​The development history of textile machinery

Humans first used natural fibers as raw materials for spinning and weaving, earlier than the invention of writing (see World Textile History, Chinese Textile History). China had already used hand-operated spinning wheels to spin yarn during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. By the Song Dynasty, a large water-powered spinning wheel with more than 30 spindles had been invented. In 1769, the Englishman R. Arkwright (also translated as Richard Arkwright) manufactured a water-powered spinning machine. In 1779, Englishman S. Crompton (Samuel Crompton) invented the spinning machine. After being introduced to the United States, American J. Thorpe invented the ring spinning machine in 1828, which increased productivity several times due to the use of continuous spinning. Looms from the Warring States Period in China already used the lever principle and used foot-operated connecting rods to drive the heald frame to complete the shedding action. In 1733, the Englishman J. Kay (also translated as John Kay) invented the flying shuttle, which struck the shuttle and caused it to fly at high speed, doubling the productivity of the loom. In 1785, Englishman E. Cartwright (also translated as Edmund Cartwright) invented the power loom. In the same year, Britain built the world's first steam engine-powered cotton textile mill, which marked the transformation of the textile industry from handicrafts to large industry. A turning point in production transition. The progress of human society and the increase in population have promoted the development of the textile industry and accordingly promoted the improvement of textile machinery. Energy reform (replacing human and animal power with steam power) laid the foundation for modern textile machinery.

The advent of man-made fibers at the end of the 19th century broadened the field of textile machinery and added a category of chemical fiber machinery. The growth of people's demand for synthetic fibers has pushed synthetic fiber spinning equipment to become larger (the diameter of the spinning screw reaches 200 mm, and the daily output of a single spinning machine reaches 100 tons) and to high speed (the spinning speed reaches 3000 to 4000 meters). /min) direction development. The country with the fastest growing synthetic fiber industry in the world updates equipment almost every 5 to 6 years, and the number of machines doubles in 10 years. Spinning and weaving equipment in the past 20 years has made many partial improvements to adapt to the pure spinning of chemical fibers or blending with natural fibers, such as expanding the range of suitable fiber lengths for the drafting mechanism and eliminating static electricity on the fibers. In terms of dyeing and finishing, high-temperature and high-pressure dyeing equipment, heat setting equipment, resin finishing equipment, and loose finishing equipment have been developed.

Humans have used traditional methods to spin and weave cloth for more than 6,000 years. To this day, spinning and weaving machines designed based on traditional principles are still the main equipment in the world's textile industry. However, since the 1950s, some new process methods have been created, partially replacing traditional methods, and producing textiles with much higher efficiency, such as rotor spinning, non-woven fabrics, etc. New process methods breed new textile equipment, and the maturity and promotion of new textile equipment promotes the further development of the textile industry.