only Scholficld and one other friend to sec it. Stan- 

 dring used his machine to make new saws of all 

 descriptions and to re-cut old ones as well as to 

 prepare comb plates for the carding machines. But 

 in spite of this new simplified method of producing 

 comb plates Scholfield's business did not flourish, 

 for the tremendous influx of foreign fabrics after the 

 War of 1812 greatly damaged the domestic textile 

 industries, including the manufacture of carding 

 machines. 



By 1818 Scholfield's friends had persuaded him to 

 apply to Congress for relief. To his brother John on 

 April 20, 1818, he wrote: 



... I have been advised by my friends to apply to 

 Congress by a petition as we were the first that introduced 

 the woolen Business by Machinery in this country and should 

 that plan be adopted I have but little hopes of success but 

 the>' say if it does no good it \vont doo an\- harm but at any 

 rate I should like your opinion and advice about it. . . . 



Apparently John felt the plan would not succeed, 

 for on the following December 17 Arthur wrote 

 him again: 



. . . With regard to appKing to Congress I have given 

 that up for I am of your opinion that it won't succeed what 

 gave me some hopes I was advis'd to it by a member of the 

 Senet who is a very influential man in Congress but he is now' 

 out and I tliink tis best to drop it. . . . 



Arthur never applied to Congress for the recognition 

 his contemporaries felt he deserved." 



Several changes in the construction of wool-carding 

 machines took place during this period. As early as 

 1816 John Scholficld, Jr., was reported to have in his 

 mill in Jcwctl City, Connecticut, a double-cylinder 

 carding machine 3 feet wide. And in 1822 a Worcester, 

 Massachusetts, machine maker advertised that he 

 was "constructing carding machines entirely of iron." '* 

 Although a few of these iron carding machines were 

 sold, they did not tjccome common until 50 years 

 later.'* 



There is no record that Arthur Scholficld manu- 

 factured carding machines of a width greater than 

 24 inches, or entirely of iron. However, little is known 

 of his last business years except that he remained in 

 Pittsfield until his death, March 27, 1827. 



Only three wool-carding machines attributed to 

 the hands of the Scholfields are known to exist today. 

 All are 24-inch, single-cylinder carding machines of 

 the same general description (see fig. 8). They differ 

 only in minor respects that probably result from sub- 

 sequent changes and additions. One (fig. 9), now 

 located in the Plymouth Carding House, at Greenfield 

 \'illage. Dearborn, Michigan, was discovered in Ware, 

 Massachusetts. Another (fig. 10), now at Old Stur- 

 bridge Milage, Sturbridge, Massachusetts,** was 

 uncovered in a barn in northern New Hampshire. 

 The third (fig. 1), is in the U. S. National Museum 

 in the collection of the Division of Textiles. 



Both it and the Dearborn machine have in former 

 times been described as "the original Scholficld 

 woolen card." It is a romantic but unsubstantiated 

 idea that either of these is the first Scholficld carding 

 machine set up in the Byfield factory in 1794. The 

 author's opinion is that all three were built by Arthur 

 Scholficld during hisyearsin the Pittsfield factory. Ex- 

 amination of the National Museum machine supports 

 this opinion. The woods used are all native to the 

 New England region. The frame, the large cylinder 

 and the roller called the fancy are constructed of 

 eastern white pine (the Sturbridge machine is also 

 constructed principally of pine). The joints of the 

 main frame are mortised and tenoned. At the 

 doffing end the main frame and cross supports are 

 numbered and matched, I to ini, and at the feed end 

 they are numbered \' to V'HI but were mis-matched 

 in the original assembly. Further rigidity is achieved 

 by means of hand-forged jag screws. The arch of the 

 frame is birch and llie arch arm maple. The 14-inch 

 doflfcr roller is made of chestnut.'" The iron shafts are 

 square and turned down at the bearings. The worker 

 rollers are fitted with sprockets and turned by a hand- 

 forged chain. The comb plate, stamped "Stand- 

 ring," is hand filed, and is undoubtedly one of those 

 made Ix-fore the "teeth-cutting machine" was 

 smuggled from England, for although one-third of the 

 plate is quite regular, the size and pitch of the teeth 

 in the remaining two-thirds arc irregtilar. Part of 

 this irregularity might be explained as having been 

 caused by the hand-sharpening of a plate originally 

 cut by machine, but the teeth in one 2-inch span not 



" U. S. 15th Congress, 1st and 2nd sessions, The debatrs and 

 pTOCfeJings in the Congress, vols, for 1817-1819 (2). 



'* Worcester Spy, July 10, 1822. 



" A natural delay. .Mthough the cylinders and llic card 

 clothing wore out and had to be replaced, the heavy wooden 

 frames of the early machines remained long in serviceable 

 condition. 



" Once again in use, it is now powered by electricity. A 

 pound of slivers from it (about 260) may be purchased for S3.00. 



" The author is indebted to William N. Watkins, U. S. 

 National Xfuseum Curator of .■\griculture and Wood Products, 

 Smithsonian Institution, for the identification of Uic woods in 

 the specimen. 



PAPER 1: SCHOLFIELD WOOL-CARDING M.\CHINES 



