2022-05-27 Musset's Museum Introduction "Garabo"

Hakken Koken Supporter No_9

This is one of the spinning machines called Garabo that is on display at Nature and Science Museum (@tuatmuseum).
It's called gara-bou because it makes a rattling noise when it moves.
Gara spinning is a machine that can make thread from cotton!

Short fibers (staple fibers) like cotton and wool have short individual fibers, so they will easily break if pulled.
However, even short fibers can be used as thread by bundling several fibers together and twisting them, and the friction between the fibers will prevent them from unraveling or breaking even when pulled.
This process of pulling, twisting, and stretching the thread little by little to create a long thread is called spinning.

Next, Wan gives a simple explanation of how gara spinning works.
First, you put a lump of cotton into one of the jars lined up at the bottom. Each jar is on a rotating platform, so by rotating the jar, you can twist the cotton and spin it into thread.
At this point, as the twist gets tighter and the pulling force on the thread gets stronger, the pot is pulled up.
This separates the pot from the turntable, stops the pot from rotating, and prevents any further twisting.
If time continues like this, the weight of the pot will cause the thread to stretch and the twist will become looser.
The pot then falls back onto the turntable, begins to spin, and the twisting begins again.
By repeating this process, the strength of the twist can be automatically adjusted.
This is how we can keep the thread of an even thickness and prevent it from breaking while winding it onto the upper frame.
The revolutionary aspect of gara spinning is that it mechanically links the processes of spinning the thread and winding it up.

The person who invented Gara spinning was a Japanese man named Gaun Tachimune in 1876 (Meiji 9).
It's amazing that such a revolutionary and easy-to-understand machine was invented in Japan during the Meiji period!
At the first Domestic Industrial Exposition, held the year after its invention, it was called "the exhibition's greatest invention!"
However, at that time in Japan, there was no established patent system, so a large number of counterfeit products were produced, and Gaun Tatsuji fell into poverty...or so the story goes.

You can also see Garabo in action at Nature and Science Museum, so be sure to come and see it!

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