Electricity in Machinery. 135 
manufactory, I observed fibres of cotton of all lengths up to six 
inches, extending out in different directions from one end of the 
spinning frames, and waving as if about to’ leave their resting 
place for a band two and a half inches broad, which moved the 
machinery and connected it with a drum seven feet above ; the 
latter being moved by another drum fifteen feet distant, with 
which it was connected by a horizontal strap seven inches in 
breadth. The two drums were of equal diameter, two feet and 
eight inches, but the wheel by which the spinning machinery 
was moved and a free pulley by its side, were only eight inches ; 
and consequently made two hundred and eighty eight revolu- 
tions in a minute, while the former made seventy two. 
Beneath the horizontal strap and four feet distant from it, the 
hair of the persons spinning was observed to be affected in a sim- 
ilar manner with the cotton, all the finer and more flexible fibres 
standing directly upright. Upon placing small fibres of cotton 
from one to two feet distant from this strap, they would ascend to 
it and adhering to its surface advance with it, until within a short 
distance of the drum around which it passed: when they would 
fall off and descend to the floor. Occasionally fibres would pass 
to and fro between the band and the hand placed near it, and 
once or twice this latter phenomenon took place through a space of 
two or three feet. 
Upon slipping the narrow band from the wheel moving the 
machinery to the free pulley by its side, the electrical attraction 
of both.the bands was observed to dienpbonii and this notwith- 
standing their motions were the same as before—in a moment, 
however, it was again manifested upon the spinning machine be- 
ing set in motion by slipping the back upon the motor wheel. 
These latter phenomena led to an inquiry into the different cir- 
cumstances of the band in the two cases, when the idea was 
suggested, that the wheel and the free pulley might be made of 
materials possessing different conducting power, but this a machi- 
nist of the manufactory informed me was not the case, both being 
made of iron and covered with leather.. The fetion of the 
spinning machinery, and of the motor wheel upon its axis, which 
were present in one, but absent in the other case, was the next 
difference suggested to account for the change, but as the axes of 
all parts of the machinery were made of iron and connected with 
iron frame-work, it was concluded that friction here would have 
no tendency to accumulate electricity. Upon watching the broad 
