THE INDUSTRIAL TITAN OF AMERICA 



389 



WINDING SILK ON QUILLS IN A MODERN MILL 



The hundreds of spools of white silk thread shown at the top of the picture have been 

 wound by the machine which the operator is tending. These spools, or quills, are now ready 

 for the shuttle and the loom (see illustration on page 390). The American silk industry 

 employs more than a hundred thousand operatives in converting annually 25,000,000 pounds 

 of raw silk into a finished product. 



turns in the reverse direction, the exact 

 number of turns depending upon the use 

 to be made of the thread. 



The two twistings are equal to twenty- 

 three turns for every inch of the original 

 thread, so that the revolutions of a spindle 

 required to convert a single pound of raw 

 silk into a pound of organzine reaches 

 the enormous total of 264,000,000. In 

 other words, if the conversion had to be 

 made by a single spindle^it would have to 

 do ten thousand turns a minute, fifty-five 

 hours a week, for eight weeks or lose its 

 union card ! 



What happens in the case of the warp 

 threads takes place in less degree in the 

 woof threads — the ones that run across 

 the goods — which are known as tram, and 

 have only a single spinning. 



After such facts as these, any one can 

 readily see that a great deal of power is 

 needed in the making of even such deli- 



cate material as silk. They explain why 

 such a large percentage of the silk woven 

 in America is prepared for the weaver 

 in the coal region around Wilkes-JBarre, 

 Hazleton, and Scranton. Cheap fuel 

 means cheap power, and cheap power 

 makes silk throwing profitable. 



The throwing and dyeing are usually 

 done for the weavers on a commission 

 basis. The raw silk, as it comes from 

 Japan, China, or Italy, is first steamed 

 and degummed. This gum takes away 

 about one-fifth of its weight. After this 

 come the dyeing and throwing, and usu- 

 ally the weighting. 



WOMEN ARMORLD WITH TIN 



The weighting process is very interest- 

 ing, both from the standpoint of manu- 

 facture and wearing. In silk that may 

 have cost eight or ten dollars a pound, 

 the extraction of the gum represents a 



