The Jute Industry: from Seed to Finished Cloth | Page 9

adversely by
any of the above, are carefully mixed with the otherwise perfect fibre,
most of the faults may disappear as the fibre proceeds on its way
through the different machines.
[Illustration: FIG. 8 BALE OPENER By permission of Messrs.
Urquhart, Lindsay & Co., Ltd.]
The layers of heads are often beaten with a heavy sledge hammer in
hand batching, but for machine batching a bale opener is used, and this
operation constitutes the preliminary opening. As already indicated, the
heads of jute are fed into the machine from the left in Fig. 8, each head
being laid on a travelling feed cloth which carries the heads of jute
successively between a pair of feed rollers from which they are
delivered to two pairs of very deeply-fluted crushing rollers or breakers.
The last pair of deep-fluted rollers is seen clearly on the right in the
figure. These two pairs of heavy rollers crush and bend the compressed
heads of jute and deliver them in a much softer condition to the
delivery sheet on the right. The delivery sheet is an endless cloth which
has a continuous motion, and thus the softened heads are carried to the
extreme right, at which position they are taken from the sheet by the
operatives. The upper rollers in the machine may rise in their bearings
against the downward pressure of the volute springs on the bearings;
this provision is essential because of the thick and thin places of the
heads.
A different type of bale opener, made by Messrs. Charles Parker, Sons,
& Co., Dundee, and designed from the Butchart patent is illustrated in
Fig. 9. It differs mainly from the machine illustrated in Fig. 8 in the
shape of the crushing or opening rollers.
It will be seen on referring to the illustration that there are three

crushing rollers, one large central roller on the top and situated between
two lower but smaller rollers. Each roller has a series of knobs
projecting from a number of parallel rings. The knobs are so arranged
that they force themselves into the hard layers of jute, and, in addition
to this action, the heads of jute have to bend partially round the larger
roller as they are passing between the rollers. This double action
naturally aids in opening up the material, and the machine, which is
both novel and effective, gives excellent results in practice. The degree
of pressure provided for the top roller may be varied to suit different
conditions of heads of jute by the number of weights which are shown
clearly in the highest part of the machine in the form of two sets of
heavy discs.
[Illustration: FIG. 9 BALE OPENER By permission of Messrs. Charles
Parker, Sons, & Co.]
The driving side, the feed cloth, and the delivery cloth in this machine
are placed similarly to the corresponding parts of the machine
illustrated in Fig. 8, a machine which also gives good results in
practice.
In both cases the large heads are delivered in such a condition that the
operatives can split them up into pieces of a suitable size quite freely.
The men who bring in the bales from the store take up a position near
the end of the delivery cloth; they remove the heads of jute as the latter
approach the end of the table, and then pass them to the batchers, who
split them. The most suitable size of pieces are 2-1/2 to 3 lbs. for a
piece of 7 feet to 8 feet in length, but the size of the pieces is regulated
somewhat by the system of feeding which is to be adopted at the
breaker-card, as well as by the manager's opinion of what will give the
best overall result.
After the heads of jute have been split up into suitable smaller pieces,
they are placed in any convenient position for the batcher or
"striker-up" to deal with. If the reader could watch the above operation
of separating the heads of jute into suitable sizes, it would perhaps be
much easier to understand the process of unravelling an apparently

matted and crossed mass of fibre. As the loosened head emerges from
the bale-opener, Figs. 8 or 9, it is placed over the operative's arm with
the ends of the head hanging, and by a sort of intuition acquired by
great experience, she or he grips the correct amount of fibre between
the fingers, and by a dexterous movement, and a simultaneous shake of
the whole piece, the handful just comes clear of the bulk and in much
less time than it takes to describe the operation.
As the pieces are thus detached from the bulk, they are laid on stools or
tables, or in stalls or carts, according to the method by means of which
the