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High Speed Spinning of Polyester
and Its Blends with Viscose
High Speed Spinning
of Polyester and Its
Blends with Viscose
A Practical Guide
S. Y. NANAL
Textile Consultant
A. R. GARDE
Expert Reviewer
The Textile Association (India)

Woodhead Publishing India
Published by Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd. in association with The Textile
Association India
Woodhead Publishing India (P) Limited

G-2, Vardaan House,
7/28, Ansari Road,
Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002
India
www.woodheadpublishingindia.com
First published 2009, Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd.

0 2009, Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd. and S. Y. Nanal
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources.
Reasonable material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. Reasonable
efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the
publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials. Neither the authors
nor the publishers, nor anyone else associated with this publication, shall be liable for any
loss, damage or liability directly or indirectly caused or alleged to be caused by this book.
Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming and recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Woodhead
Publishing India (P) Ltd.
The consent of Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd does not extend to copying
for general distribution, for promotion, for creating new works, or for resale Specific
permission must be obtained in writing from Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd.
Trademark notice: product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,

and are used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infringe.
Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd. ISBN 13: 978-8 1-90800 1- 1-2
Woodhead Publishing India (P) Ltd. EAN: 9788 190800112
Typeset, printed and bound by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd., India.

About the Author
Mr. Sharachchandra Yeshavant Nanal was born

in Pune on 16th December 1932. His father, Y.M.
Nanal, was the Principal of Maratha High School in
Karachi. Therefore, Mr. S.Y. Nanal’s schooling was
in Karachi. After partition, the Nanal family shifted
to Thane, near Mumbai. Mr. Nanal completed his
B. Text, in First Class in 1955 from the Bombay
University. He did his M. Text also from Bombay University in 1958. The
subject of his Master’s thesis was fibre friction.
His career has been in four areas in textiles: teaching and research, quality
control and management in mills, technical services for polyester fibres, and
consultation.
He spent first 11 years in the academic field as a Lecturer and Assistant
Professor at the V.J. Technical Institute, and in BTRA (Bombay Textile
Research Association).
The next 11 years saw him in textile mills. He worked as Head (Central
Quality Control) in Mafatlal Group doing inter mill comparisons on technical
subjects. Here, he developed a Point Rating System to quantify all fabric
defects jointly with Mr. S. Maruthi. He presented a paper on this subject at
the world’s first international conference on Quality Control (ICQC 1969) in
Tokyo in October 1969. Thereafter, he worked as a Mill Manager at Afprint
Nigeria Ltd in Lagos, Nigeria.
The next 22 years were spent in Polyester Staple Fibre Industry as Technical
Service Manager at Indian Organic Chemicals Ltd, Chennai; Swadeshi Polytex
vi About the author
Ltd at Ghaziabad; Reliance Industries Ltd, Mumbai and P.T. Polysindo Eka
Perksa in Jakarta, Indonesia.
At the age of 67-in 1999-Mr. Nanal started to work as a free lance
consultant in polyester fibre and blend spinning. He also marketed speciality
polyester staple fibres from Saehan Industries Inc, Seoul, Korea. During these
consultancies, he worked with Priyadarshini Spinning Mills to run their ring
frames on 60s grey PV at 24500 rpm and with Raymond Ltd, Chhindwara
to run 33s and 50s fibre dyed PV at 22000 rpm.
Mr. Nanal was awarded the fellowship of the Textile Institute, Manchester
(FTI) in 1973; and in 1983, The Textile Association India honored him
with an Honorary Fellowship of the Textile Association India. Mr. Nanal
had written several technical articles and had presented numerous papers at
conferences and seminars.
S.Y. Nanal died 17 days before the book release function and he couldn’t
see his book in print. He expired due to severe heart attack on 3rd December,
2008, just 13 days before his 76th birth day.
Foreword
India has always been known for its high productivity in spinning. When
synthetic fibre spinning started a few decades back, the spindle speeds used
to be low when compared with spindle speeds in cotton spinning. But the
productivity of ring frames on synthetics was much higher than those of ring
frames working on cotton on any count due to the lower twist multiplier
used for synthetic spinning.
Of course, there were apprehensions that high spindle speeds could spoil
the yarn quality. We cannot say that these fears were totally baseless. At the
same time, just because the twist multiplier is low with synthetic spinning,
it does not mean that these ring frames have to be run at low speeds.
When the ring frame is run at high spindle speed, there are certain factors
which play an important role and help in determining the optimum speed.
Machine condition, quality of spindles, rings and travelers; and breakage
rate, increase in power consumption, etc are important factors. Of course,
these factors vary from mill to mill and so whatever speed is achieved in
one mill, may not be possible in other mills.
We at Priyadarshini believe in high speed spinning of polyester blends.
So in the year 2000, we went in for 14 Lakshmi’s LR 6 ring frames which
are designed to run at a maximum spindle speed of 25000 rpm. After we
placed the order with LMW, I told my people that we are buying these high
speed ring frames and I want them to be run as near to 25000 rpm as is
practically possible. I knew they had problems and I agreed with them to
invite Mr. Nanal, the author of this book for help. I was happy when in 2001,
all the 14 LR 6 ring frames ran at a maximum speed of 24500 on 60s and
X Foreword
76s PV blends. I was really thrilled when Mr. Nanal told me that we were
running these ring frames at the highest spindle speed in the whole world.
And at that time-in 2001 -most blend spinning mills could not imagine
spindle speeds higher than 18000 rpm even in the wildest of their dreams.
We are convinced that high speed spinning of polyester blends is technically
feasible and commercially viable. This will enable the managements of
spinning mills to reduce the conversion cost to the lowest level and to be
able to survive the worst market conditions -as they happen to be at present.
The LR 6 ring frames are quite sturdy and we have had no breakdowns with
them in the last 7 years, even when running them continuously at 24500
rpm. I compliment my people for running these ring frames at these super
high speeds with steady working for the last 7 years. I am aware of the
daily checks and observations they carry out religiously day in and day out.
We are running not only the LR 6 ring frames at high speeds, we are also
running Chinese and other local ring frames at 22 000-23 000 rpm. We have
achieved high values of grammes per spindle shift. In 30s 100% polyester,
we get 300 g/ss; in 40s PV we obtain 200 g/ss. We have established since
several years a culture of high speed spinning in our mills.
The author of this book was associated with synthetic fibres and synthetic
yarn spinning industry for several decades and had extensively toured many
countries. He was quite conversant with the intricacies of synthetic fibre
spinning. The author, with his long experience, had dealt with many issues
in high speed spinning technology. I am quite sure that the information
and the recommendations given in this book will help the synthetic yarn
manufacturers in a big way to achieve the best productivity in their mills.
This book will go a long way to make the synthetic spinning mills in our
country more competitive in the international market. I wish that all the
synthetic spinning mills in India take full advantage of this book.
C . K. Rao
Priyadarshini Spinning Mills,
Hyderabad
November 2008
Preface
Early in 2000 AD, the two major manufacturers of ring frames in India-
viz. Lakshmi Machine Works and Kirloskar Toyota Textile Machinery
Manufacturers Ltd -offered their latest ring frames -LR6 and RXI 240
respectively to the Indian spinning industry. Both these ring frames are
designed to run at spindle speeds of 25000 rpm.
It was in 2001, that I got involved with high speed spinning of polyester
blends when I worked with the technical team of Priyadarshini Spinning
Mills, Hyderabad to run their 14 Lakshmi's LR 6 ring frames at a maximum
speed of 24500 rpm. Since then, I have worked with other mills to speed
up their LR 6 ring frames.
Since then, several spinning mills have installed these ring frames. But
currently most of them run these ring frames at the speed of 16000-18000
rpm under utilising them. Spinners, who use these ring frames, have several
fears -that at speeds above 18 000 rpm, the traveler temperature could reach
290 "C-well above the melting point of polyester which is 260 "C; and
could lead to fusion of protruding fibres creating dark spots in fabric on
dyeing; that hairiness will be so high that it will be difficult to weave these
yarns especially on an air jet loom; and that power cost will go up too high
which will make spinning uneconomic.
However, some of the adventurous spinners, whose number may be about
8 or 10, are running these ring frames at spindle speeds ranging from 20 500
to 24500 rpm on both grey and dyed fibre spinning. They have found-to
their relief-that the fears expressed by other spinners were not true. No
fusing of fibres was found while hairiness increased only marginally. The
Xi1 Preface
power cost did go up, but not as high as they feared. Making a success of
high speed spinning involves several factors -right from selecting bales to
be fed to the blow room to controlling U% and CV% of wrapping at finisher
drawing, to ensuring almost zero breaks at roving. I have been personally
involved in helping a few mills to run their ring frames at 22000-24500
rpm and so have built up a knowledge base on how to go about making
a success of high speed spinning. This practical knowledge has a strong
theoretical basis, Hence it can be applied successfully under varying industrial
conditions. Therefore, I felt the urge to write this book as a practical guide
to the spinners, not only of polyester viscose blends, but also of other fibres
at the mechanically designed maximum spindle speed at ring frames.
This book includes four live case studies of spinning mills in India (Chapter
7) that are running their ring frames successfully on both grey and dyed
fibre spinning at speeds varying from 20500 rpm to 24500 rpm. The book
concludes by saluting the pioneers (Chapter 8) of ‘High Speed Spinning
of Polyester Blends’, who had vision and took great risks to run their ring
frames at real high speeds.
Since high speed spinning of polyester blends (Chapterl) is mostly an
Indian phenomenon (Chapter 2), it is apposite that this book is written by
an Indian and is produced in India. However, it charts out a path that a
spinning mill any where in the world could take to run their ring frames at
super high speeds. Right from blowroom till winding, one needs to ensure
quality in such a way that at high ring frame speeds, end breaks at ring
frame, vital yarn properties, and winding cuts remain more or less at the
same level (Chapters 3 and 4) as obtained at slower ring frame speeds. The
book examines economics of high-speed spinning (Chapter 5 ) and ends up
predicting the future of high speed spinning technology (Chapter 6). The
book would prove eminently useful to spinning mills, which buy modern
high-speed ring frames, to run them successfully at speeds 20 500-24 500
rpm depending upon the count spun. By doing so, the spinning mill will
ensure that their conversion cost is lowered substantially and the ‘bottom
line’ is improved considerably.
It must be clarified here that this book could also be useful to all those
mills that run their ring frames at speeds lower than the designed highest
mechanical spindle speed, irrespective of the fibre material they process. To
give an example: a spinning mill with Laksmi’s G 5/1 ring frames runs them
at say 16000 rpm for a PC blend or for 100% cotton in the range of 30-40s.
This machine is designed to run at a maximum speed of 20000 rpm. If this
spinning mill wants to speed up their G 5/1 frame to 20000 rpm, it will find
ways to do so in this book. Of course, the norms of quality given in this
book, which apply only to polyester and its blends with viscose, would need
to be adapted to the material being processed. In fact, the financial returns
from high speed spinning are so high that it is worth replacing the spindles,
...
Preface xi11
rings and the drive motors by high speed versions to raise the mechanically
achievable upper limit of spindle speed. (Appendix 1)
The ideas given in this book can definitely be applied to high speed
spinning of other fibre/blends such as polyester/cotton, viscose, cotton and
others.
This book should prove eminently useful to:
The top management of spinning mills who should compare the highest
spindle speed at their ring frames with those employed by high speed
spinners, look closely at the economics given and then check if their
ring frames can be speeded up so as to increase substantially their mill’s
profits. Also if the mill does not posses high speed ring frames, then top
management should take inspiration from RSWM Ltd. which runs their
Lakshmi’s G 5/1 ring frames at 22000 rpm against the designed speed
of 20000 rpm in a very cost effective way as given in Chapter 7, and
supported in Appendix 1.
Senior spinning technologists can check if they can speed up their ring
frames and make a success of high speed spinning as suggested in this
book, so as to add to their unit’s profits.
Quality control heads who would need to help the production personnel
in taking trials to finally reach the goal of high speed spinning
Maintenance personnel will know what mechanical conditions of the
machines are expected to make a success of high speed spinning and
could plan their activities accordingly.
Teachers in textile institutes would find this book useful to explain to
their students the inter relations of various actions starting from fibre
properties to breakage rates in ring spinning and winding. The way in
which knowledge gained as different subjects gets used in controlling
the processes will become clear to the students. A good study of the ides
in this book will prepare them to become better technicians when they
join the industry.
I hope that my efforts of putting the ideas used in consultation in a book
form become fruitful, and all these groups use this book on a large scale
and benefit from it.
S. Y. Nanal
Dusserah
9th October 2008
E mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge the support and encouragement given by:

Mr. Madan Wajpe, Shivam Techmech Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai for his
suggestion that I should write a book to share my knowledge with the
textile fraternity.
Mr. V. Kalyan Sundaram, India representative of M/S Braecker AG, who
obtained sponsorship from his parent company in Zurich, Switzerland.
Mr. C. K. Rao, ex-MD of Priyadarshini Spinning Mills, Hyderabad,
who believed that I had the expertise to help their mills to speed up the
ring frames, and who has also kindly agreed to write Foreword for this
book.
Mr. Ashok Garde, Chairman, Book Publishing Committee, the Textile
Association (India) for his unstinted support, guidance, encouragement
and for editorial help.
I sincerely thank the following friends (in alphabetical order) who read the
manuscript and made valuable suggestions to make this book more useful
and meaningful to spinning technicians.
Bhattacharya, Prabir
Bhat, Prabhakar (Dr)
Biradar, M. M
Dadoo, Anil K.
Dole, Balram R.
Gupta, S. M.
xvi Ac know1edge ment
Indrayan, V. K.
Jain, Rajeev
Kanitkar, M. D.
Mohan, Rajarao
Raturi, Rakesh
Salhotra, K. R. (Dr)
Shah, Paresh S.
Sharma, R. N.
Sharma, Sanjay
Reddy, B. Shiva
Tanwar, Ramesh K.
Vijay, Shankar
All the statistical data given in the Book has been taken from the Handbook
of Statistics on Manmade/Synthetic Fibre Industry 2007-2008 published by
the Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry, Mumbai.
My grateful thanks are due to the Textile Association (India) and to
Woodhead Publishing India for their decision to publish this book.
Special thanks are due to M/S Braecker AG, Switzerland, the well-known
manufacturers of rings and travelers, whose donation has enabled the Textile
Association to offer this book to its members at a considerably subsidised
price.
S. Y. Nanal
Concept of High Speed Spinning of
Polyester Blends
The highest spindle speed at which a modern ring frame can work is 25 000
rpm. This high value of the mechanical limit to spindle speed was achieved
by machinery makers about 15 years ago; and several manufacturers have
delivered such machines in several countries including India. The limiting
cause for this stagnation in the highest achievable speed could be that the
ringhraveler friction becomes excessive at higher speeds, or the ring frame
tenter finds it extremely difficult to manage a satisfactory piecing. Several
other factors which, a mill technologist would not be expected to know or
to understand, may also be responsible for this upper limit not increasing
continuously over the years. But is this upper limit really restricting the
Indian spinners at present in their efforts to increase productivity to the
maximum? Not really.
Is high speed spinning of polyester blends

