In carding wool it was found more effective to omit 

 the flat stationary cards and to use only rollers to 

 work the fibers. The method of preparing the sliver 

 also had to be changed. Since it was necessary to 

 remove the wool fibers crosswise in the sliver, a fluted 

 wooden cylinder called a roller-bowl was used in 

 conjunction with an under board or shell. As a given 

 section of the carded wool was fed between the fluted 

 cylinder and the board, the action of the cylinder 

 rolled the fibers into a sliver about the diameter of the 

 finger and the length of the cylinder. Although these 

 were only 24-inch lengths as compared to the con- 

 tinuous sliver produced by the Arkwright cotton- 

 carding machine," wool could slill be carded with 

 much more speed and thoroughness than with the 

 small hand cards. This then was the state of me- 

 chanical wool carding in England in the 1790's as two 

 experienced wool manufacturers, John and Arthur 

 Scholfield, planned their trip to America. 



John and Arthur Scholiicld 



The Scholfields, however, were not to be the first 

 to introduce mechanical wool carding into America. 

 Several attempts had been made prior to their 

 arrival. In East Hartford, Connecticut, "about 1770 

 Elisha Pitkin had built a mill on the east side of Main 

 Street near the old meeting-house and Hockanum 

 Bridge, which was run by water-power, supplied by 

 damming the Hockanum River. Here, beside grind- 

 ing grain and plaster, was set up the first wool-carding 

 machine in the state, and, it is believed, in the coun- 

 try." « Samual Mayall in Boston, about 1788 or 1789, 

 set up a carding machine operated by horse power. 

 In 1791 he moved to Gray, Maine, where he operated 

 a shop for wool carding and cloth dressing.' Of the 

 machines used at the Hartford Woolen Manufactory, 

 organized in 1788, a viewer reported he saw "two 

 carding-engines, working by water, of a very inferior 

 construction." They were further described as having 

 "two large center cylinders in each, with two doffers, 



' This was no great disadvantage at this time, as wool was 

 still being spun on the spinning wheel. The mechanical spin- 

 ning of woolen yarns was an obstinate problem that was not 

 solved until 1815-1820. It then was necessary to piece these 

 24-incli slivers together before they could be spun until 1826, 

 when a device for the doffing of carded wool in a continuous 

 sliver was perfected by an American, John Goukling, and 

 patented by him. 



'A. P. Pitkin, The Pitkin Jamily of America, Hartford, 1887, 

 p. 75. 



' From a letter written in 1889 by Mayall's .son; A. H. Cole, 

 The American wool manufacture, vol. 1 , Cambridge, 1 926, p. 90. 



and only two working cylinders, of the breadth of 

 bare sixteen inches, said to be invented by some 

 person there." ' But these were isolated examples; 

 most of the woolen mills of this period were like the 

 one built in 1792 by John Manning in Ipswich, 

 Massachusetts, where all the work of carding, spin- 

 ning, and weaving was still performed by hand. 



The Scholfields' knowledgeof mechanical wool-proc- 

 essing was to find a welcome reception in this young 

 nation now struggling for economic independence. The 

 exact reason for their decision to embark for America 

 is unknown. However, it may well be that they, like 

 Samuel Slater* some three years earlier, had learned of 

 the bounties being offered by several state legislatures 

 for the successful introduction of new textile machines. 



Both John and Arthur were experienced in the 

 manufacture of woolens. They were the sons of a 

 clothier (during the 18th century, a person who per- 

 formed the several operations in finishing cloth) and 

 had been apprenticed to the trade. .Arthur was 36 

 and a bachelor; John, a little younger, was married 

 and had six children. Arthur and John, with his 

 family, sailed from Liverpool in March 1793 and 

 arrived in Boston some two months later. Upon 

 arrival, their immediate concern was to find a dwelling 

 place for John's family. Finally they were accom- 

 modated by Jedediah Morse, well-known author of 

 Morse's geography and gazetteer, in a lodging in Charles- 

 town, near Bunker Hill. In less than a month John 

 began to build a spinning jenny and a hand loom, 

 and soon the Scholfields started to produce woolen 

 cloth. The two brothers were joined in the venture 

 by John .Shaw, a spinner and weaver who had mi- 

 grated from England with them. Morse, being much 

 impressed with some of the broadcloth they ])ro- 

 duced, was especially interested to find that John 

 and Arthur understood the actual construction of the 

 textile machines. Morse immediately recommended 

 the Scholfields to some wealthy persons of Xewbury- 

 port (see fig. 7), who were interested in sponsoring 

 a new textile mill. 



* From a report of the visit of Henry Wansey in 1794, cited 

 by VV. R. Bagnall, The textile industries of the United Stales, 

 Cambridge, 1893, p. 107. 



" Slater introduced the Arkwright system of carding and 

 spinning cotton into America in 1790. Bringing neither plans 

 nor models witli him from which to build tlie machines, he 

 relied instead on his detailed knowledge of their construction. 

 England prohibited the export of textile machines, models, and 

 plans, and even attempted to prevent skilled artisans from 

 leaving tlie country. George S. White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, 

 Philadelphia, 1836, pp. 37 and 71. 



8 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



