MASSACHUSETTS— BEEHIVE OF BUSINESS 



213 



THE FINE ROVING FRAMES IN A MASSACHUSETTS COTTON MILE 



Here we see another step in the long process of converting cotton first into "lap" (pages 

 212 and 213), then into "roving" (page 215), and then into yarn. The machines in this 

 picture give the roving the final stretching and twisting before it goes to the spinning frames, 

 where it is converted into yarn (see text, page 216). 



the sixth machine, known as the "finisher 

 picker." It beats the cotton some more, 

 and the four laps come out a further puri- 

 fied single lap, which looks like cotton 

 batting — sixteen original laps condensed 

 into one (see page 209). 



After all these several and sundry beat- 

 ings, one might think that no dirt would 

 remain, but there are still some particles 

 of leaf, seed pods, etc., clinging fast. 

 Moreover, the fibers, which in ordinary 

 cotton are about an inch long, are more 

 or less matted. 



So a seventh machine, known as the 

 "card," is assigned the task of removing 

 the remaining impurities, and of loosen- 

 ing or separating the fibers, so that they 

 can be drawn parallel with each other. 

 The card has two big drums, each cov- 

 ered with a wire-studded cloth and re- 

 volving so as barely to miss touching one 



another. There are some 72,000 of these 

 projecting wires to every square foot and 

 no fiber has a chance to escape its comb- 

 ing. 



PREPARING TO MAKE THE THREAD 



As it leaves the big drums the loose 

 cotton is beautiful to behold. Perhaps 

 forty inches wide, it is as thin as the skift 

 of snow that falls on a late autumn morn- 

 ing. But promptly it passes through a 

 set of reducing rolls which convert it into 

 a rope about an inch in diameter, known 

 as a sliver. This is coiled in a large can 

 about three feet high and a foot in diam- 

 eter (see page 210). 



One might well think that, with such a 

 great array of manhandling as this, the 

 cotton would be ready for weaving; but 

 in point of fact the process of reducing it 

 to yarn is only barely begun. 



