Spinning is a manufacturing process for creating polymer fibers . It is a specialized form of extrusion that uses a spinneret to form multiple continuous filaments.
26-440: Cotton candy , also known as candy floss ( candyfloss ) and fairy floss , is a spun sugar confection that resembles cotton . It is made by heating and liquefying sugar, and spinning it centrifugally through minute holes, causing it to rapidly cool and re-solidify into fine strands. It usually contains small amounts of flavoring or food coloring . It is often sold at fairs , circuses , carnivals , and festivals , served in
52-756: A plastic bag , on a stick, or on a paper cone. It is made and sold globally, as candy floss in the United Kingdom , Ireland , India , New Zealand , Sri Lanka and South Africa , as fairy floss in Australia , as barbe à papa "daddy's beard" in France , as شعر البنات "girl's hair" in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia , as غزل البنات "girl’s yarn" in Egypt . Similar confections include Korean kkul-tarae and Iranian pashmak . Several sources track
78-471: A ban after lab tests confirmed the presence of a cancer-causing substance, rhodamine-B , in samples sent for testing. Andhra Pradesh reportedly started testing samples of the candy while food safety officials in Delhi were pushing for a ban. Studies have shown that the chemical can increase the risk of cancer and Europe and California have made its use as a food dye illegal. Spinning (polymers) If
104-515: A clear name other than "blue", the distinctive taste of the blue raspberry flavor mix has gone on to become a compound flavor that some other foods (gum, ice cream, rock candy, fluoride toothpaste) occasionally borrow ("cotton-candy flavored ice cream") to invoke the nostalgia of cotton candy. The sale of blue cotton candy at fairgrounds in the 1950s is one of the first documented instances of blue-raspberry flavoring in America. Pink bubble gum went through
130-407: A high degree of orientation, which increases fiber strength. The fibers are first cooled either with air or in a liquid bath to induce gelation, then the solvent is removed through ageing in a nonsolvent, or during the drawing stage. Some high strength polyethylene and polyacrylonitrile fibers are produced via this process. Electrospinning uses an electrical charge to draw very fine (typically on
156-427: A period, the cotton-like product builds up on the inside walls of the larger bowl, at which point machine operators twirl a stick or cone around the rim of the large catching bowl, gathering the sugar strands into portions which are served on stick or cone, or in plastic bags. As the sugar reserve bowl empties, the operator recharges it with more feedstock. The product is sensitive to humidity, and in humid summer locales,
182-705: A similar transition from specific branded product to a generic flavor that transcended the original confection, and "bubble gum flavor" often shows up in the same product categories as "cotton candy flavor". In 1978, the first automated machine was used for the production of cotton candy. Since then, many variants have appeared, ranging in size from counter-top to party- and carnival-size. Modern machines for commercial use can hold up to 3 pounds (1.4 kg) of sugar, have storage for extra flavors, and have bowls that spin at 3,450 revolutions per minute. In February 2024, state of Tamil Nadu in India and Union of Puducherry implemented
208-416: A spinning pump and into the spinneret. The direct spinning process avoids the stage of solid polymer pellets. The polymer melt is produced from the raw materials, and then from the polymer finisher directly pumped to the spinning mill. Direct spinning is mainly applied during production of polyester fibers and filaments and is dedicated to high production capacity (>100 ton/day). If the melting point of
234-405: A wide audience at the 1904 World's Fair as Fairy Floss with great success, selling 68,655 boxes at 25¢ ($ 8.48 today) per box. On September 6, 1905, Albert D. Robinson of Lynn, Massachusetts submitted his patent for an electric candy-spinning machine, a combination of an electronic starter and motor-driven rotatable bowl that maintained heating efficiently. By May 1907, he transferred the rights to
260-491: Is also practiced; this method ensures that no solvent can be carried over into the final product. Finally, the fibers are drawn to increase strength and orientation. This may be done while the polymer is still solidifying or after it has completely cooled. Blue raspberry flavor Blue raspberry is a manufactured flavoring and food coloring for candy, snack foods , syrups, and soft drinks . The color does not derive from any species of raspberry ; however,
286-435: Is dissolved in a spinning solvent where it is extruded out through a spinneret submerged in a coagulation bath composed of nonsolvents. The coagulation bath causes the polymer to precipitate in fiber form. Acrylic , rayon , aramid , modacrylic , and spandex are produced via this process. A variant of wet spinning is dry-jet wet spinning, where the spinning solution passes through an air-gap prior to being submerged into
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#1733086110026312-410: Is extruded through a spinneret into an evaporating chamber. A stream of hot air impinges on the jets of spinning solution emerging from the spinneret, evaporating the solvent, and solidifying the filaments. Solution blow spinning is a similar technique where polymer solution is sprayed directly onto a target to produce a nonwoven fiber mat. Wet spinning is the oldest of the five processes. The polymer
338-439: The polymer is a thermoplastic then it can undergo melt spinning. The molten polymer is extruded through a spinneret composed of capillaries where the resulting filament is solidified by cooling. Nylon , olefin , polyester , saran , and sulfar are produced via this process. Pellets or granules of the solid polymer are fed into an extruder . The pellets are compressed, heated and melted by an extrusion screw, then fed to
