AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS. 309 



deemed impossible to successfully weave the finer worsted fabrics 

 except by hand. 



There is no machine of Crompton's first build known to be ex- 

 tant, nor even a picture of one. In 1855 it was greatly improved, 

 and its capacity increased from eighty to ninety picks per minute. 

 The illustration shows one of the narrow looms of the 1855 pat- 

 tern, with its working parts well brought out. In 1857 the Cromp- 



Fig. 22. The Crompton Fancy Narrow Loom of 1855. 



ton establishment perfected the pioneer broad loom, of which 

 great numbers were made during the succeeding ten years. They 

 were made ninety-two inches wide in the reed space, and attained 

 a speed of eighty-five picks a minute with twenty-four harnesses, 

 thus practically doubling the productive capacity of the opera- 

 tive, who could attend a broad loom as easily as a narrow loom. 

 This machine was therefore an enormous stride in advance ; none 

 that has since been made can equal it. 



Mechanical weaving has now reached a perfection that the 

 hand-loom can not attain. There is greater regularity in the 

 product, less waste of material, and great saving of labor one 

 weaver in the lighter fabrics easily attending to two or three 

 looms. The power loom is worked without muscular effort, dex- 

 terity in the repairing of broken yarns being the chief require- 



