COTTON-SPEWING 



973 



finisher card, however, has now been superseded where it has been desired to spin the 

 best fine yarns, by tlio Combing Machine. This important invention, the discovery of 

 M. Heilmann, an Alsacian, though patented in England in 1846, was first brought 

 into general notice at tlio London Exhibition of 1851. Tho patent right so far as it 

 related to the preparation of cotton was purchased by a company of five Manchester 

 spinners for 30,000^., and for a time these firms enjoyed the exclusive use of the 



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machine. Several improvements have been effected in M. Heilmann's invention by 

 Messrs. John Hetherington & Sons of Manchester. The great advantages derived 

 from the use of the combing machine consist in its power entirely to remove the 

 moats and dirt from the cotton, and to separate with far greater precision than is 

 possible with the carding engine the long from the short fibres. The spinning of tho 

 finest yarns for the manufacture of muslins, laces, and sewing cotton has thus been 