practicable?
Many spinners have expressed several fears for running ring frames at higher
than 18 000 rpm. Important among them are as follows:
(a) Possible fusing of protruding ends of the polyester staple fibre (PSF)
due to coming in contact with traveler. The temperature at the traveler
can go as high as 290 "C at very high spindle speeds, and the melting
point of polyester is 260 "C. So, the protruding ends would fuse. On
High Speed Spinning of Polyester and its Blends with Viscose
dyeing the fabric, the fused portions will take deeper colour leading to
several dark spots in the fabric.
The speed of yarn delivery from the front rollers would become so high
that good piecing of ends after a break would become difficult; and the
proportions of bad piecings will become too high for good working of
the yarn in further processes like winding and weaving.
The other worry is about the end breakage rate increasing steeply. At
high levels of end breaks, the tenter would not be able to manage the
higher workload and the frames under his care would get ‘jammed’
i.e. too many un-pieced ends leading to roller lapping and increase in
suction clearer waste and consequent loss in productivity.
Yarn hairiness would increase so much that weaving, particularly on
air jet looms, would then be uneconomical due to very poor running
efficiency of the looms.
The traveler life would become as short as a few hours; apart from the
increased costs, very frequent traveler changes would increase workload
and would reduce the machine running time substantially.
And finally, the power cost would go so high that spinning as a commercial
operation would become, uneconomic.
The combined effect of all these fears has been that no one wants to try
out high speed spinning of polyester blends. But, are these fears real? Are
they supported by technological logic or experiments?
Before we answer this question, we need to define ‘high speed’. The
Indian textile mills have grown gradually in the use of polyester fibres over
the years starting from early 1960s, and the speeds have been gradually
increasing from about 10000-18000 rpm by 2000 AD. Any number above
which the spindle speed (in revolutions per minute) is to be considered as
‘high speed’ would, of necessity, be an arbitrary number. However, knowing
that the maximum permissible speed is 25000 rpm, that the spindle speed
is kept somewhat lower at the beginning of a doff than at the middle of the
doff, and that most mills in India run their frames at not more than 18 000
rpm as the maximum speed during the doff. We can consider any spindle
speed above 20000 rpm used for regular yarn production on ring frames
as high speed.
Only when the maximum speed of a ring frame spinning polyester blended
yarns is 20000 rpm and above, only then should that spinning operation be
termed as “High Speed Spinning of Polyester Blends”. The average speed
over the doff could be lower than 20000 rprn in some cases of high speed
spinning.
Fortunately, India manufactures two models of modern ring frames -LR6
made by Lakshmi Machine Works and RXI 240 produced by Kirloskar
Toyota Textile Machinery Manufacturers Limited. Both these frames are
Concept of High Speed Spinning of Polyester Blends 3
mechanically designed and engineered suitably to run at the maximum

spindle speed of 25000 rpm. Several Indian spinning mills have bought
these two models of ring frames in the last 7 years. However, many of
these spinning mills run these frames at around the maximum speed in
the range of 16000-18000 rpm, thereby under utilizing these expensive
machines.
Fortunately again, some 8-10 adventurous spinners in India have tried
high speed spinning, and are now successfully running their ring frames at
maximum speeds of 20 000 plus, ranging from 20 500 to 24 500 rpm. They
have discovered through many trials and errors, and several well-planned
experiments -to their immense relief -that no fusing of polyester fibres
takes place and the end breaks can be controlled between 1 and 4 per 100
spindle hours. They found that the hairiness does go up marginally, and
that their existing ring tenters could piece up broken ends without any
extra strain due to the higher delivery speed of the yarn coming out of the
front rollers. Though the power cost went up, the production in grammes
per spindle shift (g/ss) did go up significantly. So, their conclusion is that
high speed spinning of polyester blends is technically possible, since no
real deterioration takes place in either spinning performance or in quality of
spun yarns. And most importantly, high speed spinning of polyester blends
turned out to be not only commercially viable but it also added to their
mill’s profitability in no small way.
But will, what worked in a few mills work also in all other mills? Can
all mills really speed up their ring frames to their mechanical limits? This
would be feasible only if the theoretical basis behind such attempts at
increasing productivity at ring frames is sound.
Sound basis for speeding up

Let us consider the genuine fears faced by the conscientious spinners about
the effect of higher spindle speeds at ring frames on yarn quality and on ring
frame productivity. We will juxtapose the theoretical knowledge with the
practical experience to check whether theory predicts the practical results,
or whether the practical results obtained by a few spinners are coincidental,
and their ‘luck’ cannot be reproduced elsewhere.
(a) Fibre fusion

The friction of the traveler rotating in contact with and around the ring at
a rotational speed of 12000 rpm means that the traveler goes around the
ring 200 times in a second. For a ring with diameter of 45 mm, the linear
speed of the traveler works out to about 102 k d h . The metal to metal dry
friction at this high linear speed along a circular path under the pressure
4 High Speed Spinning of Polyester and its Blends with Viscose
exerted by the rotating yarn tension generates considerable heat. (Braecker

have found that part of the spin finish on the fibre does go onto the ring
and so the ring traveler friction cannot be strictly called dry). We all are
familiar with the phenomenon of traveler burning which occurs due to the
heat generated by this friction. The steel wire of the traveler turns brown
first and then gradually turns blue; the temperatures corresponding to
this colouration of steel alloys used to make travelers are in the range of
240-360 "C respectively. Travelers that have turned blue continue to be used
for spinning of yarn until either they break owing to wear or get replaced
as scheduled after several more days in service. As a rough estimate, about
20-30% of travelers are blue at the time of replacement. And we also know
that the melting temperature of polyester is 260 "C. Therefore, the fear that
the heat-sensitive polyester fibres may melt i.e. fuse, and still remain on
the yarn surface is very real.
Implicit in the above thinking on high temperature leading to fibre fusion
is a simple assumption, namely, the yarn passing through the traveler will
come in contact with the very hot surface at the traveler. Does it really?
Let us see how the yarn passes through the traveler at the ring.
Figure l a shows the path of the yarn being twisted as it comes out of the
front pair of drafting rollers, goes through the lappet hook placed centrally
above the ring, and then through the traveler on to the bobbin mounted on
the spindle.
Figure l b shows the cross section of the flange of the ring and the way
in which the traveler sits on it. The two ends 1 and 4 of the elliptically
shaped traveler remain free from contact with the ring. The friction between
the ring and the traveler occurs at the contact point 2, which is somewhat
away from the point where the passing yarn touches the traveler at point
3. So, the question is to be now phrased somewhat differently. Will the
heat generated just a few millimeters away at the contact point 2 traveler
up to the yarn point 3? To answer this question, we need to know about
conductivity of steel.
Figure 2 shows the heat distribution along the length of the traveler
schematically.
The conductivity of steel is so poor that the entire spread of heat occupies
only a millimeter or two along the length of the traveler. The highest
temperature reached due to friction with the ring does not even reach the
end 1, which is quite near the contact point 2.
This can be verified in practice very simply. At the time of traveler
change, collect about 100 travelers carefully without letting them break
during removal. Separate a few travelers that have turned blue and few
others that may still be only brown. Examine the ends of near the blue
portion of the traveler. You will find that on most of these travelers the end
is quite normal-no browning or bluing has occurred. (If some ends are
Yarn
1 \A Ballooning yarn
Wound yarn
Tr ave Ie r
Ring
(a) Yarn path

Yarn position
+Traveler
Contact area f-- * Flange of the ring
Inner end Outer end

(b) Yarn at the traveler
Figure 7: Yarn passage at ring frame
found blue, then that end 1 must have been in contact with the ring either
continuously or intermittently. Such faulty runs do occur rarely).
So if the end near the blue spot does not receive any troublesome
conducted heat, how can the point of yarn contact 3 get any heat at all?
That this point 3 is also of normal colouration can also be confirmed by
+290 OC
I I I
1 2 3 4
Inner Contact Yarn Outer
end point position end
Length along the traveler
Figure 2: Heat distribution on traveler
observation. Without exception, the point 3 will be found to have the normal
colour of the traveler. This portion may shine due to frictional contact with
running yarn and may also be observed to have been worn down due to
yam friction. But this portion would never show even the brown colour,
leave aside the blue colour which is indicative of the highest temperature
that can occur on the traveler.
Thus we can see that fibre fusion-the melting of polyester staple fibre
ends projecting from the surface of the yarn due to high temperature on the
traveler-is next to impossible. Fibre fusion does not take place at spindle
speed of 12000 rpm even though the travelers turn blue. It cannot take place
even at 25000 rpm even if a much greater proportion of travelers turn blue
in the same running period (of say 7 days).
(b) Speed a t piecing

Piecing a broken end on a ring frame is indeed a skilled job. Only those
individuals with good finger dexterity combined with good eye-hand
coordination last as tenters. The piecing operation consists of 4 major
elements.
Stopping the rotating spindle (bobbin)
Locating the broken yarn end on the surface of the yarn package and
picking it up by fingers.
Threading that end through the traveler and taking it up to the front
roller nip.
0 Joining the yarn end with the untwisted strand coming out from the nip
of the front rollers (and going into the suction clearer duct).
Piecing is the main job element of ring frame tenters. When the spindle
speeds become very high, the first reaction of the ring frame tenters is about
the difficulty in stopping. A little hesitation in gripping the rotating bobbin
can singe the skin of fingers or palm due to frictional heat. A quick grasp
avoids such singeing, which can take place even at spindle speeds of 10
000 rpm. Tenters are known to have complained of singeing problem when
going from 10000 rpm to 16000 rpm also. This problem does not really
exist for any skilled worker (or even for a semi-skilled supervisor working
as a tenter). Even so, spindle brakes that can be activated using the knee
have been developed long ago and are standard equipment on modern ring
frames. ‘Knee brakes’ not only avoid singeing of hand, but also keep both
hands free for piecing. The fourth operation of joining the bobbin end with
the drafted fleece near the front roller nip is normally done at delivery
speeds of about 20 d m i n at 12000 rpm. The time available for laying an
overlap of about 1 cm is of the order of three hundred of a second (0.03 s).
At 24000 rpm, this time reduces to half this value, namely, 0.015 s. Even
the value of 0.03 s looks impossible to manage manually. But as everyone
who has tried to learn piecing at the ring frame knows by experience that
the piecing ‘takes place’ by itself quite quickly and easily. Almost the same
thing happens when the time needed is much smaller.
Tenters, rarely, if ever have complained about the difficulty of piecing
broken ends at high speeds. The number of attempts to manage a piecing
also does not increase to any significant extent at the higher spindle speeds,
nor does the proportion of bad piecings increase. Well trained workers who
can manage the total operation of piecing in about 6-7 s continue to manage
the same number irrespective of the spindle speed.
( c ) End breakage rate

Every spinner finds it necessary to control the end breakage rate at a
‘manageable’ level and this level is not a technical decision. The right or
the optimum level of end breakage rate is decided by several factors acting
together in diverse directions.
The end breakage rate should be low enough to permit high spindle
allocation so as to keep labour cost low.
If kept at very low level, then the spindle productivity in grammes per
spindleshift gets restricted because the higher the spindle speed, the
higher are the breakage rates.
High Speed Spinning of Polyester and its Blends with Viscose
The spindle allocation to the tenter should be such, that given the
end breakage rate, the suction clearer waste should not be more than
1.5%.
The better the yarn quality the fewer are the end breaks; but producing
very high quality yarns would require expensive raw material and
many controls on the process, making that quality level possibly non-
profitable.
The mechanical condition of the ring frame also affects the breakage
rate; the cost of excellent maintenance can be very high compared to
the advantage gained from the lower breakage rate.
Let us consider the relationships between the spindle allocation, work load
of the tenter, suction clearer waste and the end breakage rates at the ring
frame. The proper workload is 85%, the optimum suction clearer waste is
1.5% and the normal piecing time is 8 s (assumed on the higher side of the
good value of 6 s)
Then,
125 30
Effective permissible end breakdl00 spindle hours = y2 - -
-Jc
where n = number of ring frame sides of 220 spindles attended by a tenter
and c is the yarn count Ne.
Effective breaks = Normal breaks + 3 x roller lopping breaks
Since clearing a roller lapping and then piecing a broken end requires
about 24 s instead of normal 8 s.
Using this formula, we can decide the permissible breakage rate for the
given allocation or decide the allocation for given breakage rate.
Consider a mill spinning 36 Ne polyester-viscose yarn with allocation
of 2000 spindles per tenter. Assume further, that 1 in 10 end breaks results
in a lapping.
The permissible effective breakage rate is then
b----125 30 = 15.5 - 5 = 10.5
- 8 J36
This means that the actual breakage rate is about 8 breaks per 100 spindle
hours, of which, 1 break is with lapping.
But most mills work their ring frames with total breaks of 2-4 per 100
spindle hours. This means that their tenters are not loaded up to 85%. In
fact, in most mills, the tenters’ work load is found to be around 60%.
Therefore, the first conclusion about end breakages is about how many
more breaks per 100 spindle hours the mill can tolerate without any adverse
effect on management of ring frames by the tenter.
Consider the next yarn quality; the characteristics of yarn found worth
including in the prediction equation were: lea count strength product (CSP),
yarn count (Ne), CV% of lea coun€ (V), yarn unevenness % (U), thin
places/1000 m (at 50%) and thick places per 1000 m (at 3), and of course
the spindle speed (rpm), spindle lift (L) and the front roller speed (FRS).
Let B denote the end breakage rate per 100 spindle hours, where only
the single breaks at spindle position are counted (without including the
multiple breaks due to lashing or breaks due to traveler flying etc). These
are termed as 'spindle breaks'.
Spindle breaks/ 100 spindle hours =
600
where S = spindle speed in rpm, thick = thick places (3)/100 km and FRS
in front rollers speed and
where again,
csp - 0.54 x V'.5x C
M=
1 + (0.03V1.5)
This relationship is indeed awfully complex; but it predicts the end

breakage rate correctly in over 85% of the cases with an error of only +1
or 2 breaks per 100 spindle hours. Fortunately, we do not need to use this
relationship and not to do any computations at all.
What we need to understand is the nature of relationship between yarn
quality, spindle speed and end breakage rate shown in Figure 3.
Obviously, this graph is a representative but true version of what happens
in mill situations.
For a very good yarn, a given increase in spindle speed increases the
breakage rate only marginally; but increases much more for lower quality
of yarns. Most spinners know this from their experience. When the count is
fine, the breakage rates for a given spindle speed are lower than for medium
counts. Again, experience tells us the same thing.
This equation for predicting end breaks was developed for cotton yarns;
Excellent yarn quality: fine count

--- Poor yarn quality: fine count
- - - - - Excellent yarn quality: medium counts
_._....___Poor yarn quality: medium counts I
I
.
.
,
I
.: ,,
. I
* I
I ,
+ I
r l /
: : /
r l /
: I
"
1
I 1 1 I I I I I I
9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
Spindle speed ('000 rpm)
Figure 3: Dependence of end breaks on spindle speed
will it apply also to polyester and polyester blended yarns? The answer is
YES and NO. Yes, it will apply in principle -the nature of equation would
remain the same, but the constants would change. No, if used as it is, the
constants would not be appropriate to predict accurately the breakage rates
for polyester blended yarns.
In other words, the nature of the graph will remain the same; and
mill experience with polyester blends also confirm these trends seen in
Figure 3.
Therefore, the conclusion is simple; if we want to increase the spindle
speed to high levels, we must ensure that the yarn quality parameters are
at excellent levels. The better the yarn quality, the higher is the achievable
spindle speed at the desired level of end breakage rate.
The yarn quality parameters to be controlled are the strength and the
variability of yarn thickness over different lengths.
Given excellent yarn quality, the fear that high speed spinning would lead
to unmanageably high end breakage rates is ill founded. No such disaster
will occur in mill practice.
We know that the end breakage rate depends heavily on the machine
conditions. Does the above formula take care of that also? Yes, another
improved version takes account of machine condition P, which is 1 for a
ring frame in excellent condition and can go down to 0.8 or so for 15-year-
old machines with poor condition of rings and spindles etc.
Just as the inferior yarn quality shows higher breakage rates, the ring
frames in poor mechanical condition will also give more end breaks at any
given spindle speed. As the spindle speed increases, the end breakage rate
will increase much faster on the ring frames in poor mechanical condition
than on those in excellent conditions.
(d) Traveler life

