Cotton-spinning is a term employed to describe in the aggregate all the operations involved in transforming raw cotton into yarn. The word 'spinning' has also a more limited signification, being used to denote the concluding process of the series. The following affords a general notion of the nature and order of the successive operations carried on in the manufacture of cottonyarn:
(1) Mixing, the blending of different varieties of raw cotton, in order to secure economical production, uniform quality and colour, and an even thread in any desired degree.
(2) Cleaning, an operation partly effected in mixing, partly by scutching, the cotton being prepared in the form of a continuous lap or rolled sheet for the next process.
(3) Carding, an operation in which the material is treated in its individual fibres, which are taken from the lap, further cleansed, and laid in a position approximately parallel to each other, forming a thin film, which is afterwards condensed into a sliver - a round, untwisted strand of cotton.
(4) Drawing, the drawing out of several slivers to the dimensions of one, so as to render the new sliver more uniform in thickness, and to place the fibres more perfectly in parallel order.
(5) Stubbing, the further drawing or attenuation of the sliver, and slightly twisting it in order to preserve its cohesion and rounded form.
(6) Intermediate or second stubbing, a repetition of the former operation and further attenuation, not necessary in the production of coarse yarns.
(7) Having, a continuation of the preceding, its principal object being to still further attenuate the sliver, and give it a slight additional twist.
(8) Spinning, which completes the extension and twisting of the yarn. This is accomplished either with the throstle or the mule. By means of the former machine the yarn receives a hard twist, which renders it tough and strong. By means of the latter yarns of less strength are produced, such as warps of light fabrics and wefts of all kind.
Up to the middle of the 18th century the only method of spinning known was that by the hand-wheel, or the still more primitive distaff and spindle. In 1767 a poor weaver of the name of Hargreaves, residing at Stanhill, near Blackburn, in Lancashire, invented a machine for spinningcotton, which he named a spinning-jenny. It consisted at first of eight spindles, turned by a horizontal wheel, but was afterwards greatly extended and improved, so as to have the vertical substituted for the horizontal wheel, and give motion to from fifty to eighty spindles. In 1769 Arkwright, originally a barber's apprentice, took out a patent for spinning by rollers. From the circumstances of the mill erected by Arkwright at Cromford, in Derbyshire, being driven by water-power, his machine received the name of the water-frame, and the thread spun on it that of water-twist. The next important invention in cotton-spinning was that of the mule, introduced by Samuel Crompton, of Bolton, in 1775, and so called from its combining the principle of the spinning-jenny of Hargreaves with the roller-spinning of Arkwright.
Numerous improvements in cotton-spinning have been subsequently introduced up to the present day, but they are all, more or less, modifications of Arkwright's spinning-frame and Crompton's mule-jenny. Among the principal of these may be mentioned the throstle, an extension and simplification of the original spinning-frame, introduced about the year 1810. Research Cotton-Spinning
Erinna was a Greek poet. She lived around 600 BC. She is said to have been an intimate friend of Sappho, and died at the age of eighteen. She acquired a high reputation for poetry; her chief work was called Elakate (The Distaff), of which nothing has come down to us. An epitaph or two which are still extant, and believed by some to be hers, are by others deemed spurious. Research Erinna
In Greek mythology, Omphale was the wife of Tmolus and queen of Lydia after his death. She bought Hercules as a slave - his atonement for the murder of Iphitus - who stayed with her for three years, during which time he was said to have used the distaff and spun wool, wearing women's clothes. Research Omphale
In Greek mythology, Clotho was one of the three Fates, and was represented as holding the distaff. It was Clotho's duty to put the wool for the thread of life round the spindle, while that of Lachesis was to spin it, and that of Atropos to cut it when the time had come. Research Clotho
In Greek and Roman mythology, the Fates were the three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, sometimes called the Destinies, or Parcae; who were supposed to determine the course of human life. They are represented, one as holding the distaff, a second as spinning, and the third as cutting off the thread. Research Fate
A distaff was the first instrument employed in spinning. It consisted of a staff, on one end of which the wool or flax was rolled. The spinner held it in the left hand, and drew out the fibres with the right, at the same time twisting them. A small piece of wood called a spindle was attached to the thread, the weight of which carried it down as it was formed. When the spindle reached the ground the thread which had been spun was wound round it, and it was then again fastened near the beginning of the new thread. Research Distaff
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Cotton-Spinning
