990 



COTTON-SPINNING 



tion of counts finer than No. 36's. Moreover, it is necessary that throstle yarn, for the 

 reason just stated, should bo highly twisted, should receive a comparatively large 

 number of turns or twists per inch, and hence its principal characteristic is its hard, 

 wiry and closely compact appearance. On this account it is especially suitable for 

 tho manufacture of goods which cannot be woven without much strain upon the warp, 

 or which when finished need to be very durable. 



Besides the special characteristics of throstle yarn to which we have alluded, and 

 which greatly limit its applicability, one other must be noticed, viz. the smallness of 

 the rate of production. This, it is obvious, increases the cost of spinning, and the 

 throstle is therefore rarely employed, except where yarn is required possessing the 

 characteristics already indicated. 



We now come to describe the second and 

 more widely prevailing type of spinning 

 machinery, that of the mule. The name, 

 which is founded upon a rather odd analogy, 

 is traceable to the fact that the mule was 

 the result of a combination of the principle 

 of Hargreaves' 'jenny' with that of Ark- 

 wright's water twist frame. 



The inventor of the mule was Samuel 

 Crompton of Hall-in-the-Wood, near Bolton, 

 His discovery, after repeated failures, was 

 successfully completed in 1 779 ; but he 



reaped only a slender pecuniary reward from it, not being able to keep his secret long, 

 nor to pay the cost of securing a patent-right in it. The beneficial results of 

 Crompton's labours upon the economy of manufactures have, however, placed his 

 name in the front rank of inventors. He received a parliamentary grant of 5,000^. a 

 sum which, when compared with what he might have obtained under the protection of 

 a patent, was insignificant. A statue to his memory was erected in Bolton in the 

 year 1857i thirty years after his death. 



It will have been already observed that the spinning operation, as carried on by 

 means of the .throstle is continuous, that is to say, the motion of the rollers, the 

 spindles, and the bobbin goes on simultaneously, and the cotton is drawn, twisted and 

 wound upon tho bobbin without intermission during the whole of the time that the 

 machine is at work. In the mule, on the contrary, the action is intermittent or 

 rather alternate. A given length is first drawn and spun, then the motion of the 

 rollers ceases, the spindles stop spinning, and proceed to wind up the length that has 

 been spun. Spinning is then resumed and the alternate movements are repeated ad 

 libitum. The details of this process will be readily understood on reference to fig. 580, 

 which is a transverse section of the mule, and in which its principal parts are shown. 

 The machine consists of two main sections : a fixed one, corresponding in some measure 

 to the water frame or throstle, and a moveable one, corresponding to the jenny. Tho 

 first contains in a suitable frame the drawing roller-beam and the chief moving 



