Ring spinning

History
                  
The ring spinning will continue to be the most widely used form of spinning machine in the near future,
because it exhibits significant advantages in comparison with the new spinning processes.

The ring frame was extensively used in the United States, where coarser counts were manufactured. Many of frame manufacturers were US affiliates of the Lancashire firms, such as Howard & Bullough and Tweedales and Smalley. They were constantly trying to improve the speed and quality of their product. The US market was relatively small, the total number of spindles in the entire United States was barely more than the number of spindles in one Lancashire town, Oldham. When production in Lancashire peaked in 1926, Oldham had 17.669 million spindles and the UK had 58.206 million.
Technologically mules were more versatile. The mules were more easily changed to spin different qualities of cotton, which were experienced in Lancashire. While Lancashire concentrated on "Fines" for export, it also spin a wider range, including the very coarse wastes. The existence of the Liverpool cotton exchange, meant that mill owners had access to a wider selection of staples.
The wage cost per spindle was higher for ring spinning, In the states, where cotton staple was cheap the additional labour costs of running mules could be absorbed, but Lancashire had to pay shipment costs. The critical factor was the availability of labour, when skilled labour was scarce then the ring became advantageous. This had always been so in New England, and when it became so in Lancashire, Ring frames started to be adopted.
The first known mill in Lancashire dedicated to ring spinning was built in Milnrow for the New Ladyhouse Cotton Spinning Company (registered 26 April 1877). A cluster of smaller mills developed which between 1884 and 1914 out performed the ring mills of Oldham. After 1926, the Lancashire industry went into sharp decline, the Indian export market was lost, Japan was self sufficient. Textile firms united to reduce capacity rather than to add to it. It wasn't till, the late 1940s that some replacement spindles started to be ordered; and ring frames became dominant. Debate still continues, in academic papers on whether the Lancashire entrepreneurs made the right purchases decisions in the 1890s.
New technologies
Open end spinning was developed in Czechoslovakia in the years preceding 1967. It was far faster than ring spinning, and did away with many preparatory processes. Put simply, the thread was ejected spinning from a nozzle, and on exiting hooked onto other loose fibres in the chamber behind. It was first introduced into the United Kingdom at the Maple Mill, Oldham. It replaced ring spinning.[citation needed]
How it works
Modern ring spinning frame
1 Draughting rollers
2 Spindle
3 Attenuated roving
4 Thread guides
5 Anti-ballooning ring
6 Traveller
7 Rings
8 Thread on bobbin
A ring frame was constructed from cast iron, and later pressed steel. On each side of the frame are the spindles, above them are the draughting (drafting) rollers and on top is a the creel loaded with bobbins of roving. The roving (unspun thread) passed downwards from the bobbins to the draughting rollers. Here the back roller steadied the incoming thread, while the front roller which was moving much faster pulled thread out (attenuated) forcing the fibres to mesh together. The rollers are individually adjustable, originally by mean of levers and weights. The attenuated roving now passes through a thread guide that is adjusted to be exactly above the spindle. Thread guides are on a thread rail which allows them to be hinged out of the way for doffing or piecing a broken thread. The attenuated roving passes down to the spindle assembly, where it is threaded though a small ring called the traveller. The traveller rotates on the ring. It is this that gives the ring frame its name. From here it is attached to the existing thread on the spindle.
Like the hour and minute hands on a mechanical clock, the traveller, and the spindle share the same axis but travel at different speeds. The spindle travels faster. The bobbin is fixed on the spindle. In a ring frames, the different speed was achieved by drag caused by air resistance and friction. The spindles rotate at 7000 to 8000 rpm, this spins the yarn. The traveller, winds the yarn on the bobbin. The ring on the traveller is fixed on a lifting ring rail which guides the thread onto the bobbin in the shape required: ie a cop. The lifting must be adjusted for different cotton counts.
Doffing is a separate process. The attendant winds down the ring rails to the bottom. The machine stops. The thread guides are hinged up. Removing the bobbin coils thread around the spindle, and placing the new bobbin on the spindle firmly traps the thread between it and the cup in the wharf of the spindle. This done, the thread guides are lowered and the machine restarted.
A modern frame, manufactured in China, is the Model FA506 Ring Spinning Frames which is suitable for spinning of cotton or polyester/cotton to produce weaving or knitting yarns. The 420 spindle version is 17 m long by 900mm deep and 2.2m high. It weighs 6 tons. The main motor is 17 kW, and there are subsidiary motors for lifting, lubrication and the broken end collection system. It can spin counts of 96-5.8 Tex (modern unit) with an Z or S twist and a 10-55mm draft. It operates on 45mm rings with a 205mm lift at 12,00015,000 rpm.