HANK SIZING AND WRINGING MACHINE.
We give a view of a hank sizing machine by Messrs. Heywood & Spencer, of Radcliffe, near Manchester. The machine is also suitable for fancy dyeing. It is well known, says the Textile Manufacturer, that when hanks are wrung by hand, not only is the labor very severe, but in dyeing it is scarcely possible to obtain even colors, and, furthermore, the production is limited by the capabilities of the man. The machine we illustrate is intended to perform the heavy part of the work with greater expedition and with more certainty than could be relied upon with hand labor. The illustration represents the machine that we inspected. Its construction seems of the simplest character. It consists of two vats, between which is placed the gearing for driving the hooks. The large wheel in this gear, although it always runs in one direction, contains internal segments, which fall into gear alternately with pinions on the shanks of the hooks. The motion is a simple one, and it appeared to us to be perfectly reliable, and not liable to get out of order. The action is as follows: The attendant lifts the hank out of the vat and places it on the hooks. The hook connected to the gearing then commences to turn; it puts in two, two and a half, three, or more twists into the hank and remains stationary for a few seconds to allow an interval for the sizer to "wipe off" the excess of size, that is, to run his hand along the twisted hank. This done, the hook commences to revolve the reverse way, until the twists are taken out of the hank. It is then removed, either by lifting off by hand or by the apparatus shown, attached to the right hand side. This arrangement consists of a lattice, carrying two arms that, at the proper moment, lift the hank off the hooks on to the lattice proper, by which it is carried away, and dropped upon a barrow to be taken to the drying stove. In sizing, a double operation is customary; the first is called running, and the second, finishing. In the machine shown, running is carried on one side simultaneously with finishing in the other, or, if required, running may be carried on on both sides. If desired, the lifting off motion is attached to both running and finishing sides, and also the roller partly seen on the left hand for running the hanks through the size. The machine we saw was doing about 600 bundles per day at running and at finishing, but the makers claim the production with a double machine to be at the rate of about 36 10 lb. bundles per hour (at finishing), wrung in 1½ lb. wringers (or I½ lb. of yarn at a time), or at running at the rate of 45 bundles in 2 lb. wringers. The distance between the hooks is easily adjusted to the length or size of hanks, and altogether the machine seems one that is worth the attention of the trade.
IMPROVED HANK SIZING MACHINE.
IMPROVED COKE BREAKER.
The working parts of the breaker now in use by the South Metropolitan Gas Company consist essentially of a drum provided with cutting edges projecting from it, which break up the coke against a fixed grid. The drum is cast in rings, to facilitate repairs when necessary, and the capacity of the machine can therefore be increased or diminished by varying the number of these rings. The degree of fineness of the coke when broken is determined by the regulated distance of the grid from the drum. Thus there is only one revolving member, no toothed gearing being required. Consequently the machine works with little power; the one at the Old Kent Road, which is of the full size for large works, being actually driven by a one horse power "Otto" gas-engine. Under these conditions, at a recent trial, two tons of coke were broken in half an hour, and the material delivered screened into the three classes of coke, clean breeze (worth as much as the larger coke), and dust, which at these works is used to mix with lime in the purifiers. The special advantage of the machine, besides the low power required to drive it and its simple action, lies in the small quantity of waste. On the occasion of the trial in question, the dust obtained from two tons of coke measured only 3½ bushels, or just over a half hundredweight per ton. The following statement, prepared from the actual working of the first machine constructed, shows the practical results of its use. It should be premised that the machine is assumed to be regularly employed and driven by the full power for which it is designed, when it will easily break 8 tons of coke per hour, or 80 tons per working day:
500 feet of gas consumed by a 2 horse power
gas-engine, at cost price of gas delivered s. d.
in holder. 0 9
Oil and cotton waste. 0 6
Two men supplying machine with large
coke, and shoveling up broken, at 4s.
6d. 9 0
Interest and wear and tear (say). 0 3
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Total per day. 10 6
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For 80 tons per day, broken at the rate
of. 0 1½
Add for loss by dust and waste, 1 cwt.,
with price of coke at (say) 13s. 4d. per
ton. 0 8
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Cost of breaking, per ton. 0 9½