He allowed, in his machine, the roving to fall into a rapidly revolving can which stood upright; the revolution imparting twist to the cotton. When this can was filled, it was carried to a winding frame, by which the roving was wound upon bobbins suitable for the spinning frame.

That Arkwright was unscrupulous in some of his dealings will soon be gathered if the various trials which he instituted to defend his so-called patents be carefully read, though it must be admitted that he possessed a most wonderful business capacity, and that he worked early and late, in pushing his ideas with the most tireless energy and determined perseverance. A glimpse of the nature of his early struggles is obtained when it is recorded that on one occasion his wife broke some of his first rude models, under the impression that he would starve his family by neglect of his legitimate business of barber. So incensed at her for this was he, that he ceased to live with her. Such were the defects of his early education and such his determination to learn, that at fifty he did not think he was too old to begin English grammar, writing and arithmetic.

That he succeeded in getting together a large fortune is now history. He died at the age of sixty on the 3rd August, 1792, at Cromford in Derbyshire.

Samuel Crompton.—Perhaps the greatest of the cotton-spinning machinery inventors was Samuel Crompton, who was born a few miles away from Bolton in a delightfully secluded and sylvan spot, "Firwood Fold," on the 3rd December, 1753. No story of the Cotton plant would be complete without mention of this individual, for wherever fine spinning machinery is practised there is a monument to the ingenuity, the skill and brilliant genius of Samuel Crompton. At a very early age he, along with his parents, removed into a much larger house still in existence and known as "The Hall ith Wood." This ancient mansion stands on a piece of high rocky ground and is distant from Bolton about 1-1/2 miles. It was in this house that he invented his celebrated machine which he called "A Mule." At the present time one looks in vain for the Wood, but in the early days of Crompton's tenancy it was surrounded by a great number of very fine trees, hence the name "The Hall in the Wood" or "Hall ith Wood."

For some reason the Hall is being allowed to fall into decay, and at the present time is in great danger of collapsing. Several attempts have been made to buy the place and reclaim as much of it as possible and convert it into a museum, but as yet nothing has been done. It was built at two different periods: one portion of it, that of the "post and plaster work," being built probably in the 15th century, while the newer or later portion of stone was erected about 1648, for that date is inscribed on the porch.

The inside does not appear to have received much care or improvement. Originally the windows were much larger than at present. Pitt's window tax, long since repealed, was the direct cause for the reducing of the windows from their former proportions.

The illustration gives an excellent idea of its present-day appearance. The building is always an object of extreme interest to visitors to the locality, presenting even now a very picturesque appearance.

Image: FIG. 23.—The Hall ith Wood, where the spinning mule was invented.

Very soon after the removal of the family to the Hall ith Wood, Samuel's father died. His mother, however, one of the best of women, filled the duties of head of the house with much success, and followed the laborious occupation of farming, and in her leisure moments, did what many housewives of her class did—carded, spun, and wove, in order to provide her family and herself with a decent livelihood.

She managed to give what might be termed under the circumstances a most excellent and practical education to her son Samuel; and it may be here remarked, that in many respects he was the exact opposite of his predecessor Arkwright. The latter was certainly a bustling, pushing man of business, while Crompton was a born inventor and recluse, and be it said also, as big a failure, as a business man, as could be well conceived. Of course Arkwright, as is well known, was the opposite of this.

The early youth of Crompton was identified with the great progress in the cotton industry of England, and, at fifteen or sixteen years of age, he was to be found assisting his mother during the daytime, while in the evenings he attended night-classes in Bolton, where he made great progress in mathematics. He was so good at the latter subject that he was called "a witch at figures."

It may be taken as perfectly natural that a man of the character, training and early associations of Crompton should turn to invention in connection with the cotton industry, especially since the beginning of his association with the trade there had always been a scarcity of weft for the loom which he and his mother operated.

The continual efforts of English weavers of that period to produce fine cotton goods to compete with those at that time largely imported from India, led to a great demand for fine yarns, and these the comparatively clumsy fingers of English spinners could not produce in a manner at all equal to the delicate filaments produced by the Hindoos.

Kay's invention of the fly shuttle, and the introduction by his son of the drop-box in the loom, had vastly increased the output of the loom, thus increasing the demand for weft and warp to feed it.

The inventions of Arkwright, Paul and others had certainly done much toward supplying this demand, but in Crompton's youth and early manhood the need of suitable weft was greater than ever. Mrs. Crompton was not long in hearing about the Jenny of Hargreaves, and determined she would get one for her son to work upon. This she did, and Crompton very soon became familiar with it and produced upon it sufficient weft for their own use. This he continued to do for seven or eight years, although he constantly had the truth forced upon him, that the yarn he was producing was neither as suitable for warps as that from Arkwright's water frame, nor at all adapted for the fine muslins then very much in requisition for ladies' dresses.

The manufacture of these muslins and of cotton quiltings was commenced in Bolton, Lancashire, by Joseph Shaw, when Crompton was about ten years of age; and from that time up to the present, no town in the world enjoys the same reputation for this class of goods as does Bolton.

With so contemplative and reflective a mind as Crompton's, and the many years of constant and, to a great extent, solitary occupation on Hargreaves' Jenny, it is not to be wondered at that Crompton's ingenious brain led him to devise some mechanism for improving the jenny on which he worked.

In 1774, therefore, he began those experiments which, after five years labour, resulted in the invention of the "New Wheel," or "Muslin Wheel," or "Hall ith Wood Wheel," as it was variously designated. The term "Mule" was of later application, owing to its comprising the essential features of both Arkwright's and Hargreaves' inventions. Because it was a cross or combination of the two it received the name of Mule, by which it is known to-day.

At the very time Crompton perfected his machine sufficiently to give it a practical test, the Blackburn spinners and weavers were going riotously about, smashing to pieces every jenny with more than twenty spindles, that could be found for miles around the locality, so that Crompton took elaborate pains to conceal the various parts of his new machine in the ceiling of his work-room at the Hall ith Wood in order to prevent their destruction.

Crompton's hopes and prospects were very bright at this time, as he had a watch costing five guineas expressly made for him, and just after the completion of his invention, he married one Mary Pimlott, at Bolton Parish Church, 16th February 1780. He was then but twenty-seven years of age, and his great invention, destined to revolutionise the cotton trade, was already an accomplished fact although practically a secret to the world at large.

When married, he and his wife set themselves assiduously to produce the finest strong yarn which his machine was so eminently adapted to spin. It did not take long for the good news to travel that fine yarn suitable for the production of muslins was being made at the Hall ith Wood. Hundreds of manufacturers visited Samuel to purchase, but many more came out of curiosity, if by any means they could see this wonderful machine. One individual is said to have hidden himself five days in the cockloft and, having bored a hole through the ceiling, feasted one eye at least by a sight of the marvellous mechanism which Crompton had invented.

Ballantyne records that as much as 14s. per pound was obtained for 40's yarn; 25s. for 60's, and for a small quantity of 80's, 42s. per lb.

At the time of writing the market prices for these are respectively, 7-3/4d., 9-3/4d., and 1s. 3d. per lb.

