Doubler.-In the doubler two or more threads from the bobbins of the first-time spinner, or two for tram, two or more threads direct from the winder are wound parallel upon another bobbin. Second-time spinner. This machine is similar to the first-time spinner but twists together into a single thread of organzine the several already twisted filaments which the doubler has laid side by side. The second twist is in the direction opposite to that of the first twist. Tram spinner. --This machine performs for the untwisted fibers of tram which the doubler has laid parallel the same function that the second-time spinner performs for the organzine, but in this case the twist is not so great. Reel. This machine unwinds the bobbins from the spinner and reels the silk into skeins, so that it may be dyed. It is a simple reel. Spun-silk machinery. Unlike raw silk, which is a continuous filament, perhaps 3,000 feet long, silk waste is a mass of short tangled fibers. The machinery for spinning this fiber into yarn is quite different from that used for raw silk and is in general analogous to that employed for spinning cotton, flax, and wool. The sources of silk waste are the coarse outer and fine inner layers of the cocoons, cocoons which are pierced by the moth or are unreclable for other reasons, ends broken in reeling or in throwing, and waste from other manufacturing processes. As mentioned above, waste constitutes perhaps 55 or 60 per cent of the total silk production. The principal processes and equipment used are briefly described below. The fiber is first degummed or cleansed of its natural gum by means of a fermentation process, soap solutions, or chemical means. This is not a machine process, being carried out in vats or kettles. Filling engine. --After drying, the silk is pulled by hand to open it up and then thrown by hand onto the surface of a large cylinder covered with teeth, which carry it around and subject it to a combing action, after which the machine is stopped and the lap removed by winding it up on small wooden rods. The fibers are thus to some extent laid parallel. Dressing machine.-Silk dressing is a process similar to wool combing. The material is combed out straight and the short fibers are removed. The lap from the filling engine is held while traveling combs pass through it, arranged on an endless belt or on smaller drums, the teeth retaining the short fibers and the rough and tangled portions. There are three principal types of dressing machine--the flat, the circular, and the continuous-but the principle is the same in all, the differences being only in the arrangement of the mechanism. The fiber remaining after combing in the first machine is the longest and most valuable and is called the first draft. The combings are then put through the same process in a second machine, and the combing from this sent through a third, yielding second and taird drafts, eacn being shorter and less valuable than the preceding. In America the usual practice is to comb only three times, but in Europe seven drafts are often combed from waste. After dressing, the silk is made into yarn in two ways, the short spinning system, used for the shorter drafts, and the long spinning system, used for the long drafts. Cards. The short spinning system is similar to that used for cotton spinning. The short drafts from the dressing machine are first put through the card, consisting of a revolving main cylinder covered with card clothing, above which move flat strips of card clothing, arranged in the form of a belt. Card clothing is a composition fabric, set thickly with fine wire teeth. The silk fibers are combed out and laid straight by the action of the opposing surfaces of clothing. The card delivers the fiber in the form of a loose untwisted rope, called a sliver. Comb.-For certain classes of yarn the sliver is combed. The comb is a complicated machine which holds a short section of sliver, while fine teeth pass through it, after which another section is advanced and combed. There are probably not more than a few dozen silk combs in use in the United States. Drawing frames. These machines consist of two pairs of rollers. The front pair revolves faster than the rear pair, which has the effect of drawing out the sliver and further laying the fibers parallel. Several slivers from the card are united and drawn out into one, making a more uniform product. For some classes of yarns the French drawing frame, or frotteur, is used, in which a number of porcupines, rollers set with fine teeth, are placed between the front and back drawing rollers. Roving frames.