MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 95 



is a short spindle, costing fifty cents less per spindle in a frame than the live 

 spindle costs. A \varve is fitted to the spindle revolving around it. Pro- 

 jecting from the upper end of the warve is a tube, which, entering the 

 base of the bobbin, gives motion to the bobbin in part, the other part being 

 secured by a pin in the base of the bobbin, suited to, and entering into, a 

 hole in the upper plane of the warve. Motion is communicated to the warve, 

 and thus to the bobbin, in the same way as it is given on a frame of live 

 spindles. 



Improvement in Hat Felting Machines. In a patented improvement of Jas. 

 S. Taylor of Danbury, Conn., there is a large cylinder, having on its periphery 

 a series of rollers, and over these is placed an elastic cover or jacket. The 

 large cylinder rotates in one direction and the rollers in another. The hat 

 bodies are carried around and felted by rubbing between the rollers and the 

 jacket, and are discharged at the mouth of the machine, where they are put in. 

 The machine is adapted especially for felting the finer quality of fur hats, for 

 it gives a light easy motion to the felts, and works them in hot water. We 

 are informed that two men can do three times more work with one of these 

 machines than they can by hand. Scientific American. 



Flock Renovator. An ingenious machine has recently been constructed by 

 Mr. Charles Holt, of Stafford, Ct, for renovating the flocks used in the manu- 

 facture of woollen goods. It consists of a cyh'nder, fourteen inches long and 

 twelve in diameter, covered with cast iron plates, on the outer surface of 

 which are small conical teeth, one half inch in length. This cylinder revolves 

 about two hundred turns per minute, hi juxtaposition to an apron of iron, 

 between which and the rotating cylinder the flocks pass, and from which they 

 fall. While falling, they are pervaded by a strong tide of air from a blower, 

 which runs about 800 turns per minute. By the wind of the blower the flocks 

 are carried out through a prepared orifice, while other more ponderous and 

 foreign matters fall under the machine. In this manner the flocks are reno- 

 vated. The machine is made of iron, and costs about fifty doUars. 



Napping Cloth. Sir Charles E. Grey of England has taken out a patent for 

 raising the nap of, and dressing woollen goods, by substituting a new material 

 for the common teasels, which have been used from time immemorial for this 

 purpose. He employs the prickly parts of plants known in the "West Indies 

 by the name of "nicker bush," and by some botanists called Guilandina Bon- 

 due. These prickly burrs are stated to be far superior, for napping, to the 

 teasels, and can be obtained in any quantity, and are cheaper. 



Double Weaving. William Xorton of York, Eng., has secured a patent for 

 weaving two webs of cloth at once in one loom. He employs two founda- 

 tions of warps, and two shuttles, and these are placed one above the other 

 with separate warp and breast beams. There are two shuttle raceways on 

 the same lay, and a double dent reed is used. The two shuttles work across 

 the jveb, one above the other, at the same time, and the operations are per- 

 formed simultaneously. Two webs of cloth are thus produced at the same 

 time in one loom, and thus, in a factory, space is economized by the double 

 amount of work being- executed in the same space in one loom. The looms, 

 also, nm-t ea-t less than single looms, in proportion to the amount of work 



