At the textile mill, bales are opened by machines, and the lint is mixed and cleaned further by blowing and beating. Lint that is too short for this use is separated and sold for use in other industries. Usable lint consists of fibers about 1 inch to 1 ¾ inches long. The mixed and fluffed cotton goes into a carding machine which further cleans the fibers and orients them lengthwise, side by side. The combing action of the carding machine finishes the job of cleaning and straightening the fibers, and makes them into a soft, untwisted rope called a sliver (pronounced sly-ver). The spinning devices take fibers from the sliver and rotate them up to 2,500 revolutions in a second twist that makes yarn for weaving or knitting into fabrics.