The heart of high speed spinning is the traveler and ring combination. The
quality of the traveler and that of the ring cannot be assessed by instrumental
testing of characteristics of these vital elements of spinning technology. Of
course, the manufacturers of rings and of travelers know which properties to
test and to control at optimum levels during production, starting right from
selecting the composition of the metal to be used. The spinning industry
the world over knows that they are doing it right, since very high speed
spinning is successful in many mills. But the fact remains that all the tested
characteristics of a traveler put together do not help in predicting traveler
performance or life, nor do tested characteristics of rings help in predicting
the ring performance or life. Here, performance denotes mainly the resultant
end breakage rate and life refers to the time period for which the ring or
the traveler can be considered serviceable. Therefore, given the state of
technology and research & developments as in 2008 AD, the only way to
assess the performance of rings and travelers is to take practical trials over
long periods on at least one ring frame (at least about 400 spindles).
New rings need some ‘running-in’ to ‘smoothen’ the traveler path around it;
just like new automobiles need to smoothen the working of the new pistons in
the new cylinders. This smoothening is best done at relatively lower speeds.
Technology and engineering developments have reduced considerably the
time required for running-in of rings and also of travelers.
New travelers need running-in: a fact which is also known to mill
technicians. When the count changes on a ring frame, the different traveler
number (weight) that needs to be used must be run-in before this traveler
number starts giving the minimum number of end breaks possible with its
use for the new count of yarn. Similarly, when the spindle speed is increased
by more than about 5%, the track made by the traveler on the ring also
shifts somewhat, even if the traveler count is not changed. Therefore, some
running-in is needed.
A good measure of the need for running-in of rings is the percentage of
travelers that get burnt during the first running for just one shift 8 h. Burnt
travelers are those which show blue colour at the contact point with the
ring. Brown coloured travelers are termed half-burnt. If this percentage
is over 60% or so, considerably more running-in of the ring is needed. If
the percentage is less than 5-6% the rings are well run-in, and the traveler
track smooth enough. Spinners in most mills are aware of these facts and
therefore use a running in procedure for brand new set of rings on the
following lines:
Run the ring frame at about 20% lower speed than normal.
Change traveler every shift for 3-4 shifts.
Increase the interval between changes to about 3 days, for 3-4 changes,
and then stabilise at about 7 or 10 days as standard interval.
This procedure normally serves the purpose of keeping the average end
breakage rate on the ring frame nearly the same over the service life of,
say, 10 days of the traveler. However, the spinners interested in high speed
spinning need to do something more. They need to assess the running
quality of the traveler in terms of its possible impact on end breakage rate
and also on yarn hairiness (please see the next sub-heading for more on
controlling hairiness). A measure that comes nearest to the prediction of end
breakage rate is the percentage of burnt travelers. It is a general experience
that when the percentage of burnt travelers reaches about 30%, it is better
to change the traveler. Waiting till this proportion goes over 50% or even
up to 80% may show poor results by way of increase in the breakage rate
or in the hairiness of yarn.
Why do burnt travelers result in more end breaks and higher hairiness
in the first place? This is because the tempering of the traveler i.e. the
hardening treatment given to travelers by heating and quick cooling gets
destroyed. Secondly, the traveler starts wobbling during the rotation around
the ring. This happens also because of the wear brought in by its contact
with the ring. In cases where this becomes excessive one can literally hear
the ‘traveler chatter’. Thirdly, the wear of traveler due to contact with the
running yarn can create sharp edges that abrade the yarn, making it more
hairy and more prone to break. These effects are small and occur only on
in an unknown and not easily assessable fraction of the semi-burnt and
burnt travelers. Let us take an illustration: burnt travelers are 50% and
half of these give rise to 30% higher end breakage rate. Assume that the
average breakage rate is 3 per 100 spindle hours. It would increase by 3 x
0.25 - 0.3 = 0.2. It is rather difficult to detect an increase of average end
breakages from level of 3.0-3.2. Therefore, it is better to err on the safer
side and set the traveler change cycle by permitting about 30% of travelers
to get burnt. This life span is then the right or the optimum service life of
the traveler for all practical purposes. It is possible to increase this average
percentage of burnt travelers at replacement up to even 60%; if-and only
if -consistent testing of end breaks and hairiness show no deterioration.
This can be tested by collecting yarn from the first day of the traveler cycle
and comparing the quality with the sample collected from the day on which
60% burnt travelers are noticed.
If deciding upon the right change cycle for a traveler is so difficult and
so vogue or approximate, the decision on the service life of a ring is even
more so. No amount of testing by instruments nor visual observation and
assessment of wear can help us decide whether a particular ring will result
in end breakages at the normal good rate or at much higher rates. And again,
what percentage of ‘bad’ rings in terms of increased end breaks and/or
increased yarns hairiness can we tolerate? Here, we do not have the option
of testing yarn quality or end breakage rate on the same rings as new and
old (say 1-3 years), unlike in the case of travelers where the back material
remains the same over its life cycle of a few days.
Fortunately, research at ATIRA, has shown that the behaviour of ‘good’
and ‘bad’ rings-i.e. the entire set of rings on one ring frame considered
together-is exactly like the behaviour of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ yarns in Figure
3. If the spindle speed in increased on ‘good’ (new but well-run-in) rings,
the end breakage rate increases very slowly with increasing speed. But
on ‘bad’ rings whose service life is over (say after 3-4 years of use), the
increase in end breakage rate is much more.
In any trial or experiment to verify this type of behaviour of old rings
and new rings when working at high spindle speeds, three precautions must
be observed:
The lower spindle speed to be chosen needs to be at least lo%, preferably
20% less, to make the possible difference in the breakage rate (and also
in the yam hairiness) detectable easily.
The travelers -whether of the same number or changed (usually of lower
weight for the lower spindle speed) number-need to be run-in well
before the study for observing the end breakage rates is conducted.
It is desirable to install a set of new rings on one side of the experimental
ring frame where rings are, say, 3 years old. The new rings should be
run-in properly at the lower sped till the traveler burning rate becomes
almost as low as normal. Then the end breakage rates would be seen to
be nearly equal on both the sides (at the lower spindle speed.)
Travelers need to be run-in again on the new rings when the normal
higher spindle speed is tried out. When the percentage burnt travelers
is between 20% and 30% at the higher speed on the new rings, the
observations on breakage rates can be taken.
If the old rings are found to give 25% more average breakage rate then
the normal 4, based on observations over at least 2 doffs (more than 2000
spindle hours), they need to be replaced. Then the life cycle can be considered
to be of 3 years for this count at the working higher spindle speed.
Since the average breakage rate is to be controlled around the desired
level of around 4 per 100 spindle hours, the rings need faster replacement
when high speed spinning (spindle speed greater than 20000 rpm) is
implemented.
This discussion on the behaviour of rings and travelers in the context of
our need to control the end breakage rate and the hairiness of yarn brings
out four imperatives for ensuring success of high speed spinning. Those
spinners who opt for high speed spinning must:
Choose the right combination of ring and traveler that gives the least
end breakages rate. Many trials over long periods would be needed or
substantial time period of experience would be needed to decide upon
the right combination. And the right combination is the one that gives
a breakage rate of about 4 at over 20000 rpm over the life cycle of
traveler.
Select the right traveler count that gives the least end breakage rate at
the required high spindle speed. First check that the balloon control
rings (BCRs) are positioned at beginning of the doff in such a way
that their distance from ring rail is 4 compared to their distance from
lappet hook as 5 , i.e., the BCRs are set a little below the middle
position. Then the optimum traveler count is that which gives some
constriction to the ballooning yarn at the shoulder portion of the yarn
traverse at the beginning of the doff. If the traveler is too light, the
ballooning yarn will bulge out and lash against the balloon separates;
but it is too heavy and the ballooning yarn will not get restricted at all
at the BCR.
Ensure that the traveler change cycle is decided upon based on percent
burnt travelers.
Ensure that ‘old’ rings are replaced by ‘new’ in good time.
(e) Yarn hairiness

Does yarn hairiness really increase with increasing spindle speed? Given the
information from (a) and (b) about the position of the yarn in the traveler
and the smoothness of traveler surface, there seems to be no theoretical
reason to expect such increase. The little tendency towards more hairiness
because of the increased linear speed of yarn is offset by the increase in yarn
tension that would make the yarn a little more compact and so less prone
to hairiness. While this is so far most yarn constructions, the conditions
are different when polyester with 51 mm fibre length is used to increase

productivity, since the longer staple can give the required tenacity of lower
twist levels (hence higher front roller speed and corresponding increase
in g/ss.) The effect is doubly troublesome: the use of longer staple results
in longer protruding ends from the yarn surface, and the lower twist level
makes the yarn more prone to abrasion. Hairiness of such yarns is not
only higher at the ring frame but also increases more at the next process
of winding. Therefore, mills using 51 mm polyester can go for high speed
spinning only if the end use is for doubled yarns.
Is the hairiness of yarn a desirable quality or an undesirable characteristic?
Is hairiness a disadvantage, an unwanted feature or is it immaterial, i.e. of
no consequence either way? The answer is not a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’; the
desirability or otherwise of hairiness depends upon the end use for which
the yarn is to be used.
High hairiness is undesirable for
o hosiery: circular or warp knitting
o use as warp or weft on airjet looms
o shirting and dress materials
High hairiness is desirable for
o knitted or woven fabrics with good thermal insulation.
o soft, raised fabrics
Hairiness is immaterial when the ring span yarns are doubled or plied
more than two fold for different purposes such as
o use in suitings as warp and weft
o industrially needed ply yarns.
Doubling of single yarns suppresses the hairiness to a great extent, like
simple doublings of two reduces the imperfections by over 80%.
Let us consider a case where high level of hairiness is undesirable. Where
hairiness is undesirable, it is because of two distinct reasons: it increases end
breakages on the looms and reduces thereby the productivity; it results into
formation of pills on the fabric surface after prolonged use by the wearer
and thereby spoils the appearance. (In fabrics like denim, high hairiness
can cause shade variations.)
So, the mills wanting to opt for high speed spinning need to be concerned
about yarn hairiness only if it is undesirable, and this can differ from count
to count in the same mill.
It often appears in mill practice that the yarn becomes more hairy after
the spindle speed is increased. Correct choice of traveler type and count,
combined with the right frequency of traveler replacement together help to
avoid such an increase.
But one thing is clear: conditions that aggravate hairiness may exist at
the ‘border line’ level at the low spindle speed being worked. When the
spindle speed is increased, these potential troubles start becoming active

and cause the hairiness to increase.
Another important matter about hairiness is the limitation of the validity
of instrumental measurements available at present. Let us look at the
measurement first and then at the factors leading to increase in hairiness.
The capacitive measurement of hairiness is basically an indirect assessment;
it is consistent but somewhat gross. It can be used confidently to detect
large differences. The photoelectric counting of producing fibres at different
distances from the surface of the yarn is a direct measure and is a more reliable
assessment. Measurements done by either kind of instrument shows that the
variability of hairiness values within bobbins and between bobbins is high.
Coefficient of variation (CV%) of hairiness index ranges between 20% and
30%. Therefore, care should be taken to take a good representative sample
from at least 20 bobbins at 3 different places corresponding to beginning,
middle and end of doff. Average values of two different samples-like at
spindle speeds of 18000 and 24000 rpm-based on such 40 readings are
really different only if the higher value is 25% more than the lower value
of hairiness index that usually ranges from 2 to 6. Otherwise, the observed
difference is only due to sampling variability.
When the difference is found real and the high speed yarn turns out to
be more hairy, it is desirable to cross check by visual observation. But any
visual observation by any observer can be biased: in fact, it is invariably
biased. Those who feel that the higher spindle speed cannot really increase
hairiness will see no difference, while a salesman who has to market this
yarn will see a big and ‘obvious’ increase in hairiness. This kind of bias is
a natural human phenomenon. A procedure to eliminate human bias and to
come to reliable conclusion is given below. This procedure has been used
successfully in mills over several years.
Prepare 10 pairs of black boards of yarn wrapped around it with distance
between successive wraps equal to two times the diameter of the yarn. Each
pair should contain 1 board from the lower speed and 1 board from the
higher speed.
0 Number the boards from 1 to 20, whereby each pair 12, 34, 56 to 19,
20 has either the odd or the even number as high speed yarn. The odd
numbers are allotted at random and are to be kept confidential.
Ask at least 6 persons, says 2 each from spinning department, sales and
marketing, and management to judge each pair and to record their result
as ‘More Hairy: board numbers 1,4,6,7 etc’. Each observer judges there
10 pairs independently, without knowing the classification done by any
other observer. Each must say that yarn on one of the pair boards is
more hairy. No freedom is given to say “Both are equally hairy”.
Decode all the 60 results and find out how many results show the high
speed yam as more hairy. Let this number be A and the number for low
speed yam more hairy will be B (= 60 -A).
Use the formula ( A - B ) 2 > 4 to conclude whether the high speed yarn
A+B
is really more. If the value of ( A - B ) 2 is substantially higher than 4,
A+B
then the difference in hairiness is so visible that every one will notice
it. If the value is less than 3, the likelihood of the difference being real
is very small, not withstanding the fact that instrumental readings have
shown some difference.
The mechanical conditions on the ring frame that aggravates hairiness
are essentially rough surfaces in the path of the yarn from front roller nip
to the bobbin.
Wire of the lappet guide
Wire of the balloon control ring
Wire of the traveler
Surface of the ring flange
Besides this, eccentric centering of spindles within the ring causes large
increases in hairiness at different positions of the ring rail over chase and
over doff.
All these items occur at random on different spindle positions, leading to
‘defective’ i.e. much more hairy yarn bobbins. Good machinery maintenance
is the only way to ensure good control on yarn hairiness. On ring frames
with such defective spindles, high speed spinning can lead to an increased
average level of hairiness.
In conclusion, mills which want to go for high speed spinning must
ensure that
Hairiness is controlled based on the need as decided by the end use.
Condition of the parts in the path of the yarn and spindle centering is
excellent.
The instrumental test results on hairiness are visually confirmed by the
paired comparison test.
(f) Power cost

