Cotton Mill Operational Steps | Yarnall Jobs | Work Rules
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OPERATIONAL STEPS
1 COTTON BALE HANDLING - Six initial steps
  • Bale picked up at wharf
  • Bale transported to mill
  • Bale weighed and numbered
  • Bale opened, willowed, and lap framed
  • Framed cotton is carded
  • Carded cotton put on drawing, bobbin, or roving frames
2 SPINNING COTTON INTO YARN or THREAD - Three or four steps
  • Thread is spun on to spools, on to cops, or on to bobbins
  • Spools of yarn and thread are sold to other weavers
  • Cops and bobbins go to weaving department (Bobbins first have a warping/winding step)
3 WEAVING COTTON THREAD and COTTON YARN INTO FABRICS - Two alternative types
COARSE CLOTHS > TWILL, MUSLIN, CHAMBRAY, CALICO
FINER DIAPER CLOTH
  • Cops are loaded and attached to shuttles for weaving
  • Warps are mounted on beams and set in looms for weaving
4 FABRICS are BLEACHED, DYED, or SIZED and PACKAGED in BOXES < Final steps

YARNALL JOBS
Great grandfather William and Aunt Rose operated weaving machines (weavers)
Grandfather Grant was a beamer (wound warps and loaded them on beams)
Grandmother Bridget was a burler (quality inspector)

WORK RULES
1. 72 hours per week (5:00am - 7:00pm summer) and (6:30am - 8:30pm winter)
with half hour to go home for breakfast and three quarters of an hour to go home for lunch
2. Paid every four weeks in cash
3. Two weeks notice required if leaving employment and to vacate housing
4. Fighting, swearing, and undue familiarity between sexes is not allowed
5. Workers must be clean and suitably dressed
6. Two weeks’ wages are held until worker’s account is settled
7. No tobacco smoking or possession of alcoholic beverages in mill
8. Work must meet standards of quality set by manufacturer
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