Crompton, however, was not permitted to enjoy his prosperity and monopoly very long, and here again may be noted the difference between him and Arkwright. While the latter extorted the full business profit from his inventions, the former suffered his ingenious machine to get out of his hands by promises not worth the paper on which they were written. His invention was not at all adequately protected by patent rights, and a number of manufacturers were allowed to use the Mule on their simple written promise to give him some remuneration. Long afterwards he wrote:

"At last I consented, in hope of a generous and liberal subscription. The consequence was, that from many subscribers, who would not pay the sums they had set opposite their names, when I applied to them for it, I got nothing but abusive language given to me to drive me from them, which was easily done, for I never till then could think it possible that any man (in such situation and circumstances) could pretend one thing and act the direct opposite. I then found it was possible, having had proof positive."

Another side of Crompton's character may be seen when it is stated he was an enthusiastic musician, and earned 1s. 6d. a night by playing the violin at the Bolton Theatre. Four or five years after the invention was known, he removed to the township of Sharples, where he occupied a farm-house called "The Oldhams," being probably induced to take this step in order to secure greater privacy.

A few words may very profitably be expended at this point in describing the main features of the machine shown in Fig. 24.

Image: FIG. 24.—Crompton's spinning mule.

It has been remarked that Arkwright had already attained great success in the production of yarn by the extensive application of the principle of pulling out the cotton by drawing rollers. Hargreaves had also shown how to produce a thread by attenuating the cotton by means of a travelling carriage.

Crompton, however, laid the foundation of the present system of mule spinning by combining the essential features of the two machines and blending them into one.

He applied the principle of roller drawing in order to first attenuate the cotton, and he utilised the travelling carriage as a reserve power with which to improve the quality of the thread and draw it out finer.

It must not be supposed that his travelling carriage was identical with that of Hargreaves. On the contrary, it was a vast improvement upon it. Crompton put the twisting spindles into the travelling carriage and the roving bobbins he transferred to a fixed creel, and these conditions are invariably to be found in the self-actor spinning mule of to-day.

In Hargreaves' machine the rovings were placed on the travelling carriage, and the twisting spindles in the fixed frame behind, a position which has never been acceptable since that time for cotton-spinning mules. Here, however, a word may be said in favour of Hargreaves' disposition of the parts mentioned. The Jenny did not contain any heavy drawing rollers and roller beams, and it was probably best in his machine to have his crude roving creel to traverse and the twisting spindles to be in a fixed frame.

This disposition of the parts is even now to be found in most Twiner Mules, that is, mules used to double two or more single threads together without any process of drawing being applied to the cotton.

When Crompton applied the principle of drawing rollers, his ingenious mind saw that it would be best to let the rollers, roller beam, and roving creel be in a fixed framework on account of their combined weight and size, making it very difficult to move them about.

Crompton's great idea seems to have been to produce a better thread by his machine than could be given by other machines, and in this he admirably succeeded.

The mule being set in motion, the rollers first attenuated and then delivered the cotton to the spindle carriage. The latter, by the action of the hand and knee, was made to recede from the rollers just about as fast as the cotton was delivered to the spindles, or possibly at a rather quicker rate. Then, while the thread was still in a soft state, the rollers could be stopped and the threads pulled still finer by the continued recession of the spindle carriage from the rollers. Afterwards, when that length of thread was fully made, it wound on the spindles, and the carriage at the same time returned to the roller beam.

Thus each portion of thread was first subjected to the action of drawing rollers, as in Arkwright's machine, and then drawn still finer by the withdrawal of the travelling carriage, as in Hargreaves' Jenny.

Shortly after Crompton's invention was given to the public, it began to be improved in various ways. Henry Stones, a mechanic of Horwich, near Bolton, substituted metal drawing rollers for Crompton's crude wooden rollers, doubtless copying the idea from Arkwright's water frame.

All the mules employed at first were necessarily short; by that is meant they contained but few spindles, often 40 or 50 spindles. The biggest mule in Bolton in 1786 was said to contain 100 spindles. The preparation of the rovings for the mule about this time occupied the attention of Crompton, and he invented a Carding Engine which, however, did not attain very much success. Indeed it is said that one day so incensed was Crompton at the way he had been treated on account of his mule, that he took an axe and smashed his engine to pieces.

In 1791 Crompton established a small manufactory in King Street, off Deansgate, in Bolton.

In 1800 a subscription, promoted mainly by Manchester gentlemen, resulted in L500 being handed over to Crompton, one of the contributors for thirty guineas being the son of Sir R. Arkwright. With this money he was enabled to enlarge his business somewhat—one of his new mules containing upwards of 360 spindles and another 220 spindles. The mules were worked for many years, in fact, up to the sixties, when they passed into the hands of Messrs. Dobson & Barlow, the eminent cotton machinists of Bolton. One of the mules made by Crompton is shown in Fig. 24.

In the early part of 1812 an agitation for a government grant in recognition of Crompton's work made great progress. Mr. Perceval, the then Prime Minister, was proceeding to the House of Commons to move that a grant of L20,000 be made to Crompton, when he was shot by an assassin named Bellingham. There is no doubt, had this disastrous affair never happened and Perceval made his proposal, a grant much larger than was actually voted (L5000) would have been made.

There is no doubt that this grant was altogether inadequate, seeing that larger sums had been voted to other investigators and inventors about this time.

Owing to his lack of business ability, and to ill fortune combined, poor Crompton did not get out of this money what he might have done. Several ventures turned out altogether very differently than he expected. He became poorer and poorer, and was only protected from absolute want by subscriptions and assistance provided by his true friends in the trade, notably Mr. Kennedy, a Manchester manufacturer.

Image: FIG. 25.—Portrait of Samuel Crompton. (By the kind permission of W. Agnew & Son, Manchester.)

At the age of 74 he died, 26th June, 1827. He was interred in Bolton Parish Churchyard, where a plain granite tomb sets forth the following:—"Samuel Crompton of Hall ith Wood, Inventor of the Mule, born 3rd December, 1753, died 26th June, 1827."

A noble monument of him is to be found standing on Nelson Square, Bolton, in front of the General Post Office.



CHAPTER IX.

THE MODERN SPINNING MULE.

The Self-Actor Mule.—In the preceding chapter there has been detailed the particulars of the invention of the "Mule" by Samuel Crompton. Since that event the mule has been the object of over a century of constant and uninterrupted improvement and development, especially in the details of greater or less importance.

The Self-Actor Mule of to-day represents and embodies the inventions of hundreds of the most intelligent men ever connected with any industry in the world's history. It is universally acknowledged to be one of the most wonderful and useful machines ever used. The actual operations of making a thread are however practically as left by Samuel Crompton over a hundred years ago. It is only in details of mechanism involved in making the various operations more perfectly automatic, and of greater size and productiveness, that the long line of inventors since Crompton's first mule was made, has been engaged.

To-day, such is the great size and wonderfully perfect automatic action of these machines, that they are found 120 feet long, while in width, over all, they may be 9 or 10 feet. Such a mule of this length would contain over 1300 spindles, each spinning and winding 64 inches of thread in about 15 seconds, and one man with two youths would be sufficient to give all the attention such a machine required.

Independently of a vast number of inventors of smaller importance, there are several names which stand out in greater prominence in the history of the developments of the mule. Among these names must certainly be placed, ahead of any others that might be named, that of Richard Roberts of Manchester, who succeeded in 1830, after about five years' application, in making the mule self-acting.

A good number of ingenious individuals had contributed more or less to this result between the dates of Crompton's and Roberts' inventions, and doubtless the results of the labours of these would be of great service to Roberts in his great task.

