Kissing the shuttle
"Kissing the shuttle" is the term for a process by which
Traditional weaving
For 100 years the
Types of shuttles
Shuttles were constructed from a dense heavy hardwood with metal tips. The wood was traditionally sourced from a
The eye of the shuttle was often made of porcelain. The thread from the pirn had to be led through the eye before it could be used. The fastest way to do this was to suck it through.[7]
Hand-threaded shuttle
The eye of this shuttle was not a closed ring. Patented methods were used to enable the weft to be threaded into the eye, the challenges were production cost, maintaining production speed both in the speed it would run and the time needed to thread it and doff it.[8]
Self-threading shuttle
Metcalfs self threading shuttle was gripped the metal ringed pirn using a spring clip that engaged with the rings. The depleted pirn was then automatically rewound while a new pirn was pressed into the clips and the trailing thread clipped into the complex eye.[9]
Shuttle kissing
Shuttle kissing was widely opposed by weavers who thought it led to byssinosis, a lung disease caused by cotton fibres lodging in the air passages.[10][11] Shuttles were shared and would be kissed by several weavers and tacklers. They were grimy, and the use of lipstick rendered them sticky. A piece of rabbit fur was a component of the shuttle, harbouring additional pathogens.[12]
In United States, Board of Health physicians agreed that there was a potential risk of spreading disease, and united, persuaded the state legislature in Massachusetts to enact reform.[13] In Lancashire medical opinion remained divided and no legislation was passed.
In 1911, the Amalgamated Weavers' Association enquired of their Lancashire members their objections to the suction shuttle. The main concern was the risk of spreading diseases, followed closely by injuries to teeth and inhaling dirt and dust into their lungs. A Home Office Report of 1912[d] concluded that kissing shuttles caused no health risk, though it was unsanitary and recommended the self-threading shuttle. Self-threading shuttles became mandatory in 1952, though kissing shuttles were still being manufactured in the 1970s.[14]
Tuberculosis
In
In Lancashire, bacteriology was less advanced and in 1900 it was still believed that 'consumption' (
The 1912 Home Office Report by Messrs Bollhouse Fletcher and Shackleton examined the problem, taking evidence from 58 medical officers in Lancashire. A list of diseases said to arise from shuttle kissing was compiled but close study could only find and document five actual cases. These were a cancer at
In 1918, Mr Middleton Hewat,
The Amalgamated Weavers' Association, ever conciliatory, welcomed the recommendation but suggested that the employers should be given five years to use the old shuttles. The Lancashire Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association rejected the recommendation as it was the employers' right to conduct their business the way they saw fit, but agreed to recommend the use of hand threaders where there was no economic disadvantage.[20]
The weavers failed to persuade the Secretary of State to use the
The 1920s slump and next world war intervened so no action was taken until 1952 when they were banned on the grounds they were no longer economic.[20]
Other occupational health issues
A further danger was the practice of steaming. To weave cotton, the air had to be moist and weaving sheds were built into the hillside so the structure would remain damp, and additional moisture was added by keeping the floors wet. To keep the air moist in a controlled way, steam pipes at roof height constantly sprayed the air. Lancashire Members of Parliament sought to have steaming stopped through the means of private members' bills with no success. Steaming was discussed and deemed safe by Home Office reports in 1928 and 1929.[22]
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ Sley (slay): the wooden bed on which the shuttle travelled through the warp shed.[2]
- ^ Pick: the number of times the shuttle travelled through the warp shed per minute which translates to the number of rows of thread woven in a minute or the length of the cloth
- grey cloth, the piece would have been 100 yards (91 m).[3]
- ^ B. P. P. 1912-13, [Cd. 6184] xxvi, Report to the Home Office and to the Local Government Board upon an Inquiry into the Alleged Danger of the Transmission of Certain Diseases from Person to Person in Weaving Sheds by means of ‘Shuttle-Kissing’
- ^ SHUTTLE-KISSING (COMMITTEE).HC Deb 27 March 1919 vol 114 cc630-1W 630W[18]
- § Mr. THOMAS SHAW
- asked the Home Secretary if he will instruct the superintending inspector of factories in Manchester to call together at an early date the Committee which was discussing the abolition of shuttle-kissing with him when the War broke out?
- § Mr. SHORTT
- The superintending inspector has been instructed to call the Committee together again and resume the investigation.
Citations
- ^ Ashmore 1982, p. 4.
- ^ Graham 2008, p. 55.
- ^ Graham 2008, p. 17.
- ^ Fowler 2003, p. 98.
- ^ Melling, Greenlees & Dale 2003, p. 3.
- ^ "Cotton Chats". Cotton Chats. No. 238. Hopedale, Mass.: Draper Corporation. February 1923. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ^ Melling, Greenlees & Dale 2003, p. 2.
- ^ Melling, Greenlees & Dale 2003, p. 6.
- ^ "Cotton Chats". Cotton Chats. No. 346. Draper Corporation. June 1941.
- ^ Graham 2008, p. 90.
- ^ Hussey 2013, p. 27.
- ^ Graham 2008, p. 55,90.
- ^ Melling, Greenlees & Dale 2003, p. 8.
- ^ Graham 2008, pp. 89, 240.
- ^ a b Greenlees 2005, p. 3.
- ^ Greenlees 2005, pp. 4, 5.
- ^ Blackburn Times & 18 May 1912.
- ^ "Written Answers(Commons) Shuttle Kissing Committee". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HM Government. 27 March 1919. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
- ^ Greenlees 2005.
- ^ a b Greenlees 2005, p. 11.
- ^ Melling, Greenlees & Dale 2003, pp. 10, 11.
- ^ Greenlees 2005, p. 12.
Bibliography
- Ashmore, Owen (1982). The industrial archaeology of North-west England. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0820-4. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- Graham, Stanley (2008). Bancroft:The story of a Pennine weaving shed. lulu.com. ISBN 9 781409-255789.
- Greenlees, Janet (2005). "Stop Kissing and Steaming!': Tuberculosis and the Occupational Health Movement in the Massachusetts and Lancashire Cotton Weaving Industries, 1870–1918". Urban History. 32 (2). Europe PMC Funders Group: 223–246. PMID 21552481.
- Fowler, Alan (2003). Lancashire Cotton Operatives and Work, 1900-1950. Ashgate Publishing (published May 2003). ISBN 9780754601166.
- Hussey, Louise (2013). Work-related ill-health as determined in General Practice (PDF) (Thesis). School of Medicine, University of Manchester.
- Melling, Joseph; Greenlees, Janet; Dale, Pamela (2003). Gender, Ill Health and the Suck-Shuttle in the UK and US, 1887-1937. Full Report on Research Activities and Results for ESRC Award R000223483. Swindon: ESRC. Retrieved 25 June 2013.[dead link]
- "Shuttle Kissing Report Evils Not So Serious". Blackburn Times. 18 May 1912. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
Further reading
- Timmins, Geoffrey (1996). Four Centuries of Lancashire Cotton. Preston: Lancashire County Books. pp. 92. ISBN 1-871236-41-X.