265 



COTTON MANUFACTURE. 



COTTON MANUFACTURE. 



286 



than by receiving a slight compression ; but as the second pair of rollers 

 moved with many times the velocity of the first, the cotton was drawn 

 out many times smaller than when delivered from the first rollers. 



[Throstle spinning.] 



The yarn produced by its means received the name of water-tw:ist,irom 

 the circumstance of the machinery being at first set in motion by 

 water power. The Throttle frame is the same in principle as Arkwright's 



invention ; but the movement of the parts is simplified, so that the 

 speed of the machine is increased, and a greater number of spindles 

 may be driven with an equal amount of power ; it was introduced 

 about the year 1810. The Mule-jenny, invented by Samuel Crompton, 

 combines the essential principle of Arkwright's frame with the property 

 of stretching possessed by Hargreave's jenny. By means of the mule- 

 jenny, the roving is first drawn and then stretched. The effect of this 

 improvement is to make the yarn finer, and of a more uniform tenuity. 

 When delivered by the rollers, the thread is thicker in some parts than 

 in others ; these thicker parts, not being so effectually twisted as the 

 smaller parts, are softer and yield more readily to the stretching power 

 of the mule; and by this means the twist becomes more equable 

 throughout the yam. Throstle-spinning is seldom employed for 

 higher numbers than forty to fifty hanks to the pound, because smaller 

 yarn would not have strength to bear the drag of the bobbin ; but in 

 mule-spinning no bobbin is used, and the yarn is wound or built upon 

 the spindles without subjecting it to any strain. The spindles in this 

 machine are regularly arranged on a carriage, which when put in 

 motion recedes from the rollers with a velocity somewhat greater than 

 that at which the reduced rovings are delivered from them ; during 

 this time the yarn is receiving its- twist by the rapid revolving of the 

 spindles ; when the rollers are made to cease giving out the rovings, 

 the mule-jenny still continues to recede, but with a slower motion, and 

 its spindles to revolve ; and thus the stretching is effected. The dis- 

 tance which the spindles recede from the rollers while both are ill 

 action is called a stretch ; this is usually about fifty-four or fifty-six 

 inches : the space through which the mule moves greater than and 

 during the giving out of the rollers, is called the gaining of the carriage ; 

 and the further space accomplished by the carriage after the rollers 

 are stopped, is called the second stretch; during this latter part of 

 their progress, the spindles are made to revolve much more rapidly 

 than before, to save time. When the drawing, stretching, and twisting 

 of the thread are thus accomplished, the mule disengages itself from 

 the parts of the machine by which it has been driven, and then 

 the attendant spinner returns the carriage to the rollers, again to 

 perform its task. While returning to the roller, the thread which has 

 been spun is wound or built on the spindle in a conical form, and is 

 called a cop. The mule-jenny is a complex piece of mechanism, and 

 requires to have all its parts very nicely fitted and adjusted. 



The Self -acting mule contrived by Mr. Roberts, and improved by later 

 inventors, is a beautiful example of automatic mechanism. The car- 

 riage of this mule, after having drawn out and stretched and twisted 

 the thread, is returned again to the rollers by mechanical means without 

 the guidance or intervention of any intelligent agent, the only atten- 

 dance required being that of children to join such threads as may have 

 been accidentally broken iu the stretching. This self-acting mule is 

 even more complex in its arrangements than the original machine, and 

 hence great doubts were entertained as to its successful working ; but 

 it has triumphed over all difficulties. Its advantages as regards 

 economy, and rendering the manufacturer independent of a class of 

 workmen who frequently proved refractory, are so great, as to have 

 led to a general adoption of the machine. 



If the yarn spun with the mule-jenny be intended for use as weft in 



[Carriage of Self-acting Spinning Mule.] 



factory where it is produced, the cops are at once applied to the the yarn is reeled into hanks each 840 yards in length, for performing 

 for warp, and generally wh-n exported, which operation a Self-acting red has been contrived. This process is 