-These are similar to the drawing frames, but with the addition of a flier. The flier is a hollow arm through which the sliver runs; the end of the flier revolves around a bobbin, on which the silk is wound. The revolution of the flier places a twist in the sliver, which is now called roving. Spinning frames. Silk is spun on both the flier and ring frames. The flier frame is similar to the roving frame; several rovings are united and drawn out again into yarn. The ring frame is similar to the ring frame used in cotton spinning. The system used for spinning the longer drafts from the combs is similar to that used in spinning flax. Spreader. This is the first of the drawing frames. The drafts from the drawing frames are spread out by hand on the feed sheet of the spreader, which conveys the material to the first pair of rollers. During its passage between the first rollers and the last pair, the fiber is combed by a series of fallers, steel beams set with teeth, which travel in the same direction as the material, but at a different rate. The last rollers turn at a greater speed than the first pair, the result being that the material is combed and drawn out. The material is then wound upon the surface of a large cylinder, and when of the desired thickness is removed in the form of a thin sheet. Sett frame. This machine is similar to the spreader, except that the silk after passing through the last rollers is formed into a sliver, a loose untwisted rope, instead of being wound in the form of a lap. Faller drawing frames.-The sliver from the sett frame is sent through a series of three or four drawing frames, usually about eight slivers from the first set being combined into one and again drawn out by the second set. A number of the slivers from the second set are then combined as before, and again drawn out by the third set of machines, the process being continued through the last set. The purpose of these machines is to obtain a more uniform product, and to further straighten out the fibers. The frames used are of the type known as the screw-gill drawing frame. As the sliver passes between the front and back pair of rollers, which revolve at different speeds, it is combed and drawn out by the fallers, which are steel bars set with fine teeth, moved by a screw in the same direction as the silk is traveling, at a rate intermediate between that of the front and back fallers. When the fallers reach the end of their travel they are dropped to another screw below, which carries them in the reverse direction to a cam, which raises them again to the upper screw, when the cycle is repeated. Screw-gill roving frame. This machine is similar to the above. but from the front rollers the silk is wound on bobbins carrying fliers, which insert a twist. The product of this machine is called slubbing. Danay roving frame. Two or three of the rovings from the screwgill frames are led into one spindle of the dandy frame, combined and drawn out into still finer roving. The dandy frame has no fallers, the fiber is carried from the back to the front rollers by several carrier rollers, the difference in the speeds of the rollers effects the drawing, and the roving is then wound on spindles, carrying fliers, which further twists it. Spinning frame. The long fiber waste is spun on the flier or ring frame as in the case of the short fiber. The noils, or last combings from the dressing machines, can not be spun in the same manner as the longer drafts, but are spun by the woolen system into coarse yarns. After spinning, the yarn may be doubled, cleaned, gassed (run rapidly through a gas flame), wound from the bobbins onto larger spools or beams for putting in the loom, or otherwise prepared. These operations require a variety of machines, which will not be described in detail. Looms.-Looms for silk weaving are not radically different from those for weaving other fabrics. Pile-fabric looms for weaving velvet and plush, however, constitute a special class of machines. In this country all velvet is woven double, that is, there are two ground fabrics, connected by the pile threads, a knife then travels between the two fabrics, cutting the pile threads and forming two separate pieces of goods. Finishing machinery.-There is a great variety of equipment for finishing and dyeing silk, both as yarn and as finished cloth. Most of these machines are used in relatively small numbers, for finishing particular kinds of cloth and yarn, and the variety is so great that the limits of this survey will not permit detailed descriptions. DOMESTIC PRODUCTION. The production of silk machinery is not separately shown. In 1914 the production of all textile machinery amounted to $30,437,689. Materials. Cast iron and steel are the chief materials used. The American producer is able to obtain an abundant supply of material at prices approximately the same as those paid by his foreign competitors. Equipment. Machine shops for the manufacture of textile machinery must be equipped for accurate production or fairly heavy machinery. This equipment is all obtained from American sources and is of quality as high as that made in any country in the world. Methods of production.-American manufacturers generally make greater use of automatic machinery than foreign makers. Silk machinery is standardized to a considerable extent, although the demand by customers for variations in detail has retarded complete standardization. Organization.