SILK, 
213 
been left in the silk by the negligence of the foreign reeler. 
5. It is then thrown by a mill, that is, the two threads are 
twisted together, either slack or hard, as the manufacture 
may require ; but the twist is in an opposite direction to 
the first twist, and it is wound at the same time in skeins 
upon a reel. 6. The skeins are sorted according to their 
different degrees of fineness, and then the process is complete, 
The first operation which the raw silk undergoes is wind¬ 
ing, that is, drawing it off from the skeins in which it is 
imported, and winding it upon wooden bobbins, in which 
state it can go to the other machines. The winding-frame 
is shewn at fig. 2. of the plate, or rather a part of it, 
which will wind six threads at once, and by increasing 
the length it may be made to receive any number. Each 
of the skeins is extended upon a slight reel AA, called a 
swift; it is composed of four small rods, fixed into an axis, 
and small bands of string are stretched between the arms to 
receive the skein, but at the same time the bands admit of 
sliding to a greater or less distance from the centre, so as to 
increase the effective diameter of the reel, according to the 
size of the skein, because the skeins, which come from dif¬ 
ferent countries, vary in size, being generally an exact yard, 
or other similar measure, of the country where the silks are 
produced. The swifts are supported upon wire pivots, upon 
which they turn freely when the silk is drawn off from 
them; but in order to cause the thread to draw with 
a gentle force, a looped piece of string, or wire, is hung 
upon the axis withinside the reel and a small leaden weight, 
c, being attached to it, will cause a sufficient friction. B, B, 
are the bobbins which draw off the threads; they are re¬ 
ceived in the frame, and are turned by means of a wheel be¬ 
neath each, the bobbin having a small roller upon the end of 
it, which bears by its weight upon the circumference of the 
wheel, and the bobbin is thereby put in motion to draw off 
the silk from the swift. D is the layer, a small light rod of 
wood, which has a wire-eye fixed into it, opposite to each 
bobbin, so as to conduct the thread thereupon; and as the 
layer moves constantly backwards and forwards, the thread is 
regularly spread upon the length of the bobbin. The mo¬ 
tion of the layer is produced by a crank fixed upon the 
end of a cross-spindle, E, which is turned by means of 
a pair of bevelled wheels from the end of the horizontal 
axle, upon which the wheels for turning all the bobbins are 
fixed. 
These winding machines are usually situated in the top 
building of the mill, the frames being made of great length, 
and also double, to contain a row of bobbins and swifts at 
the back as well as in front. Two of these double frames 
are put in motion by cog-wheels from the vertical shaft, F, 
which ascends from the lower apartments of the mill, where 
the twisting-machines are placed. The winding-machines 
require a constant attendance of children to mend the ends 
or threads which are broken; or when they are exhausted, 
they replace them by putting new skeins upon the swifts. 
When the bobbins are filled they are taken away, by only 
lifting them up out of their frame, and fresh ones are put in 
their places. 
A patent was taken out by Messrs. Gent and Clarke, for 
a new construction of the swifts for winding-machines: they 
were made with six single arms instead of four double ones; 
and the arms are small flat tubes, made to contain the stems 
of wire forks, which receive the skein instead of the bands 
of string in the common swifts. These forks admit of draw¬ 
ing out from the tubes until the swift is sufficiently enlarged 
to extend it; but as they extend the skein at six points in¬ 
stead of four, as in the common one, the motion is more 
regular. Instead of the weight which causes the friction, a 
a spring is used to press upon the end pivot of the axis, and 
make the requisite resistance. 
The twisting of the silk is always performed by a spindle 
and bobbin, with a flyer, but the construction of the ma¬ 
chine whicb puts the spindle in motion is frequently varied. 
The limits of our plate do not admit a representation of the 
great machines, or throwsting-mills, such as are used at Derby, 
Voi XXIII. No. 1565. 
and at almost all the other great silk-mills in England. In fig . 
