TEXTILE MANUFACTURES. 



quantities in America. Cotton of good quality is 

 imported from Egypt, where its cultivation was 

 begun by Mehemet All in 1823. The supply 

 obtainable from the East Indies is fast increasing 

 in amount When railways and canals open up 

 the interior of our possessions there, and when as 

 much care is taken in its cultivation and cleaning 

 as is done in America, we may reasonably expect 

 that our manufactories will be supplied to a large 

 extent, if not exclusively, from these our own 

 possessions. The West Indies also supply us 

 with cotton. Brazilian cotton was first imported 

 in 1781. Pernambuco cotton is very valuable, 

 generally fetching a price next to that of Sea 

 Island, 



The value of cotton for manufacturing purposes 

 is reckoned by the length, strength, and fineness 

 of the staple, or fibres. The 'long-stapled,' or 

 valuable cottons are Sea Island, Brazilian, West 

 Indian, Egyptian ; the ' short-stapled,' or inferior 

 qualities are the Upland cotton of America, the 

 Orleans, Mobile, and Surat. 



The first authentic proof we have of the exist- 

 ence of the cotton manufacture in England, is a 

 notice in a work published in 1641, in which the 

 existence and importance of the trade, as carried 

 on at Manchester at that period, are specifically 

 mentioned. The progress of the trade was 

 remarkably quick; in 1727, the population of 

 Manchester, then, as now, the seat of the 

 manufacture, had doubled. 



In 1697, the quantity of cotton imported was 

 about 2,000,000 of pounds ; it took fifty years to 

 increase this to 3,000,000 ; the next fifty years 

 shewed a more satisfactory rate of progress, the 

 importation at the end of that period amounting 

 to 56,000,000. In 1850, the quantity imported 

 amounted to nearly 525,000,000. In 1785, the 

 first bag was brought from America. The quantity 

 obtained from that country in 1850 was nearly 

 2,000,000 bales. A bale weighs, on an average, 

 300 pounds, the price per pound varying from 

 7 id. to 5\d. In 1876, the importation amounted 

 to 13,284454 cwts., of the value of ,40,180,880 ; 

 the year 1881 shewed an increase, being 14,991,682 

 cwts., of the value of ^43,834,647. In 1679, the 

 total value of cotton goods exported from Britain 

 was nearly 6000 ; in 1850, it reached a grand 

 total of upwards of .28,000,000 ; and for the year 

 1 88 1, it was over ^65,000,000. 



The introduction by Arkwright of the method 

 of spinning by rollers was the turning-point in the 

 history of the trade. Previous to this, the demand 

 for yarn for weaving was always greater than the 

 supply. But with the unlimited supply of the 

 new process came also the increase of weaving. 

 In 1850, the number of spindles at work through- 

 out the kingdom was 21,000,000. In 1803, the 

 first practical power-loom was introduced by ' 

 William Horrocks of Stockport In 1817, about j 

 2500 only were in use ; in 1835, this had increased 

 to 116,801 ; and in 1850, to 225,000. In 1760, the 

 manufacturing population was estimated at 40,000; 

 in 1835, it had increased to 260,198 ; and in 1850, 

 reached 332,124. In 1833, the number of mills in ' 

 the kingdom was 1154, taking up a power of) 

 41,000 horses in steam-engines and water-wheels. 

 In 1839, the number of mills had increased to 

 2019 ; the horse-power to 59,856. 



Arriving in England in a state far from clean, 

 being mixed with a variety of extraneous matters, 



and the fibres much matted together, the cotton 

 has to be further subjected to a cleaning process. 

 This is effected by the willow or -arilley. A large 

 conical drum rotates rapidly on a horizontal shaft, 

 and is provided with a number of projecting 

 spikes ; the drum is covered with a case, in the 

 inside of which are a number of spikes, so arranged 

 as to pass between those in the drum as it revolves. 

 The cotton is fed by an endless apron, at the 

 smaller end of the cone, and is dragged between 

 the spikes up to the larger end, where it passes 

 into a case, from whence it is withdrawn by hand. 



The rapid rotation of the cone 

 creates a sufficient draught to 

 carry off the dust through 

 a pipe. A machine called 

 Hardacre's cotton-opener is 

 much used instead of the wil- 

 low. Two vertical shafts, aa, 

 off, fig. 9, rotate rapidly within 

 a case, the sides of which have 

 openings, leading the dust, &c. 



Fig. 9- 



to a series of cells. The vertical shafts are pro- 

 vided with horizontal arms, which rapidly strike 

 and open up the cotton, which is fed from the 

 top, at d. 



The cleaned cotton is now taken to the 'blower,' 

 or ' scutcher,' fig. 10, where it is further cleaned, 



Fig. 10. 



and the fibres separated one from another. The 

 cotton being fed by the apron, a made of a 

 series of thin narrow wooden bars, fixed at then- 

 ends to two strips of leather revolving round 

 rollers at each end it passes between two pair of 

 feed-rollers, 6, revolving nearly in contact. On 

 issuing from between the last of these, it is struck 

 violently by the arms of a rapidly revolving beater, 

 c, making some 1800 or 2000 revolutions per 

 minute. The impurities pass from the cotton, 

 and fall upon an inclined grating, ee, the cotton 

 being wafted along to a second apron, gg, with a 

 second set of feed-rollers, h, and again struck by 

 revolving beaters, t, and finally passed to the 

 floor. It is next taken to a second blower, similar 

 in all respects to the former, excepting that instead 

 of being delivered to the floor, it is passed through 

 feed-rollers, k, and finally wound upon large 

 rollers in the form of a continuous lap, / ; hence 

 the name of the machine, the lap-machine. In 

 many cases, however, the blower and lap-machines 

 are combined in one. The grating already men- 

 tioned is composed of thin bars of iron, set angu- 

 larly, so as to present a series of edges to the 

 cotton as it is whirled about by the beaters, thus 

 further opening it Between the first and second 

 beaters, c, /, are two revolving hollow cages,// 

 with perforated periphery ; the cotton is wrapped 

 round this before being delivered to the second 

 feed-rollers. A strong draught is created in the 

 machine by fans, ft, o, which aid in carrying off 

 all the dust, &c. to the external atmosphere. 



The action of all machines noticed has been to 

 open the fibres of the cotton, and clear them of 



