is especially adapted for yarn in which elasticity and
"cover" are essentials. Hosiery yarns are produced on the ordinary
cotton mule and are very soft spun.

The bobbins of roving are placed in a creel at the back of the
machine, the stands of roving being passed through the rolls and drawn
out in the same manner as at the roving frame. The spindles are
mounted on a carriage which moves backward and forward in its relation
to the rolls, the distance roved being about five feet. When the
spindles are moving away from the frame the stock is being delivered
by the rolls, the speed at which the spindles move away from the rolls
being just enough to keep the ends at a slight tension. The twist is
put in the yarn at the same time.

[Illustration: SPINNING ROOM. COTTON DEPARTMENT

1. Humidifier--an apparatus to give off moisture.
2. Spinning frames--showing the cotton as it comes from the roving
frame and passes through the spinning frame.]

When the spindles reach their greatest distance from the rolls, the
latter are automatically stopped and the direction of the motion of
the spindle carriage reversed. The yarn is wound on the spindle while
the carriage is being moved back toward the rolls, the motion of the
rolls being stopped in the meanwhile, the spindles revolving only fast
enough to wind up the thread that has been spun during the outward
move of the carriage.

The mule is a much more complicated machine than the ring frame, its
floor space is much greater, and more skilled help is required for its
operation. Under ordinary conditions it is not practical to spin finer
yarn than No. 60s on a ring, while as high as No. 500s is said to have
been spun on a mule. The same number of yarn can be spun on a mule
with less twist than on the ring. This is important in hosiery yarn.

Ring spinning is used for coarse numbers, and has greater production
and requires less labor than mule spinning. Ring-spinning yarn is used
for warp purposes.

=Ring Spinning.= The function of ring spinning is to draw out the rove
and spin it into yarn on a continuous system. The yarn made is spun
upon bobbins.

The ring spinning differs from mule spinning in having the carriage
replaced by a ring, from which the machine takes its name. The ring is
from one and one-half to three inches in diameter, grooved inside and
out, and is connected with a flat steel wire shaped like the letter D,
called the "traveller." Its office is to cons