About 60% of the power consumption of a spinning mill is at the ring frames,
and the power cost is about 8% of sales. And power consumption at the ring
frames is mainly because of the spindles and bobbins rotating at high speeds
with ballooning yarns under tension. The spindle power constitutes about
70% of the ring frame power. We also know that the power consumption
of spindle assembly varies with the square of the spindle speed.
Let us consider the increase in power consumption when the spindle is

increased by 20%. The spindle power will be higher given by the multiplier
(1.2)2= 1.44 by 44%.The ring frame power will increase by 44%of 70%
i.e. by 30.8%, and the total power therefore will increase by 60% of 30.8%
i.e. by 18.48%.Therefore, the profits will reduce by 8% of 18.48%i.e. 1.5%
of sales. This is a substantial reduction in an industry where the average
profitability is about 4% of sales.
As against this extra cost that decreases the profit, the gain in productivity
is 20%. The contribution rate for polyester blends is usually around 30%
(contribution = sales price - variable costs). Therefore, when the sales
increase by 20%, the contribution increases also by 20% and the gain in
profit is 20% of 30% i.e. 6.0%.
So, the net effect on profits is an increase of 4.5% as percentage of sales.
Since the profitability is about 3% of sales at the slower speed, it would
become more than doubled with high speed spinning. This simple method
helps us to reach at least one conclusion with confidence- namely, the gains
from productivity at ring frames are much more than the increase in power
cost when going in for high speed spinning.
In short, theoretical considerations, practical experience based on use of
technological thinking, and use of available quantitative information put
together shows us that all the six fears normally expressed about high speed
spinning are undue fears. Suchfears should not hold back the technical and
managerial staff of spinning mills from attempting high speed spinning on
a large scale on all ring frames. And this is true not only for yarns.fi-om
manmade jibres, but also for yarns from natural jibres like cotton and
wool.
These considerations show that spinning of polyester and blends at the
highest workable spindle speed is technically quite feasible, and the fears
usually experienced by mill technicians are unfounded. The fact that the
power cost increase is unlikely to be too large to make the higher speeds
economically unviable is also reassuring. It is necessary to look at the
economics of high speed spinning carefully before recommending it as a
goal to all spinning mills.
Higher profitability
A higher spindle speed invariably leads to a higher production in g/ss
since the possible reduction due to increased suction clearer waste and the
reduced machine efficiency owing to more number of doffs is only about
1% when the speed increase is about 10%. Therefore, every increase in
spindle speed invariably reduces the conversion cost of yarn, i.e. the cost
of converting fibres into spun yarns. Today, the average or typical value in
the yarn market for the conversion rate in rupees per kilogram is given by
the expression: 0.8 x yarn count Ne. For illustration: for spinning 30s 100%
polyester, the conversion rate would be 0.8 x 30 = Rs 24 per kg. This is
what some one who gets his fibre converted to yarn would need to pay the
contracted spinning mill. This rate would have some minor profit for the
spinning mill included in it. Assuming the profit, at about 2% of sales, would
be about Rs. 2 per kg, the mill’s own conversion cost would be Rs. 22 per
kg or 0.733 x Count. High speed spinning will bring down this conversion
cost to about 0.67 - 0.70 x Count depending upon the amount of increase
in production; i.e., will reduce this cost by Rs 2 or 3 per kg. This saving is
the increase in profitability with high speed spinning.
Let us take a concrete example. A spinning mill of 25 000 spindles is able
to improve its productivity by 22% by running ring frames that much faster.
This mill produces 30s 100%polyester yarn and had the productivity of 240
g/ss before the speed increase. Now, with the increase in ring frame speed,
they get 295 g/ss shift i.e., an additional 45 g/ss i.e., 135 g per spindle day,
or 3375 kg/day. Thus, if the mill had not speeded up their ring frames, then
it would need 4688 additional spindles to produce this additional quantity.
Today it costs Rs 20000 per spindle to set up a new spinning mill up to
spindle point. So, the cost of putting up 4688 additional spindles would
be Rs 93.75 millions of capital expenditure. Add to this the other costs of
interest on capital till the repayment of loans is complete. Also add the cost
of additional building and workers. These entire additional costs equivalent
to capital expenditure of about Rs 100 millions are avoided by going over
to high speed spinning.
Therefore it is quite logical -technically feasible and economically
profitable- to run ring frames designed to run at spindle speed of 25 000
rpm at speeds above 20000 rpm.
As we all know, the working spindle speed depends upon the count spun;
finer counts permit higher spindle speeds than medium or course counts.
Currently, the maximum speeds being actually run by those mills that
have adopted high speed spinning in their mills for the past few years are:
20s - 20 500 rpm, 24s - 21 500 rpm, 30s - 22000 rpm, 40s - 23 000 rpm,
50s - 24000 rpm and 60s - 24500 rpm. Mills with LR6 or RXI 240 ring
frames should compare their current maximum speeds with the maximum
speed being used today by good mills in the country (India) as given here.
If their working speeds are much below these levels, they should seriously
consider going in for high speed spinning with a view to become globally
competitive.
Having concluded that high speed spinning of polyester blends is
technically feasible and commercially viable, the next question is, “How
to go about making it a success?” The consultation experience gained in
the process of helping two mills that are running their ring frames at the
highest spindle speed in the world -grey spinning at 24 500 rpm and dyed
fibre spinning at 22000 rpm-is of great help in outlining a practical plan of

action. This experience is not just from these 2 mills, but from other mills
that have been similarly guided and helped in their attempts to speed up
their ring frames successfully. This book is a product of these experiences
in the implementation of high speed spinning on shop floor. The purpose
of putting down these experiences based on sound theoretical footing in a
book form is to urge and to help all the spinning mills in India equipped
with modern ring frames to run their ring frames at a maximum speed of
20000 rpm or more, and thereby add substantially to their profits and so
continue to be globally competitive in the fiercely competitive markets of
the 21st century.
However, high speed spinning does not mean just speeding up the ring
frames. That has to be done only after the performance of polyester fibre (or
blends) on all preparatory and spinning machines is at a level as specified,
and certain checks are done daily, meticulously and without fail, at all stages
of spinning preparation and at the ring frame itself. This is to ensure that the
performance of the fibre at high speed spinning is maintained at the same
level of acceptability as earlier, both in terms of quality and end breakage
rates. If all the guidelines given in this book are faithfully and intelligently
followed, every mill spinning polyester and polyester blends will be able to
increase its spindle productivity close to the level set by the mechanically
possible highest spindle speed.
If theory supports high speed spinning and practical experience of few
mills show that this is commercially possible, why do many apprehensions
still prevail in the Indian spinning industry against such a move to higher
speeds? Equally, it is also important how come this phenomenon of achieving
such super-high speeds is restricted as yet to the spinners in India or to the
Indian spinners working abroad? A review of the past would show how
the polyester fibre industry grew in India, how the government policies
affected technical decisions, and how forces of competition led to bold
experimentation on the shop floor and in the markets. We are sure that such
understanding will go a long way in spurring the movement towards much
higher spindle productivity in spinning mills all over the world.
Historical Perspective
In 1941, two research scientists Dr John R. Whinfield and Dr J.T. Dickson

of Calico Printers Association of Manchester in UK were awarded the
patent for their discovery of ‘polyethelene terephthalate’ , the polyester
polymer. It is called poly-ester because it is a polymer brought after a
reaction between an organic acid Dimethyl Terephthalate (DMT) and an
organic alkali Monoethylene Glycol (MEG) to form an organic salt-ester.
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) bought this patent, and planned to put up
the first polyester plant in UK. DuPont in the USA came to know of these
developments. Earlier, Dr Carothers, Head of DuPont Research, had invented
nylon and neoprene polymers in around 1932. He had also looked at the
polyester polymer then and had put it aside because its melting point was
too low. However, DuPont got interested in the newly designed polyester
polymer and struck an exchange deal with ICI. ICI gave DuPont know-how
on polyester, and in return, DuPont shared knowledge on nylon with ICI.
Both companies together put up British Nylon Spinners as a joint venture
company to manufacture nylon in UK. However, DuPont were faster than ICI
in producing polyester commercially, and were the first to start commercial
production of polyester in the world, since their polyester plant went on
stream at Kinston in USA. The UK plant of ICI started production a few
months later. For the next 15 years, ICI and DuPont dominated the world
polyester scene. Only after the patent expired would several others get into
this expanding polyester field: Hoechst in Germany; Toray, Teijin, Unitika
and Kuraray in Japan. And so began the polyester expansion that is still
21
continuing with Indian names such as Terene from CAFI in the beginning
and much later as Recron from Reliance.
The fibre regenerated from natural cellulose such as wood was the first
of the regenerated fibres now known as viscose. First patented in 1892,
viscose production started around 1899 by the German firm Vereinigte
Glanzstofffabriken AG in Oberbruch. The process was improved by JP
Bemberg AG in 1901 that made this artificial product look similar to silk.
Rayon was only produced as a filament fiber until the 1930s when it was
discovered that broken waste rayon could be used as a staple fibre.
PSF was produced commercially and used as staple fibre for spinning
yarns from about 1950 in the USA first, and in the UK next. The beginning
was made by the brand name Terylene of ICI of the UK, Dacron of DuPont
in the USA. Polyester staple fibre (PSF) came to India as an imported fibre
for spinning yams from blends with cotton at the initiative of ICI in late
1950s. By the time a mill was put up in India for spinning yarns from
polyester-viscose blends, it was about 1960. The first Indian factory started
producing viscose in 195 1. The first factory to produce polyester in India
started in 1965.
This period in the industrial growth of India was that of almost total
control by the government on production of any item, especially the items
that affect the daily life of the common man. Cotton and manmade fibres
as raw materials, and yarns made from them in spinning mills came under
this category. Essentially, the government decided who will produce what,
in what quantities under the 5-year plans for the country as a whole. This
was the famous ‘License Raj’. As a result, the policy frame work encouraged
handloom weaving to protect the large number of handloom weavers and
almost stopped any expansion or modernisation of looms in the organised
sector of composite mills. On one hand, the policies encouraged a controlled
growth in power loom weaving on small scale, helped establishment of
co-operative cotton spinning mills in rural areas, allowed putting up of
spinning mills of all kinds for supporting the decentralised weaving activity.
On the other hand, the government taxed heavily the manmade fibres like
polyester and viscose that were considered as a threat to cotton yarns, on
which a large number of handloom weavers and cotton farmers depended
for their livelihood. Moreover, these fibres were seen as ‘rich man’s fibres’,
and so as deserving of higher taxation. These policies, like any policy of
any government, had some desired and some undesired effects: small-scale
weaving factories of less than 20 workers mushroomed uncontrollably, and
had to be ‘regularised’ several times. By 1975, these factories started also
using spun yarns made from staple manmade fibres and filament yarns for
producing men’s suiting and women’s sarees respectively. By 1990, the
production of fabric in the decentralised sector was about 85% of the total
fabric production of the country as against a mere 20%in 1950. After India
Historical Perspective 23
entered the free market era in 1991, the restructuring of the textile industry
took place even faster, and by 2005, the composite mills produced only about
4% of the fabric. The power looms, as the decentralised weaving sector
came to be known, produced over 80% and the rest is produced ostensibly
on handlooms, with subsidy from the government. In short, the spinning in
India is done mainly in medium-size mills in the organised large-scale sector,
the weaving is done in the small-scale power loom sector, and the bleaching,
dyeing and printing is done mainly in the medium-scale sector. We need
to look at the past developments in the polyester and viscose production in
India against the background of this re-structuring of the textile production
system in India during the period 1950-2005. The way in which the fibre
producing industry was allowed to establish capacities, to expand them, and
to operate in the exclusively domestic market had several repercussions on
the setting up of spinning mills for manmade fibres, and on the working of
these spinning mills in the context of achieving good levels of quality and
productivity.
Polyester fibre production

Polyester staple fibre (PSF) was introduced to the Indian textile industry in
early 1960s by several companies including ICI Ltd. Subsequently in 1965,
India’s first PSF plant was set up by ICI Ltd from the UK.
The early phase

The ICI plant was named CAFI (Chemicals and Fibres of India Ltd) and
was put up in Thane near Mumbai. At the start, the plant had a capacity of
just 2000 tons per annum (tpa). Later, this plant was allowed to expand to
make 6100 tpa as decided by the Government of India.
Then in 1973, India’s second plant-Indian Organic Chemicals Ltd
(IOCL) -also of 6100 tpa started production at Manali Chennasekkadu near
Chennai. The next 2 years, saw 3 more plants coming up, each again of
6100 tpa. These were Swadeshi Polytex Ltd (SPL) at Ghaziabad near Delhi,
JK Synthetics Ltd (JK) at Kota and Calico Fibres Ltd (CFL) at Vadodara.
Thus, India had then 5 PSF plants with a total capacity of 30500 tpa in
1975. However, in the period 1975-1985, the actual PSF production was
around 21 000-24000 tons; the capacity utilisation was between 70% and
80%.
The technologies used by different plants were as follows:
Plant Technology Plant type

1. CAFI ICI Batch
2. IOCL Chemtex Batch
3. SPL Zimmer Continuous
4. JK - Batch
5. CFL ICI Batch
Only one plant -SPL- had continuous polymerisation which made

polymer continuously and fed it directly to melt spinning machines, while
other 4 plants had batch polymerisation in which the polymer made in
batches of a few tons each, when ready, was cast into chips. Later, chips
from different batches were blended, bone dried, melted and then fed to
melt spinning machines. The continuous polymerisation (cp) route was
energy efficient. SPL needed 1.1 kWh of electricity to make 1 kg of PSF,
while batch plants needed 2.2 kWh to make 1 kg of fibre. Moreover, the
continuous polymerisation system enabled a more consistent quality of PSF
to be delivered to the customers mills. Also all the five plants used DMT as
the major raw material, which was not necessarily the best choice amongst
the 2 available materials: DMT and PTA (purified teraphthalic acid).
Deniers made those days were 3.0, 2.0, 1.5 and much later 1.2. The cut
lengths were 38 and 51 mm. Only SPL and JK made high tenacity fibres of
6.0-6.4 gpd, while the other three plants produced medium tenacity fibres
of 4.8-5.0 gpd. Later JK introduced trilobal (essentially triangular) fibre in
coarser deniers 3, 6 and 15.
The second phase

The policies of the government started becoming less restrictive from about
1985, when a new textile policy was formulated for the first time involving
the research institutions and industry experts. Then in 1986, Reliance
Industries Ltd put up a real large plant of 60000 tpa at Patalganga near
Mumbai, when the total capacity of India for production of PSF was almost
half of this, at 30500 tpa. This plant had a cp capacity of 240 tons per day
against the SPL's cp of 22 tons per day. This plant was based on the Du Pont
technology and used PTA instead of DMT as major raw material. Then in
the next 5 years, 4 other plants-all with cp-went into production. Thus
India had 5 new plants:
Plant Technology Capacity Year of Location

(tpa) starting
1. Reliance Industries Ltd Du Pont 60000 1986 Patalganga,

(RIL) Chemtex Maharashtra
2. India Poly Fibre Ltd (IPL) Du Pont
Chemtex 30300 1987 Barabanki, UP
3. Orissa Synthetics Ltd Du Pont
(OSL) Chemtex 35000 1987 Boulpur, Orissa
4. Bongaigaon Refineries Du Pont 30 000 1988 Bongaigaon,
& Petrochemicals Ltd Chemtex Assam
(BRPL)
5. JCT fibres Ltd (JCT) Zimmer 50000 2001 Hoshiarpur,
Punjab
Total 180300
Except Reliance, the other 4 plants started their operations using DMT
as the main raw material but changed over to PTA after a few years.
By 2001, the total PSF capacity in the country was 1 80300 tpa of
the new 5 plants plus 30500 tpa of the old 5 plants bringing the total to
2 10 800 tpa. However, the actual production of PSF in the country in the
period 1987-1997 (before JCT Fibres started up) hovered between 98072
tons and 126359 tons; a capacity utilisation of 60-70%. The local market
was much smaller. Even Reliance was hurt. Initially, it could operate only
at 50% capacity making only about 2500 tons per month. Then in 1988,
Du Pont came to their rescue and ordered 2500 tons per month from them;
then Reliance could run their plant at full capacity. Others did not have this
advantage, so all the 4 plants-IPL, OSL, BRPL and JCT-and the previous
5 plants became sick. A shake up cum consolidation took place in the PSF
industry.
The third phase

