FLAX 



437 



Hence, tho weight of a determinate length in yards of the desired yarn being known, 

 a calculation is made, combined of the drafts and number of doublings the material 

 has to undergo, to determine what the weight should be of that length of slivers con- 

 tained in the cans from the spreader. It is ordinary to put 10 or 15 of these cans 

 together, to form what is called a ' set,' the slivers of which are united at the second 

 drawing with the subsequent drawings and rovings. The combination of two or three 

 sliv-ers at each boss is sufficient. 



Though the above is descriptive of the ' gill ' frames now in use, yet it should be 

 understood they are by no means the first or only results of the attempts made to 

 correct the defective principle of the original roller machines, which were incapable 

 of holding or retaining the flax with a sufficient degree of regularity, owing to its 

 unequal lengths and unadhesive nature. The consequences were that the yarns pro- 

 duced were ' lumpy ' and unlevel, making it evident that some improved means were 

 necessary for more completely restraining and regulating the drawing of the fibres. 

 The most obvious way to do this was to introduce some mode of partial detention by 

 creating a friction among the fibres to imitate the action of the fingers in hand-spinning. 

 This led to causing the slivers to pass through and among several ranks of serrated 

 pins, which was found very nearly to attain the object, and certainly greatly improved 

 the levelness and uniformity of the slivers. Thus the use of ' gills ' became general 

 about forty years since. 



Those first brought into general use were constructed with circular discs or plates 

 for carrying the faller or gill bar, which at the same time were guided by their ends 

 passing in fixed slides, so as to bring the gill in as vertical a position and as near the 

 drawing roller as possible. 

 The figures (961, 962) are 

 profile and front views of the 

 working parts of one of these 

 gills : A, slotted plate or 

 disc, of which a pair were 

 keyed upon a shaft B, so as 

 to carry each end of the 

 faller D, passing through the 

 slots cc; B, the fixed ex- 

 centric slide ; o, H, the draw- 

 ing rollers ; F, the holding 

 rollers. 



This was succeeded by the 

 1 chain gill,' in which the 

 fallers were carried forward 

 by an endless series of con- 

 nected links, or jointed to- 

 gether 'slotted plates,' in- 

 stead of the simple circular. 

 The object of this was to in- 

 crease the flat surface of gill 

 bars between the holding and 

 drawing rollers, making it 

 more suitable for the longer 

 descriptions of material. 

 The slides and rollers, being 

 similar in these machines to 

 those in the former, are not 

 repeated, but the sketch of 

 five slotted plates is given 

 in Jfy. 963. 



From the evident import- 

 ance of bringing the retain- 

 ing effects of the gills as 

 closely as possible to the 

 point where the movement 

 of the drawing fibres is 

 greatest, several attempts 

 have been made to improve 

 the above-described gills in this respect. With this view, Messrs. Taylors and 

 Wordsworth patented a gill of considerable ingenuity (fig. 964), which therefore 

 deserves mention, though it never came into use. Its description is as follows : 

 a, b, the faller or 'gill bar' in one piece, which was carried forward by an 



m 



963 



11] 



