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. [1] 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. [2]
Silk weaving is known to have been carried out in Sicily in the tenth century, and in 1474 there were 15,000 employed in the industry in Milan. There is an illustration of a circular hand-powered throwing machine drawn in 1487 with 32 spindles. The Italians called the throwing machine a filatoio and the doubler a torcitoio. The first evidence of an externally powered filatoio comes from the thirteenth century, and the earliest illustration from around 1500. Bologna became the most technological advanced silk-throwing town, with filatoio driven by overhead shafts that were powered by water. [1]
In 1704, Thomas Cotchett set up a water-powered silk-throwing mill to produce organzine in Derby. It failed due to the use of the wrong type of machinery. In 1717, John Lombe visited Piedmont and returned to England with details of the Italian machines and some Italian craftsmen. He was granted a fourteen-year patent and built Lombe's Mill in Derby. The King of Sardinia retaliated by prohibiting the export of raw silk. Nevertheless, in 1732 John Guardivaglio set up a silk-throwing enterprise at Logwood mill in Stockport; in 1744, The Button Mill was erected in Macclesfield and in 1753 Old Mill was built in Congleton. [1] These three towns remained the centre of the English silk-throwing industry.
The skeins were placed into bales and taken to the mill for processing. Three sorts of yarn were commonly 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. [2] Reeling is the process where the silk that has been wound into skeins is cleaned, receives a twist, and is wound onto bobbins. Silk throwing is the process where the filament from the bobbins is given its full twist. The process where filaments or threads from three or more bobbins are wound together is called doubling. The last two processes can occur more than once and in any order. Tram was wound, thrown and doubled, organzine was wound, doubled then thrown and doubled again. Sewing silk could receive further doubling and throwing. No-twist was often three single filaments doubled together. Many other combinations were possible. Colloquially silk throwing can be used to refer to the whole process: reeling, throwing and doubling, [1] and silk throwsters would speak of throwing as twisting or spinning. [3]
Silk throwing was originally a hand process relying on a turning a wheel (the gate) that twisted four threads while a helper who would be a child, ran the length of a shade, hooked the threads on stationary pins (the cross)and ran back to start the process again. The shade would be a between 23 and 32m long. [4] [5] [ full citation needed ] The process was described in detail to Lord Shaftesbury's Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Employment of Children in 1841:
For twisting it is necessary to have what are designated shades which are buildings of at least 30 or 35 yards in length, of two or more rooms, rented separately by one, two or four men having one gate and a boy called a helper... the upper storey is generally occupied by children, young persons or grown women as 'piecers', 'winders' and 'doublers' attending to their reels and bobbins, driven by the exertions of one man... He (the boy) takes first a rod containing four bobbins of silk from the twister who stands at his gate or wheel, and having fastened the ends, runs to the 'cross' at the extreme end of the room, round which he passes the threads of each bobbin and returns to the 'gate'. He is despatched on a second expedition of the same kind, and returns as before, he then runs up to the cross and detaches the threads and comes to the roller. Supposing the master to make twelve rolls a day, the boy necessarily runs fourteen miles, and this is barefooted.
In 1700, the Italians were the most technologically advanced throwsters in Europe and had developed two machines capable of winding the silk onto bobbins while putting a twist in the thread. They called the throwing machine, a filatoio and the doubler a torcitoio. There is an illustration of a circular hand-powered throwing machine drawn in 1487 with 32 spindles. The first evidence of an externally powered filatoio comes from the thirteenth century, and the earliest illustration from around 1500. [1] Filatorios and torcitoios contained parallel circular frames that revolved round each other on a central axis. The speed of the relative rotation determined the twist. Silk would only cooperate in the process if the temperature and humidity were high. In Italy the temperature was elevated by sunlight, but in Derby the mill had to be heated and the heat evenly distributed. [1]
In East Cheshire only two mills are known with certainty to have been built to house Italian-style circular throwing machines; they are the Old Mill at Congleton and the Button Mill, Macclesfield. [4]
By 1820, throwing was done using rectangular frames, manufactured from cast iron, and powered by belts from line shafts.
