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This machine is for winding raw silk from bobbin to swift. The winding part of the silk throwing process removes irregularities and creates an even tension in the yarn. This was the first part of the work carried out at the Lombe mill here in Derby. There would have been many similar machines in the mill.

The silk arrives in loose 'skeins' or hanks, already de-gummed, which are transferred to a six-pointed star frame known as a 'swift'.
We believe this machine was used in the middle of the winding process, possibly when the silk is dyed a certain colour. At this stage the undyed silk has to be returned to the skein, as this cannot be done on the bobbin. The paddles, at the top of the machine are lifted off, the loose skeins of silk removed and put onto swifts for transport.
At the end of the winding process, the even silk thread will be transferred back onto bobbins, ready for twisting, or 'throwing'.
Although several of the bobbins do carry silk, we have also set up some with cotton thread, as this is easier to see than the very fine silk filaments.

'To wind a single skein is the work of five or six days, though the machine is kept in motion for ten hours daily; so astonishingly fine are the filaments of which it is formed'
(DP Davies 'View of Derbyshire', 1811)

This machine was in use until recently in a Macclesfield silk mill. It probably dates from about 1900, and is very similar to the winding machines used in the later days of the Derby mills. It has been kindly donated by Macclesfield Museums Trust.

Silk Winding Machine