During this critical period, in 2004-2005, Indo Rama Synthetics Ltd (IRSL)
put up a PSF plant of 1 32 300 tpa with Continuous Process, using Japanese
Toyobo technology, at Butibori near Nagpur. Soon thereafter, in 2006, Bombay
Dyeing and Manufacturing Co Ltd (BD) put up a PSF plant of 450 tons
per day basically to consume their in-house production of 500 tons per day
of DMT. Bombay Dyeing had put up a DMT plant at Patalganga in 1985;
and by 2002-2003 the demand for DMT had petered out, and had forced
the closure of the plant. Then, Bombay Dyeing decided to put up a PSF
plant of 147000 tpa so as to consume their own DMT. But they found after
running this PSF plant for a few months that DMT as a raw material was not
commercially attractive. To cut their losses, they changed the plant to PTA.
Bombay Dyeing plant has a unique arrangement to inject molten polymer

of a master batch (of any speciality) into the transfer line that carries the
polymer from cp to melt spinning machines; thereby enabling the company
to make any speciality including black, flame retardant, anti-bacterial, etc,
without affecting their cp.
From I993 onwards,production of PSF in the country was on an upswing.
In 1993, the production was I86719 tons; in 1997 it went up to 428041
tons; it remained steady between 1991 and 2002 at around 560000 tons;
and in 2006, touched 660581 tons.
Current status 2008

The current status of the 12 PSF plants in the country is shown below:
S. no. Plant Current status

1. CAFl Batch plant scrapped. CP plant shifted t o RIL, Patalganga
and n o w stopped
2. IOCL Stopped making standard fibres
Makes black and other shades in dope dyed and some
specialties
3. SPL Closed down
4. JK Closed down
5. Ca Iico Closed down
6. Reliance Put up another plant at Hazira o f 1 45 000 tpa
7. IPL Taken over by Reliance-plant running
Made black fibre in cp-an achievement
8. OSL Taken over by Reliance-currently closed
9. JCT Taken over by Reliance-operating
10. BRPL Plant closed down
11. IRSL Have further expanded by 1 55 000 tpa at Butibori
12. BD In production
Today, India has just three main players in the PSF field: Reliance Industries
Ltd (with 744000 tpa), Indo Rama Synthetics Ltd (with 300000 tpa) and
Bombay Dyeing (with 148 000 tpa). About half of the world production of
PSF is now from China, and India is perhaps the second largest producer
of PSF. The global markets are extremely competitive, whereby each
fibre producer strives for a higher market share and for better customer
satisfaction. Consequently, a large variety of fibres are now available to the
Indian spinning mills.
Polyester fibre types

The product range today is:
In deniers
0 Normal semi-dull - 0.8 microfibre, 1.O, 1.2, 1.4, 2.0 and 3.0
0 Full bright - 1.2 sewing thread, 1.8 and 2.5 trilobal
In dope dyed
0 Black and in many other shades
In cut lengths (mm) - 32, 38,40,44 and 51
The more popular denier/cut lengths are as follows:
0 1.4d x 44 mm used by most synthetic mills for spinning 100% polyester
and polyester-viscose blends for coarse and medium counts up to 40s
0 1.2d x 44 mm used for finer counts 40-60s
0 1.0d x 44 mm used for the finest yarns, 6Os/7Os//8Os polyester/viscose
counts
0 1.2d x 38 and 1.0 d x 38 rnm for the blends with cotton
At one time 1.4 x 51 mm was the most popular deniedcut length for
all synthetic mills, but then export specifications and the need to lower
imperfections forced spinners to go to 44 mm cut length, though the twist
multiplier (TM) had to be increased from 2.5-2.6 to 2.9-3.0.
Export-Import
India has been importing around 7 000 tons of PSF per year even after the
capacities increased substantially by 2003-2004. Exports account for about
28 000 tpa as given below:
Imports/exports (metric tons)
S. No. Financial year Imports Exports

1. 2001-2002 25 148 26 550
2. 2002-2003 20 417 16 988
3. 2003-2004 7 602 28 129
4. 2004-2005 11 496 47 782
5. 2005-2006 9 962 41 825
6. 2006-2007 10579 1 22 447
7. 2007-2008 12 129 NA
Comparing the import and export figures for 2006-2007 with PSF productions
in the same year, it will be seen that:
1. Imports just are 1.3% of the production, and would consist mostly of
speciality fibres, and can be considered as negligible.
2. Exports are 15.5% of the production, which is creditable.
Further scope for growth

It would appear that the total indigenous production has reached its
plateau and further increases in capacities are not needed. But the figures
of per capita consumption show a different picture. All textile fibres taken
together, the world average is around 9.7 kg per capita, i.e. per person in
the population per year. Out of 9.7 kg, the PSF accounts for 1.5 kg per
capita. The same figure for India is 4.9 kg of all fibres, wherein cotton
predominates, and wool and silk are in miniscule proportions. The per capita
consumption of PSF in India is only 0.6 kg. The trend is for the per capita
all fibre consumption to increase in India as the levels of income increase,
and the proportion of polyester to cellulosics will gradually come to about
40:60 as it has become the world over, especially in the warmer climates.
Consequently, the PSF consumption in India will rise to a level of about
1.5 kg per capita, showing a %fold increase over the next decade or so.
Major growth sectors are uniform fabrics and home furnishings, where the
penetration of polyester fibre is small.
Speciality fibres
Speciality PSFs have not become common in India. Earlier, JK and later
Reliance popularised the Trilobal (a fibre with triangular cross-section) in
full bright lustre to give ‘glitter’ to suiting. Apparently, the popularity of this
fibre has reduced recently. Reliance had made cationic dyeable fibre; but it
did not catch up. Reliance’s ‘Cotluk’ fibre (a dull fibre similar to cotton) is
showing some promise. Reliance’s sewing thread fibre -also in full bright
lustre -has made good headway. Reliance is able to offer flame-retardant
fibre and anti-bacterial, anti-fungal fibre from the earlier Hoechst ’s plant
in Germany, which is now owned by Reliance. Both these fibres have not
made much headway in the industry as of 2008.
The minimum denier produced in other countries, particularly China and
S.E. Asia for PSF has been 1.4d. However, the need of the Indian industry
was for finer deniers, both for spinning finer counts such as 60s and for
obtaining higher productivity at ring spinning. Therefore, fibres of 1.2d and
below can be considered to be some kind of speciality fibres. Reliance’s
1.Od fared very well; it had definite advantages over 1.2d; such as higher
blend yarn strength by 8-9%, lower unevenness by at least l.OU%, a 20%
reduction in imperfections and hairiness. And what was more important for
the end users of yarns, was a gain of 2-6% in weaving efficiency, the gain
being higher for shuttle-less looms. SPL had developed 0.9d much earlier
than Reliance’s 1.0d; but then 0.9 turned out to be a commercial failure.
However, 0.8d fibre, called microdenier fibre, has picked up volumes
and could be considered a success.
Reliance and IOCL both offer ‘black’ dope-dyed fibre; while IOCL offers
several shades in dope-dyed qualities. These dope-dyed fibres are generally
in the range of 1.2-3.0d.
Educating the customer

The early entrants in the production of polyester staple fibres had established
‘End User Applications Research and Development Laboratory’ at their
fibre-producing plants. Extensive application-related work was done by
these laboratories-cum-pilot spinning/weaving/knitting units in the UK, the
USA and Germany. Thus, considerable fund of knowledge on products and
on process parameters for using PSF alone, or along with cotton, viscose,
acrylic and wool was available to the Indian producers of PSF. However,
every item had to be adapted to meeting the Indian needs in terms of products
and in terms of the kind of machinery available in the mills. The fibre was
totally new to the spinners; the few textile colleges that were functioning
in India around 1960s were in no position to deal with these brand new
fibres coming in the markets.
CAFI, being the first PSF producer in the country, had to provide excellent
technical service to customer mills. CAFI made available considerable
literature to mills on the subject of spinning weaving and chemical processing
of PSF, its blended yarns and fabrics. The PSF producers, who followed
CAFI, also provided technical service. Later, SPL came out with many
publications. Since SPL was the only producer on cp then, they attributed
in every publication all ‘good’ properties of PSF solely to cp, which is not
correct. The importance of technical service started to reduce by late 1980s
as more of mill technicians began to understand from their own experience
about ‘how to process PSF’. However, such learning left a lot of ignorance
about PSF and its properties. The technical publication of Reliance, named
‘Polyester Perfection’, was well received. Many spinners still preserved
bound volumes of the Polyester Perfection. Its publication was ceased around
1996, since the requirement had reduced considerably. Later, it re-appeared
in a different format that was less technical and more commercial. The other
two PSF producers in India do not seem to be interested in bringing out
any technical or commercial periodical on a regular basis.
Mention must be made of the workshops held regularly by Reliance
at Patalganga. Spinning managers of customer mills were taken there in
batches of 20-25, were lodged in bungalows, and were taken around the
PSF plant to familiarise them with the production process and the quality
control system. They also benefited from 8 sessions-each of 1.5 h-in 2
days of lectures by prominent technologists from mills, research associations,
machinery makers, and dyes manufacturers covering various aspects of
polyester spinning. The topics included spinning of PSF on airjet system
and on open-end rotors and spinning of dyed fibres. The theoretical basis
involved in measuring yarn evenness, imperfections and faults, as well as
of other tests on tenacity, etc was brought out to them, along with the right
use and limitations of test methods.
R a w materials for polyester

The raw materials used for producing polyester in any form- fibres,
filaments or films, etc-are either PTA and MEG or DMT and MEG. As
indicated earlier, the use of DMT as the main raw material has been found
to be uneconomical and also added to the problems as the by product is
methanol.
PTA
India has now 3 companies making PTA.
Company Year of starting Production capacity

(Metric tons per year)
(i) Reliance Industries Ltd 1988 13 50 000
(a) Patalganga plant
(b) Hazira plant 1998 120000
(ii) Mitsubishi Chemicals PTA(I) Ltd 2000 4 25 000
(iii) Indian Oil Corporation 2007 6 00 000
24 95 000
The production of PTA in metric tons in the last 3 years has been:
Year 2005 1768550
Year 2006 21 07 119
Year 2007 23 55 832
The capacity utilisation in 2007 was 94.4%, and the share of Reliance was
59%.
During these years, PTA was not exported at all, and the imports were:
Year 2005-2006 107 245
Year 2006-2007 124227
Year 2007-2008 4 88 858
Imports in 2007-2008 are quite large, at about 19.6% of the production
capacity. With the PTA plant of IOC working at full capacity, the country
would become self-sufficient. In fact, some quantity of PTA is likely to be
exported.
MEG
Four companies manufacture MEG in India. One of them, India Glycols
Ltd, produces MEG from sugarcane molasses, while others make it from
petrochemicals.

(tpa)
(i) Indian Glycol Ltd 1989 25 000
(ii) Indian Petrochemicals Corp Ltd" 1973 13900
(a) Vadodara 50 000
(b) Nagothane 120000
(c) Gandhar
(iii) National Organic Chemicals Ltd" 1976 10 000
(iv) Reliance Industries Ltd 1992 5 50 000
(v) SM Dyechem Ltd# 60 000
Total 8 28 900
*These companies are n o w with Reliance Industries Ltd

# Closed in 2008
Production of MEG in the last 3 years:
Year Production (metric tons)

2005 5 33 493
2006 891 935
2007 9 10249
Reliance holds 69.6% of the total capacity; and the capacity utilisation in
2007 was at a creditably high level of 109.8%.
While there were no exports; the imports were:

~ ~~
2005-2 006 94 485

2006-2007 162603
2007-2008 20 683
The import in 2007-2008 amounts to only 2.5% of MEG capacity and so

can be considered to be negligible.
India has four plants to make DMT, but these have remained closed since
2005-2006.

starting (tpa)
(i) Bombay Dyeing & Mfg Co 1985 165000
(ii) Bongaigaon Refineries & 1985 45 000
Petrochemicals Ltd
(iii) Indian Petrochemicals Corp Ltd 1973 30 000
(iv) Garware Petrochem Ltd 1996 60 000
Total 3 00 000
Production of DMT in the country in the past 3 years was:

2005 2 10049
2006 62 412
2007 9 170
There was no export of DMT; the imports were:

2005-2006 6 480
2006-2007 11 076
2007-2008 4 121
We could consider the production as well as the usage of DMT to be almost

zero now.
We thus note that India is now almost self-sufficient in terms of the two
raw materials PTA and MEG required for the polyester industry. Possibly,
one more MEG plant of about 120 000 tpa is needed, if the 60 000 tpa plant
of SM Dyechem does not get revived.
Spinning of polyester blended yarns

Indian spinning mills started using PSF in the early 1960s. The PSF
was imported, mostly from ICI of UK, and their Terylene was used as a
premium new fibre for blending with cotton. Terylene-cotton blended
yarns were spun and fabrics were produced and marketed by the progressive
composite mills. One of the first textile groups to go into polyester in a big
way was Thackerseys. The first spinning mill to run polyesterkotton was
Crown Mills of this group. A few spinning mills were established solely to
produce polyester-viscose blended yarns. The viscose staple fibre had been
well established in India by then, and was priced between the cotton and
the PSF, which was about 3 times the price of cotton. The first spinning
mill to run polyester-viscose blend was Bharat Commerce and Industries
(BCCI), Nagda. They were pioneers also in dyed fibre spinning. Later, Modi
Spinning and Weaving Mills, Modinagar, and Kiran Spinning Mills, Thane
(near Mumbai) were the mills who took up and enlarged the spinning of
polyester-viscose blends in India.
The amount of PSF recommended by the fibre makers was from 50% to
80%, preferably at least 67% for ensuring good crease recovery properties in
the fabric. The new, prestigious and costly fibre was given gentle treatment
on the spinning preparatory machines, and was spun at lower spindle speeds
than cotton at ring frames. The PSF-viscose spinning mills also worked
the fibre blends carefully and at low rates of production so as to ensure
good quality in this ‘expensive’ yam. It is also to be noted that the kind
of machinery available in most Indian mills during the period 1960-1975
or so, was of a vintage about one generation behind the good mills in the
world. After about 1970, several mills -both composite mills and spinning
mills -modernised their machinery on a large scale. The new spinning mills
that came up for cotton as well as for manmade fibres after 1960 had a much
higher technology incorporated on their machines. But the real boost to go
for the best machines in the world in Indian mills took place after export of
yarn was stabilised around 1985-2006 and certainly after the opening up to
market economy in 1991. Till 1985, the textile mills were licensed to produce
either from cotton, or from wool or from manmade fibres. Composite mills
making mainly cotton-based yarns and fabrics were not allowed to start
spinning polyester or polyester-viscose blends, or to use filament yarns of
polyester or nylon or viscose in their fabrics. The policy change introduced
in 1985 towards a multi-fibre regime was welcome by the Indian industry.
The existence of separate spinning mills for manmade fibres (commonly
known as synthetic spinning mills), and the small capacities of the early PSF
plants were all a result of the planned and excessively controlled economy
of the country during the period from 1960 to 1985.
The legacy of spinning PSF at slow speeds to ‘manage’ good quality
stayed for quite some years; and this legacy reduced only very gradually.
The government gradually realised that PSF is not a ‘rich man’s fibre’ but
is rather a ‘common man’s fibre’ that lends longevity to apparel about 3-5
times that of fabrics made of cotton fibres. As the indigenous production
started increasing, the taxation (duties) on the PSF reduced substantially
over a period of time. The lower prices of PSF and viscose, and the intense
competition in the domestic and export markets led the mill manzgements
to change their attitude and they encouraged the technicians to experiment
with higher productivities. By 2005 or so, the time had arrived when the
cotton fibre was as expensive as or even more expensive than polyester
and viscose fibres, as has been the trend elsewhere in the world. India was
given a period of 1995-2005 for preparing itself to integrate its businesses
with the world economy under the World Trade Agreement. After this
integration, the textile industry is fully exposed to competition from other

