149 [ 175 ] 



of the axle and the traversing bar, to be ''■ two aliprand feet," or three 

 {eet four inches and two-fifths, American measure.* 



Seven rotations of the reel, cause the traversing bar to move five 

 times from side to side. 



Dandolo says, it is a well known fact, that, of two reelcrs, each 

 reeling 71 pounds of cocoons of the same quality, one will obtain only 

 six ounces and a half, or perhaps still less, while another will turn off 

 eight ounces 



Mr. Nouaille says, that '' a woman at Novi, (Italy) experienced in 

 the business, with the assistance of a girl to turn the reel and attend 

 the fire under the caldron, can, with ease, reel off one pound of silk, 

 consisting of four or five cocoons, of the most perfect quality, in a day.t 



When a desired quantity of sitk has been wound on the reel, pick 

 off all the loose silk; then take a little handful of the coarse silk, and, 

 after washing and squeezing it, dip it in cold water, and rub over the 

 silk on the reel, stroking up also the silk with the palm of the hand: 

 then turn the wheel with all possible velocity, with open windows, if 

 the reeling has been done in a room, for about eight or ten minutes, to 

 dry the silk effectually; which done, take off the reel, put it in a dry, 

 airy place, but not in the sun. This is done to clean the silk and give 

 it a gloss, t 



When one reel is taken off, another should be put on, that the work 

 may not be delayed. Every winding apj>aratus must have two reels. 



In preparing the dupions for winding olF, more are put into the basin 

 at once than of the finest kind. They must be first well cleaned from 

 the flos on their outsides. The water also must be boiling hot ; and, 

 as the silk thc}" yield is of a coarser quality than the other, and has a 

 good deal of flos upon it, the person who turns the reel must take the 

 opportunity, while the one who manages the basin is preparing the 

 cocoons for winding, to clean and pick off the loose silk from that 

 which is on the reel. The dupions intended for ordinary sewing silk, 

 are to be wound from 15 to 20 cocoons. The rest may be wound as 

 coarse as possible, that is, from 40 to 50 cocoons. These serve to cover 

 and fill up coarse stuffs, and arc likewise used for sewing silk. The. 

 good choquettes are to be wound according to the uses they are intended 

 to be put to, but not finer than from seven to eight. The bad choquette 

 maybe wound from 15 to 20. The sattiny cocoons, so called from 

 their resemblance to satin, require water only moderately hot. The 

 proper heat will be found by observing the manner in which the silk 

 comes off from the first of them which are put into the basin; and, us 

 already said of cocoons generally, if it come off thick, cold water must 



* This rcg-uliition constitutes the 6th article of the Piedmont \a,vr of April 8, 1724, 

 on the silk niaiuitkcture. The distance between the axle of the reel and the travers- 

 ing bar, in tlie apparatus imported into Philadelphia, in 1826, by the writer, is foia- 

 feet eii^lit inches. 



-|- Trans. Soc. Arts, Lond. vol. 6, p. 177- 



i This is the practice in France, according to Mr. Stevenson; but the'lSth arlicle of 

 tlie law of Piedmont, for tlie regulation of the silk fikiture, expressly forbids the 

 smoothing to be done in any way except with the dry luuid. — Nouvelle Eiicy. >Je- 

 ♦lAodique, article Soie. 



