| The machines used for different fibres vary | | | | are combined. Each sliver will have thin and |
| slightly in the initial steps, but once the | | | | thick spots, and by combining several slivers |
| fibre is in a rolag (ready to spin) the | | | | together a more consistent size can be |
| process and machinery is pretty much | | | | reached. |
| universal. Slight changes are made depending | | | | |
| on the coarseness of the fibre or yarn | | | | Since combining several slivers produces a |
| desired. | | | | very thick rope of cotton fibres, directly |
| | | | after being combined the slivers are |
| Cotton Cotton Gin The cotton boll is white, | | | | separated into rovings. These rovings are |
| roughly spherical and fluffy. After being | | | | then what are used in the spinning process. |
| harvested, the cotton is sent through a | | | | Generally speaking, for machine processing a |
| cotton gin because the seeds have to be | | | | roving is about the width of a pencil. |
| removed before carding. A modern day cotton | | | | |
| gin looks similar to a carding machine, in | | | | Spinning The spinning machines stake the |
| that the fibre goes through many different | | | | roving, thin it and twist it, creating yarn. |
| rollers. The teeth on the gin are different | | | | The roving is pulled off a bobbin and fed |
| from those on a carding machine. The ginning | | | | through some rollers, which are feeding at |
| process removes the seeds from the cotton | | | | several different speeds. This thins the |
| fibre. The first cotton gin was produced by | | | | roving at a consistent rate. If the roving |
| Eli Whitney. | | | | was not a consistent size, then this step |
| | | | could cause a break in the yarn, or could jam |
| At this point, the ginned cotton is normally | | | | the machine. The yarn is twisted through the |
| put into bales, and shipped to the cotton | | | | spinning of the bobbin it is rolled on, |
| mill. | | | | exactly like a spinning wheel but just in a |
| | | | different configuation. |
| Picking When the cotton comes out of a bale, | | | | |
| it is all packed together and still contains | | | | Plying Plying is done by pulling yarn from |
| vegetable matter. In order to fluff up the | | | | two or more bobbins and twisting it together, |
| cotton and remove the vegetable matter, the | | | | in the opposite direction than that in which |
| cotton is sent through a picker. A picker | | | | it was spun. Depending on the weight desired, |
| looks similar to the carding machine and the | | | | cotton may or may not have been plied. |
| cotton gin, but is slightly different. The | | | | |
| cotton is fed into the machine and gets | | | | Yucca While not an especially common fibre, |
| beaten with a beater bar, to loosen it up. | | | | Yucca fibres were at one time widely used |
| The cotton then collects on a screen and gets | | | | throughout Central America for many things. |
| fed through various rollers, which serve to | | | | Currently they are mainly used to make twine. |
| remove the vegetable matter. | | | | |
| | | | Leaf to Rolag After being harvested, the |
| Carding The cotton comes off of the picking | | | | yucca leaves are put on a conveyor belt, and |
| machine in large bats, and is then taken to | | | | then cut to a standard size. In order to |
| carding machines. The carders line up the | | | | separate the fibres from the rest of the |
| fibres nicely to make them easier to spin. | | | | leaf, the leaves are crushed in between two |
| The carding machine consists mainly of one | | | | large rollers. The waste, a pulpy liquid that |
| big roller with smaller ones surrounding it. | | | | stinks, can be used as a fertilizer. At this |
| All of the rollers are covered in small | | | | point the fibres are bundled up and dried. |
| teeth, and as the cotton progresses further | | | | This is easily done by draping them over |
| on the teeth get finer (ie. closer together). | | | | trelises and leaving them out in the sun to |
| The cotton leaves the carding maching in the | | | | dry. Once the fibres are dry they are |
| form of a sliver; a large rope of fibres. | | | | combined into rolags. Then several rolags are |
| | | | combined to produce a more consistent rolag. |
| Combining the Slivers Next, several slivers | | | | At this point it is ready to spin. |