CARDS. 



Cards. 



Machine 

 for prick- 

 ing fillets. 



Sticking 

 the wires. 



American 

 card ma- 

 chine. 



the other hand, lifts its point out of a division, suf- 

 fering the carriage to move till the next division 

 comes to the catch; then he strikes down the lever, 

 and pricks another double row, and at the same time 

 that he lifts it up again he suffers another division to 

 pass by ; and in this manner the operation proceeds with 

 great rapidity, till the whole sheet is finished. The 

 pricker, it should be observed, is provided with a 

 double row of points, and pierces two rows at once, 

 that the points of one may fall opposite the spaces 

 of the next row ; a condition which it would be dif- 

 ficult to effect by other means than piercing two 

 at once. 



The fillet cards are pricked by a different ma- 

 chine. In this the pricker frame is moved by a crank, 

 on a spindle parallel to its axis of motion, and turned 

 with a band and fly wheel, to give it a rapid motion. 

 The fillet of leather is wrapped round a roller fixed 

 in the frame of the machine, and provided with a 

 pulley and cord, to which a weight is suspended, 

 acting to wind the leather upon the roller ; and there- 

 fore when the fillet is forcibly drawn off the roller, 

 this weight acts to keep the leather to its proper de- 

 gree of tension. The fillet is drawn forwards by a 

 a pair of rollers, between which it passes, and they 

 are pressed together by a spring, with a sufficient 

 power to hold the leather fast between them. They 

 are turned round by a detent at the end of the main 

 spindle, which moves the wheel one tooth at every 

 revolution ; and by turning the rollers, advances the 

 leather a proper quantity to receive another double 

 row of pricks, which it does from the pricker frame 

 when it is moved by the crank before mentioned. 



in the American minister's report on the manufac- Cards, 

 tures of the United States, and gives some account V " 1 "*"Y" <- "'' 

 of this manufacture. 



" The machines with which we now manufacture Account of 

 all kinds of wool and cotton cards that have been it. 

 called for, were invented by Amos Whittamore in 

 1797; he then obtained the exclusive privilege of 

 using the said machines by letters patent, for four- 

 teen years. Amos Whittamore and myself were 

 jointly concerned in the first machines that were 

 built, and are still the sole proprietors of the patent. 

 Congress at their last winter session, extended the 

 patent fourteen years, by a special act. We have fifty- 

 five of those patent machines, thirty-seven of which 

 are now in use. These machines, with the other 

 apparatus necessary to carry on the business to its 

 present extent, have cost us about forty thousand 

 dollars. 



We have now employed in the factory upwards of Extent of 

 forty hands. We manufacture weekly one hundred the trade,, 

 and eighty dozen pair of hand cards, and two hundred 

 square feet of cards for the woollen and cotton fac- 

 tories, which together amount to about two thousand 

 dollars. Had it been in our power the year past to 

 have supplied ourselves with card wire, the amount of 

 the cards manufactured in our factory would have ex- 

 ceeded three thousand dollars. Fifty thousand dol- 

 lars at least, is necessary for a capital to carry on the 

 business to this extent, exclusive of buildings and 

 machinery. We have been obliged to make great 

 sacrifices to obtain money, to enable us to carry on 

 the business, so as to be able to answer the demand 

 for cards. Our monied institutions have afforded but 



The pricker frame, except in size, is the same as the little support to domestic manufactures. The wire 



machine before mentioned. 



The wires are put into the leather by women, who 

 first enter them into the holes, and then push them 

 home by a thimble. , Some can put in two wires at 

 once ; but this requires a degree of dexterity which 

 very few can attain. The filling the leathers is a very 

 serious portion of the whole labour of card making, 

 and has therefore attracted the attention of me- 

 chanics to perform it by machinery. We have seen 

 a model of a very ingenious machine, invented by 

 Mr James Fryer of Rastrick, near Huddersfield, 

 Yorkshire, which pricked the leathers, and at the 

 same time put in the wires, previously doubled in the 

 usual way; but the knee bend was given to them by 

 the machine after being stuck through the leather. 

 This machine has not yet been brought into prac- 

 tical use. 



We have received information of a very surprising 

 card wire machine used in America, invented by Mr 

 Amos Whittamore. It completes the whole opera- 

 tion at once, cutting and doubling the wires, pricking 

 the leather, and sticking them in, and then giving 

 the knee bend to them afterwards. It does one wire 

 at a time ; but acts with such rapidity, as to com- 

 plete four per second ; so that the whole labour by 

 this machine is less than any one operation in the 

 common way. The following extract of a letter 

 from the proprietor of these works, William Whitta- 

 more of West Cambridge, to the collector of Bos- 

 ton, dated 24th of November 1809, was published 



is the only article necessary to the manufacture of 

 cards, but what our own country produces, and that 

 might be manufactured here as good, and nearly as 

 cheap, as in England. Of this we have so far satis- 

 fied ourselves, (by experiment), that nothing but 

 want of capital has prevented us from setting up that 

 business. The iron made on Lake Champlain is 

 "found to be as good for wire, if not superior, to any 

 ever imported. The wire to supply our factory one 

 year, will, in England, cost about fifteen thousand 

 dollars, and the expences of importing, about ten 

 percent., (it being free of duty). Perhaps about the 

 same quantity is used annually in the other card ma- 

 nufactories in the United States. There is no doubt 

 in my mind, from the observations made since I have 

 been in the manufacturing business, that had the 

 same support been afforded manufacturers generally, 

 that has been made to trade and commerce, our ma- 

 nufactories at this time would have been carried on 

 much more extensively, and would have generally af- 

 forded a profit to those concerned. Since the ob- 

 structions to our foreign trade, the manufactures of 

 our country have increased astonishingly. The de- 

 mand for wool and cottOQ, cards, during the present 

 season, has been twice as great as it has been during 

 any preceding year. We hear that Mr Joseph Dyer 

 has, in conjunction with the inventor, recently taken 

 out a patent in England for this invention, which 

 will most certainly supersede all the other machines 

 that have been contrived for this purpose.' 5 (j. F.) 



