Wool processing

Gilling

Gilling has three main functions:

• It aligns the fibres approximately parallel in the sliver;
• It thins down a thick sliver so that it can be handled in a spinning frame; and,
• It blends the wool by combining several slivers into a single one.

There are several types of gill box. However, very simply, a gill box has two sets of rollers and the slivers are dragged from one to another through a series of moving combs. The feed rollers pick up the slivers and the delivery rollers rotate at a far faster speed, drawing out the combined slivers into a thinner single sliver.

Pins are pushed into the sliver and move forward at an even speed with the fibres to control the acceleration of the fibres between the sets of rollers. When the pins are first thrust into the sliver, the feed rollers are still gripping the fibres. The pins are drawn through the fibres and comb them.

At the other end, the delivery rollers pull the fibres faster than the pins are moving, so the sliver is drawn through the pins, giving another combing effect. A single sliver comes out of the gill box, and is coiled into a can.

If the wool is going to be used in semi-worsted products, it will now be spun in a semi-worsted system.

Gilling does not comb anything from the wool. That happens at the next stage of processing, combing.