Indeed, several inventors had previously brought out what might be termed self-action mules, but it remained for Roberts to endow it with that constant and automatic motion which obtains to-day in practically the same form as left by him.

The special portion of mechanism with which his name is more especially identified, is what is denominated the "Quadrant." This is practically the fourth part of a large wheel, which is so arranged and connected that it performs almost exactly the same functions on a mule that Holdsworth's differential motion performs on the bobbin and fly frames.

To look at it, one would imagine it to be—what it really is—one of the simplest pieces of mechanism possible, yet the actions performed by it are complex and beautiful in the extreme. Later on, these actions of the Quadrant will be carefully examined.

Image: FIG. 26.—Mule head showing quadrant.

The self-actor mule is an intermittent spinning machine, i.e., it is not continuous in action, as are most machines used in the making of thread or yarn from the fibrous product of the Cotton plant. Take for instance the Carding Engine, and the bobbin and fly frames, as previously described. So long as these machines are working, practically all of the acting parts of the mechanism have a continuous forward motion.

This is by no means the case with the machine now under consideration, as many of the more important and principal parts move alternately in opposite directions, while other of the less important may revolve at one time, and be stationary at another.

What are called the medium counts of yarn contain say from 30 to 50 hanks in one pound avoirdupois; a cotton hank being equal to 840 yards, so that one pound of 40's yarn will contain no less than 40 x 840 yards or 33,600.

For such yarns as these, a modern self-actor mule would probably go through its cycle of movements four times per minute. For coarser or thicker yarns this speed might be increased, while for finer and better qualities of yarn the speed would be diminished.

Now as each succeeding "stretch" marks a complete cycle of movements and is a repetition of others, it will probably suffice if a brief non-technical description of one of these "stretches" or "draws," as they are termed in mill parlance, be given.

As in the bobbin and fly frames, the bobbins containing the rovings of cotton to be operated upon, are placed behind the mules on skewers fitted in a suitable framework of wood and iron called "creels," so as to allow the cotton to be easily pulled off and unwound without breaking. These rovings are guided to and drawn through three pairs of drawing rollers (see Fig. 27), which shows this very fully.

The chief difference between these rollers and those of the previously described machines being in the lessened diameters of the mule rollers, and consequently attenuating the cotton to a much greater extent. It is a truism well understood by those in the trade, that the finer the rovings are the better the raw cotton must be, and the more drawing-out they will stand in any one machine. One inch of roving put up behind the rollers of a mule spinning medium numbers would probably be drawn out into 9 inches.

Image: FIG. 27.—Mules showing "stretch" of cotton yarn.

Nothing more need be said here about the action of the drawing rollers.

As the attenuated rovings leave the roller at the front, each one is conducted down to a spindle revolving at a high rate of speed; so quickly indeed, that there is no other body used in spinning which approaches it for speed.

It is quite a usual practice to have them making about 8000 revolutions per minute, and sometimes a speed of 10,000 is attained by them.

Assuming that a "Cop" of yarn (see Fig. 27), showing the cops on the spindles, has been partly made upon each spindle, the roving or thread from the rollers would extend down to the cop and be coiled round the spindle upwards up to the apex. The spindle would probably twist the thread for 40's counts twenty-three or twenty-four times for each inch that issued from the rollers, there being a well-recognised scale of "twists per inch" for various sorts and degrees of fineness of yarn.

Unlike the bobbin and fly frames, the roving or yarn is not wound on its cop or spindle as it is delivered, but a certain definite and regulated length of cotton is given out to each spindle, and fully twisted and attenuated before it is wound into a suitable shape for transit and for subsequent treatment.

To keep each thread in tension, therefore, as it is delivered from the rollers, the carriage containing the twisting spindles is made to recede quickly away from the rollers, a common distance for such movement being 64 inches. All the time the spindles are quickly revolving and putting twist into the rovings, thus imparting strength to them to a far greater degree than at any previous stage. Often the carriage is made to recede from the rollers a little quicker than the latter, the difference in the surface speeds between the two being technically known as "gain." The object of this carriage "gain" is to improve the "evenness" of the yarn by drawing out any thick soft places there may be in the length of thread between each spindle and the roller, a distance of 64 inches. It is a property of the twist that it will run much more readily into the thinner portions of thread than the thicker, thus leaving the latter capable of stretching out without breaking.

Arrived at the limit of 64 inches stretch (see Fig. 27), certain rods, levers, wheels and springs are so actuated that the parts which draw out the carriage and cause the rollers to revolve are disconnected, so that both are brought to a standstill for the moment.

In many cases the spindles at this stage are kept on revolving in order to put in any twist that may be lacking in any portion of the stretch.

Twisting being finished, the important operation of "backing off" commences.

It maybe at once explained that "backing off" means the reversing of the spindles; the uncoiling of a portion of the yarn from the spindles; and generally putting all the requisite apparatus into position ready for winding or coiling the attenuated and twisted rovings upon the spindles.

Here come now into action those most beautiful and ingenious applications of mechanical principles, the working out of which entailed so many years of arduous effort, and which rendered the mule practically self-acting and automatic.

By a most wonderful, intricate and clever combination of levers, wheels, pulleys and springs, aided by what is called a "friction clutch," the instant the spindles have ceased twisting the yarn, they are reversed in direction of revolution.

This reversal only occupies two or three seconds, and as the motion imparted to the spindles is very slow at this stage, the practical effect is, that a small portion of yarn is "uncoiled" from each spindle, sufficient to allow of two "guide wires" to assume proper and necessary positions for winding the attenuated threads upon the spindles.

These two wires are termed "faller wires," and while one is controlled by the cop-shaping mechanism and termed the "winding faller wire" the other simply keeps the threads in the requisite state of tension during "winding on" and is termed the "counter" or "tension faller wire." Both these wires can be seen in Fig. 28. During backing off, the "winding faller wire" has a descending motion, while the "counter faller" has an ascending motion, these being necessary for them to attain their proper positions for "winding on."

Image: FIG. 28.—Mule showing action of faller wires.

The movement of these faller wires into proper position, and the uncoiling of a small portion of yarn from each spindle, are both brought about by the "backing off" motion, which formed an important part of Roberts' Mule. It may be remarked, however, that certain of the predecessors of Roberts had made great efforts in this direction, thus making the way much easier for his applications, which were entirely successful. When "backing off" is completed, all the necessary parts are in position for winding the 64 inches of thread just given out upon each spindle.

This practically involves three primary and most important operations. (1) The drawing-in of the carriage back to its original position. (2) The revolution of the spindles at a speed suitable for winding the threads upon the spindles as the carriage moves inwards. (3) The guiding of the threads upon the spindles in such a manner that a cop of yarn will eventually be formed upon each spindle, of such dimensions and shape as to be quite suitable for any subsequent processes or handling.

Taking these three important divisions in the order given, it may be said that the drawing-in of the carriage is effected through the medium of the "scroll" bands, which are attached to the carriage at one end, and to certain spiral scrolls or fusees at the other end. The scrolls being revolved, wind the cords or bands round them, so pulling in the carriage. There are usually two back scroll bands and one front band, the latter being a sort of check band upon the action of the other two. What is termed the "rim band" revolves the spindles during the outward traverse of the carriage.

