Drawing Frame

a machine used in textile (prespinning) manufacture to straighten and make parallel the fibers of a sliver (the semifinished product of spinning) and to create an even thickness by combining and stretching several slivers.

The basic working part of the drawing frame is the stretching (drafting) apparatus. Modern drawing frames with an average number of drafts (six to eight) work at high speeds—up to 500m per min for spinning cotton and up to 200 m per min for spinning wool, silk, and linen. In order to decrease the number of fiber treatments, some drawing frames are equipped with stretch regulators, which automatically maintain a given thickness of the sliver. The regulator measures the incoming or outgoing sliver and, in cases of uneven thickness, varies the draft by increasing or decreasing the revolutions, usually the revolutions of the feed cylinders.