A silk mill is a factory that makes silk for garments using a process called silk throwing. Traditionally, silk mills were concentrated in Japan, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Italy and Switzerland.
A silk mill is a factory that makes silk for garments using a process called silk throwing. Traditionally, silk mills were concentrated in Japan, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Italy and Switzerland.
Silk is a naturally produced fibre obtained from many species of the silk moth. In 1700 the favoured silk was produced by a moth (Bombyx mori), that spun a cocoon to protect the larvae. The larvae fed on mulberry leaves grown in Italy. Silk fibres from the Bombyx mori silkworm have a triangular cross section with rounded corners, 5–10 μm wide. The silk is a protein, fibroin, that was cemented in place by the use of gum, another protein, sericin.
The cocoons were harvested and placed in troughs of hot water to dissolve the gum and allowed the single thread to be wound into a skein. The skeins were placed into bales and taken to the mill for processing. Three sorts of yarn could be produced: no-twist which was suitable for weft, tram that had received a slight twist making it easier to handle, and organzine which had a greater twist and was suitable for use as warp. [1]
Reeling is the industrial process where silk that has been wound into skeins, is cleaned, receives a twist and is wound onto bobbins.
Silk throwing is the process where the thread from the bobbins is twisted again to form tram and or organzine. The yarn is twisted together into threads, in a process known as doubling. Colloquially silk throwing can be used to refer to the whole process: reeling, throwing and doubling. [2]
The Italians were the first to build mills that contained anything more than a set of spinning wheels. Thomas Cotchett's mill, was built in Derby in 1704, and was a failure. John Lombe had visited the successful silk throwing mill in Piedmont in 1716, an early example of industrial espionage. He returned to Derby with the necessary knowledge, with details of the Italian silk throwing machines – the filatoio and the torcitoio – and some Italian craftsmen. [2] He designed the mill, and with his half-brother Thomas Lombe (born 1685) instructed George Sorocold to build it and fit it with the new machines. Lombe's Mill was the first successful silk throwing mill in England and probably the first fully mechanised factory in the world. [3] Between 1717 and 1721 George built the mill, beside the River Derwent to the south of Cotchett's failed Mill to house machines for "doubling" or twisting silk into thread. The machines required large buildings and a power source. An undershot water wheel turned by the mill fleam served the purpose.
John Lombe was given a 14-year patent to protect the design of the throwing machines. The King of Sardinia reacted badly to the commercial challenge, placing an embargo on the export of raw silk. John's elder brother, Sir Thomas Lombe, took over the business. When the patents lapsed in 1732, other mills were built in Stockport and Macclesfield. [2]
The throwing machines were two storeys high and pierced the first floor. The winding machines were situated on the top three floors. All the machines were powered by Sorocold's seven-metre diameter, two-metre wide external undershot waterwheel. That drove a line shaft that ran the length of the mill. The torcitoios and filatoios took their power from the shaft. The mill was heated to process the silk, and this was explained in the 1718 patent: It was reported that Lombe used a fire engine (steam engine) to pump hot air round the mill . [2]
The circular spinning machines (also known as 'throwing machines'), were the most significant innovation of the factory. Together with the single source of power (water), and the large size and organisation of the workforce for the period (200-400, according to contemporary sources), the total process of production from raw silk to fine quality thread has led the Lombes' silk mill to be described as the first successful use of the factory system in Britain. [5]
The history of industrial silk in the United States is largely tied to several smaller urban centres in the Northeast region. Beginning in the 1830s, Manchester, Connecticut emerged as the early centre of the silk industry, when the Cheney Brothers became the first to raise silkworms on an industrial scale. [6] With the mulberry tree craze of that decade, other smaller producers began raising silkworms: this economy gained traction around Northampton, Massachusetts and Williamsburg, where a number of small firms and cooperatives emerged. William Skinner, relocated from there to the then-new city of Holyoke after the 1874 flood. Over the next 50 years he and his sons would maintain relations between the American silk industry and its counterparts in Japan, [7] and by 1911, the Skinner Mill complex contained the world's largest silk mill under one roof: Skinner Fabrics had become the largest manufacturer of silk satins internationally. [8] Other efforts later in the 19th century would also bring the new silk industry to Paterson, New Jersey, with several firms hiring European-born textile workers and granting it the nickname "Silk City".
World War II interrupted the Asian silk trade, and silk prices increased dramatically. [9] U.S. industry began to look for substitutes, which led to the use of synthetics such as nylon. Synthetic silks have also been made from lyocell, a type of cellulose fibre, and are often difficult to distinguish from real silk (see spider silk for more on synthetic silks).