textile countries of the world, not only in the export markets, but also in
the domestic markets. The government is not expected to protect the Indian
makers of textiles by charging high import duties on imports. The protectionist
regime of 1950-1985 was gradually dismantled by the government through
policy initiatives, till by 2005 India joined the WTO fully. It can be said
without any hesitation that the technical journey of the PSF from a low
productivity fibre to a high productivity fibre paralleled the developments
in sophistication of textile machinery and improvements in the policies
of the government by way of less taxation and freedom to establish new
capacities without having to take ‘permission’ from the state.
Early efforts
The consumption of PSF got a boost when India’s first PSF plant of CAFI
went into production in 1965. CAFI had a monopoly until 1973, when the
PSF plant of IOCL went on stream. In the period 1965-1972, CAFI developed
several polyester-blended fabrics at their Textile Pilot plant and provided
excellent technical service. They made fabrics out of blends of polyester
with cotton, viscose, acrylic, linen wool, cut silk, jute and even human hair.
The counts chosen by them were for use in the Indian markets, which were
different from the markets in Europe or the USA. While 20s and 30s counts
were the need in those markets, the Indian markets needed counts as fine as
even 60s for making comfortable shirting for wear in Indian summer. CAFI
regularly circulated full details of fabrics developed to all their customers.
These services helped the spinning departments of the composite mills to
accept polyester staple fibre quickly. CAFI similarly helped the new spinning
mills that were established for producing polyester-viscose yarns. CAFI,
following the idea used earlier by all PSF producers, ensured that a ‘brand
image’ is created for their fibre named Terene in India, as differently from
Terelyne in UK and for export from UK. They even experimented with a
new idea; the formation of a ‘Terene Club’ of mills who used exclusively
Terene PSF. CAFI advertised the fabrics -mostly, polyester cotton shirting
and suiting-made by the mills which joined the Terene Club, along with
the extensive advertisement of their fibre. Also they insisted on stamping
a line ‘Made from Terene polyester staple fibre’ on every meter of finished
fabric. This was considered one more step in their brand-building efforts.
However, a number of mills did not like the idea and opted out of the Terene
Club. Once four other PSF plants started then there was no shortage of PSF,
the idea of the ‘Terene Club’ could not continue for long. The PSF quickly
became a commodity fibre rather than an exclusive fibre with special name,
though each PSF maker had coined their own names for their PSF.
Note needs to be taken of the fact that India had established as many as
five cooperative textile research associations (CTRAs) during the period from
1947 to 1960 for conducting applied research in the field of textiles. These
were three for cotton fibre based mills, one for jute and one for ‘art silk’,
as the filament yams from viscose, nylon and polyester were called at that
time. This movement to establish research activity on a cooperative basis
by the textile mills started with the registration of the Ahmedabad Textile
Industry’s Research Association (ATIRA) in November 1947, immediately
after India became independent. ATIRA started working in end 1949 and was
soon followed by BTRA in Mumbai, and SITRA at Coimbatore in Tamilnadu.
SASMIRA came up in Mumbai for the ‘Silk and Art Silk’ mills, while the
erstwhile IJMARI (the Indian Jute Mills’ Association Research Institute)
converted itself to IJIRA (Indian Jute Industry’s Research Association). Later,
three more CTRAs came up, by 1975 were added Wool Research Association
(WRA) in Mumbai; Manmade Textile Research Association (MANTRA) in
Surat, Gujarat; and NITRA for mills in North India in Ghaziabad, UP. Since
the PSF was being spun mostly on the cotton-type machinery, it was for the
cotton-based CTRAs to take up work on PSF, viscose and other manmade
staple fibres like acrylic. None of the three cotton-based CTRAs felt like
doing any applied research in the area of manmade staple fibres for two
reasons -membership of two of them ATIRA and BTRA- consisted mainly
of composite mills that were allowed to use PSF only with cotton and no
filament yarns in the warp sheet for fabrics. Consequently, the attention of
these two TRAs was on spinning and weaving of polyester-cotton blends.
SITRA, in the south, did not feel involved since its membership was almost
entirely of cotton spinning mills. The only time ATIRA looked at the viscose
fibre was in around 1976-1978, when the cotton shortages and the high
price (with high import duties) of imported cottons made the government to
compel cotton spinning mills -composite mills included -to mix indigenously
produced viscose fibre up to 10-15% in cotton mixings. Later, some work
was done on optimisation during 1983-1985. The other equally important
reason was that the fibre producers were doing an excellent job. Any entry
from the CTRA’s would have been difficult in the absence of any different or
better technical know-how, and would have proved redundant. As described
earlier, the fibre producers from Europe and USA had set up large application
laboratories: the Hoechst applied research laboratory for their fibre Trevira
was about two times the size of ATIRA in 1966-1967, and employed three
times more persons. Consultants from these CTRAs did keep up with the
new knowledge on manmade fibres and helped their member mills going
in for use of PSF and viscose through consultation, as an when the mills
needed such help. After the government allowed composite mills to use
filament yams as weft, some work was also done with the industry groups
on how best to weave this, etc. Thus, the role of textile research associations
in the growth of the PSF industry was negligibly small.
Production of blended yarns

As mentioned earlier, three mills were pioneers in the field of manmade-fibre
spinning: Modi Spinning Mills at Modi Nagar, UP; Bhilwara Spinners Ltd
at Bhilwara, Rajasthan; and Kiran Spinning Mills at Thane near Mumbai,
in Maharashtra. The technicians in these mills got a first-hand experience
of learning about the new fibres and the difficulties faced in running these
fibres well on the cotton-type machinery. These mills became the first
training grounds, because many technicians used the experience gained in
these mills by taking better job positions in other mills that were established
later for spinning of manmade fibres. Later, these pioneering technicians
headed many new blend spinning mills in the country. After 1980 or so,
when PSF became easily available, several composite mills took up PSF
for blending with cotton. Major customers then were -Hindustan Group of
Mills in Mumbai, Calico Mills in Ahmedabad, Binnys in Chennai, Madura
Coats in Ambasamudram, Mafatlals in Mumbai, Navsari and Nadiad,
Jayashree in Kolkata, Lakshmi Vishnu in Solapur, Morarjee Gokuldas in
Mumbai, Delhi Cloth Mills in Delhi and others. The composite mills as a
group were more concerned with keeping the cost of spinning their own
yarns low as a good support to their weaving and finishing activity. In
general, the ring frame productivity in terms of production per spindle shift
was less in composite mills, but the allocation of spindles to a tenter was
much higher. This happened to be one more reason why the PSF was run at
slow speeds in the industry. The PC-blended shirting and suiting generally
constituted only about 5 1 5 % of the loom programme-production- of
composite mills. The place of PC suiting in the market was taken by the
more versatile and more colourful PV suiting made from doubled yarns,
mostly fabric dyed in the early stages and fibre dyed in the later stages.
Most of these PV suiting fabrics were produced on the power looms in the
decentralised sector in cost-effective ways. The PC shirting continues to a
good extent today, but the yarns are made in spinning mills and the fabric
on power looms. The trend after 1995 has been towards checked or striped
100% cotton shirting. With the restructuring that took place in the textile
mills in India from 1970 to 1995 or so, about 250 out of the 280 composite
mills had to close down mainly because their cost of production could not
match the low costs of the decentralised system. Today, quite a number of
these pioneers are closed. Consequently, the entire spinning of PSF by itself
or in blends went to spinning mills that were more particular to achieve
high productivity at ring frames.
During 1970s and even later, several synthetic spinning mills came up
particularly in North India: Rajasthan Spinning &Weaving Mills at Bhilwara
and Gulabpura, Rajasthan Textile Mills at Bhavanimandi, Banswara Syntex
at Banswara, Jaipur Polyspin at Reengus Modern Syntex at Alwar, Modern
Threads at Raila, T.I.T. and Birla Textile Mills at Bhiwani, and Deepak
Spinners at Baddi. They developed their own techniques of running PSF,
and most started using the fibre length of 51 mm instead of the 38 mm
recommended by PSF producers to make blending with cotton easier. The
longer length helped them to reduce the twist multiplier from about 3.5 to
2.512.6 or so, giving a much higher front roller speed at the ring frame.
These mills succeeded in achieving a much higher productivity at the ring
frame spindle point, albeit at a small reduction in the quality of yarn.
New Indian developments

Around 1980-1985, two significant developments took place. One in which
synthetic mills took the initiative was development yarns made from own
dyed polyester fibres blended with dope-dyed viscose supplied by the
fibre producer in 2-3 shades. The leading mills in this change were Bharat
Commerce and Industries, Nagda, MP, and several spinning mills in Rajasthan.
These fibre-dyed single yarns were doubled and used for making suiting
without any need for sizing the warp sheet. The fibres used were 1.4d x 51
mm for polyester as well as for the viscose component. Bhilwara, Rajasthan,
became the biggest centre in India for the production of this type of suiting
on power looms. This development is purely an Indian phenomenon, as
dyeing PSF (51 mm then, and 44 mm later) and subsequently spinning it is
not practiced in any other country. The idea was to make polyester/viscose
suitings to look like polyester/wool suitings and make them available at a
much lower cost. (For that matter, weaving on decentralised power looms is
also an entirely Indian phenomenon that goes against the general economic
theory of large business size giving cost advantages. While it is true even
in India that the overhead expenses per unit of production reduce with the
size of the manufacturing unit, decentralised weaving became economical
in India because of three reasons. Firstly, the wage rates were about half or
less; secondly, a worker could be fired if his production and quality were
not satisfactory; and thirdly, the taxes and duties were favourable for the
small-scale industry. The smaller units were kept outside the purview of the
Industrial Disputes Act which made it very difficult for the large organised
sector textile mills to reform or to remove non-sincere or inefficient workers.
Unionisation of workers in the organised sector further compounded the
difficulties and the judiciary bent backwards to protect workers’ livelihood;
India was in the grip of the ‘socialistic pattern’ of mixed economy from 1950
to 1985-1990 that had the disadvantages of both the systems-capitalism
and communism.)
The second development-also unique to India-was what came to be
known as “carbonisation”. If necessity is the mother of invention, here the
necessity was forced by the regulation that the composite mills shall not
weave fabrics with filament yarns as warp. The Calico mill of Ahmedabad
was in a big way in the market for printed sarees and they felt a new fabric
structure with pure polyester in the warp direction would give an excellent
feel, texture and durability to the saree. Their R&D department came up
with the idea of spinning a PSF cotton blended yarn, and then removing
all the cotton from it by treatment with sulphuric acid. This process was
termed ‘carbonisation’ since the cotton fibre turned into carbon on treatment
with sulphuric acid. As a process, carbonisation was not patentable, so other
mills could also use this process freely. The sarees and other ladies dress
materials made by this process became quite popular for some period. For
saris, the standard count for both warp and weft was 62s 65/35 blend of
1.2d x 38m PSF with combed cotton, and this count was spun with a high
twist of 42 tpi or 5.34 of a tm. After the fabric was dyed/ printed, it was
treated with 60% sulphuric acid to dissolve the cotton component. The
warp and weft counts became 90 and the twist multiplier then became
4.2, and so no pilling would take place. Initially, this process was used
exclusively for saris, and mills who were prominent were Lakshmi-Vishnu
Mills, Solapur, besides the Calico mills. Later this process was also used
for fabrics meant for children wear. Carbonising made the polyester fabric
soft and supple. Two remarkable things to be noted about this development
are: firstly, it came not from any of the cotton-based research associations,
but from a progressive mill, and it was a result of a bad restrictive policy
of the government. After 1985, the multi-fibre policy came into existence,
and all mills were free to use whatever material they wished in their mills.
Secondly, the filament weaving industry in the decentralised sector of power
looms, mainly from Surat, had captured the saree market. They used only
filament yarns of a wide variety to make attractive sarees and these sarees
needed no ironing and lasted for long years, about five times the cotton
sarees. ATIRA did come up with a small publication on due care during
carbonisation, but this process died its natural death by mid-1980s.
Tech no Iogica I progress

Till about 1970, PSF was not available easily; the demand exceeded the
supply which was kept at a low level by the government policies. Also,
because the PSF was at least twice as expensive as cotton, it was treated by
the mills like a VIP is treated in public life. Right from its entry in the mill,
it was kept separate. The mixing with cotton in composite mills or the stack
mixings in the blend spinning mills was very carefully made. The number
of persons employed was of no consideration. A light treatment was ensured
in the blow room. A good amount of waste was removed from the fibre in
the blow room and in carding even when it was not needed. Partitions were
put up around machines running polyester cotton blends in cotton spinning
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
VIII
SHELLEY
Matthew Arnold has had a bad time of it during the Shelley

centenary celebrations. He has been denounced in nearly every
paper in England, as though, in his attitude to Shelley, he had shown
himself to be a malicious old nincompoop. As a matter of fact,
Matthew Arnold talked a great deal of common sense about Shelley,
and, though he underestimated his genius, how many of the
overestimators of Shelley have even praised him so nobly as he is
praised in that unforgettable image—“a beautiful and ineffectual
angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain”? Yet these are
the words with which Matthew Arnold’s critics quarrel most angrily. It
is not enough for them that he called Shelley a beautiful angel. It is a
compliment that few poets, few saints even, have deserved. The
partisans demand, however, it seems, that he shall also be
proclaimed an effectual angel. In one sense, of course, no great poet
is ineffectual. We might as well call a star ineffectual. In a more
limited sense, however, a great poet who is also a theorist may be
ineffectual, and Shelley, in whom the poet and the theorist are all but
inseparable, was undoubtedly ineffectual in this meaning of the
word.
He sang a philosophy of love, and one effect of his philosophy
was the suicide of Harriet Westbrook. He was, in this instance,
ineffectual in not being able to translate his theory into experience in
such a way that what was beautiful in theory would also be beautiful
in experience. Where a theory was concerned, he did not recognise
facts; he recognised only the theory. Thus, his theory that love is “the
sole law which should govern the moral world” led him in Laon and
Cythna (later transformed into The Revolt of Islam) to make the
lovers brother and sister. This circumstance was, he declared,
“intended to startle the reader from the trance of ordinary life.” It was
introduced “merely to accustom men to that charity and toleration
which the exhibition of a practice widely differing from their own has
a tendency to promote.” Who but an ineffectual angel would have
thought of dragging idealised incest into a work of art solely with a
view to the improvement of his readers’ morals? He did not wish his
readers to practise incest: he merely wished to make them practise
charity.
Shelley, indeed, was a man always hastening towards an ideal
world which at the touch of experience turned into a mirage. His
political, like his ethical, theories had something mirage-like about
them. He was a prophet who was so absorbed in the vision of the
Promised Land that he had little thought to spare for the human
nature that he was trying to incite to make the journey. His own
imagination travelled fast as a ray of light, but he could not take
human beings with him on so swift a journey. Hence, if he has been
effectual, he has been so as an inspiration to the few. He has been
ineffectual as regards achieving the earthly paradise he foretold in
The Mask of Anarchy and Prometheus Unbound.
It ought, then, to be possible to appreciate Shelley without
abusing Matthew Arnold. Every genius is limited, and we shall not
admire the genius the less but the more if we recognise its limitations
so clearly that we come to take them for granted. Thus, if we attempt
to define Shelley’s genius as a poet, we have to start by recognising
that there is a formless quality in most of his work when it is
compared to the work of Keats or Wordsworth. His poems do not
seem to be quite vertebrate—to have a beginning, a middle, and an
end. Their path is as indeterminate as the path of the lark fluttering in
the air. With Keats we stand still to survey the earth. With
Wordsworth we walk. But Shelley, like his skylark, is a “scorner of the
ground,” and our feet do not always touch the earth when we are in
his company. Even when he journeys by land or water, he rushes us
along as though the air were the only element, and we are dizzied by
the speed with which we are carried from landscape to landscape. In
Alastor, scene succeeds scene faster than the eye can seize it.
Shelley, indeed, is the poet of metamorphosis. He loves the
miraculous change from shape to shape almost more than he loves
any settled shape. This aspect of his genius reveals itself most richly
in “The Cloud.” Here is the very music of the changing shape. “I
change, but I cannot die,” is the cloud’s boast:
For after the rain, when with never a stain,

The pavilion of heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams,
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.
Shelley, too, could create these beautiful and unsubstantial

shapes from hour to hour, feeling that each was but a new
metamorphosis of universal beauty. “The Cloud” is the divine
comedy of metamorphosis. The “Hymn of Pan” is its tragedy:
I sang of the dancing stars,

I sang of the dædal Earth,
And of Heaven—and the giant wars,
And Love, and Death, and Birth—
And then I changed my pipings—
Singing how down the vale of Menalus
I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed:
Gods and men, we are all deluded thus!
It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed:
All wept, as I think both ye now would,
If envy or age had not frozen your blood,
At the sorrow of my sweet pipings.
Here Shelley is aware of the human dissatisfaction—a dissatisfaction
that many people feel when reading his poetry—with a life that is too
full of mirages and metamorphoses.
I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed:

Gods and men, we are all deluded thus!
It is the confession of the ineffectual angel, who had sung:
Poets are on this cold earth,

As chameleons might be,
Hidden from their early birth
In a cave beneath the sea.
Where light is, chameleons change!
Where love is not, poets do:
Fame is love disguised: if few
Find either, never think it strange
That poets range.
For this, too, had been a song of metamorphosis.