Spinning is the twisting technique where the fiber is drawn out, twisted, and wound onto a bobbin.
Textile manufacturing 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.
Belper North Mill, also known as Strutt's North Mill in Belper, is one of the Derwent Valley Mills, given UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2001.
George Sorocold was an engineer in Derby, England, in the eighteenth century.
Silk reeling refers to a set of neigong movement principles expressed in traditional styles of t'ai chi ch'uan (太極拳), but especially emphasized by the Chen 陳 and Wu 吳家 styles. The name derives from the twisting and spiralling movements of the silkworm larva as it wraps itself in its cocoon, and to the metaphorical principle of "reeling the silk from a silk worm's cocoon". Dozens of cocoons are placed into boiling water. A single strand comes from each cocoon. In order to draw out the silk successfully the action must be smooth and consistent without jerking or changing direction sharply. Too fast, the silk breaks, too slow, it sticks to itself and becomes tangled. The pot is then stirred and each cocoon spins as the silk unwinds. Each filament twists through a single point to become thread. The thread is usually pulled over a wheel and wound onto a spool. Thus silk reeling movements are rotations within rotations that must be continuous, cyclic, focused, twisting and untwisting actions. Silk reeling is a core method of movement and is trained throughout the curriculum including solo forms, individual solo exercises, as well as in two-person work.
Heat setting is a term used in the textile industry to describe a thermal process usually taking place in either a steam atmosphere or a dry heat environment. The effect of the process gives fibers, yarns or fabric dimensional stability and, very often, other desirable attributes like higher volume, wrinkle resistance or temperature resistance. Very often, heat setting is also used to improve attributes for subsequent processes.
A winding machine or winder is a machine for wrapping string, twine, cord, thread, yarn, rope, wire, ribbon, tape, etc. onto a spool, bobbin, reel, etc.
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.
Ring spinning is a method of spinning fibres, such as cotton, flax or wool, to make a yarn. The ring frame developed from the throstle frame, which in its turn was a descendant of Arkwright's water frame. Ring spinning is a continuous process, unlike mule spinning which uses an intermittent action. In ring spinning, the roving is first attenuated by using drawing rollers, then spun and wound around a rotating spindle which in its turn is contained within an independently rotating ring flyer. Traditionally ring frames could only be used for the coarser counts, but they could be attended by semi-skilled labour.
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.
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 and Switzerland.
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.
A beamer was an occupation in the cotton industry. The taper's beam is a long cylinder with flanges where 400 plus ends (threads) are wound side-by-side. Creels of bobbins with the correct thread, mounted on a beaming frame wind their contents onto the beam. The machine is watched over by a "beamer".
Doubling is a textile industry term synonymous with combining. It can be used for various processes during spinning. During the carding stage, several sources of roving are doubled together and drawn, to remove variations in thickness. After spinning, yarn is doubled for many reasons. Yarn may be doubled to produce warp for weaving, to make cotton for lace, crochet and knitting. It is used for embroidery threads and sewing threads, for example: sewing thread is usually 6-cable thread. Two threads of spun 60s cotton are twisted together, and three of these double threads are twisted into a cable, of what is now 5s yarn. This is mercerised, gassed and wound onto a bobbin.
Gopalpur is a village known for producing Tussar fabrics. It is in Jajpur District in the Indian state of Odisha. This handicraft received the Geographical Indication tag by the Government of India in 2009. Tussar textiles are related to dhoti, joda, Shawl stole, scarves and saris.
Sir Thomas Lombe was an English merchant and developer of machinery for silk throwing.
The Leavers machine is a lacemaking machine that John Levers adapted from Heathcoat's Old Loughborough machine. It was made in Nottingham in 1813. The name of the machine was the Leavers machine. The original machine made net but it was discovered that the Jacquard apparatus could be adapted to it. From 1841 lace complete with pattern, net and outline could be made on the Leavers machine.
