LALU HR. METEV
Student from the 3rd grade.

OUR FACTORY

(Description).

It is located 6 kilometers from the city of Gabrovo, in a beautiful valley through which the clear-flowing river "Kozestitsa", a tributary of Yantra, runs.

The factory is built on the right bank of the river, at the foothills of the Stara Planina mountain range. Above it hang massive rocks with long, dark caves. To the left of the factory and the river passes the old Roman road, which leads from Tarnovo through Gabrovo, Shipka, and Kazanlak to Edirne and Constantinople. The Russian troops passed this road when they came to liberate us.

The buildings in the area of our factory are six: the factory building, which is the largest; the warehouse for raw materials, the office and the warehouse for the finished fabrics, our house, and the dwellings with the dining room for the workers.

A few words about the history of our factory:

In 1921, my father bought an old, abandoned building in the aforementioned location. It had served for making laces.

My father bought this abandoned building, and in this place, because he wanted to use the water energy, which was abundant here at that time.

Having bought the old building, my father repaired it and decided to work in it making braids. He bought looms and started work. It went very well for him, and he was able to buy several looms that made sashes. He also bought a spinning machine.

But fate envied the developing work: in 1926, when my father was somewhere on business and when the workers were sleeping in their rooms, an unknown arsonist set the factory on fire. No one was able to stop the fiery element, as the factory was made of wood. So it burned down to its foundations.

My father did not despair of this defeat. He collected the money he had to take from his clients.

He borrowed from relatives and built a three-story cement building with a flat cement roof. Now he bought two spinning machines with 320 spindles each, a carding machine, a combing machine, and several looms for woolen and cotton fabrics.

His work went even better. He had the chance to expand the factory, in which he placed more new machines from Germany. The products of our factory found a good market; trade developed quickly and with good profits.

When the international exhibition was being prepared in Thessaloniki in 1931-32, my father decided to send some of his cotton fabrics.

[Photo: General view of the factory with the annexes around it.]

Our pavilion took one of the first places among the pavilions of the textile industry. At this exhibition, my father received a gold medal from Greece for the highest quality materials. He had received similar awards at other exhibitions.

But amidst all this, competition appeared. Many factories opened, which with their goods troubled our trade. Nevertheless, our factory remained in the ranks of the first textile factories because it produces healthy and high-quality materials.

Now I will make a brief description of the factory and the production of fabrics in it.

The factory building is about 90 meters long and 13 meters wide. It is three-story. On the first floor is the fabric warehouse, the weaving mill, and the dyeing room. The latter is managed by an engineer assisted by about 15-20 workers. Mainly cotton, yarn, and fabrics are dyed there. Fabrics are also bleached and more.

On the second floor are two spinning machines (self-actors) with 320 spindles each, between which are two winding machines (machines for winding the yarn onto special spools). After the spinning machines, there are two carding machines and one combing machine. Behind the last machines, there are two more new self-actors with 640 spindles. Close to the self-actors are four long twisting machines, two electric winding machines, and one spooling machine (the latter is used for winding spools). Next to the spooling machine, there are two more carding machines and three combing machines. The entire second floor is decorated, as are the other floors, with pictures from the factory life of the worker.

The department is managed by a chief master technician. This master has two assistants, to whom all the machines here are entrusted. Each spinning machine is operated by one worker and two female workers. The carding and combing machines are under the supervision of several workers.

The twisting machines, winding machines, and spooling machine are operated by female workers and two young master boys.

The third floor is intended for the looms. In the first half of it, in three straight rows, are the looms that weave the cotton fabrics. There are about 60 looms here. Each loom is supervised by one female worker. But all the cotton weaving looms are under the management of two masters with several assistants. Behind the looms, there are 3 warping machines and one spooling machine. Nearby is the room where the designer (the artist who determines the patterns of the fabrics) works.

Next to the warping machines are the large, heavy looms that produce sports, woolen, and semi-woolen fabrics. These looms number 35 and are operated by workers and female workers. They are entrusted to a chief master with one or two assistants. To the right, in a large hall, are the scouring and carding machines. The first has the property of making the threads in the base stronger, through the rollers. The carding machine slightly frays the threads on one side of the fabric. Through this slight fraying, the fabric becomes softer and denser.

The roof of the factory is flat and fenced on the sides with wire mesh. The latter serves to stop the flying cotton, which is dried on the cement roof. On it is built a small cotton warehouse, at the end of which is the elevator. This elevator is used for lifting the wet, just-dyed cotton from the dyeing room to dry on the roof, and for taking down the dry one.

The production of the fabrics is done as follows: the raw materials brought in - wool, cotton, or cotton rags - are arranged in the warehouse for raw materials. The latter are taken to the combing machine to be fluffed up and turned into cotton. (The cotton obtained from rags is used for making lower-quality fabrics). The wool or cotton is taken to the carding machines (if it needs to be dyed, it is dyed and then taken to the carding machines). The carding machine makes the cotton into thick rovings, which are wound onto special rollers. The latter are taken and placed on the spinning machines, which twist the thick rovings and make them into thin, strong threads, which through the twisting machine are wound onto spools and sent to the looms and winding machines. The winding machines take the spools full of yarn and rewind them onto bobbins. If the thread on the bobbin needs to be thicker, then the bobbin is sent to the twisting machines, which twist two or three threads into one and wind them onto spools, which are again returned to the winding machines to be wound into bobbins. Once ready, the bobbins are taken to the warping machine. The latter winds the base of the fabric, which is taken to the scouring machine, and then sent to the loom, from which the fabric comes out.

If necessary, the fabric is carded. Then it is cleaned of the threads on it, washed, and taken to the drying room, where it is dried and ironed. The now finished fabric is taken to the warehouse, from where it is sent to the clients.

The entire machinery moves and the factory is illuminated with electricity. It owns two motors (not counting the separate ones for the spinning machines, twisting machines, winding machines, and those in the dyeing room), one dynamo, and one machine that provides steam heating. In the factory, there are 6 technicians who take care of the proper movement of all the machines. The factory also has its own blacksmith and carpentry workshops, where damaged or broken parts are repaired.

The entire factory is overseen by a chief supervisor, who constantly walks around and supervises the workshops.

LE MESSAGER, Issue No. 9, 04.1940

Monthly bulletin of the French College "St. Augustine", Plovdiv.    

AI Генериран Сензор за съдържание смята, че този текст публикуван през далечната 1940 г. е написан от човек с вероятност от 90% поради сложните структури на изреченията, нюансираното описание на заобикалящата среда и стила на разказване, които са червен флаг за съдържание, генерирано от изкуствен интелект.