COTTON-SPINNING 



985 



has formed the basis of the more modern stubbing, intermediate, and roving frames. These 

 three operations, -which follow each other in the order named, come next after that of 

 drawing. They have one common object, to gradually attenuate the sliver until it 

 is at last sufficiently reduced in thickness to be advantageously spun into yarn. But 

 the intermediate and roving processes have one other purpose, analogous to that 

 fulfilled by the drawing frame, viz. to secure uniformity of thickness throughout by 

 the operation of doubling. Thus two slubbings are united together, and are drawn out 

 into one intermediate slubbing, and two intermediate slubbings into one roving. 



The stubbing frame usually consists of from 40 to 80 spindles. Its main features 

 will be easily comprehended after the preceding descriptions, by a glance v&fig. 572, 

 which presents the principal details seen in a tranverse section. The sliver is brought 

 from the drawing frame in deep cylindrical cans and placed behind the slubbing frame 

 (on the right hand of the figure), after being drawn through the rollers in the 

 manner already pointed out. It will be observed, however, that instead of bobbins, as 

 in the old bobbin and fly frame, simple wooden tubes are now used. By means of the 

 presser attached to one end of each flyer the slubbing, as the cotton sliver is now 

 called, is built up in a solid hard mass upon the tube, not in a cylindrical form, as in 

 the case of the bobbin, but with the ends tapering conically as shown in^r. 573. 



The construction of the intermediate and roving frames is identical in plan, and so 

 far as the principal working parts are concerned it is similar to that of the slubbing 

 frame. In Jig. 573, No. 1 illustrates a front sectional view of an intermediate frame, 

 No. 2 a back view, and Nos. 3 and 4 the two ends. Here we see in the back, and in one 

 of the end views, the spools of cotton produced by the slubbing frame, and hence called 

 slubbings, placed in the ' creel ' behind the frame. The ' ends ' of these slubbings are 

 now ' drawn ' or attenuated in pairs through the rollers, after the fashion previously 

 described, and are once more slightly twisted and wound upon smaller tubes than 

 before. These when full are transferred to the creel of the roving frame, and there 

 receive treatment precisely similar to that of the intermediate frame. The ' roving ', 

 as the cord is called, after passing through the roving frame is, however, much more 

 attenuated than the ' intermediate,' and is now ready for the final spinning process 

 except in mills where very fine yarns are spun. In these cases, a second or fine roving 

 or 'jack' frame is used for the purpose of again doubling and equalising the cord and 

 further reducing its thickness. The intermediate frame usually contains from 80 to 

 120 spindles, and the roving frame from 120 to 200 spindles. In jig. 574 the front 

 view of a roving frame is given with greater completeness than is presented in Jig. 573. 



574 



The earlier processes of the cotton spinning industry which we have tints traced 

 are usually comprehended under the technical term, the ' preparation ; ' and it will 

 readily be understood from even the cursory view we have endeavoured to present, 

 that the quality of the yarn when spun will greatly depend upon the manner in which 

 these processes are conducted. So widely is this truth recognised amongst practical 

 spinners, that it has become almost an axiom that a bad roving can never make a 

 good yarn. Since the cotton famine ' which arose out of the American civil war of 

 1861-65, much progress has been made in the practical management of the prepara- 

 tory processes. The scarcity and high price of raw cotton during the period in 

 question, the necessity of resorting to new and inferior descriptions, their vaiying 



