COTTON-SPINNING 



or coil upon a roller. This coil, called a lap, it is necessary to make as even in thick- 

 ness as possible, hence a further distinction of the second scutcher consists in its 

 being provided with the means of approximately securing the desired evenness. 

 Formerly this was accomplished by making tho feed-cloth or apron into equidistant 

 spaces and spreading equally a given weight of cleaned cloth upon each space. This 

 plan is still followed in many factories. It has, however, been largely displaced, 

 on account of the costliness of 

 the manual labour involved, 

 by a mechanical contrivance 

 invented by Messrs. Lord, of 

 Todmorden, and known as 

 Lord's regulator. This ap- 

 paratus is connected with the 

 feed rollers, and is made to 

 increase or diminsh their 

 speed inversely as the thick- 

 ness of cotton passing be- 

 tween them, thus approxi- 

 mately securing a uniform 

 rate of delivery to the beater. 

 This invention has been fur- 

 ther improved by Messrs. 

 Lord, who have added what is 

 known as the ' Piano Motion ' 

 the purpose of which is to 

 obtain greater delicacy in the 

 action of the regulator, and 

 to counteract the minuter 

 variations in the thickness 

 of the cotton as it enters the 

 machine. In the improved 

 regulator, the trough or plate < 

 under the roller, or rollers, ; 

 which supply cotton to the 

 beater, instead of being in 

 one piece as heretofore, is 

 divided into any convenient 

 number of parts, each part 

 being acted upon by a weight 

 or spring, their object being 

 to press the fibres between 

 the trough, or plate, and the 

 feed roller, so as to prevent 

 them being drawn forward 

 unevenly by the beater, and 

 to prevent ' snatching.' The 

 variations in the quantity of 

 cotton fed to the machine pro- 

 duce corresponding variations 

 in the distance between the 

 divided trough or plate and 

 the feed roller, and thus in- 

 crease or diminish the qiian- 

 tity of cotton supplied to the 

 machine. 



In cases where Lord's regu- 

 lator is applied the opener 

 must be made to lap the cot- 

 ton, instead of delivering it 

 into a loose mass. Three or 

 four laps are then made to 



unfold together upon tho feeding lattice or apron of tho scutcher, with the object of 

 making tho inevitable unevenesses of tho first lap machine correct each other as far as 

 possible, and thus aid tho work of the regulator. 



A section of a Lap machine is shown in fig. 549, where we see the feed-cloth, the 

 scutching beater, tho cylindrical cage, and the rollers for coiling up the lap. Tho lever 

 shown below is for removing the pressure weight from the axis of the lap rollers, when 



