Cheney Stereoviews Collection (16 of
)
So. Manchester, Conn., U.S.A.
The process by which raw silk is made into threads suitable for use is known as "throwing." In other words, the thread is wound off the skeins by machines on bobbins or spools. Before this process is begun, however, it is necessary to weigh and sort skeins of raw silk, as shown in the two preceding views in this series. After the weighing and sorting, the raw silk skeins are washed and dried before the silk is ready to be reeled on the bobbins.
In this picture we get a view of the skeins of raw silk being opened on the reels, from which their threads are wound on the large spools lying horizontally along the upper part of the machinery. The throwing machine used in this process is similar in construction to the reeling machine from which the raw silk skeins issue in the original process of reeling, that is, the process whereby the filaments of the cocoons have been combined to form the raw slk strands. The winding of the silk threads on the bobbins is accomplished by a rapid reciprocating motion, with the result that the fibre lies in diagonal lines.