The drawing-in of the carriage in a sense causes the other two operations to be performed. With respect to the second of these, viz., revolving the spindles and thus winding the threads upon them, it may be said this action causes what is termed the "Winding Chain" to pull off a small drum of six inches diameter, thus rotating the latter and thereby the spindles. Here, however, comes in now the action of the very beautiful and effective piece of mechanism, "Roberts' quadrant" (see Fig. 26). The winding chain just mentioned is attached to one extremity to the arm of the quadrant, and the peculiar manner in which the quadrant moves in relation to the winding drum gives the variable motion to the spindles that is required.

When commencing a new set of cops it may take about eighty revolutions of the spindles to wind on the 64 inches of thread to each spindle, representing one stretch. The bare spindle may be about a quarter of an inch in diameter, but it may finally attain a diameter of an inch and a quarter (i.e., the cop upon the spindle). This cop will only require about twenty revolutions to wind on the 64 inches, which are only one-fourth of the revolutions necessary for the empty spindles. It is the action of the quadrant which gives this variation in speed to the spindles during winding-on.

But as has been pointed out previously, the quadrant imparts a "differential winding" motion to the spindles in two distinct and different ways, and the second motion is even more important than the first.

It is necessary for practical purposes that the cop of yarn should be built up of a conical shape in the upper part, as shown in the illustration. Now it must be obvious to the least technical of the readers of this story, that to wind a given portion of yarn upon the thin apex of a cone, will require a greater number of revolutions than would be necessary to wind the same length of yarn upon the base of the same cop. All the way between the apex and the base of the cone are also other varying diameters, and during each return movement of the mule carriage the thread is wound upon all the varying diameters of the cone in succession.

This implies the necessity for the revolutions of the spindles to a varying quantity all the time of the return or inward movement of the spindle carriage.

The quadrant gives this varying speed in a manner which is all but mathematically correct, any slight deviation from any such mathematical correctness being easily compensated for in other ways.

For the specific manner in which this quadrant works, the reader is referred to any of the recent text-books on cotton spinning.

The third primary and important operation, which takes place during each return movement of the carriage, is the guiding of the thread upon the spindles in a correct manner. This operation is closely associated, however, with the action of the quadrant.

That portion of a "self-actor mule" which guides the faller wires is termed the "shaper" or "copping motion." It consists of an inclined iron rail upon the upper smooth surface of which slides the "copping bowl," this being a portion of the mechanism which connects the rail with the faller wires. The rail rests upon suitable inclines termed "copping plates," whose duty it is to regulate the movement of the rail so as to allow for the ever-increasing dimensions of the cop during the building process. When the carriage again reaches its initial position, suitable mechanism causes all the parts to return in the position required for spinning.

Such is the complete cycle of movements of the "mule," each succeeding cycle being simply a repetition of the preceding. It will probably take such a mule as the one described about six hours to make a "set of cops," i.e., one on each spindle, each cop being 1-1/4 inches in diameter and 7-1/2 inches long. Every fifteen seconds, while the mule is making a cycle of its movements, may be divided up approximately as follows: nine seconds for the drawing-out and twisting; two seconds for backing-off; four seconds for winding-on and resuming initial position.

A multitude of minor motions and details might be easily expanded into several chapters; in fact, more can be said about the mule than about any other spinning machine, but such detailed description would be out of place in this story.

All the motions just named are centred in what is termed the "Head Stock," this being placed midway in the length of the mule.

This head stock receives all the power to drive the various motions, from the shafting and gearing, and distributes it in a suitable manner to various parts of the machine.

It will have been observed by this time, that, as in the case of the bobbin and fly frames, the intricate and wonderful mechanism of the self-actor mule is not devoted to the formation of threads, but to the effective and economical placing of the threads of yarn, in the form of cops, after it has been spun.

Image: FIG. 29.—Mule head showing "copping rail."

The spinning processes take place during the outward traverse of the mule carriage, the mechanism involved in this motion being comparatively simple. The really complicated and difficult motions being "backing-off," revolving the spindles "during winding-on," and the guiding of the spun threads upon the spindles during the winding-on process. It was the addition of these three motions by the later inventors which gave the mule the title of "Self-Acting."



CHAPTER X.

OTHER PROCESSES IN COTTON SPINNING.

The Ring Spinning Machine.—In a former chapter it was shown how within the space of two decades the three rival spinning machines of Hargreaves, Arkwright and Crompton were introduced, also it was pointed out, that Crompton's machines contained the best points of both of his predecessors. The mule did not immediately become the sole spinning machine. From the outset there was a close contest between the continuous spinning machine of Arkwright and the intermittent spinning machine of Crompton. It was not long, however, before the mule asserted its superiority over the water frame for fine muslin yarns, and for weft yarns. Eventually the water frame was relegated to the production of strong warp yarns, and later still it has come to be largely utilised as a doubling machine. As a matter of fact, it is contended by experts of the present day, that no machine ever made a rounder and more solid thread than the water frame, or flyer-throstle, as it has been called in its improved form.

Image: FIG. 30.—Ring spinning frame.

During the last thirty years, a revolution practically in cotton spinning has been gradually brought about, and even to-day active developments are to be seen. The continuous system of spinning, which for a time had to take a second place, now appears to be again forging ahead, and looks as though it would supersede its more ponderous rival. Especially in countries outside England is this the case, for it is found that the method of ring spinning preponderates, and even in England the number of spindles devoted to continuous spinning is constantly increasing.

This change has chiefly been brought about by what may be termed a revolution in the winding and twisting mechanism of the continuous spinning machine itself.

Arkwright's flyer and spindle, after improvement by subsequent inventors, could not be revolved at anything like the speed of the spindle of the mule, and, in addition to this, the yarn had to be wound always upon the bobbin, very much after the style of the bobbin and fly frames previously described.

Experiments, however, were repeatedly made in the direction of dispensing with the flyer altogether, and some thirty years ago these unique spinning frames had attained very general adoption in the United States of America, where the comparative dearth of skilled mule spinners had furnished an impetus to improvement of the simple machine of Arkwright.

About this time, the attention of certain English makers being directed to the success of the new spinning frames in America, led to their introduction into England. But little time elapsed before they received a fair amount of adoption, but for many years they had a restricted use, viz., for doubling, that is, the twisting of two or more spun threads together, to form a stronger finished thread.

In this way, they were, strictly speaking, rivals of the throstle doubling frame more than the spinning mule.

By and by, however, the time came when the new frames began to be adopted as spinning machines, and to-day there are many English and foreign mills containing nothing else in spinning machines on the continuous system except these. In not a few mills in different countries, both types are found running.

A careful glance at the picture of this rival of the mule, will help in the following description of it:—

The flyer which is to be seen on the old Saxony wheel, and which was perpetuated in the celebrated machine of Arkwright, is entirely dispensed with, and all its functions efficiently performed by apparatus, simple in itself; it is yet capable of high speed and heavy production.

First of all, there is a vastly improved and cleverly constructed form of spindle, by which, in the latest and best makes, any speed can be attained which is likely to be required for spinning purposes.

Perhaps the apparatus which plays the most important part in performing the duties of the displaced flyer, is a tiny "traveller" revolving round a specially made steel ring about 2 inches in diameter.

The use of these two latter gives the distinctive names of "Ring-spinning" to the new system and "Ring Frame" to the machine itself.

In describing this system of spinning the creel of rovings to be operated upon, and the drawing rollers being practically identical with machines already described, little here is required to be said of them, but there is, however, a modification in the arrangement of the rollers which is referred to later on.

