inues in motion, but when a sliver
fails, the lever (K) causes the driving gear to stop the machine. Six
or eight cans containing once drawn slivers are put up to the second
head and similarly drawn, and finally, a similar number of twice drawn
slivers are fed into the third head and again drawn, giving in all 6 X
6 X 6 = 216 doublings; or 8 X 8 X 8 = 512 doublings. Occasionally four
heads of drawings are used and eight slivers drawn into one, which
gives 8 X 8 X 8 X 8 = 4096 doublings; hence, irregularities in an
original sliver have been minimized by successive combination and
attenuation.

_Flyer Frames._--Cotton in cans, from the final head of drawing, is
transferred to the _slubbing frame_, by which it is attenuated,
slightly twisted, and wound upon spools. Each sliver is drawn out by
means of three pairs of rollers, and as it emerges from the front
pair, a flyer (A, fig. 7), which revolves uniformly upon a spindle
(B), carries the sliver (C) round with it to twist the fibres axially.
This flyer coils the twisted material upon a wooden tube (D) in
close-wound spirals and in successive layers. The tube is loosely
mounted upon, but driven independently of, the spindle, in order that
as the tube increases in diameter the number of revolutions it makes
may be reduced to suit the constant delivery of the roving. This is
effected by a differential motion which usually consists of a large
wheel, within which two other wheels are made to work; the interior
wheels have a regular motion, but the large wheel is driven from a
pair of cone drums at a decreasing speed.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.]

_The intermediate frame_ comes between the slubbing and roving frames
and is of similar construction to the slubber, but has a larger number
of spindles and smaller tubes. Instead of having cans put at the back,
the slubbing tubes are mounted vertically in a creel, passed in pairs
through the rollers, and drawn down to a smaller diameter than a
single slubbing. In this machine, therefore, the fourfold processes of
combination, attenuation, twisting and winding are effected
consecutively and continuously.

_The roving frame_ is similar in principle to the slubber and
intermediate machines, but it contains a greater number of spindles,
and the tubes are smaller than either. It receives the rovings from
the intermediate frame, draws two into one, twists them and wi