Recent Cotton Mill Construction and Engineering

'^f'UCT Recent Cotton Mill Construction AND Engineering Joseph Nasmf LIBRARY ^NSSACHOs^^ 1895 ADVERTISEMENTS. OH every uea«. .n.ion up *° "^^^°'"'f^ MILL GEARING IN At-U ITS BRANCHES, ^^BELTft RORE DRUMS, to any si5e. TURBINES HYDRAULIC MACHINERY Market BARRING ENGINES, the best i n tne UP TO ANY PRESSURE JRIPLE EXPANSION MILl .h irnn WorKs & Pncenix ADVERTISEMENTS. The HIGHEST AWARD fop FEED-WATER HEATER at CHICAGO EXHIBITION has been granted to GREEN'S IlVIF>Rl01tf'EI> I^JLTENT FUEL ECONOMISEH SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTED ON THE FROM Improved Strengthened Patterns J-HT TJSE3 .A.T ALL THE PRINCIPAL STEAM USERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. SPECIALITY FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT INSTALLATIONS ORIGINAL INVENTORS, PATENTEES, AND SOLE MAKERS: 2, Exchange Street, MANCHESTER. " " Works : WAKEFIELD. Telegrams : ECONOMISER RECENT COTTON MILL CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING. JOSEPH NASMITH, EDITOR OF THE "TEXTILE RECORDER"; AUTHOR OF "MODERN COTTON SPINNING machinery"' AND "THE STUDENTS' COTTON SPINNING." JOHN HEYWOOD, Deansgate and Ridoefield, Manchesteb. 2, AMEN CORNER, LONDON, E.G. 22, Paradise Street, Liverpool. 33, Bridge Street, Bristol. IX VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY, NEW YORK. ur. n%^ PREFACE. fTlHE following pages are in great part a reproduction of a special article which appeared in the Textile Recorder for May, 1894. It had been represented to the author that there was need of some article from which accurate informa- tion relating to modern methods of mill construction could be obtained. This led to the work being done, and the manner in which a large edition of the Textile Recorder was taken up demonstrated the interest felt in it. No claim is made for originality in the treatment of the subject, the book being avowedly a compilation of facts derived from actual practice. While this is so, it is, however, claimed that no similar collection has been made, and that the facts, being based upon personal and communicated observation, have not previously been put into a shape likely to be serviceable. It is perhaps necessary to say that the book is chiefly intended as an aid to those practically engaged in the cotton trade, and not for architects or engineers. Several of the tables have been specially calculated by the author. Since its appearance in the Textile Recorder the article has undergone considerable amplification. —— TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I.—Introductory 7 „ 11. Constructional Details 17 „ III. Slow Burning and One-storeyed Buildings 35 ,, IV. Cost, Strength, and Firk Rfsistance of Floors 46 „ V. Fire Appliances : Sprinklers 58 „ VI. Lighting , 76 ., VII. Heating, Ventilation, and Humidity 84 ,, VIII. Calculation of Machines IN Mill lOd- ., IX. Recent Examples OF Mills 109 „ X. Steam Boilers 134 ., XL— Boiler Appliances 153 — 166 ,, XIL Steam Engines General Remarks ,, XIIL— Do. Recent Examples 174 XIV.— Do. Do. 187 ,, XV. Lighting Engines AND other Accessories... 207 XVL—Turbines 224 „ XVII. Gearing—Toothed Wheels 233 XVIIL— Do. Belt Driving 237 XIX.— Do. Rope Driving 243 ,, XX. Shafting AND Bearings 255 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 273 LIST OF TABLES 276 GENERAL INDEX 277 RECENT COTTON MILL CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Perhaps in no other branch of textile work has a more marked advance taken place than in the character of the buildings used. As in other cases, the development has run concurrently with improve- ments in other directions, the result being obtained by the action of various forces at different times. There are well defined stages in the gradual evolu- tion of the present type of mill building which can be very clearly ascribed to the influence of certain factors. In the early stages of the factory, as a separate place of manufacture, it was naturally located near the only source of power then available —a running stream of water. In this country the flow of water available is considerable and constant, but it rarely happens in any of the districts suitable for manufacture that the fall is considerable. In the early days of organised manufacturing, however, the factories which sprung up were all of small size, and the only motor available was the cum- brous water wheel, which was only capable of giving off" a comparatively small power. Further, up to 1820, the machines were generally of limited dimensions, which can easily be under- stood when their partially manual character is remembered. Mills were, therefore, narrow and low, and were generally of a light construction. The ceilings were only from six to eight feet high, and the windows of small dimensions, 8 containing a number of little panes of glass. The illustration given in Fig. 1, representing Messrs. Swainson, Birley and Co.'s mill at Preston, which is reproduced from Baines's History, shows the best type prevailing so late as 