YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3040, 29 March 1917, Page 8

YORKSHIRE LETTER

YAE.N SPINNING AND ITS DELATION TO. QUALITY IN- .WOOL. / : . , ' (Prom Our Special Correspondent.) Bradford, February I. It is not all plain sailing for tho Governmont in ite great echenjo for utilising tlio British and colonial clips, and we fancy that some of the officials have at last begun to realise Bomo ,of tho troubles peculiar to tho wool and textile trades. There ie nothing like an honest confession, and wo are not surnrised to learn that Sno official coniesses ■ boirij greatly takon tatfk at the many knotty problems connected with the W.OOI trade which have to, 'be settled. When a man has had a lifelong experience in dealing with wool from the sheep's back to the .finished product, ho looks with no surprise upon the knotty prbbleme that constantly occur, and wo know for a fact that not a few members ■of the Army Contracts Department, and even those with a little more experience, hare been amazed at'the difficulties which have arisen in connection with the spinning of khaki yarns, and thesubject is of direct importance to all our readers. No matter how good the wool may be, to take it direct and redhot from the combs to the spinning frame, means trouble, and this is exactly what hns occurred and. is occurring to-day; Anybody itith any practical knowledge of the trade is aware that the wool fitoe is of a very liygToscopio nature. To provide against this a big establishment has long lieen erected in I Bradford' known- as the Conditioning j House. Tops combed in oil are. allowed a regain of 19 per cent., and when drycombed 18J.per cent., in order to allow for the natural moisture contained in -the fibre. If anyone doubts the ability of a, woven fabrio to absorb and retain moisture, then let 'him put out his coat on a wet day, first of all havinj a correct record of its weight, and when it hns been rained upon a quarter of an hour, even without a _heavy dow.npour, if he weighs the garment when taken .inhe will find a difference in the weight. Better still, let a grower on a hot summer's day weigh a pound of wool, being; particular to register the correct weight to a quarter of an ounce. Spread out that wool oh a damp, dewy night, weigh same nest morniuc before the sun rises,' and ngain ho Trill be surprised' what' moisture the wool has .absorbed. Wo mention these facts to bring home to readers, particularly to wool growers, the varying decrees of condition whicli wool may assume and all of which! have to bo reckoned with by the topmaker, spinner, and manufacturer in manipulating the article.

I Cause of Trouble. I Last Friday i -very largely attended j meeting of yarn spinners was called l together by the Ar:uy'Contracts. Dcpart- | inont to urgo upon them the necessity jot doubling their output. Every 6pinncr I iiad received an urgont call to come to tho conference, :-vriien tlio whole question of tho spinning,' of khaki yarns for military purposes, was gono into. The Government officials fandiaiy stated that the output was' nothing- near so largo as it ought to bo, that. our ow.n Government and our Allies wore all in urgent need of military fabrics, and everyone must do their utmost to eonsi'bly increaso tho quantity of yarns "being spun. That apparently was tho signal ,for a reply on.the. pa.it of spinners. There was a unanimous expression that tho deficient output iras 'entirely dno to tho tops having been spun Ted-hot off tho combs, sufficient time not being allowed for the tops to "age," which was the causo of all the trouble Wo mention | this to bring homo to everyone tho relation that quality bears to a good count of yarn. Wβ might say in passing that the count of yarn is 2-21's, which, is spun from a combination of a 40's and Wβ top, this yarn being very largely used in the production of tho ordinary tartanserge as worn by our.rank and filo soldiers.

Pvlo men ivcro discussing tho situation after tho meeting when ono candidly said that he was greatly surprised at spinners not boing able .toepin 2-2 d's out of a 40's to it's top.. Tlio spinnor candidly confessed that this ought to bo done without tho least difficulty, a remark which we entirely endorse. There certainly is something radically inrong' it a top of that; count will not epin to 2-24 s. No doubt thero havo been tendered somo tops doficicnt in length and quality, but the principal reason given for tho spinning trouble -was not so much tho quality of tho top, but tho littlo tiino which, elapsed botweon the tops coming in from tho dyers and going straight on to tho spindles of the spinning frame. In ordinary times spinners i onot spin new combed tops. What thev do is to either allow tho tops to stand in the cellar for a. month or eix weeks, or olso to lot tho roving, which is Wactically a. half-way '. houso "between tops and the spun yarn remain as roving for a good month. That is an all essential principle of successful spinning. Spinning tops.red-hot from tho combs means that the wool fibres are charged with'a good deal of electricity, due entirely to the natural moisture in the fibre boinc very largely driven out, electricity tafcing tho place of tho moisture. Various inoaus have .been employed to. replace that moisture , quickly, and , while in souio mills an apparatus has been employed for. sprinkling tho iiir with voit hno moisture, yet oiperionce has found Hiat nothing does &> well sis to let tho tops stand and age, it being natural for tho.wool fibre to absorb tho moisture in tno am if placed in a cool room

What Quality Means. Every .wool grower knows, or at least has Boiuo hazy conception, of v;hat quality means, butamong the actual buyers and users or. wool, quality is understood raD »" tao spinning capacity of tho wool hbre. Fineness .is not always a guarantee that tho wool will »pin to the llselt. If wo take a wool of oither G4"s quality or iO's, if tho staplo is deficient in length and soundness, it will be irnpossiblo to spin 6t or 40 hanke 540 ylrds tone to TTcieh one pound. ThaJJs e\ac£ iy wncro a maus experience' comes in when purchasing woo. He must know t»J at it will do, to what count it will" spin, ami-on that standard of efficiency T^ 0 . , !,'' ,1 those Government tops is itj, but that thqy have not been alWaugmented onW, but that would have upset all the calculations of tho manufacturer, and, therefore, tho only reasonable remedy 13 to augment output of tops and allow .sufficient time for tho same to recover their natural state Which will taHe yPUt a " 6nd t0 the present

.. Bradford Market. Tho whole "market still presents a very quiet appearance so far.as trade operations aro concerned. Everybody is waitin? for a more definite announcement about army, contracts, and the various other matters which have recently beo» receiving attention. It seems likely that the break clause will cause less disf satisfaction than was at first thought but m view of the absence of any definite information on these points there is little disposition to enter into further obligations to-day, and the result is that while all quotations for tops may bo described as steady, very little business has been done. Hie encouraging feature of the moment is that machinery is mostlr well occupied and if the present uncertainty'rospoctin" the tornporary gap which might be created by the discontinuance of militarv requirements could be taken away there would be little cause for uneasiness. Witn regard to the trend of values, and the part which the Government instructions and restrictions play therein, it is known that inquiries have been made for tops on a price basis which is decidedly below the one current in the open market, and -this is naturally a strong deterrent upon those who may have the opportunity to sell tops at the present time. It is known that individual firms have been asked to sell.further quantities of tops in this way.