Experiment 14—Drawing and Spinning
Apparatus: Foot-rule, elastic band.
Material: Small quantity of scoured wool.
References: Textiles, pages [4], [44], [134]; Sections: Spinning: Mule Spinning.
Directions
1. Observe the mass of wool fibers. The wool was clipped from the sheep, washed, and oiled to make it smooth and pliable.
2. With the fingers gently open up or loosen the mass of wool fibers. In the mill this is done by a machine called the card. (See picture, Textiles, page [38].) And the process itself is called carding.
3. Gently draw out the mass of fibers until you have drawn it into one long strand.
4. Draw it again and again until to draw it would cause it to break.
5. This process in the mill is known as drawing. The wool passes through machine after machine, which gradually reduces the thickness of the strand.
6. You have now a strand called roving, but not a thread with which you could weave. What is called the strand? Why could you not weave with it as it is? If you pulled the roving apart it would separate into a number of small ends. What name is given to these ends?