998 COTTON TRADE 



with it the spur pinion. A catch on a stud fixed in the side of the pinion, at that 

 time taking into a tooth of the ratchet wheel i fast on the tin roller shaft, the motion 

 of the spur pinion is communicated to the tin roller shaft, and thence to the spindles, 

 causing the thread or yarn spun during the coming-out of the carriage to bo wound 

 on the spindles, in the form of the cop, while the carriage goes in. At the com- 

 mencement of the formation of a set of cops, when the yarn is being wound on the 

 bare spindles, the spindles require to have a greater number of turns given to them 

 than they do when the cop bottom is formed ; to produce this variation the following 

 means are employed. At the commencement of each set, the screw in the radial arm 

 is turned so as to turn the nut i l to the bottom of the screw, where it is near to the 

 shaft on which the quadrant moves ; consequently, little or no motion is given to the 

 chain, and the carriage, as it goes in, causes the chain to be drawn off the band. As 

 the formation of the cop bottom proceeds, the screw is turned and the nut is raised ; 

 by which means a less quantity of chain is drawn off the barrel ; the chain, at the 

 point of attachment, gradually following the carriage as it goes in. 



During the going-in of the carriage the quadrant is drawn down or made to follow 

 the carriage by the chain pulling it, the speed at which it is allowed to descend is 

 regulated by the motion of the carriage ; the quadrant, during the going-in of the 

 carriage, through the pinion G 6 , shafts G 3 and G", and wheels, o 1 , G 2 , G 4 , and G* driving 

 the drawing-out shaft. 



When the carriage has completed its inward run, the bowl A 4 comes in contact with 

 the piece A', and depresses it and the end of the lever K S to which it is attached, 

 and also the slide c, which then allows the catch-box K 1 to be put in contact, and 

 causes the cam shaft to make another half revolution. During this half revolution of 

 the cam shaft, the cams cause the catch-box M to be put in contact, and the driving 

 strap to be traversed on to the fast pulley, and, by the latter movement, the catch-box 

 H 6 is taken out of gear and the winding-in motion of the scrolls ceases, and the 

 carriage will again commence its outward run, and with it the spinning of the thread. 



Other improvements have been effected by Messrs. Dolsen and Barlow, and by 

 Messrs. P. and J. Me Gregor, of Manchester. The latter firm have combined some 

 of the advantages of Eoberts's and Smith's mule. The chief alterations made by 

 Messrs. Me Gregor are : first, the regulation of the amount of ' twist ' given to the 

 yarn from the tin roller or drum shaft of the carriage ; and second, the completion of the 

 automatic action of Boberts's mule, which left to the spinner the duty of occasionally 

 regulating the copping apparatus so that as the cop was gradually built upward upon 

 the spindle, its speed might be slightly increased to meet the lessening diameter due to 

 its slightly spiral form. Neglect of this duty on the part of the spinner was followed 

 by a defect in the building of the upper part of the cop, which was rendered soft. 

 The necessity of this attention has been abolished by the improvement in question. 



The mule is used for the production of both ' twist ' or warp, and weft. The twist 

 cop is usually of a larger size than the weft cop. The latter undergoes no further 

 operation until it is placed in the shuttle of the loom, except when intended for 

 bleaching or dyeing, or for export to distant markets. In the latter case it is wound 

 into skeins, and it may then with advantage be spun in cops of larger size. But when 

 taken directly to the loom, its bulk is necessarily limited by the fact, that the ' shuttle 

 space ' in weaving is very narrow, and the weight of the shuttle with its contained 

 cop cannot with profit be indefinitely increased, because of the force absorbed in its 

 transmission across the web. 



Of the diverse purposes to which yarn is applied after the spinning process is com- 

 pleted, some account will be found under the head of COTTON FACTOBY. 



COTTON TRADE. It is impossible to call to mind the fact, that nearly the 

 whole of the human race is clothed entirely, or in part, with cotton fabric, without 

 realising in some measure the important place amongst the activities of mankind which 

 is filled by the growth, manufacture, and distribution of this material. This is the 

 ground which is covered by the term ' Cotton Trade,' when used in its widest sense. 

 And it is obvious that the chain of operations included in the term is much enlarged 

 by the manifold diversity of the fabrics produced, as well as by the great distances 

 which lie between the countries where the raw material is grown, the region of its 

 manufacture, and the world-wide fields of consumption to which it is at last dis- 

 tributed. Cotton is exclusively a tropical or semi-tropical product. Its conversion 

 into clothing by means of machinery is an industry belonging, as yet, almost ex- 

 clusively to temperate zones. In seeking to present a general view of the nature and 

 extent of the Cotton Trade it will be necessary therefore to indicate the relative im- 

 portance of the sources from which the raw material is supplied, as well as of the 

 countries where it is manufactured, and the proportions in which it is distributed to 

 the regions of consumption. A considerable quantity of cotton is still spun by purely 

 handicraft methods, especially in China and in India, But of this we do not hero take 