This love of metamorphosis may, from one point of view, be
thought to have limited Shelley’s genius, but it limited only to
intensify. It was this that enabled him to pass from wonderful image
to wonderful image without a pause in that immortal procession of
similes in “The Skylark.” Every poet has this gift to some extent—the
gift by which the metamorphosis of the thing into the image takes
place—but Shelley had it in disproportionate abundance because the
world of images meant so much more to him than did the world of
experience. Not that he was blind to the real world, as we see from
his observation of rooks in the morning sun in “The Euganean Hills”:
So their plumes of purple grain,

Starred with drops of golden rain,
Gleam above the sunlight woods,
As in silent multitudes
On the morning’s fitful gale
Through the broken mist they sail.
No naturalist could have been more accurate in his description than

this. Shelley, indeed, claimed for himself in the preface to Laon and
Cythna that, in his imagery, he was essentially and supremely a poet
of experience:
I have been familiar from boyhood with mountains and

lakes and the sea, and the solitude of forests: Danger, which
sports upon the brink of precipices, has been my playmate. I
have trodden the glaciers of the Alps, and lived under the eye
of Mont Blanc. I have been a wanderer among distant fields. I
have sailed down mighty rivers, and seen the sun rise and
set, and the stars come forth, whilst I have sailed night and
day down a rapid stream among mountains. I have seen
populous cities, and have watched the passions which rise
and spread, and sink and change, amongst assembled
multitudes of men. I have seen the theatre of the more visible
ravages of tyranny and war, and cities and villages reduced to
scattered groups of black and roofless houses, and the naked
inhabitants sitting famished upon their desolated thresholds. I
have conversed with living men of genius. The poetry of
ancient Greece and Rome, and modern Italy, and our own
country, has been to me like external nature, a passion and
an enjoyment. Such are the sources from which the materials
for the imagery of my Poem have been drawn.
All this was true, but Shelley was too impatient of experience to rely
on it when there was a richer world of images at hand. Images—
images passing into each other—meant more to him than
experience as he wrote such lines as
My soul is an enchanted boat
Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float
Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing.
He said himself of the poet that
Nor seeks nor finds he mortal blisses,

But feeds on the aërial kisses
Of shapes that haunt thought’s wildernesses.
There was never another poet of whom this was so true as of

himself. Even when he writes
A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread,
or,
I see the waves upon the shore,

Like light dissolved in star-showers, thrown,
he seems to shed upon things a light brought from that haunted

world. There is more colour in Keats than in Shelley, but there is
more light in Shelley than in Keats. Did he not speak of the poet as
“hidden in the light of thought”? His radiance is different in kind from
that of any other poet. For it is the radiance of a world in which things
are not made of substances but of dreams—a world in which we
walk over rainbows instead of bridges and ride not upon horses but
upon clouds.
IX
PLUTARCH’S ANECDOTES
Anecdotes, like most other forms of literary entertainment, have

been spoken ill of by grave persons, but seldom by the wise. “How
superficial,” wrote Isaac Disraeli, “is that cry of some impertinent
pretended geniuses of these times who affect to exclaim, ‘Give me
no anecdotes of an author, but give me his works!’ I have often found
the anecdotes more interesting than the works.” And he pointed out
that “Dr. Johnson devoted one of his periodical papers to a defence
of anecdotes.” The defence was hardly needed. The imagination of
mankind has by universal consent paid honour to the anecdote, and
Montaigne is supreme among essayists, and Plutarch among
biographers, by virtue of anecdotes as well as of wisdom. Plutarch
himself has given the anecdote its just praise in the opening
paragraph of his life of Alexander, when he explains: “It is not
Histories I am writing, but Lives; and in the most illustrious deeds
there is not always a manifestation of virtue or vice—nay, a slight
thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of
character than battles where thousands fell, or the greatest
armaments, or sieges of cities.” Hence the general appetite for
trifling facts about great men is not a mere vice of gossips. It may
help to preserve a detail which will give a later man of genius a clue
to a character—the character of a man or the character of a book.
The theory that we can criticise a poet more profoundly by leaving
aside the ordinary facts of his life as though he had never existed in
the flesh is an absurd piece of pedantry. The life of Shelley throws a
flood of light on the poetry of Shelley. It contains in itself a profound
criticism of the genius of Shelley—a genius that was of the air rather
than of the earth—a genius at once noble and incongruous with the
world in which men live.
Writers, however, may make a dozen different uses of
anecdotes. The anecdote may be anything from a jest to an
awakening touch of portraiture, and from that to a fable that reveals
a piece of new or old truth to the imagination. It is not open to
dispute that the great writers of anecdotes are not those who believe
in anecdotes for anecdotes’ sake. They are those who everywhere
see signs and connections, and for whom an anecdote is a pattern in
little suggesting a pattern of life itself. Plutarch speaks of himself as
looking for “the signs of the soul in men,” and the phrase gives some
notion of the moral and spiritual pattern into which his anecdotes are
woven.
I doubt if a more virtuous imagination ever applied itself to
literature. Plutarch’s unending quest was virtue, and no illustrious
man ever sat to him for a portrait without discovering to him virtues
that he would never have revealed to a scandalmonger such as
Suetonius. It was as though moral dignity were the chief of the
colours on Plutarch’s palette. He was fond of contrasting his heroes
with one another, but, even when he took for heroes men who were
mortal enemies, he would penetrate deep into the heart of each in
search of some hidden or imprisoned nobleness. He cannot paint an
Alcibiades or a Sulla as a model for children, but even in them he
seems to perceive and reverence a greatness of spirit in ruins—
some brightness of charm or courage beyond the scope of little men.
No other writer except Shakespeare has had the same power of
setting before the imagination characters that remain noble though
undone by great vices. To do this is, to some extent, in the common
tradition of tragedy, but there is in Shakespeare and Plutarch a
certain sweetness and warmth of understanding—something even
more than an enthusiasm for the best in full view and admission of
the worst—unlike anything else in literature. It was not an accident
that Shakespeare drew so freely and so confidently on Plutarch. The
geniuses of the two men were akin.
Plutarch, no doubt, was more consciously ethical than
Shakespeare, but he was ethical not after the manner of the narrow
propagandist, but after the manner of the imaginative artist. He does
not write of model characters. He knows that there are no perfect
human beings. He recognises the goodness in bad men, and the
badness in good men. No biographer has been more keenly aware
of the corruptibility of human nature. Hence the characters in his
Lives are real men, with not a fault (and hardly the rumour of a fault)
hidden. He will not bear false witness for the sake of making great
men appear better than they are. He achieves the difficult feat of
praising virtue without either canting or lying. He is not afraid to hold
the mirror up to nature and to show us virtue fighting a doubtful battle
in a corrupt and tragic scene. He does not believe that the virtuous
man is necessarily secure either from corruption or defeat, but he
believes that virtue itself is secure from defeat. His recurrent theme
is the Christian theme: “Fear not them that kill the body.” He is the
painter, not only of illustrious lives, but of illustrious deaths. He feels
a spectator’s elation as he watches a noble fifth act. He obtains from
the spectacle of virtue impavid amid the ruins an æsthetic as well as
an ethical pleasure. If any man wishes to make a study of the
æsthetics of virtue, he will find abundant material in Plutarch.
Plutarch writes of the tragic hero as of a man playing a fine part
finely. He delights in the moving speeches, in the very gestures. He
makes us conscious of a rhythm of nobleness running through
human life, as when he describes the conduct of the Spartan women
who fled with Cleomenes (the quasi-Socialist king) to Egypt, and
who were murdered by their cruel hosts. He first wins our
sympathies for the wife of Panteus, “most noble and beautiful to look
upon,” and tells us how she was but lately married to Panteus, so
that “their misfortunes came to them in the heyday of their love.” He
then describes how this great lady behaved when she was overtaken
by death in company with the mother and children of the king:
She it was who now took the hand of Cratesicleia as she

