Stubbing. When the cotton is carded, the long rolls into which it is formed are next drawn out into a thick coarse thread, of loose texture, and but little twisted, called the stubbing. This operation is generally performed by hand, on the* common hand wheel, which is similar to that used for spinning wool, but of a smaller size. Engines have been con trived, by which a number of slubbings could be drawn out together ; but the hands required for joining the rolls of cotton in succession, and for other pur poses about those engines, were found to be so many, that very little, if any, save ing was made by those machines.
Robing. The stubbing coiled into co noidal rolls, called cops, are next brought to the engine called the robing billy, by which it is drawn out into a finer thread, 'of the same loose texture as before, receiving at the same time a little more twist.
The Robing Billy. This machine is contrived to give circular motion to a number of spindles, and at the same time draw out the stubbing which is attached to them by a finer thread. The spindles are placed in a frame, so as to stand near ly perpendicularly at about four inches from each other ; their lower extremities turn in sockets, and small collars of brass sustain them about half way up : their up per halves project above the frame : to their lower parts are attached small pul lies, or whirls, from whence bands pass to a horizontal cylinder of about Six Inches diameter, a little longer than the row of spindles, which is placed before them at a lower position, and which gives motion to all the spindles together, when it is turned round. 'Phis cylinder is now al most universally made of tin plate ; wood en ones of the same dimensions, however carefully made, have been found liable to warp and lose their proper shape. To prevent the bands from slipping, coarse paper is pasted over the tin, which an swers the purpose very effectually. The cylinder receives its motion from a wheel, (like the large wheel used in spinning wool by hand, and of the same dimen sions), with which it communicates by a band : this. wheel is turned by the hand directly, by means of a winch. In front of the spindles, about a foot higher than their tops, a long spar of deal is support ed at each extremity by a pair of small wheels, or sheeves, which run on the sides of the frame in a kind of grooves, so as to admit of the spar being moved back and forwards about six or seven feet, in a horizontal position, without va rying from its parallelism to the row of spindles: the bottom of this spar is form ed into oblong grooves, into which projecting parts from -a lower spar suspended beneath it fit accurately. This lower spar is confined by a sort of sta ples, so as to admit only of a motion up and down of a few inches below the upper spar, along with which it is drawn back and forwards : the up and down motion is given by a number of small cords at about three feet asunder, which pass from it, over small pulleys in the substance of the upper spar, to a thick wire that lies above it ; which wire is moved by a cord going round a pulley of about six inches diame ter, supported at the middle of the upper spar : to this pulley an handle is fixed, which, on being pressed down over a spring clasp, raises up the lower spar close to the upper one, and retains it in that position : when the spring clasp is pressed back from the handle, the weight of the lower spar causes it to fall down clear of the upper one. The use of this
arrangement of the tWo spars, is to hold fast the slubbings, which are passed be tween them on to the spindles. The cops of slubbings are supported on a frame, which lies below the moveable spars ; small rods pass through them, and through holes in the frame, which sustain them in an upright position, at about the same dis tance from each other as the spindles.
When the robing billy is worked, the slubbings are first drawn between the moveable spars, and each fastened to its corresponding spindle : a sufficiency of length of the slubbings is left between the spars and the spindles, to allow for five or six feet of robing to he drawn out of each, which is regulated by a mark on the frame, that shews when the moveable spars going from the spindles have come to the proper position : the spars are then closed by pressing down the handle under the clasp, the spindles are put in motion by turning round the large wheel, and at the same time the moveable spars are drawn back gently : by this means, as the slubbings are drawn out, they get proportionally more twist, so as to keep them froM breaking ; and when they are drawn to the intended extent, by the spars being moved back to the extremity of their supports, a few turns of the wheel gives them all the twist that portion of them is intended to have. The robings now formed between the spars and the spindles, are guided to that part of their respective spindles where they are to re main ; and the spindles being again put in motion, while the spars are pushed for wards towards them ; the part formed of the robings are by this means rolled up on the spindles. The handle is then re leased, the lower spar falls down, the spars are drawn back to the mark, which shows that the proper length of clubbing has passed between them ; the spars are again closed, and the operation repeated as before described. The robings are guided to the parts of the spindles where they are to be coiled up, by a long hori-, zontal slip of deal, which is supported over them close to the front of the spin dles by a light frame, hung on two pivots, that admit of its moving the length of the spindles up and down : a cord is stretched from this frame, near the pivot, along one of the supports of the move able spars, and passes between three small pulleys at the extremity of the spar: two of the pulleys being at the side of it next the spar, and the middle pulley be ing outside : this last pulley is fastened to a slide, which is drawn back by a string that runs along the spar to its centre, where it passes over a grooved segment of a small wheel, with a small projection ; which, being pressed down by the fin ger, draws the cord in, which causing the stretched cord to contract in length be tween the pulleys, forces the deal slip down on the robings, and guides them to the parts of the spindles where they are to remain : a small counterpoise draws off the slip, when the finger is removed, and restores this part of the apparatus to its first position.