We know what the ladies’ favorite treats were! Found holding parts on a repair cart.
history under ground
spools
I really like the porcelain guides for the silk threads, probably used because they could be polished for perfect, persistent, smoothness.
Empty spools, thousands of them, were around the mill.
The left wall is stacked high with wooden crates holding spools. Tags hang on machines describing the last batch of silk the mill ever produced.
Standing atop the dust collector, the factory breaks down into diverging patterns, processes.
I wonder when fluorescent lighting was added.
These wide spools sit atop the abandoned tracks that lead to the train shed, which was later repurposed into a truck shed.
The batch tag specifies some of the technical properties of the silk worked here.
A wonderful porcelain drinking fountain on the first floor. Note how it’s wrapped.
The note on the left announces that the spindles in the crates are dirty.
A classic Eveready, borrowed from Herb’s office.
Aluminum spools replaced their wooden counterparts, later in the factory’s history.
Note the large belt pulley in the center of the frame. Follow the axel it’s on and you’ll see several belts still attached to the drive, which was originally steam-driven.
This picture typifies the industrial ideal of the early 20th century. More metal than air. More efficiency than beauty. More profits than people.
There were bins with hundreds of spools in them in the basement.