3. we have given a drawing of a small machine, which is simi r 
lar in the parts which act upon the silk ; and indeed many 
mills employ such machines constructed on a large scale. 
The one in our plate contains only thirteen spindles, and is 
intended to be turned by hand, a method which is too ex¬ 
pensive for this country, but is common in the south of 
France, where many artisans purchase their silk in the raw 
state, and employ their wives or children to prepare it by 
these machines, which they call ovals, because the spindles 
b, b, are arranged in an oval frame, G H. B is the handle 
by which the motion is given; it is fixed on the end of a 
spindle, R, which carries a wheel, D, to give motion to a 
pinion upon the upper end of a vertical axle, E: this, at the 
lower end, has a drum or wheel F, to receive an endless strap 
or band, a, a, which encompasses the oval frame G, and 
gives motion to all the spindles at once. The spindles b, b, 
are placed perpendicularly in the frame GH, their points 
resting in small holes in pieces of glass, which are let into 
the oval plank G; and the spindles are also received in col¬ 
lars affixed to an oval frame H, which is supported from the 
plank, G, by blocks of wood; d and a are small rollers, 
supported in the frame GH, in a similar manner to the 
spindles: their use is to confine the strap, a, to press against 
the rollers of the spindles with sufficient force to keep them 
all in motion. 
The thread is taken up as fast as it is twisted by a reel, K, 
which is turned by a wheel, h, and a pinion, i, upon the end 
of the principal spindle, R. The threads are guided by 
passing through wire-eyes, fixed in an oval frame, L, which 
is supported in the frame of the machine by a single bar or 
rail, 11, and this has a regular traversing motion backwards 
and forwards, by means of a crank, or excentric pin, k, fixed 
in a small cog-wheel, which is turned by a pinion upon the 
vertical axis E ; the opposite end of the rail, /, is supported 
upon a roller, to make it move easily. By this means the 
guides are in constant motion, and lay the threads regularly 
upon the reel K, when it turns round, and gathers up the silk 
upon it, as shewn in the figure. 
One of the spindles is shewn at r without a bobbin, but 
all the others are represented as being mounted and in action. 
A bobbin, e, is fitted upon each spindle, by the hole through 
it being adapted to the conical form of the spindle, but in 
such manner, that the bobbin is at liberty to turn freely round 
upon the spindle: a piece of hard wood is stuck fast upon 
each spindle, just above the bobbin, and has a small pin en¬ 
tering into a hole in the top of the spindle, so as to oblige it 
to revolve with the spindle; this piece of wood has the wire- 
flyer, b, fixed to it: the flyer is formed into eyes at the two 
extremities; one is turned down, so as to stand opposite the 
middle of the bobbin e; and the other arm b, is bent up¬ 
wards, so that the eye is exactly over the centre of the spindle, 
and at a height of some inches above the top of the spindle. 
The thread from the bobbin, e, is passed through both the 
eyes of this wire, and must evidently receive a twist when the 
spindle is turned ; and at the same time, by drawing up the 
thread through the upper eye, b , of the flyer, it will turn the 
bobbin round and unwind therefrom. The rate at which the 
thread is drawn off from the bobbin, compared with the 
number of revolutions which the flyers make in the same 
time, determines the twist to be hard or soft; and this cir¬ 
cumstance is regulated by the proportion of the wheel h, to 
the pinion i, from which it receives motion; and these can be 
changed when it is required to spin different kinds of silk. 
The operation of the machine is very simple ; the bobbins 
filled with silk in the winding-machine, fig. 1, are put loose 
upon the spindles at e, and the flyers are stuck fast upon the 
top of the spindles: the threads are conducted through the 
eyes of the flyers b, and of the layers L, and are then made 
fast to the reel K, upon which it will be seen that there are 
double the number of skeins to that of the spindles represented, 
because one-half of the number of the spindles is on the op¬ 
posite side of the oval frame, so that they are hidden. With 
this preparation the machine is put in motion, and continues 
3 I to 