After leaving the rollers, a thread of yarn is conducted downwards and passed through the "travellers," which may be seen in the illustration, and then attached to the bobbin. The "traveller" is a tiny ring made of finely tempered steel. It is sprung upon the edge of the ring shown in the frame, and which is specially shaped to receive the tiny ring or traveller referred to.

The bobbin in this case is practically fast to the spindle—unlike any other case in cotton-spinning machinery—and it is therefore carried round by the spindle at the same rate of speed.

As the spindle and bobbin revolve, they pull the traveller round by the yarn which passes through it, being connected at one end to the bobbin and the rollers above forming another point of attachment. If the reader will look carefully at the illustration he will see how twist is put in the yarn. The joint action, then, of bobbin, traveller and fixed ring, is to put the necessary twist in the yarn which gives it its proper degree of strength. If no fresh roving from the rollers were issuing for the moment, the small portion of thread reaching from the rollers to the bobbins would simply be twisted without any "winding-on" taking place. As a matter of fact, the roving always is issuing from the rollers, and "winding-on" of the twisted roving is performed by the traveller lagging behind the bobbin in speed, to a degree equal to the delivery of roving by the rollers. It will be remembered that in the old flyer-throstle "winding-on" was performed by the bobbin lagging behind the spindle, a procedure which is impossible on the ring frame.

There is also an arrangement of the mechanism for guiding and shaping the yarn upon the bobbins in suitable form, the action being as nearly as possible an imitation of the mule.

For a number of years after the introduction of these frames, it was found that the threads often broke down owing to the twist not extending through the roving to the point where it issued from the rollers. This was eventually remedied by placing the drawing rollers in a different position, thus causing the thread running from the rollers to the traveller to approach more to the vertical; this constituting the modification which has just been referred to previously.

Another difficulty was experienced in the fact that during spinning the threads would sometimes fly outwards to such an extent that adjacent threads came in contact with each other, causing excessive breakage. This was technically termed "ballooning," and has been very satisfactorily restricted by the invention of special apparatus.

At the present time, therefore, a contest between the two rival systems of continuous spinning which were in bitter antagonism over a century ago, is waging a more fiercely contested fight than at any previous time.

As the case stands to-day, the mule is retained for nearly all the best and finest yarns as yet found; the most suitable for them, just as it was when Crompton got 25s. per pound for spinning fine muslin yarns on his first mule.

In many cases, also, yarn is specially required to be spun upon the bare spindle as on a mule, as for instance when used as weft and put into the shuttle of a loom. It is probably the very greatest defect of the ring frame that it can only, with great difficulty, be made to form a good cop of yarn on the bare spindle, although thousands of pounds have been spent on experimenting in that direction. How soon it may be accomplished with commercial success cannot be known, as a great number of individuals are constantly working in that direction. If it does come about, there can be no doubt that the ring frame will receive a still further impetus.

Even now, for medium counts of yarn it is much more productive than the mule, owing to its being a continuous spinner. Another vast advantage that it possesses is the extreme simplicity of its parts and work as compared with the mule. Because of this, women and girls are invariably employed on the ring frames, whereas it requires skilled and well-paid workmen for the mules.

The Combing Machine.—As compared with the Scutcher, the Carding Engine and Mule, the Comber is a much more modern machine. Combing may be defined as being the most highly perfected application of the carding principle.

The chief objects aimed at by the comber are:—To extract all fibres below a certain length; to make the fibres parallel; and to extract any fine impurities that may have escaped the scutching and carding processes.

It is worthy of note that although nearly all the great inventions relating to cotton-spinning have been brought out by Englishmen, the combing machine is a notable exception. It was invented a few years prior to 1851 by Joshua Heilman, who was born at Mulhouse, the principal seat of the Alsace cotton manufacture, in 1796.

Like Samuel Crompton—the inventor of the mule—Joshua Heilman appears to have possessed the inventive faculty in a high degree, and he received an excellent training in mathematics, mechanical drawing, practical mechanics, and other subjects calculated to assist him in his career as an inventor.

Heilman was the inventor of several useful improvements in connection with spinning and weaving machinery, but the invention of the comber was undoubtedly his greatest achievement.

He was brought up in comparatively easy circumstances, and married a wife possessing a considerable amount of money; but all that both of them possessed was swallowed up by Heilman's expenses in connection with his inventions, and he himself was only raised from poverty again by the success of the comber shortly before his death, his wife having died in the midst of their poverty many years previously.

After Heilman became possessed of the idea of inventing a combing machine, he laboured incessantly at the project for several years, first in his native country and subsequently in England. The firm of Sharpe & Roberts, formerly so famous in connection with the self-actor mule, made him a model, which, however, did not perform what Heilman required.

Afterwards he returned again to his native Alsace still possessed with the idea, and finally it is said that the successful inspiration came to him whilst watching his daughters comb out their long hair. The ultimate result was that he invented a machine which was shown at the great exhibition of London in 1851 and immediately attracted the attention of the textile manufacturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Large sums of money were paid him by certain of the Lancashire cotton spinners for its exclusive use in the cotton trade. Certain of the woollen masters of Yorkshire did the same, for its exclusive application to their trade, and it was also adopted for other textiles, although Heilman himself only lived a short time after his great success.

It must be understood that the comber is only used by a comparatively small proportion of the cotton spinners of the world. For all ordinary purposes a sufficiently good quality of yarn can be made without the comber, and no other machine in cotton spinning adds half as much as the comber to the expense of producing cotton yarn from the raw material.

To show this point with greater force, it may be mentioned that the comber may make about 17 per cent. of waste, which is approximately as much as all the other machines in the mill put together would make.

Its use, however, is indispensable in the production of the finest yarns, since no other machine can extract short fibre like the comber. It is seldom used for counts of yarn below 60's and often as fine yarns as 100's or more are made without the comber. In England its use is chiefly centred in the localities of Bolton, Manchester, and Bollington, although there is a little combing in Preston, Ashton under Lyne, and other places.

Perhaps its greatest value consists in the fact that its use enables fine yarns to be made out of cotton otherwise much too poor in quality for the work; this being rendered possible chiefly by the special virtue possessed by the comber of extracting all fibres of cotton below a certain length. This of course has led to the increased production and consequently reduced price of the better qualities of yarn.

Reverting now to the Heilman Comber as it stands to-day, an excellent idea of the machine as a whole will be gathered from the photograph in Fig. 31.

There are usually six small laps being operated upon simultaneously in one comber. Each small lap being from 7-1/2 inches to 10-1/2 inches wide, being placed on fluted wooden rollers behind the machine, is slowly unwound by frictional contact therewith, and the sheet of cotton thus unwound is passed down a highly polished convex guide-plate to a pair of small fluted steel rollers.

Both the wooden and the steel rollers have an intermittent motion, as indeed have also all the chief parts of the machine concerned in the actual combing of the cotton. The rollers, during each intermittent movement, may project forward about 3/8 of an inch length of thin cotton lap.

By this forward movement the cotton fibres are passed between a pair of nippers which has been for the instant opened on purpose to allow of this action. Immediately the cotton has passed between the nippers, the feed rollers stop for an instant and the jaws of the nippers shut and hold the longer of the cotton fibres in a very firm manner.

Image: FIG. 31.—Combing machine.

