Methods of fabric spreading

The methods of spreading which the industry users can be divided into: I. Manual method
II. Mechanical method

I. Manual method 

This method is three types:

i. Spreading by hand
Despite the advent of spreading machinery, which will cope with a wide variety of fabrics, there is still a frequent need to spread fabrics by hand. It is a time-consuming method, requiring an operator at each side of the table.

In this method, the fabric is drawn from its package, which, if it is a roll, may be supported on a frame, and carried along he the table where the end is secured by weights or a clamp. The operators work back from the end, aligning he edges and ensuring that there is no tension and are no wrinkles. The ply is normally cut with hand shears on with a powered circular knife.

ii. Spreading by hand and hooking up
In this process the top of the table on which the fabric is being spread is set at 10º angle perpendicularly. The top edge of the table carries a series of hooks. The spreader hooks the selvage of the fabric onto these hooks, while maintaining the correct tension down the length of ply. He begins at one end and works towards the other. When the spread is complete the table is returned to the horizontal position, the hooks are released and the marker is positioned on the top. Typical fabrics, which must be spread using this method, are checks, crosswise stripes and other regularly repeating patterns, as well as those with a repeating design at intervals of a garment length.

iii. Spreading using manually controlled traveling machine
There is a spreading truck on the one end of the spreading table in which the fabric roll is placed. Spreading machines carry the piece of fabric from end to end of the spread, dispensing one ply at a time onto the spread. Their basic elements consist of a frame or carriage, wheels traveling in guide rails at the edge of the table, a fabric support, and guide collars to aid the correct unrolling of the fabric. In the simpler versions, the operator clamps the free end of fabric in line with the end of the spread, pushes the spreader to the other end, cuts off the ply in line with that end, clamps the beginning of the next ply, pushes the spreader to the other end and so on.

II. Mechanical method

This method is two types:

i. Spreading using motor driven traveling machine
More advanced spreading machines may include a motor to drive the carriage, is run on the rails, which are placed at two side of fabric spreading table surface. Fabric roll is set in a predetermined place of the machine. The machine is run from one side to the other side of table by using electrical and mechanical motion and fabric is being spread to make lay. There is a platform on which the operator rides, a ply-cutting device with automatic catcher to hold the ends of the ply in place, a ply counter, an alignment shifter actuated by photo-electric edge guides, a turntable, and a direct drive on the fabric support, synchronized with the speed of travel, to reduce or eliminate tension in the fabric being spread.

ii. Fully automatic
The advent of microprocessor control has enabled the development of more automatic functions on spreading machines. Thus a spreader can be pre-set to a selected number of plies, emitting an audible signal when it has reached the selected number or has come to the end of a piece of fabric. Automatic turn-tabling gives automatic spreading even for corduroys which are normally spread face to face. With spreading when the piece is finished the spreader returns to an auto-lifter at the end of the table, transfer the empty center bar to the lifter which then advance the next piece to the spreader. It repeats the process until it achieve of previously marked flaws and damages. As the flaw move past the sensor the spreader will halt, the ply cutter will cut across the ply, the spreader will receive direction and move back to the nearest splice mark on the marker plan and then it will continue its run to the end of the ply. Rolls of cloth have increased in length and hence in weight over the years and even without the level of automation described above there is a need for mechanical assistance with lifting rolls of cloth from warehouse to cutting room and with loading them onto the spreading machines.