364-565: The General Electric Company of New York. His patent remains today as the basic cotton candy machine. In 1915, food writer Julia Davis Chandler described "Candy Cotton" being sold at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition . Joseph Lascaux, a dentist from New Orleans , Louisiana , invented a similar cotton candy machine in 1921. His patent named the sweet confection "cotton candy", eventually overtaking
390-510: The Gold Medal brand (which uses the names "Boo Blue" and "Silly Nilly"). Cotton candy may come out purple when mixed. Cotton candy machines were notoriously unreliable until Gold Medal's invention of a sprung base in 1949—since then, they have manufactured nearly all commercial cotton candy machines and much of the cotton candy in the US. Typically, once spun, cotton candy is only marketed by color. Absent
416-486: The United States, National Cotton Candy Day is celebrated on December 7. Typical machines used to make cotton candy include a spinning head enclosing a small "sugar reserve" bowl into which a charge of granulated, colored sugar (or separate sugar and food coloring) is poured. Heaters near the rim of the head melt the sugar, which is squeezed out through tiny holes by centrifugal force . Colored sugar packaged specially for
442-453: The coagulation bath. This method is used in Lyocell spinning of dissolved cellulose , and can lead to higher polymer orientation due to the higher stretchability of the spinning solution versus the precipitated fiber. Gel spinning, also known as semi-melt spinning, is used to obtain high strength or other special properties in the fibers. Instead of wet spinning, which relies on precipitation as
468-480: The flavor is intended to mimic that of a blackcap raspberry. Its flavor was developed using esters that are part of the flavor profile of pineapple, banana and cherry. Sugar is commonly added to create taste appeal for the blue raspberry flavoring. Food products labeled as blue raspberry flavor are commonly dyed with a bright blue synthetic food coloring, such as brilliant blue FCF (also called Blue #1) having European food coloring number E133. The blue color
494-514: The main mechanism for solidification, gel spinning relies on temperature-induced physical gelation as the primary method for solidification. The resulting gelled fiber is then swollen with the spinning solvent (similar to gelatin desserts ) which keeps the polymer chains somewhat bound together, resisting relaxation which is prevalent in wet spinning. The high solvent retention allows for ultra-high drawing as with ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) (e.g., Spectra ) to produce fibers with
520-461: The micro or nano scale) fibres from a liquid - either a polymer solution or a polymer melt. Electrospinning shares characteristics of both electrospraying and conventional solution dry spinning of fibers. The process does not require the use of coagulation chemistry or high temperatures to produce solid threads from solution. This makes the process particularly suited to the production of fibers using large and complex molecules. Melt electrospinning
546-467: The name "fairy floss", although it retains this name in Australia. In the 1970s, an automatic cotton candy machine was created which made the product and packaged it, making it easier to produce at carnivals, stalls and other events requiring more portable production. Tootsie Roll Industries , the world's largest cotton candy manufacturer, produces a bagged, fruit-flavored version called Fluffy Stuff . In
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#1733086110026572-536: The origin of cotton candy to a form of spun sugar found in Europe in the 19th century. At that time, spun sugar was an expensive, labor-intensive endeavor and was not generally available to the average person. Others suggest versions of spun sugar originated in Italy as early as the 15th century. Machine-spun cotton candy was invented in 1897 by dentist William Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton, and first introduced to
598-401: The polymer is higher than its degradation temperature, the polymer must undergo solution spinning techniques for fiber formation. The polymer is first dissolved in a solvent , forming a spinning solution (sometimes called a " dope "). The spinning solution then undergoes dry, wet, dry-jet wet, gel, or electrospinning techniques. A spinning solution consisting of polymer and a volatile solvent
624-440: The process can be messy and sticky. The source material for candy mesh is usually both colored and flavored. When spun, cotton candy is white because it is made from sugar, but adding dye or coloring transforms the color. Originally, cotton candy was just white. In the US, cotton candy is available in a wide variety of flavors, but two flavor-blend colors predominate— blue raspberry and pink vanilla , both originally formulated by
650-437: The process is milled with melting characteristics and a crystal size optimized for the head and heated holes; granulated sugar used in baking contains fine crystals which spin out unmelted, while rock sugar crystals are too large to properly contact the heater, slowing the production of cotton candy. The molten sugar solidifies in the air and is caught in a larger bowl which totally surrounds the spinning head. Left to operate for
676-513: Was used to differentiate raspberry-flavored foods from cherry -, watermelon -, and strawberry -flavored foods, each of which is typically red . The use of blue dye also partially is due to the FDA's 1976 banning of amaranth -based Red Dye No. 2, which had previously been heavily used in raspberry-flavored products. Blue raspberry flavor and color were first used in the United States in 1958 to add interest to snow cones . Regulatory agencies, such as
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