The shorter fibres, however, are not held so firmly, and are now combed away from the main body of the fibres by fine needles being passed through them. The needles are fixed in a revolving cylinder and are graduated in fineness and in closeness of setting, so that while the first rows of needles may be about 20 to the inch, the last rows may contain as many as 80 to the inch, there being from 15 to 17 rows of needles in an ordinary comber.

The short fibres being combed out by the needles are stripped therefrom, and passed by suitable mechanism to the back of the machine to be afterwards used in the production of lower counts of yarn.

The needles of the revolving cylinder having passed through the fibres, the nippers open again and at the same time another row of comb teeth or needles, termed the top comb, descends into the fibres. The fibres now being liberated, certain detaching and attaching mechanism; as it is termed, is brought into action, and the long fibres are taken forward, being pulled through the top comb during this operation. Thus the front ends of the fibres are first combed and immediately afterwards the back ends of the same fibres are combed. During the actual operation of combing each small portion of cotton, the latter is quite separated from the portion previously combed, and it is part of the work of the detaching and attaching mechanism to lay the newly combed portion upon that previously combed. From a mechanical point of view, the detaching and attaching mechanism is more difficult to understand than any other portion of the comber, and it is no part of the purpose of this "story of the Cotton plant" to enter into a description of this intricate mechanism.

Sufficient be it to say that the combed cotton leaves the detaching rollers in a thin silky-looking fleece which is at once gathered up into a round sliver or strand and conducted down a long guide-plate towards the end of the machine. This guide-plate is clearly shown in the photograph of the comber, where also it will be seen that the slivers from the six laps which have been operated upon simultaneously are now laid side by side.

In this form the cotton passes through the "draw-box" at the end of the comber, and being here reduced practically to the dimensions of one sliver it passes through a narrow funnel and is placed in a can in convenient form for the next process.

When the combing is adopted, it precedes the drawing frame, which has previously been described, and the cans of sliver from the comber are taken directly to the draw-frame.

For intricacy and multiplicity of parts of mechanism, the comber is second only in cotton-spinning machinery to the self-acting mule, and is probably less understood, since its use is confined to a section of the trade. The latest development is the duplex comber, which makes the extraordinarily large number of one hundred and twenty nips per minute, as compared with about eighty-five nips per minute for the modern single nip comber. All this is the result of improvement in detail, as the principle of Heilman's Comber remains the same as he left it. It ought to be added that other types of comber have been adopted on the continent with some show of success.

Image: FIG. 32.—Sliver lap machine.

Sliver Lap Machine.—Combing succeeds carding and is practically a continuation of the carding principle to a much finer degree than is possible on the card. The Carding Engine, however, makes slivers or strands of cotton, while the comber requires the cotton to be presented to it in the form of thin sheets. It therefore becomes requisite to employ apparatus for converting a number of the card slivers into a narrow lap for the comber.

The machine universally employed is termed "The Sliver Lap Machine," or, in some cases, "The Derby Doubler," and a modern machine is shown in the photograph forming Fig. 32.

In this case, eighteen cans are placed behind the machines, and the sliver from each can is conducted through an aperture in the back guide-plate designed to prevent entanglements of sliver from passing forward. Next each sliver passes over a spoon lever forming part of a motion for automatically stopping the machine when an end breaks. The eighteen slivers now pass side by side through three pairs of drawing rollers with a slight draft, and between calender rollers to a wooden "core" or roller. Upon this roller the slivers are wound in the form of a lap, being assimilated to one another by the action of the drawing and calender rollers.

Special Drawing Frame.—In order to have the fibres of cotton in the best possible condition for obtaining the maximum efficiency out of the combing action, it is the common practice to employ a special drawing frame between the card and the sliver lap machine.

As described elsewhere in this little story, the use of the drawing frame is to make the fibres of cotton more parallel to each other by the drawing action of the rollers, and to produce uniformity in the slivers of cotton by doubling about six of them together and reducing the six down to the dimensions of one. In the case under discussion the slivers from the card are taken to the special drawing frame and treated by it, and then passed along to the sliver lap machine as just described.

Image: FIG. 33.—Ribbon lap machine.

Ribbon Machine.—Quite recently a machine has come slightly into use designed to supersede this special drawing frame. This new machine is termed the "Ribbon Lap Machine," and it may be described as a variation of the principle of the machine it is designed to supersede. The difference is this, that, whereas the drawing frame doubles and attenuates slivers of cotton, the Ribbon Machine operates upon small laps formed of ribbons or narrow sheets of cotton. By this treatment, the evening and parallelising benefits of the drawing frame are secured, with the addition of a third advantage, which may be briefly explained. The slivers, which in the sliver lap machine are laid side by side so as to form a lap, have a tendency to show an individuality so as to present a more or less thick and thin sheet to the action of the nippers of the comber. The latter, therefore, hold the cotton somewhat feebly at the thin places, thus allowing the needles of the revolving cylinder to comb out a portion of good cotton. When the Ribbon Lap Machine is employed, the slivers from the card are taken directly to the Sliver Lap Machine and the laps made by this machine are passed through the Ribbon Machine. Six laps being operated upon simultaneously by the rollers, are laid one upon another at the front so that thick and thin places amalgamate to produce a sheet of uniform thickness. The use of the Ribbon Machine is limited at present owing to its possessing certain disadvantages.



CHAPTER XI.

DESTINATION OF THE SPUN YARN.

Having initiated our readers into all the processes incidental to the production of the long fine threads of yarn from the ponderous and weighty bales of cotton as received at the mill, it remains for us to briefly indicate the more common uses to which the spun yarn is applied.

A very large quantity of yarn is consumed in the weaving mills for the production of grey cloth without further treatment in the spinning mill, except that the cops of yarn are packed in ships, boxes, or casks, in convenient form for transit purposes.

If for weft, the cops are forthwith taken to the loom, ready for the shuttle.

If for warp, then the yarn passes through a number of processes necessary for its conversion, from the mule cop or ring bobbin form, into the sheet form, consisting of many hundreds of threads, which are then wound on a beam.

Briefly enumerated, these processes are as follows:—

(a) The winding frame, in which the threads from the cops or spools are wound upon flanged wooden bobbins, suitable for the creel of the next machine.

(b) The beam warping frame, in which perhaps 400 threads are pulled from the bobbins made at the winding frame, and wound side by side upon a large wooden beam.

(c) The "slasher sizing frame," in which the threads from perhaps five of the beams made at the warping machine are unwound and laid upon one another, so as to form a much denser warp of perhaps 2000 threads, and wrapped on a beam in a suitable form for fitting in the loom as the warp or "woof" of the woven fabric. In addition to this, the sizing machine contains mechanism by which the threads are made to pass through a mixing of "size" or paste, which strengthens the threads.

In some cases this "size" is laid on the yarn very thickly, in order to make the cloth weigh heavier.

(d) After sizing comes the subsidiary process of "drawing in" or "twisting in," by which all the threads are passed in a suitable manner through "healds" and "reeds," so as to allow of their proper manipulation by the mechanism of the loom, to which they are immediately afterwards transferred.

In the production of cloths of a more or less "fancy" description, it is often required that the spun yarns shall be bleached and dyed before using, and to perform one or both of these operations efficiently, it is usual to reduce the yarn into proper condition by the processes of "reeling" and "bundling," although in comparatively few instances yarn is dyed in the cop form, while in a few other cases the raw cotton is dyed before being subjected to the processes of cotton spinning.