was led forth by the soldiers, held up her robe for her, and
bade her be of good courage. And Cratesicleia herself was
not one whit dismayed at death, but asked one favour only,
that she might die before the children died. However, when
they were come to the place of execution, first the children
were slain before her eyes, and then Cratesicleia herself was
slain, making but one cry at sorrows so great: “O children,
whither are ye gone?” Then the wife of Panteus, girding up
her robe, vigorous and stately woman that she was,
ministered to each of the dying women calmly and without a
word, and laid them out for burial as well as she could. And,
finally, after all were cared for, she arrayed herself, let down
her robe from about her neck, and suffering no one besides
the executioner to come near or look on her, bravely met her
end, and had no need of any one to array or cover up her
body after death. Thus her decorum of spirit attended her in
death, and she maintained to the end that watchful care of her
body which she had set over it in life.
That “decorum of spirit” is, for Plutarch, the finishing grace of the
noble life. And he summarises his creed in the triumphant comment
on the Spartan women: “So then, Sparta, bringing her women’s
tragedy into emulous competition with that of her men, showed the
world that in the last extremity Virtue cannot be outraged by
Fortune.”
Catholic though Plutarch is, however, in his appreciation of
virtue, and gently though he scans his brother man—does he not
forgive the baseness of Aratus in the sentence: “I write this, however,
not with any desire to denounce Aratus, for in many ways he was a
true Greek and a great one, but out of pity for the weakness of
human nature, which, even in characters so notably disposed
towards excellence, cannot produce a nobility that is free from
blame”?—in spite of this imaginative understanding and sympathy,
he has himself a rigid and almost Puritanical standard of virtue. His
ideal is an ideal of temperance—of temperance in the pleasures of
the body as well as in the love of money and the love of glory. His
Alexander the Great is a figure of mixed passions, but he commends
him most warmly on those points on which he was temperate, as
when the beautiful wife of Dareius and her companions fell into his
hands. “But Alexander, as it would seem,” writes Plutarch,
“considering the mastery of himself a more kingly thing than the
conquest of his enemies, neither laid hands upon these women, nor
did he know any other before marriage, except Bersine.” As for the
other women, “displaying in rivalry with their fair looks the beauty of
his own sobriety and self-control, he passed them by as though they
were lifeless images for display.” Again, when Plutarch writes of the
Gracchi, he praises them as men who “scorned wealth and were
superior to money,” and, if he loves Tiberius the better of the two, it is
because he was the more temperate and austere and could never
have been charged, as Caius was, with the innocent extravagance of
buying silver dolphins at twelve hundred and fifty drachmas the
pound. Agis, the youthful king of Sparta, who (though brought up
amid luxury) “at once set his face against pleasures” and attempted
to banish luxury from the State by restoring equality of possessions,
brings together in his person the virtues that inevitably charm
Plutarch. Like so many of the old moralists, Plutarch cries out upon
riches and pleasures as the great corrupters, and Agis, the censor of
these things, comes into a Sparta ruined by gold and silver as a
beautiful young redeemer. He dies, a blessed martyr, and his mother,
when she stands over his murdered body, kisses his face and cries:
“My son, it was thy too great regard for others, and thy gentleness
and humanity, which have brought thee to ruin, and us as well.” But,
even here, Plutarch does not surrender himself wholly to Agis. He
will not admit that Agis, any more than the Gracchi, was a perfect
man. “Agis,” he says, “would seem to have taken hold of things with
too little spirit.” He “abandoned and left unfinished the designs which
he had deliberately formed and announced owing to a lack of
courage due to his youth.” Plutarch’s heroes are men in whom a god
dwells at strife with a devil—the devil of sin and imperfection. He
loves them in their inspired hour: he pities them in the hour of their
ruin. Thus he does not love men at the expense of truth, as some
preachers do, or tell the truth about men at the expense of love, as
some cynics do. His imagination holds the reins both of the heart
and of the mind. That is the secret of his genius as a biographer.
X
HANS ANDERSEN
Almost the last story Hans Andersen wrote was a sentimental fable,
called “The Cripple,” which he intended as an apologia for his career
as a teller of fairy-tales. It is the story of a bed-ridden boy, the son of
a poor gardener and his wife, who receives a story-book as a
Christmas present from his father’s master and mistress. “He won’t
get fat on that,” says the father when he hears of so useless a gift. In
the result, as was to be expected, the book turns out to have a
talismanic effect on the fortunes of the family. It converts the father
and mother from grumblers into figures of contentment and
benevolence, so that they look as though they had won a prize in the
lottery. It is also indirectly the cause of little Hans recovering the use
of his legs. For, while he is lying in bed one day, he throws the book
at the cat in order to scare it away from his bird, and, having missed
his shot, he makes a miraculous effort and leaps out of bed to
prevent disaster. Though the bird is dead, Hans is saved, and we
leave him to live happily ever afterwards as a prospective
schoolmaster. This, it must be confessed, sounds rather like the sort
of literature that is given away as Sunday-school prizes. One could
conceive a story of the same kind being written by the author of No
Gains Without Pains or Jessica’s First Prayer. Hans Andersen,
indeed, was in many respects more nearly akin to the writers of
tracts and moral tales than to the folklorists. He was a teller of fairy-
tales. But he domesticated the fairy-tale and gave it a townsman’s
home. In his hands it was no longer a courtier, as it had been in the
time of Louis XIV, or a wanderer among cottages, as it has been at
all times. There was never a teller of fairy-tales to whom kings and
queens mattered less. He could make use of royal families in the
most charming way, as in those little satires, “The Princess and the
Pea” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” But his imagination
hankered after the lives of children such as he himself had been. He
loved the poor, the ill-treated, and the miserable, and to illuminate
their lives with all sorts of fancies. His miracles happen preferably to
those who live in poor men’s houses. His cinder-girl seldom marries
a prince: if she marries at all, it is usually some honest fellow who
will have to work for his living. In Hans Andersen, however, it is the
exception rather than the rule to marry and live happily ever
afterwards. The best that even Hans the cripple has to look forward
to is being a schoolmaster. There was never an author who took
fewer pains to give happy endings to his stories.
His own life was a mixture of sadness and the vanity of success.
“The Ugly Duckling” is manifestly the fable of his autobiography.
Born into the house of a poor cobbler, he was at once shy and ugly,
and he appears to have been treated by other children like the
duckling which “was bitten and pushed and jeered at” in the
farmyard, and upon which “the turkey-cock, who had been born with
spurs, and therefore thought himself an emperor, blew himself up
like a ship in full sail and bore straight down.” His father died early,
and at the age of eleven Hans ceased to go to school and was
allowed to run wild. He amused himself by devouring plays and
acting them with puppets in a toy theatre which he had built, till at the
age of eighteen he realised that he must do something to make a
living. As he did not wish to dwindle into a tailor, he left his home,
confident that he had the genius to succeed in Copenhagen. There
his passion for the theatre led him to try all sorts of occupations. He
tried to write; he tried to act; he tried to sing; he tried to dance. “He
danced figure dances,” wrote Nisbet Bain, “before the most famous
danseuse of the century, who not unnaturally regarded the queer
creature as an escaped lunatic.”
By his persistence and his ugliness, perhaps, as much as by the
first suggestions of his genius, he contrived at last to interest the
manager of the Royal Theatre, and, through him, the King; and the
latter had him sent off to school with a pension to begin his
education all over again in a class of small boys. Here, one can
imagine, the “ugly duckling” had a bad time of it, and the head
master, a man with a satirical tongue, seems to have been as
merciless as the turkey-cock in the story. Hans’s education and his
unhappiness went on till he was in his twenties, when he escaped
and tried his hand at poetry, farce, fantasy, travel-books and fiction.
We hear very little of his novels nowadays—in England at any rate;
but we know how they were appreciated at the time from some
references in the Browning love-letters, within a few years of their
being published. The first of them appeared in 1835, when the
author was thirty, and a few months later an instalment of the first
volume of the fairy-tales was published. Andersen described the
latter as “fairy-tales which used to please me when I was little and
which are not known, I think.” The book (which began with “The
Tinder-Box” and “Little Claus and Big Claus”) was, apart from one
critic, reviewed unfavourably where it was reviewed at all. Andersen
himself appears to have been on the side of those who thought little
of it. His ambition was to write plays and novels and epics for serious
people, and all his life he was rather rebellious against the fame
which he gradually won all over Europe as a story-teller for children.
He longed for appreciation for works like Ashuerus, described by
Nisbet Bain as “an aphoristic series of historical tableaux from the
birth of Christ to the discovery of America,” and To Be or Not to Be,
the last of his novels, in which he sought to “reconcile Nature and the
Bible.”
We are told of his vexation when a statue was put up in
Copenhagen, representing him as surrounded by a group of
children. “Not one of the sculptors,” he declared, “seems to know
that I never could tell tales whenever anyone is sitting behind me, or
close up to me, still less when I have children in my lap, or on my
back, or young Copenhageners leaning right against me. To call me
the children’s poet is a mere figure of speech. My aim has always
been to be the poet of older people of all sorts: children alone cannot
represent me.” It is possible, however, that Andersen rather enjoyed
taking up a grumpy pose in regard to his stories for children. In any
case he continued to publish fresh series of them until 1872, three
years before his death. He also enjoyed the enthusiastic reception
their popularity brought him during his frequent travels in most of the
countries of Europe between England and Turkey. Nor did he object
to turning himself into a story-teller at a children’s party. There is a
description in one of Henry James’s books of such a party at Rome,
at which Hans Andersen read “The Ugly Duckling” and Browning
“The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” followed by “a grand march through the
spacious Barberini apartment, with [W. W.] Story doing his best on a
flute in default of bagpipes.” Nor does Andersen seem to have
thought too disrespectfully of his fairy-tales when he wrote “The
Cripple.”
Probably, however, even in his fairy-tales Hans Andersen has
always appealed to men and women as strongly as to children. We
hear occasionally of children who cannot be reconciled to him
because of his incurable habit of pathos. A child can read a fairy-tale
like “The Sleeping Beauty” as if it were playing among toys, but it
cannot read “The Marsh King’s Daughter” without enacting in its own
soul the pathetic adventures of the frog-girl; it cannot read “The
Snow Queen” without enduring all the sorrows of Gerda as she
travels in search of her lost friend; it cannot read “The Little
Mermaid” without feeling as if the knives were piercing its feet just as
the mermaid felt when she got her wish to become a human being
so that she might possess a soul. Even in “The Wild Swans,” though
Lisa’s eleven brothers are all restored to humanity from the shapes
into which their wicked step-mother had put them, it is only after a
series of harrowing incidents; and Lisa herself has to be rescued
from being burned as a witch. Hans Andersen is surely the least gay
of all writers for children. He does not invent exquisite confectionery
for the nursery such as Charles Perrault, having heard a nurse telling
the stories to his little son, gave the world in “Cinderella” and
“Bluebeard.” To read stories like these is to enter into a game of
make-believe, no more to be taken seriously than a charade. The
Chinese lanterns of a happy ending seem to illuminate them all the
way through. But Hans Andersen does not invite you to a charade.
He invites you to put yourself in the place of the little match-girl who
is frozen to death in the snow on New Year’s Eve after burning her
matches and pretending that she is enjoying all the delights of
Christmas. He is more like a child’s Dickens than a successor of the
ladies and gentlemen who wrote fairy-tales in the age of Louis XIV
and Louis XV. He is like Dickens, indeed, not only in his genius for
compassion, but in his abounding inventiveness, his grotesque
detail, and his humour. He is never so recklessly cheerful as Dickens
with the cheerfulness that suggests eating and drinking. He makes
us smile rather than laugh aloud with his comedy. But how delightful
is the fun at the end of “Soup on a Sausage Peg” when the Mouse
King learns that the only way in which the soup can be made is by
stirring a pot of boiling water with his own tail! And what child does
not love in all its bones the cunning in “Little Claus and Big Claus,”
when Big Claus is tricked into killing his horses, murdering his
grandmother, and finally allowing himself to be tied in a sack and
thrown into the river?
But Hans Andersen was too urgent a moralist to be content to
write stories so immorally amusing as this. He was as anxious as a
preacher or a parent or Dickens to see children Christians of sorts,
and he used the fairy-tale continually as a means of teaching and
warning them. In one story he makes the storks decide to punish an
ugly boy who had been cruel to them. “There is a little dead child in
the pond, one that has dreamed itself to death; we will bring that for
him. Then he will cry because we have brought him a little dead
brother.” That is certainly rather harsh. “The Girl Who Trod on the
Loaf” is equally severe. As a result of her cruelty in tearing flies’
wings off and her wastefulness in using a good loaf as a stepping-
stone, she sinks down through the mud into Hell, where she is
tormented with flies that crawl over her eyes, and having had their
wings pulled out, cannot fly away. Hans Andersen, however, like
Ibsen in Peer Gynt, believes in redemption through the love of
others, and even the girl who trod on the loaf is ultimately saved.
“Love begets life” runs like a text through “The Marsh King’s
Daughter.” His stories as a whole are an imaginative representation
of that gospel—a gospel that so easily becomes mush and platitude
in ordinary hands. But Andersen’s genius as a narrator, as a
grotesque inventor of incident and comic detail, saves his gospel
from commonness. He may write a parable about a darning-needle,
but he succeeds in making his darning-needle alive, like a dog or a
schoolboy. He endows everything he sees—china shepherdesses,
tin soldiers, mice and flowers—with the similitude of life, action and
conversation. He can make the inhabitants of one’s mantelpiece
capable of epic adventures, and has a greater sense of possibilities
in a pair of tongs or a door-knocker than most of us have in men and
women. He is a creator of a thousand fancies. He loves imagining
elves no higher than a mouse’s knee, and mice going on their travels
leaning on sausage-skewers as pilgrims’ staves, and little
Thumbelina, whose cradle was “a neat polished walnut-shell ... blue
violet-leaves were her mattresses, with a rose-leaf for a coverlet.”
His fancy never becomes lyrical or sweeps us off our feet, like
Shakespeare’s in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But there was
nothing else like it in the fairy-tale literature of the nineteenth century.
And his pages are full of the poetry of flights of birds. More than
anything else one thinks of Hans Andersen as a lonely child
watching a flight of swans or storks till it is lost to view, silent and full
of wonder and sadness. Mr. Edmund Gosse, in Two Visits to
Denmark, a book in which everything is interesting except the title,
describes a visit which he paid to Hans Andersen at Copenhagen in
his old age, when “he took me out into the balcony and bade me
notice the long caravan of ships going by in the Sound below—‘they
are like a flock of wild swans’ he said.” The image might have
occurred to anyone, but it is specially interesting as coming from the
mouth of Hans Andersen, because it seems to express so much of
his vision of the world. He was, above all men of his century, the
magician of the flock of wild swans.
XI
JOHN CLARE
Mr. Arthur Symons edited a good selection of the poems of John

Clare a few years ago, and Edward Thomas was always faithful in
his praise. Yet Messrs. Blunden & Porter’s new edition of Clare’s
work has meant for most of its readers the rediscovery of a lost man
of genius. For Clare, though he enjoyed a “boom” in London almost
exactly a hundred years ago, has never been fully appreciated: he
has never even been fully printed. In 1820 he was more famous than
Keats, who had the same publisher. Keats’s 1820 volume was one of
the great books of English literature, but the public preferred John
Clare, and three editions of Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and
Scenery were sold between January 16 and the end of March. It was
not that the public had discovered a poet: it was merely that they had
discovered an agricultural labourer who was a poet. At the same
time, to have been over-boomed was bound to do Clare’s reputation
harm. It raised hopes that his verse did not satisfy, and readers who
come to an author expecting too much are apt in their
disappointment to blame him for even more faults than he
possesses. It is obvious that if we are asked to appreciate Clare as a
poet of the same company as Keats and Shelley, our minds will be
preoccupied with the feeling that he is an intruder, and we shall be
able to listen to him with all our attention only when he has ceased to
challenge such ruinous comparisons. I do not know whether the
critics of 1820 gave more praise to Clare than to Keats. But the
public did. The public blew a bubble, and the bubble burst. Had
Clare, instead of making a sensation, merely made the quiet
reputation he deserved, he would not have collapsed so soon into
one of the most unjustly neglected poets of the nineteenth century.
In order to appreciate Clare, we have to begin by admitting that
he never wrote either a great or a perfect poem. He never wrote a
“Tintern Abbey” or a “Skylark” or a “Grecian Urn” or a “Tiger” or a
“Red, Red Rose” or an “Ode to Evening.” He was not a great artist
uttering the final rhythms and the final sentences—rhythms and
sentences so perfect that they seem like existences that have
escaped out of eternity. His place in literature is nearer that of Gilbert
White or Mr. W. H. Hudson than that of Shelley. His poetry is a mirror
of things rather than a window of the imagination. It belongs to a
borderland where naturalism and literature meet. He brings things
seen before our eyes: the record of his senses is more important
than the record of his imagination or his thoughts. He was an
observer whose consuming delight was to watch—to watch a
grasshopper or a snail, a thistle or a yellow-hammer. The things that
a Wordsworth or a Shelley sees or hears open the door, as it were,
to still more wonderful things that the poet has not seen or heard.
Shelley hears a skylark, and it becomes not only a skylark, but a
flight of images, illumining the mysteries of life as they pass.
Wordsworth hears a Highland girl singing, and her song becomes
not only a girl’s song, but the secret music of far times and far
places, brimming over and filling the world. To Clare the skylark was
most wonderful as a thing seen and noticed: it was the end, not the
beginning, of wonders. He may be led by real things to a train of
reflections: he is never at his best led to a train of images. His
realism, however, is often steeped in the pathos of memory, and it is
largely this that changes his naturalism into poetry. One of the most
beautiful of his poems is called “Remembrances,” and who that has
read it can ever forget the moving verse in which Clare calls up the
playtime of his boyhood and compares it with a world in which men
have begun to hang dead moles on trees?
When from school o’er Little Field with its brook and wooden brig,
Where I swaggered like a man though I was not half so big,
While I held my little plough though ’twas but a willow twig,
And drove my team along made of nothing but a name,
“Gee hep” and “hoit” and “woi”—O I never call to mind
These pleasant names of places but I leave a sigh behind,
While I see little mouldiwarps hang sweeing to the wind
On the only aged willow that in all the field remains,
And nature hides her face while they’re sweeing in their chains
And in a silent murmuring complains.
The pity that we find in this poem is, perhaps, the dominant
emotion in Clare’s work. Helpless living things made the strongest
appeal to him, and he honoured the spear-thistle, as it had never
been honoured in poetry before, chiefly because of the protection it
gave to the nesting partridge and the lark. In “Spear Thistle,” after
describing the partridge, which will lie down in a thistle-clump,
and dust
And prune its horse-shoe circled breast,
he continues:
The sheep when hunger presses sore

May nip the clover round its nest;
But soon the thistle wounding sore
Relieves it from each brushing guest
That leaves a bit of wool behind,
The yellow-hammer loves to find.
The horse will set his foot and bite

Close to the ground lark’s guarded nest
And snort to meet the prickly sight;
He fans the feathers of her breast—
Yet thistles prick so deep that he
Turns back and leaves her dwelling free.
We have only to compare the detail of Clare’s work with the

sonorous generalisations in, say, Thomson’s Seasons—which he

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I wish to acknowledge the support and encouragement given by:

Is high speed spinning of polyester blends

mechanically designed and engineered suitably to run at the maximum

Sound basis for speeding up

(a) Fibre fusion

exerted by the rotating yarn tension generates considerable heat. (Braecker

(a) Yarn path

Contact area f-- * Flange of the ring

Inner end Outer end

Figure 7: Yarn passage at ring frame

Figure 2: Heat distribution on traveler

(b) Speed a t piecing

( c ) End breakage rate

This relationship is indeed awfully complex; but it predicts the end

Excellent yarn quality: fine count

Figure 3: Dependence of end breaks on spindle speed

(d) Traveler life

(e) Yarn hairiness

are different when polyester with 51 mm fibre length is used to increase

spindle speed is increased, these potential troubles start becoming active

(f) Power cost

Let us consider the increase in power consumption when the spindle is

fibre spinning at 22000 rpm-is of great help in outlining a practical plan of

In 1941, two research scientists Dr John R. Whinfield and Dr J.T. Dickson

Polyester fibre production

The early phase

The technologies used by different plants were as follows:

Plant Technology Plant type

Only one plant -SPL- had continuous polymerisation which made

The second phase

Plant Technology Capacity Year of Location

1. Reliance Industries Ltd Du Pont 60000 1986 Patalganga,

The third phase

Bombay Dyeing plant has a unique arrangement to inject molten polymer

Current status 2008

S. no. Plant Current status

Polyester fibre types

S. No. Financial year Imports Exports

Further scope for growth

Educating the customer

R a w materials for polyester

Company Year of starting Production capacity

Company Year of starting Production capacity