86 



beginning at the end cut. It is then twisted together, 

 three threaded and knit into stockings. 



The imperfect cocoons, and all that will not reel, are 

 boiled, carded, spun and manufactured in all respects 

 like floss, but they make nicer and finer cloth. 



The Connecticut sewing silk, at present, does not bring 

 a higher price than the reeled silk as it comes from my 

 reel. As it is said that there is a loss of one half of the 

 weight in the preparation of sewing silk, it is evident that 

 to reel it properly and sell it for raw silk would bring a 

 hundred per cent more profit. 



GIDEON B. SMITH S IMPROVED SILK REEL 



(SEE PLATE.) 



This is an improvement on the Slik Reel of Piedmont. 

 The improvement consists in the simplicity of the ma- 

 chinery, compared with that of the Piedmontese Reel, the 

 operation of both being exactly the same. A, is a cylin- 

 der eight inches diameter and eight in length. B, a circu- 

 lar groove, half an inch deep, which has a sweep of six 

 inches. To lay out this groove, a strip of paper six inches 

 wide and of the exact length of the cylinder's circum- 

 ference, is doubled, and with the compass a sweep is 

 made from the middle of one end of the doubled paper to 

 the edge and thence to the middle of the other end ; the 

 paper is then turned over and the same sweep made on 

 the other side, in an opposite direction. The paper is 

 then laid on the cylinder, and the groove marked upon it 

 for cutting. Thus on each side of the cylinder the groove 

 will form a semi-circle meeting in the middle, and will 



