Woolen Yarn


In manufacturing worsted yarn every necessary operation is performed

to arrange the wool fibers so that they will lie smoothly and parallel

to each other. In the case of woolen yarn every operation is performed

so as to have the fibers lie in every direction and to cross and

overlap each other.



To produce yarn of the woolen type a set of machinery entirely

different from that used in worsted manufacture i
necessary. The wool

is carded, but no attempt is made to get the fibers parallel. The

reduction in thickness of the sliver is not brought about upon the

so-called drawing frame, but by a mule frame where the drawing and

twisting are done at the same operation. As neither combs nor gills

are employed, there is not the same smooth, level yarn, but one which

possesses a fringe-like covering or fuzzy appearance that makes the

woolen yarn so valuable.



The operation is as follows:



=Carding.= After washing the material for woolen yarn, it is passed

through three carding processes, and from the last of them is taken

direct to the spinning frame to be made into yarn. The object of

woolen carding is different from carding in any other textile

manufacture.



In most processes of carding the fibers are subjected to a "combing"

principle, and the aim is to lay the fibers parallel. Woolen carding

aims to open the raw wool fiber, and put it in a perfectly loose

condition, without leaning toward any definite arrangement.



The carding machines are called, respectively, first, second, and

third breaker. Each machine consists of a complicated series of

card-covered cylinders of different sizes, running at different rates

of speed--sometimes in the same and sometimes in an opposite

direction. These rollers take the wool from one another in regular

order until it is finally delivered from the third breaker in a soft,

fluffy rope or roll called a sliver. This sliver is wound on a bobbin,

and taken from the card to the mule spinning frame.



The sliver on the bobbins from the card is taken to the mule spinning

frame where it is passed through rolls, and the sliver attenuated by

means of a traveling carriage.



=Count.= In the case of woolen yarn there are numerous systems for

denoting the count, varying with the locality in which it is spun and

the character of the product. In the United States there are two

systems employed, but the one in most general use is known as

"American run counts." This is based on the number of "runs," each

containing 1,600 yards to the pound. Thus, a yarn running 8,000 yards

to the pound is called a 5 "run" yarn, a yarn with 5,200 yards to the

pound is equal to a 3-1/4 "run."



In the vicinity of Philadelphia woolen yarn is based on the "cut,"

each cut consisting of 300 yards, and the count is the number of cuts

in a pound. Thus, No. 30 cut yarn consists of 9,000 yards to the

pound. No. 15 contains 4,500 yards to the pound.



Woolen yarn is suitable for cloths in which the colorings are blended

and the fibers napped, as exemplified in tweed, cheviot, doeskin,

broadcloth, beaver, frieze, chinchilla, blanket, and flannel.



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