Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

F 130 BRITAIN AT WORK. product to the spinner, for whom it is now ready. Spinning, the conversion of wool into a twisted thread or yarn, is accomplished in two different ways—either by the spinning frame or jenny, as it was once called, or by the self- acting mule. The latter is used only for very short fibres, such as cotton or the shortest wools ; and wool spun on the mule is called a woollen yarn, whereas that spun on the frame is a worsted yarn, and each has a character of its own. In worsted spinning the thick spindle on the frame having its own train of rollers. The full roving bobbins are placed upon pegs above the rollers, and a small bobbin or spool is put on to the spinning spindle. When the machine is started, the roving passes between the revolving rollers and is finally drawn out or “ draughted ” to the required fineness, and then the rapid revolution of the spindle gives the fibres a twist or spin, converting what was merely a few parallel fibres into a strong thread or yarn. As the process of spinning goes on, rope of combed top is first reduced in thick- ness and correspondingly increased in length by being passed through a set of drawing machines. These draw out the staple by the simple device of passing it between pairs of fluted rollers, each successive pair running at a higher speed than the last, so that it emerges as a thin thread, but still with no more twist in it than will just serve to hold it together. In this form it is wound on to large wood bobbins, and it is then known as a roving. The spinning frame consists of a row of several hundred spindles, all revolving at one uniformly high speed, and a correspond- ing set of rollers, partly of fluted steel and partly of wood covered with leather, each the yarn is wound on to the small bobbin on the spindle, and when all the bobbins are filled the machine is stopped and a gang of little boys and girls quickly change the full bobbins for empty ones, the threads are al! given a deft initial turn on the empty bobbins, and the machine is again ready to be started There is no more fascinating sight than to watch a gang of “ doffers ” go through these evolutions. In woollen spinning the shortness of the fibre necessitates a somewhat different pre- liminary method for obtaining the roving, and the spinning is accomplished without any “ draught.” On the mule the spindles are not fixed, but are carried on a long carriage, which can be run out from the stationary