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Page 10
Viewed from any standpoint to which we are accustomed, this state of
things is so remarkable that we are naturally led to the belief that
there must be some special causes which tended to retard the
introduction of automatic machinery, and these are not far to seek.
The spinning machinery employed for the production of threads, other
than those of raw silk, may be broadly described as consisting of
devices capable of taking a mass of confused and comparatively short
fibers, laying them parallel with one another, and twisting them into
a cylindrical thread, depending for its strength upon the friction and
interlocking of these constituent fibers.
This process is radically different from that employed to make a
thread of raw silk, which consists of filaments, each several thousand
feet long, laid side by side, almost without twist, and glued together
into a solid thread by means of the "gum" or glue with which each
filament is naturally coated. If this radical difference be borne in
mind, but very little mechanical knowledge is required to make it
evident that the principle of spinning machinery in general is utterly
unsuited to the making up of the threads of raw silk. Since spinning
machinery, as usually constructed for other fibers, could not be
employed in the manufacture of raw silk, and as the countries where
silk is produced are, generally speaking, not the seat of great
mechanical industries, where the need of special machinery would be
quickly recognized and supplied, silk reeling (the making of raw silk)
has been passed by, and has never become an industrial art. It
remained one of the few manual handicrafts, while yet serving as the
base of a great and staple industry of worldwide importance.
There is every reason to suppose that we are about to witness a
transformation in the art of silk reeling, a change similar to that
which has already been brought about in the spinning of other threads,
and of which the consequences will be of the highest importance. For
some years past work has been done in France in developing an
automatic silk-reeling machine, and incomplete notes concerning it
have from time to time been published. That the accounts which were
allowed to reach the outer world were incomplete will cause no
surprise to those who know what experimental work is--how easily and
often an inventor or pioneer finds himself hampered by premature
publication. The process in question has now, however, emerged from
the experimental state, and is practically complete. By the courtesy
of the inventor we are in a position to lay before our readers an
exact analysis of the principles, essential parts, and method of
operation of the new silk-reeling machine. As silk reeling is not
widely known in England, it will, however, be well to preface our
remarks by some details concerning the cocoon and the manner in which
it is at present manufactured into raw silk, promising that if these
seem tedious, the labor of reading them will be amply repaid by the
clearer understanding of the new mechanical process which will be the
result.
The silkworm, when ready to make its cocoon, seeks a suitable support.
This is usually found among the twigs of brush placed for the purpose
over the trays in which the worms have been grown. At first the worm
proceeds by stretching filaments backward and forward from one twig to
another in such manner as to include a space large enough for the
future cocoon. When sufficient support has thus been obtained, the
worm incloses itself in a layer of filaments adhering to the support
and following the shape of the new cocoon, of which it forms the
outermost stratum. After having thus provided a support and outlined
the cocoon, the worm begins the serious work of constrution. The
filament from its silk receiver issues from two small spinnarets
situated near its jaws. Each filament, as it comes out, is coated with
a layer of exceedingly tenacious natural gum, and they at once unite
to form a single flattened thread, the two parts lying side by side.
It is this flat thread, called the "baye" or "brin," which serves as
the material for making the cocoon, and which, when subsequently
unwound, is the filament used in making up the raw silk. While
spinning, the worm moves its head continually from right to left,
laying on the filament in a succession of lines somewhat resembling
the shape of the figure eight. As the worm continues the work of
making its cocoon, the filament expressed from its body in the manner
described is deposited in nearly even layers all over the interior of
the wall of the cocoon, which gradually becomes thicker and harder.
The filament issuing from the spinnarets is immediately attached to
that already in place by means of the gum which has been mentioned.
When the store of silk in the body of the worm is exhausted, the
cocoon is finished, and the worm, once more shedding its skin, becomes
dormant and begins to undergo its change into a moth. It is at this
point that its labors in the production of silk terminate and those of
man begin. A certain number of the cocoons are set aside for
reproduction.
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