"Reeling" and "Bundling" are operations which are frequently necessary for other purposes besides those above alluded to, and may therefore be more fully described, as they often form part of the equipment of a spinning mill, and yarn is frequently sent away from the spinning mill in bundle form.

Reeling.—This is a simple but very extensively adopted process, in which yarn is wound from cops, bobbins or spools into hanks. It may be explained here that a cotton hank consists of 840 yards, and is made up of 7 leas of 120 yards each, while on a reel each lea is made up of 80 threads, a thread being 54 inches and equalling the circumference of the reel. Perhaps the most common size of reel contains at one time 40 spindles, and is capable therefore of winding 40 hanks of yarn simultaneously. The photograph in Fig. 34 shows a number of reels fitted for winding hanks from cops formed upon the mule.

The cops being put on the skewers, the end of yarn from each is attached to the reel or "swift" ready for starting. These reels may be arranged so as to be operated from shafting by mechanical power, or by the hand of the attendants.

Image: FIG. 34.—Reeling machine.

Reeling is performed by women, and in our photo the attendant is seen in the actual operation of reeling.

A hank of yarn having been taken from each cop, the reel is stopped and closed up so as to allow of the ready withdrawal of the hanks.

Bundling Machine.—The Bundling press is solely intended to assist in the making up of the hanks of yarn into a form suitable for ready and convenient transit. In order to exercise a sufficient pressure upon the yarn to make a compact bundle, it is necessary for the framing to be of a very strong character, as will be especially noticed in Fig. 35.

Image: FIG. 35.—Bundling machine.

The bundles of yarn made up on the bundling machine are usually 5 to 10 pounds weight, the latter being by far the more common size. The bundle shown in the yarn-box of our illustration is 10 pounds in weight and is practically ready for removal.

Before placing the yarn in the machine, several hanks are twisted together to form a knot, and these "knots" comprise the individual members of the bundle shown in the illustration.

In the sides of the yarn-box there are four divisions, through which are threaded as many strings, upon which may be placed cardboard backs. Then the knots of yarn are neatly placed upon the strings, and the cardboard and the strong top bars of the press securely fastened down. Certain cams and levers are then set in motion, by which the yarn table is slowly and powerfully raised so as to press the yarn with great force against the top bars. A sufficient pressure having been exerted, the bundle is tied up and withdrawn from the press, only requiring to be neatly wrapped in stout paper to be quite ready for transit purposes.

Sewing Thread.—A very large quantity of spun yarn is subsequently made into sewing thread. It is a fact well known to practical men that we have no means in cotton spinning by which a thread can be spun directly of sufficient strength to be used as sewing thread. For instance, suppose we wanted a 12's sewing thread, i.e., a thread containing 12 hanks in one pound of yarn; it would be practically impossible to spin a thread sufficiently good to meet the requirements of the case. The method generally adopted is to spin a much finer yarn and to make the finished thread by doubling several of the fine spun yarns together in order to form the thicker final thread. For instance, to produce a 12's thread it is probable that 4 threads of single 48's would be doubled together, or say 4 threads of 50's, to allow for the slight contraction of the yarn brought about by twisting the single threads round one another.

In order to perform this doubling operation in an efficient manner for the production of thread, it is usual to employ two machines.

The first of these is shown in the illustration, and is termed the quick traverse winding machine. Here the cops from the mule, or the bobbins from the ring frame, are fitted in a suitable creel, as shown clearly at the front and lower part of our illustration. Each thread of yarn is conducted over a flannel-covered board which cleans the yarn and keeps it tight. Then each thread passes through the eye of a small detector wire which is held up by the thread and forms part of an automatic stop motion which stops the rotation of any particular bobbin or "cheese" when an end or thread belonging to that "cheese" fails or breaks, leaving the needles or detector wires. All the threads—from two to six in number—belonging to one "cheese" are combined to form one loose rope or thicker thread.

Image: FIG. 36.—Quick traverse winding frame.

It ought to be explained that the term cheese is applied to the kind of bobbin of yarn which is formed upon this particular machine, one or two being placed as shown on the frame work.

Doubling Machine.—The machine just described does not put any twist into the thread, although twisting is a process which is absolutely indispensable for the proper combination of the several single threads so as to produce a strong doubled thread.

The twisting operation is therefore performed on the machine illustrated in Fig. 37, and termed the "Ring doubling machine."

In the creel of this machine are placed the cheeses formed on the winding machine, and the threads are conducted downward and usually under a glass rod in trough containing water, as the addition of water helps to solidify the single threads better into one doubled thread. From the water trough the threads are conducted between a pair of revolving brass rollers which draw the threads from the cheeses and pass them forward to the front of the machine. Here each doubled thread extends downwards and passes through a "traveller" upon the bobbin.

This machine is a modification of the ring spinning frame previously described and therefore does not call for detailed treatment at our hands.

The two machines are practically identical in principle, the chief difference being that in the doubler there are no drawing rollers, as the cotton is not attenuated in any degree at this stage.

Other differences consist in having larger "travellers" and "rings" and "spindles," and in a different kind of bobbin being formed.

Image: FIG. 37.—Ring doubling machine.

At the doubling mill these threads are submitted to finishing processes, by which they may be polished and cleared and finally wound upon small bobbins or spools ready for the market, as seen in Fig. 2.

A fair proportion of the very best yarns are utilised in the manufacture of lace and to imitate silk. Such yarns are usually passed through what is termed a "gassing" machine. In this process each thread is passed rapidly several times through a gas flame usually emanating from a burner of the Bunsen type. The passage of the thread through the flame is too rapid to allow of the burning down of the threads, but is not too quickly to prevent the loose oozy fibres, present more or less on the surface of all cotton yarns, to be burned away. This process is somewhat expensive, as it burns away perhaps 6 pounds weight of yarn in every 100 pounds. This, however, is obtained back again by the increased price of the yarn. It is a property of the cotton fibre that it can be made to imitate more or less either woollen, linen or silk goods, and since cotton is the cheapest fibre of the lot it follows that a considerable amount of cotton yarn is used in combination with these other fibres, in order to produce cheaper fabrics. Embroidery, crocheting and knitting cottons, and the hosiery trade absorb a large amount of the spun cotton yarn; the latter being doubled in most cases in order to fit it for the special work it is designed to do.

In a modern spinning mill the ground floor usually contains the openers, scutchers, drawing frames, carding engines and bobbin and fly-frames. The upper floors are usually covered by mules and other spinning frames.

Image: FIG. 38.—Engine house, showing driving to various storeys.

In the last illustration (Fig. 38) is shown one of the latest engines built for special work such as is required in a cotton mill. The huge drum, on which rest the ropes and which can be clearly seen in the picture, is divided into grooves. A certain number of these is set apart for the special rooms. The strength of the rope is known and its transmitting power is also known. When the power required to drive say the first storey or second storey is calculated, it becomes an easy matter to distribute the ropes on the drum as required. This engine is now at work in the Bee-Hive Spinning Mill, Bolton.



INDEX.

A.

Abbasi Cotton, 62.

Alethia argillacea, 35.

Anthonomus grundis, 38.

Aphis gossypia, 38.

Arkwright, Richard, 102, 105, 113, 118, 123, 126, 160.

Ashmouni Cotton, 62.

Ataxia crypta, 38.

B.

Backing off, 152.

Bale Breaker, 83, 86.

Bales, cylindrical, 80; varieties of, 80.

Baling, 76, 79.

Ballooning, 165.

Bamia Cotton, 62.

