y4 Various Obfervattons ofi the Procejfes 



nufeiSlories to their prefcnt ftate, has not probably been impeded by a knowledge of the- re- 

 Jpedlive bufmeflcs being developed. It is not improbable but that the intervention of machines 

 has fufficiently repaid to the interefted maiiutadlurer, any lofs attending that which he might 

 fuppofe to be an impolitic difclofure. We have found, in the courfe of our enquiry, that 

 machines are invented and at work ; from their fmall number, and the ftrong prejudice exifting 

 againft them, even in the minds of the majority of the majiers, the undertaking muft be ac- 

 knowledged to be only beginning to expand. Is it impiffible to accomplifh it ? A few years 

 ago the matters in Lancafliire generally fmilcd at the attempt, and the houfe at Lea Wood, in 

 Cromford, was ridiculed by the majority, and pitied by a few. But (hall ingenuity. Sir, 

 fabricate engines for other bufinefles, and muft the mere attempt at machines for this appear as 

 an abfurdity ? Surely the condemnation of fuch attempts is, if not futile, at leaft premature ; 

 indeed it appears to me a ftep gained, and that no inconfiderable one, to be able publicly to 

 produce the addrefs of houfes who ufe engines. The contemplation of fuch fails muft over- 

 throw the opinion of the impoiTibility of their ereftion, that many niafters wifti to fpread 

 abroad. 



The queries you fuggeft with regard to the dregs, are anfwered by my men in the following 

 manner : The operation of planking depending, in a great degree, upon the acidity of the 

 liquor, they prefer old dregs to new, becaufe the older they are the fourer they become. — 

 The fame reafon, namely, its acidity, is given by the felt-makers for preferring old urine, as 

 mentioned in a former letter, in the boiling of felt-hats ; as to thofe no * vitriol is ufed in the 

 working. The dregs ought to be thick, or the top (the thin) poured ofF. If thin or new 

 they fpoil the body of the hats by hindering their working. I may mention here, that in 

 confequence of the ftufF-hat-makers ufing vitriol, they are obliged to have a leaden kettle, 

 whilft the felt or woolmakers have only a caft-metal one ; though wool hats feel much fofter 

 when worked in a lead kettle than a caft-metal one, if worked in each with clean water, 

 (the reafbns for this difference would oblige the author of this). The kettle or bath heated 

 tea lefs degree than that you mention in your memoir, has no power, even though with 

 an additional quantity of lees or vitriol ; the hats are generally obferved to work ((brink in) 

 as the kettle "comes too," that is, heats. 



Before the operation of planking is begun, the hat is dipped into the boiling kettle, and 

 allowed to lie upon the plank until cold again ; this is called foaking, that is, being perfectly 

 Saturated with the hot liquor ; if they are put in too haftily in this ftate, for they are then 

 only bowed and bafoned, they would burft from the edges, each bat not being fufSciently 

 felted into the other. Vitriol alone would harden the hat too much ; the dregs keep it mellow 

 and thicken the body, for the vitriol alone eats or purges the ftuff too much ; the hats feed 

 as it were upon the dregs •}■. The journeymen tell me that the dregs are to hold 



cr 



• The term •uitr'w! appears to deiignate the fulphuric acid (cil of njilrio!) in Hianufaftorics ; and nit the 

 fulphate of iron or copper. — N, 



•j- There is a degree of obfcurity in the defcription, as well as the raticnnle of what happens here. Might 

 it be conjcftured, that the fulj^huric acid by dllTolving cr difciignging a natural mucihice from the fate of the 



hairi 



