Some help identifying this machinery

[nk]

We have just acquired this photo at work (Harvard Art Museums). It is a German photo from the 1930s and the curator has not been able to identify the machinery in the photo. On the back of the photo it says:  "Getriebe der Nitschelstrecke". Getriebe is a gearing machine and "nitscheln" is part of textile processing. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what it is or where to look? All advice is welcome. Thanks
Narayan

[mad gerald]

Narayan,

just a link to a website (museum) explaning the textile processing ... (scroll down to "Vorspinnerei") ...

http://www.fabrikmuseum.de/wollprod.htm

Seems as nitscheln ist "making" a kind of "pre-yarn" (rove?) ...

[Design-HSB]

it would have to be a machine, is spun with the wool into yarn.

[Stoker]

Without any clues , I would have guessed something to do with a printing press- a collator perhaps. With the single clue that it is a textile machine, I would guess it has something to do with weaving. The eccentrics look like they could be part of the warp control or maybe something that catches and then aligns a shuttle.

I can see this machinery being part of a new guy prank. "Hey New Guy, go adjust the Johnson Rod on the Getriebe der Nitschelstrecke. And don't forget to loosen the ficklescrew first!" 

[nk]

Helmut and Gerald thank you both very much. This is super helpful. The curator now has something to go on. This is really helpful.

Its always nice to be able to point people in the right direction. I remember seeing a text label next to a Gerhard Richter painting of a jet fighter called "Phantom" . The text was all about ghosts, and the curator had obviously never heard of an F-4.
Narayan

[mad gerald]

Its always nice to be able to point people in the right direction. I remember seeing a text label next to a Gerhard Richter painting of a jet fighter called "Phantom" . The text was all about ghosts, and the curator had obviously never heard of an F-4.

...  ...

Just wondering if the same would have happened, exhibiting a pic of a "Spirit" (B-2) ...   

[nk]

Pretty funny Gerald.

I wanted to let you know that this did actually help the curator she said:

"Thank you! These details are actually very important.

If it's a kind of spinning machine the photo could have been taken in Ingolstadt at Schubert & Salzer - a company that built spinning machines. Renger-Patzsch worked for them in the 1950s and 1960s and made more than 1500 photos for them. I know that the Museum Ludwig in Cologne has a large number of photos from that commission. I will contact them and let you know what I find out."

Thanks guys. your collective wisdom has helped us understand something in a museum a little better!

[mad gerald]

Pretty funny Gerald.

... sorry, could not resist ...  

I wanted to let you know that this did actually help the curator she said:

"Thank you! These details are actually very important.

Thanks guys. your collective wisdom has helped us understand something in a museum a little better!

... glad, I could help or at least contribute ...  

[Lawton Maner]

45 years ago when I worked for what was then Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. we would send a new hand to the northside tool crib for a "Sky Hook".  The clerks would issue a 25 ton chainfall and then the entire yard would watch the poor sucker struggle to bring over 100lbs. fo tool the mile or so to the southside piers.  All factories have a gag to play on the newbie.

[Stoker]

A couple of memorable new guy pranks: First, I was working in a boat factory - in the woodshop, and a new guy ran some pieces small, so the floor foreman at the time suggested using the board stretcher. This was a fairly big factory (Thompson Boats) , and this poor kid got sent to several buildings, asking for the board stretcher. We were phoning ahead to let the lamo/ upholstery, etc shops know he was on the way. Only time I ever saw someone actually fall for the board stretcher one. Another time I was working at a custom furniture outfit in Denver. Your typical steel on slab industrial space with a showroom in front kind of a deal. Maybe 10 guys in the shop. This new kid asks about cutting an 18" disk for a turntable spice lazy suzan (part of a whole house of custom stuff), which of course was to be done with a router and trammel, like pretty much any precision arc you have to cut in a cabinet shop. I told him to "use the 18" hole saw, but first he was going to have to find the 1" drill motor for it, and to watch out- that sucker will tear your arm off". The guys in finish caught on (with the help of us signaling behind the poor kid) and sent him to get the KEYS TO THE BASEMENT (slab building- no basement- obviously)from someone in the front office...... I caught a bit of flack over that one.  

P.S: Can't forget about sending the new guy for Toenails. Those are a perennial favorite in the construction biz.