For 8 lb. per spyndle yarn, and for other yarns of about the same count, it is usual to have provision for 24 spinning bobbins on the reel.  As the reel rotates, the yarn from these 24 bobbins is wound round, say,

6 in. apart, and when the reel has made 120 revolutions, or 120 threads at each place from each bobbin, there will be 24 separate cuts of yarn on the reel.  When 120 threads have been reeled as mentioned, a bell rings to warn the attendant that the cuts are complete; the reel is then stopped, and a “lease-band” is tied round each group of 120 threads.

A guide rod moves the thread guide laterally and slowly as the reeling operation is proceeding so that each thread or round may be in close proximity to its neighbour without riding on it, and this movement of the thread extends to approximately 6 in., to accommodate the 6 cuts which are to form the mill-hank.

Each time the reel has made 120 revolutions and the bell rings, the reeler ties up the several cuts in the width, so that when the mill-hank is complete, each individual cut will be distinct.  In some case, the two threads of the lease-band instead of being tied, are simply crossed and recrossed at each cut, without of course breaking the yarn which is being reeled, although effectively separating the cuts.  At the end of the operation (when the quantity of cuts for the mill-hank has been reeled) the ends of the lease-band are tied.

The object of the lease-band is for facilitating the operation of winding, and for enabling the length to be checked with approximate correctness.

When the reel has been filled with, say, twenty-four 6-cut hanks, there will evidently be 3 spyndles of yarn on the reel.  The 24 mill-hanks are then slipped off the end of the reel, and the hanks taken to the bundling stool or frame.  Here they, along with others of the same count, are made up into bundles which weigh from 54 lb. to 60 lb. according to the count of the yarn.  Each bundle contains a number of complete hanks, and it is unusual to split a hank for the purpose of maintaining an absolutely standard weight bundle.  Indeed, the bundles contain an even number of hanks, so that while there would be exactly 56 lb. per bundle of 7 lb. yarn, or 8 lb. yarn, there would be 60 lb in a bundle of 7-1/2 lb. yarn, and 54 lb. in a bundle of 9 lb. yarn.

The chief point in reeling is to ensure that the correct number of threads is in each cut, i.e. to obtain a “correct tell”; this ideal condition may be impracticable in actual work, but it is wise to approach it as closely as possible.  Careless workers allow the reel to run on after one or more spinning bobbins are empty, and this yields what is known as “short tell.”  It is not uncommon to introduce a bell wheel with, say, 123 or 124 teeth, instead of the nominal 120 teeth, to compensate for this defect in reeling.

CHAPTER XII.  WINDING:  ROLLS AND COPS