Beehive Spinning Mill No 1, Crescent Road, Great Lever, Bolton

The Beehive Spinning Mill is now being erected near Bolton under the direction of Potts Son and Pickup. When finished, the mill will contain 118,000 mule spindles, and will be employed in spinning an average of 60's counts of yarn. The full scheme includes two mills, but only one is now being erected. This will have five storeys, and is in Its general arrangement of usual construction. Reverting to the plan of the cardroom, it will be seen that adjoining the engine house, and extending outwards from the main building, is a shed in which the intermediate and roving frames are placed. The wall of the upper storeys at that side is carried by strong pillars and girders, thus giving ample access between the shed and cardroom, which practically become one. The engine house is also built out from the main block, and the rope race partially divides the blowing room wing from the card room. The blowing room contains four double opening machines of Messrs. Dobson and Barlow's well-known type, combined with hopper feeds, and six single-beater scutchers. There are 160 " Simplex " carding engines arranged along one side of the room, and driven by two line-shafts. These cards have cylinders 50 inches in. diameter and are 39 inches on the wire. In all, there are 36 drawing frames, of which 8 have one head each of eight deliveries, and 28 have each two heads of eight deliveries of 16 inch gauge. There are, therefore, 512 deliveries of drawing. Following these machines are 16 slubbing machines, each containing 80 spindles, and of 8 inch space. These are similar in construction to those described above, and supply 32 intermediate frames of 138 spindles each, and of 6½ inch space, and 42 roving frames, each containing 210 spindles, of 4¼ in. space. The slubbing frames are shorter than the intermediate frames adjoining them, and that the space left is filled by four bobbin boxes conveniently placed. The total number of spindles is, as stated, 118,000. This card room is an instance of supplementing an otherwise inadequate floor space by a shed, in preference to making a second card room. This is a custom to be commended. [Joseph Nasmith: Recent Cotton Mill Construction and Engineering page 124-126]

Reference           Joseph Nasmith: Recent Cotton Mill Construction and Engineering page 124-126 with plan