Revolutionary Machine

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32274, 17 April 1970, Page 8

Revolutionary Machine

A revolutionary machine which spins wool 10 times faster than conventional models is ready for use in the world’s textile industry. Invented by the textile division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, it has reached yarn production speeds of 250 yards a minute, compared with about 20 yards a minute by present methods. In experiments over the past five years in which the C.5.1.R.0. collaborated with Repco Textile Machinery Pty, Ltd, a major Australian company, a series of machines were designed, built and tested. The yarn itself and fabrics and garments made from it have been exhaustively tested. The new process departs entirely from the customary method of spinning. It delivers two single yarns in each of which the twist reverses at regular intervals. Before the reverse twist zones can cancel each other out, the two yarns link themselves together to give a strong and stable two-ply construction.

The twist is achieved by feeding a strand of fibres between a pair of rubbercovered rollers. As they spin, the rollers are also sliding lengthwise against each other, rubbing the twist into the strand.

A major advantage is that the eventual package is

unlimited in size, so that the number of knots is greatly reduced. The equipment takes up about one-eighth of the floor space now needed and much less power is required. Because the whole tendency in textiles today is towards finer yarns—particularly for knitwear and lightweight suitings—wool will be able to compete more strongly in this field. At the same time, yarn thickness can be varied upward

at will, resulting in a variety of counts. Defects are reduced to a minimum and the yarn is suitable for normal weaving techniques. Although the cost of spinning as an element in fabric manufacturing is small—probably not more than 6 per cent in a worsted material—it is one of the areas which has hardly been touched so far in efforts to achieve costreduction.