Bedding of cotton plants, 44.

Bobbin and Fly Frames, 84, 105.

Bobbins, 110.

Botany of cotton, 19.

Bourbon Cotton, 25.

Bran, cotton seed, 33.

Brazil, cultivation of cotton in, 47.

Breyn, 14.

Broach Cotton, 55.

Bundling, 178, 179.

C.

Caera Cotton, 30.

Carding, 83, 93, 116, 131, 132, 143, 166.

Central America, cultivation of cotton in, 18.

Chemistry of cotton plant, 31.

China, cultivation of cotton in, 59.

Civil War, American, effect on production, 43, 57.

Climate, 21.

Cocaecia rosaceana, 38.

Columbus, voyages of, 17.

Combing, 85, 166.

Cone drums, 112.

Congo River as a cotton district, 63.

Cop, 151, 156.

Copping motion, 157.

Coral polyp, 11.

Corea, cultivation of cotton in, 59.

Cortes, Hernando, 18.

Cotton Boll-Caterpillar, 35, 37.

Cotton-Boll Weevil, 38.

Cotton Caterpillar, 35.

Cotton Cutworm, 38.

Cotton lice, 38.

Cotton Puller, 83, 86.

Crioulo Cotton, 29.

Crompton, Samuel, 113, 126, 134, 160.

Cultivation in various countries, 39.

D.

Dacca cotton, 28, 54.

Da Gama, Vasco, 18.

Deo Cotton, 28.

Differential motion, 111, 147.

Differential winding, 156.

Diseases of cotton plant, 34, 38.

Distaff, 115.

Doffer and comb, 98, 131.

Doubling machines, 163, 183.

Draining, 44.

Drawing, 84, 100, 104, 105, 132.

Drop-box, 137.

Dyeing, 17, 68.

E.

Egypt, production of cotton in, 15, 19, 61.

F.

Faller wires, 153.

Feltia malefida, 38.

Fertilisers, value of artificial, 43.

Fibres, strength of, 30.

Flyer, 110.

Flying shuttle, 120, 137.

Friction clutch, 153.

Fungi affecting cotton plant, 39.

G.

Gallini Cotton, 25, 62.

Gassing, 185.

Ginning, 74.

Gin, Macarthy, 77; saw, 78.

Gossypium, 20; Acuminatum, 29; Arboreum, 27; Barbadense, 23, 28; Herbaceum, 25; Hirsutum, 27; Neglectum, 28; Peruvianum, 29; Religiosum, 27.

Greece, cultivation of cotton in, 63.

H.

Hall ith Wood, 135.

Hargreaves, James, 105, 113, 122, 127, 160.

Hauling, 45.

Heilman, Joshua, 167.

Heliothis armiger, 35, 37.

Herodotus, description of cotton, 15.

Highs, Thomas, 113, 123, 127.

Hingunghat Cotton, 52.

History, cotton plant in, 10.

Holdsworth, 111, 147.

I.

India, cultivation of cotton in, 15, 16, 39, 50.

Insects, injurious, 34.

J.

Japan, cultivation of cotton in, 59.

Java, cultivation of cotton in, 63.

K.

Kay, John, 113, 120, 127.

Kidney Cotton, 29.

Kircher of Avignon, 14.

L.

Lap, the, 83, 92, 93, 173, 175.

Leaf-roller, 38.

Lee, Henry, "Vegetable Lamb of Tartary," 12.

Levant Cotton, 63.

Liberia, cultivation of cotton in, 63.

Lint, 25.

Linting machines, 76.

M.

Macarthy gin, 77.

Mako Jumel cotton, 62.

Mallow, 20.

Mananams Cotton, 29.

Mandeville, Sir John, 13.

Maranhao Cotton, 29.

Meal, cotton seed, 33.

Measurement of fibres, 68.

Mexico, cultivation of cotton in, 18, 48.

Microscopic examination of fibre, 64.

Mitafifi Cotton, 62.

Mixing, 83, 85.

Monsoons, 50.

Mule, the, 84; Crompton's, 135; self-actor, 131, 146.

Myths about cotton plant, 12.

N.

Nankeen Cotton, 26.

Nearchus, 16.

O.

Odoricus, 14.

Oil, cotton seed, 33.

Oomrawattee Cotton, 52.

Opening, 83, 88.

P.

Paul Lewis, 113, 121, 123, 132.

Pernan Cotton, 30.

Peru, cultivation of cotton in, 18, 49.

Picking cotton, 72.

Pizarro, 18, 49.

Plantation life, 72.

Press, cotton, 79.

Production, Brazil, 47; China, 60; Corea, 60; Egypt, 19, 39, 61; India, 39, 50; Japan, 59; Mexico, 48; Peru, 49; Russia in Asia, 57; United States, 39, 40.

Q.

Quadrant, mule, 147, 156.

R.

Red Peruvian Cotton, 30.

Reeling, 178.

Ribbon Lap Machine, 85, 175.

Ring Spinning Frame, 84, 131, 160.

Roberts, Richard, 147.

"Rocking Day," 116.

Rollers, drawing, 121, 128.

Roots of cotton plant, 22; medicinal use, 32.

Roving Frames, 107.

Rovings, 106, 117.

Russia in Asia, cotton production in, 57.

S.

St. Distaff's Day, 116.

Santos Cotton, 30.

Saw gin, 78.

Scutching, 83, 92, 166.

Seeds, cotton, 22, 31, 33, 76.

Seguro, 47.

Senegambia, 63.

Shuttle, flying, 120, 137.

Sind Cotton, 55.

Sizing, 177.

Slavery, abolition of, effect on production, 43.

Sliver Lap Machine, 85, 173.

Sliver, the, 84, 94, 101.

Slubbers, 107.

Soil, 21.

Soils, American cotton, 41.

Soudan, cotton production in, 63.

South Africa, cotton production in, 18, 63.

Species, 21.

Spindle, the, 110, 114, 122.

Spinning, early attempts, 112.

Spinning Jenny, 122, 138.

Spinning wheels, 116.

Strength of fibres, 30.

Sumatra, cotton production in, 63.

Surat cotton, 26, 55.

T.

Theophrastus, description of cotton, 16.

Thread, sewing, 9, 181.

Turkestan, cotton production in, 57.

Turkey, cotton production in, 63.

Twist in fibre, 66; in rovings, 109.

U.

United States, cotton production of the, 39, 40.

Unripe cotton, 68, 84.

V.

"Vegetable Lamb of Tartary," 12.

Vine Cotton, 26.

W.

Wadding, cotton, 77.

Warping machine, 177.

Water Frame, 131, 162.

West Indies, cotton production in, 18, 63.

Whitney, Eli. 78.

Winding, 111.

Winding Chain, 156.

Winding frame, 182.

Wyatt, John, 113, 121.

Z.

Zahn, Johannes, 13.

THE END.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by underscore.

Passages in bold are indicated by bold.

The following misprints have been corrected: "a" added (page 10; orignial text reads: "...thread ready alike for the sewing machine or the needle of seamstress." "aecording" corrected to "according" (page 36) "produed" corrected to "produced" (page 52) "qnantities" corrected to "quantities" (page 63) "reamains" corrected to "remains" (page 121) "rapily" corrected to "rapidly" (page 125) "to to" corrected to "to" (page 133) "correet" corrected to "correct" (page 157)

Additional spacing is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph or to represent a section break as presented in the original text.