Question

What is the reeling of silk?

Answer 1

Silk is a natural fibre that is produced by certain larvae of the insect for the formation of cocoons. The silk of moth caterpillars is used by the textile manufacturing industries.

Complete answer:
Silk reeling is defined as the process during which several cocoons are reeled together to produce a single thread which can be achieved through unwinding the filaments from a group of cooked cocoons in a warm water bath and the thread onto a moving reel. The movement of silkworm larva which is wrapped in its cocoon has derived the term silk reeling which is from the silkworm's cocoon. The reeling must be smooth and consistent without jerking and changing of the direction as the silk breaks too slowly and sticks to itself. The pot in which the reeling takes place is stirred and the cocoon spins with the unwinding of the silk individually.
The rotations during the reeling of the silk must be cyclic and focused on twisting and untwisting actions. Silk reeling can be done in many types which includes several machines. The oldest method was the hand spinning wheel which was operated by two hands. One hand drives the wheel and the other feeds cocoons. The silk thread is reeled at the end which is wound onto each wheel and the cocoons are boiled in a separate pot. Another machine is the charkha type peeling machine which is used in India and is operated by separate work motions in driving and cocoon feeding by two men per machine.

Note:
A single silk cocoon is about 300-900 metres long. 450 grams of silk is prepared by 2000-5000 cocoons. A silkworm can be escaped as a moth if it is left matured. Silkworms are edible after the removal of cocoons from them.