-Silk-throwing machinery for spinning reeled silk is comparatively simple, consisting essentially of winding and twisting apparatus. It can be manufactured successfully in comparatively small establishments and does not require a particularly large outlay. Spun silk machinery, on the other hand, is more highly complicated and requires a larger equipment, organization, and market. Throwing machinery is made chiefly by two or three rather small firms specializing in this product. Spun-silk machinery has been taken up by one of the largest textile machinery makers in the United States and by several smaller concerns making other textile machinery. Geographical distribution. Throwing machinery is made largely in Connecticut, spun-silk machinery, looms, and finishing machinery chiefly in Massachusetts. History of the industry.-Throwing machinery, looms, and finishing equipment have been made in the United States for many years. The spun-silk industry is comparatively new in this country, and foreign manufacturers took the lead in developing the equipment. The effect of the war was twofold; it greatly increased the demand for spun silk (for cartridge bags) and restricted the foreign supply of machinery. Several domestic manufacturers took up spun-silk machinery, and their product has been well received by American mills. Domestic production and consumption.-Both throwing and spunsilk machinery can be made in America in quantities sufficient to supply the demand, with the exception of combers, which are used in small numbers for certain special classes of yarn. Definite figures for production are not available. Domestic exports.-Export statistics of silk machinery are not separately shown." FOREIGN PRODUCTION. France, Germany, and England are the principal producers. The Gruen Maschinen-Fabrik of Alsace is one of the largest producers of spun-silk machinery, and many machines of this company's make are in use in American mills. The quality of their output is high and is considered by some of the American mills to be superior to that of domestic makers. IMPORTS. Imports of silk machinery are not separately shown. Throwing machinery has not been imported in large amounts. Before the war, however, most of the spun-silk machinery was imported largely from Alsace. During the war imports were, of course, greatly restricted, and it is not likely that they will again approach their prewar value, since American manufacturers have made great progress in spun-silk machinery. PRICES. The following will indicate approximate values of domestic machines (December 1920): Filling engine, $400; circular dressing machine, $1,650; lapper, $1,000; 10-head drawing frame, frotteur, $5,200. Quotations of foreign machines are not available at present, but manufacturers assert that they are losing business to foreign makers owing to lower prices quoted. TARIFF HISTORY. Textile machinery in general has never been specifically mentioned in the tariff acts, but has been included with manufactures of metal, not specially provided for. From 1883 to 1909 the rate was 45 per cent, with the exception of the act of 1894, which placed the duty at 35 per cent ad valorem. Under the act of 1913 textile machinery is dutiable at 20 per cent ad valorem. COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS. The manufacture of throwing machinery has been well established in this country for a considerable time, and most of the equipment in American mills is domestic. The spun-silk industry was developed first in Europe, and before the war machinery for American mills was largely imported. Before 1914 several domestic manufacturers were making spun silk machinery and were making headway in competing with the foreign product. The cutting off of importation during the war, together with the increased demand for spun silk, afforded an opportunity for rapid development of the industry, and at present a complete line of equipment for a spun-silk mill may be obtained in this country, with the exception of combers, which are used to a very limited extent. The quality of most of the domestic product is good, although some of the large mills still prefer the foreign, especially in the preparing machines, and to a lesser extent in spinning frames. Velvet and plush looms have been largely imported, but the domestic manufacturers appear to be gaining in this field also. The wire-knife type of pile fabric loom is not made in this country; the figured effects produced by this loom are obtained by operations on plain velvet. Broad-silk looms recently installed are almost entirely of American make. Labor costs in American textile machinery plants range between 40 and 60 per cent of the total cost of production. Manufactured articles or wares, not specially provided for in this Articles or wares not specially provided for in this act, composed | 45 per cent ad valorem. 1897.... 193 1909.... 199 Articles or wares not specially provided for in this section, com- Do. 1913.... 167 Articles or wares not specially provided for in this section, if 20 per cent ad valorem. |