In New Jersey, disputes between silk mill workers and owners lead to the 1913 Paterson silk strike [10] and the 1926 Passaic Textile Strike [11] .
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.
Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Manchester, 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and 12 miles (19 km) north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here.
Mickleover is a large suburban village of Derby, in Derbyshire, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Derby city centre, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Burton-upon-Trent, 19 miles (31 km) west of Nottingham city centre, 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Ashbourne and 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Uttoxeter.
Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire, England, is one of the best preserved textile factories of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1784, the cotton mill is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. Quarry Bank Mill was established by Samuel Greg, and was notable for innovations both in machinery and also in its approach to labour relations, the latter largely as a result of the work of Greg's wife, Hannah Lightbody. The family took a somewhat paternalistic attitude toward the workers, providing medical care for all and limited education to the children, but all laboured roughly 72 hours per week until 1847 when a new law shortened the hours.
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm. Silk was believed to have first been produced in China as early as the Neolithic Period. Sericulture has become an important cottage industry in countries such as Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Today, China and India are the two main producers, with more than 60% of the world's annual production.
Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods such as clothing, household items, upholstery and various industrial products.
John Lombe was a silk spinner in the 18th century Derby, England.
George Sorocold was an English civil engineer of the eighteenth century notable for pioneering work on water supplies and hydraulic power systems around Great Britain.
The Hat Works is a museum in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, which opened in 2000. Before that, smaller displays of hatting equipment were exhibited in Stockport Museum and in the former Battersby hat factory.
Silk waste includes all kinds of raw silk which may be unwindable, and therefore unsuited to the throwing process. Before the introduction of machinery applicable to the spinning of silk waste, the refuse from cocoon reeling, and also from silk winding, which is now used in producing spun silk fabrics, was nearly all destroyed as being useless, with the exception of that which could be hand-combed and spun by means of the distaff and spinning wheel, a method which is still practised by some of the peasantry in India and other countries in Asia.
Textile manufacturing is one of the oldest human activities. The oldest known textiles date back to about 5000 B.C. In order to make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving to create cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. Cloth is finished by what are described as wet process to become fabric. The fabric may be dyed, printed or decorated by embroidering with coloured yarns.
Silk throwing is the industrial process wherein silk that has been reeled into skeins, is cleaned, receives a twist and is wound onto bobbins. The yarn is now twisted together with threads, in a process known as doubling. Colloquially silk throwing can be used to refer to the whole process: reeling, throwing and doubling. Silk had to be thrown to make it strong enough to be used as organzine for the warp in a loom, or tram for weft.
Lombe's Mill was the first successful silk throwing mill in Britain. It was built on an island on the River Derwent in Derby. It was built after John Lombe visited Piedmont in 1717 and returned to England with details of the Italian silk throwing machines – the filatoio and the torcitoio – and some Italian craftsmen. The architect was George Sorocold. At its height, the mill employed some 300 people.
Clarence Mill is a five-storey former cotton spinning mill in Bollington, Cheshire, in England. It was built between 1834 and 1877 for the Swindells family of Bollington. It was built alongside the Macclesfield Canal, which opened in 1831.
Congleton, Macclesfield, Bollington and Stockport, England, were traditionally silk-weaving towns. Silk was woven in Cheshire from the late 1600s. The handloom weavers worked in the attic workshops in their own homes. Macclesfield was famous for silk buttons manufacture. The supply of silk from Italy was precarious and some hand throwing was done, giving way after 1732 to water-driven mills, which were established in Stockport and Macclesfield.
Sir Thomas Lombe was an English merchant and developer of machinery for silk throwing.
Nonotuck Silk Company was a business producing silk thread at a mill in Haydenville, Massachusetts. It was established as the North Hampton Silk Company and operated by members of a utopian society active in abolitionism. The company acquired the Corticelli Silk Mills in Leeds, Massachusetts and became the Corticelli Silk Company. Advertisements included trading cards and a billboard ad campaign on Broadway in New York City.
The Filatoio Rosso di Caraglio is a historic building located on the outskirts of Caraglio, a town in the province of Cuneo. It houses the Piedmontese Silk Mill Museum, and is a site of cultural events for the area. It is considered to be one of the oldest preserved industrial sites in Europe. Built between 1676 and 1678 on the initiative of Count Giovanni Girolamo Galleani, it was one of the first silk production plants in the Duchy of Savoy and throughout Europe. The enterprise covered the entire production chain of the silk thread from the cultivation of mulberry trees in the surrounding countryside for the breeding of silkworms to the processing of the silk cocoons and creation of the finished product. It was one of the first water-powered spinning mills built in Piedmont.