped. The diameter of the swift across the staves is usually sufficient to enable a hank of 54 inches circumference to be wound. In France a hank of 561⁄4 inches is adopted, and the number of coils in it are correspondingly arranged.
(392) If the hank is intended to be wound in seven “leas” the arrangement shown in Fig. [205] is used. This is a partial side elevation of one end of a bobbin reel. The barrel B of the swift is made of a light wrought iron tube, into each end of which plugs, reduced at end, are welded, so as to form the journals for the barrel as described. On the end of the axle the fast and loose pulleys are placed, so that the machine can be easily driven. The staves A are shown without their connecting arms. On the end of the barrel a worm C is fixed, which gears with the wheel D on the shaft, to which a lifting catch or pawl E is fastened. This engages with the coarsely pitched rack F, and every revolution of the wheel D causes the pawl to raise F one tooth. The teeth F are formed at the lower end of the bracket or “rack” G, which is guided by and glides in the frame. The upper end of G is formed with seven steps, and a finger or pin, placed at H in a bracket fastened to K, is constantly pressed against the face of G by means of a spring exercising a longitudinal pull on K. The raising of G to the extent of one of the teeth F is sufficient to allow the pin H to slip on to the next step, and thus the yarn is wound on to a fresh portion of the surface of the swift. This takes place regularly until seven small hanks are wound, when the machine is automatically stopped.
(393) The length of yarn in each of these “skeins” or “leas” is ordinarily 120 yards, and it is, therefore, necessary to cause the wheel D to make one revolution every time the swift has made 80 revolutions. The length of the hank being 11⁄2 yards—54 inches—that number ensures 120 yards being wound prior to the rack G being lifted one tooth. If it is desired to shorten the hanks, a smaller wheel must be substituted for D, and to get the desired amount of exactitude, it is sometimes necessary to use a series of change wheels.