452 



FLAX 



985 



for its comprehensiveness : requiring no nicety of adjustment in its application, and 

 no tedious apprenticeship to bo able to work it. 



It is known that the mucilaginous matter of the plant may bo softened by water, and 

 hardened again by heat ; of this fact advantage is taken, in order to produce a roving 

 wholly without twist ; that is, in the form of a ribbon or sliver, in which the fibres aro 

 held together by the glutinous matter which may be natural to them ; or which may, 

 for that purpose, be artificially applied. The sliver roving, as long as it remains dry, 

 possesses all requisite tenacity, and freely unwinds from the bobbin, but on becoming 

 again wetted in the spinning frame, it readily admits, with a slight force, of being 

 drawn into yarn, preserving the fibres quite parallel. 



The diagram,/^. 985, shows this in explanation: 



A, is the drawing roller of the roving 

 frame in front of the usual comb. 



B, the pressing drawing roller. 

 c, a shallow trough of water. 



D, a cylinder heated by steam. 



E, a plain iron roller for winding. 



F, a bobbin lying loose upon the 

 winding roller, and revolving upon it 

 by the friction of its own weight. 



The roving, or sliver, as shown by the 

 dotted line, after leaving the drawing 

 rollers A, B, passes through the water, 

 in the trough c, which softens the gluten 

 of the fibres: and then it is carried 

 round by the steam cylinder D, which 

 dries it, and delivers it hard and tena- 

 cious to the bobbin F, on which it is 

 wound by the action of the roller E. 

 This is the whole of the mechanism required in producing the sliver roving. 

 All the complex arrangements of the common cone roving are superseded, and 

 the machine at once becomes incomparably more durable, and easier to manage ; 

 requiring only half the motive power, and occupying only half the room. A frame 

 of 48 bobbins is only 6 feet long, and affords rovings sufficient to supply 1,200 spinning 

 spindles. 



This machine, though here described, is but little used, being capable of but very 

 limited application. 



Combe of Belfast has lately introduced an improvement in the roving frame. It 

 consists in the application of a peculiar expanding pulley, instead of the cones or 

 discs and runners which have hitherto been always used for the purpose of regulating 

 the ' take-up ' of the bobbins. It is evident that a strop of 2 or 3 inches broad, work- 

 ing over the cones, placed with the small end of one opposite the largo end of the other 

 is an imperfect and rude mechanical contrivance, and that there must be a constant 

 straining and stretching of the belts. There is the same imperfection attending the 

 discs and runners. The expanding pulley is free from these objections, as its acting 

 surface is a line ; and therefore it works with the greatest accuracy, while it is also 

 a great simplification of the machine generally. In rovings for flax and tow it is 

 generally driven directly from the front roller, by which means a largo number of 

 wheels and shafts are avoided (fifj. 986). 



The following sketch shows the arrangement of the machinery in the most im- 

 portant rooms in a modern flax mill of 7,000 to 8,000 spindles, capable of producing, 

 weekly, about 1 ,900 bundles of line yarn, No. 25's to 120's ; and about 700 bundles of 

 tow yarn, No. 10's to 40's. 



There are three systems of long-line machinery for No. 25's to 70's ; two systems of 

 cut-line machinery for No. 10's to 120's ; and three systems of tow machinery for No. 

 10's to 40's. 



The building is 56 feet wide and 162 feet long; which is a very suitable and con- 

 venient size, and which admits of the most economical arrangement of the machinery. 

 Thefollowing is a description of tho machines shown in the preparing room (fig. 987)- 

 A A, two of Baxter's patent sheet hackling machines for long tow. 



B, a flax-cutting machine. 



C, one of -P. Fairbairn and Co.'s patent double lino of holder hackling machines for 

 cut line. 



D D, are two breaker cards, 4 feet diameter x 6 feet wide. 

 B, lap machine. 



F F F, are three finisher cards, 4 feet diameter x G feet wide, with P. Fairbairn and 

 Co.'s patent rotary gill drawing heads attached. 



