Chapter 160: Foot-operated Spinning Machine (Please vote and subscribe)
Luo Chong quickly ran to the clothesline, picked up a large bucket that was used to wash alpaca wool yesterday, filled the bucket with wool fibers that had been drying for a day and a night, and quickly carried the bucket to Xiaodie.
Luo Chong was very excited. This was the first time he tested the machine. If it was successful, he would have underwear to wear soon.
Ahem, of course it couldn't be woolen underwear, otherwise it would definitely prick my little brother to death. The combing roving machine designed by Luo Chong is universal for wool, linen, and cotton fibers. Theoretically, as long as wool fibers can be combed, cotton and linen fibers will not be a problem. In this way, he will be able to wear boxer briefs made of linen soon.
"Luo Chong, please teach me how to use this machine." Xiaodie was still stepping on the two pedals, looking very excited.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Come, I'll tell you how to do it. First, take a ball of wool, tear it into small
balls with your hands and put them on the feed board. Get a little more, form a row and push it to the front. It will be sent to the roller by itself. Don't stop, keep stepping." Luo Chong stood behind Xiaodie, holding her two hands to follow his operation, and taught Xiaodie how to use this combing machine.
A row of fluffy wool balls were pushed to the front along the feed board and were instantly swallowed by the rollers. As the six rollers pulled each other, the originally messy wool balls were directly torn into strands of wool fibers, and then turned into a thin layer at the last roller, like a layer of translucent coffee-colored smoke that quickly gathered, and then gathered at the edge of the discharge board into a fluffy wool strip as thick as a finger, which is coarse yarn.
Xiaodie kept stepping on the pedal, the drum rotated rapidly, and the yarn strips on the discharging plate kept coming out. One, two, three
wool balls were stuffed in a row, and 26 wool strips came out from the back of the machine. Each wool strip was 65 cm long and one finger thick. After being stretched and extended by the spinning machine, it was twisted into a thin thread. Such a yarn strip can be spun into a thin wool thread at least two or three meters long.
An adult alpaca can produce about 5 kilograms of wool each time it is sheared. After these wool fibers are processed, they are enough to weave a long piece of cloth. After
all the wool balls that were stuffed in were processed, Xiaodie couldn't wait to go to the other side of the machine to see what kind of wool was rubbed out.
"Wow, so many wool strips, but this is not wool thread, you have to rub it with your hands."
Xiaodie picked up a fluffy yarn strip, pulled it in her hand, and then rubbed it into a thin thread with both hands to show Luo Chong.
"Yes, although it is not woolen yarn yet, it has been made into yarn strips. Think about it, if you were asked to rub it directly with your hands, wouldn't you have to pull out the yarn from the pile of wool balls little by little before you could rub it? And the yarn you rubbed with your hands would definitely be different in thickness, some places would be thick, and some places would break when you pull them, right?" Luo Chong said as he helped Xiaodie pull the yarn.
"Well, yes, what should we do? Don't we have to rub it with our hands?"
"Come on, put all these away, let's go eat first, and I'll make you a spinning machine for rubbing yarn tomorrow."
The setting sun gradually sank into the other side of the mountain. Luo Chong snatched the yarn from Xiaodie's hand and threw it back into the bucket, then took her to eat a bowl of rice.
There was no conversation that night. The next morning, when it was just light, Xiaodie climbed out of Luo Chong's arms and prepared to work. Since the first time she experimented with the combing machine last night, she couldn't wait to see the next day's dawn.
When Luo Chong got up, Xiaodie had already made the combing machine hum. Under the yarn output board was a rattan basket woven with thin rattan, which was half filled with wool yarn.
Seeing Xiaodie's interest and eagerness to weave, Luo Chong shook his head and turned to the carpentry group. Today was another day of carpentry. Er, no, there was still a loom to be made. It would take a few more days.
Alas! Sad days. For the sake of my underwear, I had to work hard.
The hand-cranked spinning machine was not difficult to make. Many old people in the countryside could make it in the past. You could just take a used bicycle rim and modify one. Luo Chong had also read about the evolution of spinning machines in history books, especially the spinning jenny that triggered the industrial revolution.
Its principle is very simple. To put it simply, a larger wheel is used to drive a bobbin to rotate, twisting the fiber strips into a line through rotation, and then winding them on the horizontal bobbin.
The only difference between the Jenny machine and the spinning machine is that it has a large wheel driving eight spools, and the spools of the Jenny machine, that is, the spindles, are placed vertically, so the working efficiency of the Jenny machine has doubled. Later, people even developed a 5.0 upgraded version of the Jenny machine, with one wheel driving 80 spindles, which is simply crazy.
However, Luo Chong did not plan to make a Jenny machine directly. First, he had never built a spinning machine before, and only had theoretical knowledge but no practical experience; second, the Han tribe did not need so many spinning machines at all. It was not right to say that, because the production of alpaca wool was limited, but when twisting hemp thread in the future, a multi-axis spinning machine would be used. Now let's first understand the one-axis one.
Based on the experience of making a combing machine yesterday, the single-axis spinning machine designed by Luo Chong this time also has a foot-operated transmission rod. Since he works on a stool, the bottom bracket of the spinning machine is relatively high, which can also leave space for installing the transmission rod.
The four-legged support looks like a stool, but this stool has no stool top. It only has a square frame on it to hold the wheel.
The wheel needs to be remade, but it is very simple. It is just a transmission wheel, not used to bear weight on the ground, so it does not need to be very strong.
The large wheel has a diameter of 60 cm and is directly supported by 12 arrow shafts. The width of the wheel is only 3 cm. The rim is made of four sections of roasted and bent oak. There is also a wire groove less than one centimeter wide on the outer surface of the rim, which is used to put the transmission belt.
The thickness of the small flywheel is two centimeters and the diameter is only eight centimeters. If the belt groove engraved on it is subtracted, the diameter may be even smaller. In this way, the two wheels, one large and one small, are put together. When the large wheel rotates a circle, the small flywheel may really rotate and fly, and the speed is very fast.
The transmission belt is made of cowhide. First, use scissors to cut a one-centimeter-wide leather strip along the outer edge of the cowhide. Then, wrap the leather strip around a fixed wooden stick and pull it back and forth. You can lengthen, narrow, and straighten the leather strip. Finally, cut it according to the actual length required, and then glue the joints together.
Moreover, the front and back sides of the cowhide are smooth on one side and rough on the other. Putting the rough side on the wheel can increase the friction between the two, so that the transmission can achieve better results and is not easy to slip.
Just when Luo Chong was working hard to pull the pimp, another woman who was fishing by the river came to report the news.
"Chief, the Li tribe is here again. They brought two trees and a team of women carrying baskets. They are waiting on the bridge now. Do you want them to come over?"
"Oh? They came quite quickly. Let them come over. Call a team of soldiers and take them directly to the urban area." Luo Chong put his hands on the pergola and looked in the direction of the wooden bridge.
"Yes, Chief." The woman in the fishing team immediately took the order and left.
(End of this chapter)
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