MILL WHISTLE
Sheeting Weave Gets
New Air Conditioning
A—
System Put Into Operation
May 10 and Is Working
Satisfactorily; Part of
General Improvements in Mills
A
The new air conditioning system in
the Sheeting Weave Room has been in
operation since May 10 and is perform
ing satisfactorily. Adjustments will
continue for the next few weeks to
“balance” the system and to achieve
the uniformity desired.
The system was installed as a part
of a long-range capital program to im
prove the humidification in the var
ious mills.
At Draper the former equipment,
consisting of old high duty atomizer
heads, was discontinued after many
years of use. The new system is ex
pected to increase operating efficiency
and bring improvements in quality
through uniform humidity throughout
the weave room.
The system consists of two sections
and two apparatus houses. These latter
buildings contain washers, huge fans
and a heating coil system for use in
cold weather. Air from the outdoors
and from the weave room is washed
to remove lint and other impurities.
Moisture is added and the new air is
sent to the weave room for distribution
through the ducts. A number of atom
izers are used to supplement the air
washer system.
Uniform humidity is essential to ob
tain best performance in the weaving
of sheeting. It is necessary to maintain
relative humidity throughout the room
of approximately 80 to 85 per cent with
a maximum variation of a plus or mi
nus 2 per cent. This is due to the hygro
scopic qualities of the yarn, sizing ma
terials and the wood and leather parts
of the loom. A wide variation in room
moisture will cause changes in the
weaving characteristics of the yam and
result in mat-ups or breaks. Also, cer
tain parts of the loom swell or con
tract, causing the loom to get out of
adjustment, resulting in improper
“boxing” of the shuttle and loom stops.
Aside from better weaving efficiency
and uniformly good quality of cloth,
the new air conditioning system will
bring about greater comfort and well
being for employees inasmuch as a
(Continued on Page Four)
Towel-Employee Named
Mother Of The Year
Mrs. Hattie Rakes, an employee of
the Towel Mill, was named Henry
County Mother Of The Year in a con
test sponsored by the Retail Merchants’
Association of Martinsville, Va. Mrs.
Rakes was honored at the association’s
banquet meeting May 14, and was pre
sented many valuable gifts. The letter
nominating Mrs. Rakes was written by
her sister, Mrs. Dexter Wood.
Mrs. Rakes moved from Patrick
County to Henry Coimty in 1918. Her
first two children died. She had six
more children and her husband died
when the oldest child was nine years
old. She was advised to place the chil
dren in an orphanage but she refused.
She kept them with her and went to
work at Fieldcrest MiUs to support
her family. She had three sons in
World War II. Her youngest son, David,
a member of the Towel Standards
Dept., died suddenly last month. All
of the remaining children are married.
Mrs. Rakes has worked in the Towel
Mill Sewing Dept, for the past 20 years.
Pension Plan Booklet
You can obtain your 1951 revised
edition of the booklet, “Pension Plan
for Employees of Marshall Field &
Company,” by calling at the Personnel
Office serving your mill. The revised
edition contains many changes, in
cluding the latest Social Security Act
provisions, with which you will want
to become familiar.
Rayon Employees Make
Tour of Woolen Bldg.
“Open House” Held Sunday,
May 27; Large Number of
Visitors See Plant
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Fieldcrest Mills held “open house”
at the former Woolen Mill building in
Spray Sunday afternoon. May. 27, in
order to give employees of the Rayon
Mill an opportunity to see the place
where they will work after the Rayon
machinery is moved to its new loca
tion this fall. More than 600 visitor
tickets were issued to Rayon employees
and their families or guests.
Tours were planned to enable the
visitors to see where the various re
modeling projects are in progress. The
building is being modernized to the
equivalent of a new mill from a
manufacturing and employee-conven
ience standpoint. The miU will be com
pletely air-conditioned and fluorescent
lighted. All of the windows are being
bricked up in readiness for air-condi
tioning and old wooden posts are be
ing removed from what yvill be the
large weave room. In other instances
new floors and even new walls are be
ing put in.
The yard and surrounding areas are
to be changed completely with the
fence moved, the entrances changed
and improved and walkways and driv
es built. Entrances and parking facili
ties are being given particular atten
tion.
Trained guides conducted the visit
ors through the building in small groups
explaining what is going on now in
each room and describing what the de
partment will look like and how it
will be arranged after the machinery
is installed.
Light refreshments were served to
all visitors. Another tour is planned
when renovation of the mill is complet
ed and before machinery is moved in.
Group To Retire
Eleven employees of Fieldcrest Mills
will retire June 1 under the Marshall
Field & Company retirement program.
Ceremonies honoring the group will be
held in the conference room in the Nan
tucket building at Spray at 10 a. m.
Friday. First pension checks will be
distributed at this meeting.
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