1835. Until recent years there were a number of these old mills existing in Lancashire, but they have gradually become obsolete and disappeared. In Derbyshh*e, there are still some of them existing along the course of the Derwent, but as an element in the factory life of to-day they may be considered to be extinct. It is, however, an interesting fact to note that Messrs. Horrocks, Crewdson, and Company, Limited, of Preston, have two mills adjoining one another bearing dates a century apart, the later mill having been recently erected. With the advent of the steam engine a new era began. The choice of situation became freer, and a millowner was able to locate his factory in any place convenient alike for himself and his operatives. The invention of the self-acting mule, which was entirely power driven, placed a new instrument in the hands of the spinner. By this time the whole of the machinery required to make cotton into cloth was adapted for power, and the first step was taken towards that acceleration of velocities which has since become so marked. Contemporaneously with the alteration in the size and character of the various machines induced by the march of invention, there began to be introduced new modes of manufacturing them. The use of machine tools was enlarged^ owing to the great changes which took place in their construction by reason of the work of Roberts, Whitworth, and Nasmyth. The result was that machines were more perfectly constructed, the use of iron being largely extended. The two forces of greater skill on the part of the operative and improved constructional methods acted and reacted upon each other so as rapidly to alter the capacity and power of the machinery employed. Then there were the experiments of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Wm. Fairbairn, directed towards ascertaining the strength f^ 10 of cast-iron beams, which gave an impetus to the building of the so-called fireproof mill. Fairbairn himself built a large number of mills on this principle, but one or two failures occurred, which prevented the principle from spreading. Generally speaking, the English mills of what may be called the 1825-65 era were constructed with wooden floors, supported on transverse wooden beams, crossed by longitudinal joists, on to which two layers of floor boards were fixed. The ceiling was plastered on laths fastened to the joists, and the whole floor was thus a hollow timber construction of an ex- ceedingly inflammable character. The size of the mills was, however, increased, and a type was evolved which, with slight alterations, remained constant until after the close of the American civil war. Just before the year 1870 a beginning was made with the establishment of joint-stock spinning companies, stimulated by the establishment of the Sun Mill, Oldham, in 1868. The great success which attended this venture led to its wide imitation, and for a few years mills in Lancashire, and especially in Old- ham, increased with great rapidity. Gradually they became larger in size, and a call was made on the machinist to provide machines of greater dimensions. In 1874 the ring-spinning frame was beginning to make its influence felt, and, owing to the large production possible by reason of the great speeds at which the spindles could be run, the necessity for higher velocities of mules became apparent. Both machines required more careful construction, and, dating from the introduction of the ring frame, a complete change has come over constructive methods. The economic rivalry of the various limited companies speedily led to the more complete organisation of their forces. It was found possible to manage mills containing many thousands of spindles in excess of those previously common with the same staff*, and mills were accordingly designed with this factor in full view. Gradually the lengths of the machines in- 11 creased, and the mill wasof necessity correspondingly enlarged. As a sequence to this there came a con- sideration of the method of providing light, so that a room 130ft. wide should not suffer in that respect. Gradually the ceilings became loftier, and the window area of greater importance. Thus, at the present day, in England, the cotton mill is distinguished by the enormous ratio of the window^ area to that of the wall. This will be fully demonstrated at a later stage. Nor did the whole consequence of the prac- tices named end here. It being desirable to place the mules or frames transversely of the building, it was requisite that no obstruction from any internal cause should exist. Especially in the case of mules it was desirable that in the space in which the carriages ran—the "mule gate"—no pillars support- ing the floors should be found. The rapid increase in the production of wrought-iron—and latterly steel— rolled girders placed in the hands of the mill architect a means which he was not slow to use, and restored the fireproof method of construction to the place it had partially lost.

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