COTTON 305 



Cotton manufacturing increased in England as 

 did cotton production in America, and both so 

 worked together that the cotton industry from seed 

 to loom assumed large proportions, and has since 

 continued to grow with every passing decade. 



PERFECTING THE INVENTIONS 



But these inventions still left gaps between 

 cotton in its raw and its finished state, and these 

 difficulties had to be met and gradually overcome. 



Of the inventions having direct relation to the 

 spinning-jenny and the spinning-frame, the most 

 important was that of the mule. Neither one of 

 these other machines was complete in itself. It 

 was left for Crompton to invent the machine which 

 should retain the drawing out and winding features 

 of the jenny, and that should have at the same 

 time the rollers of the old spinning-frame. 



It will be seen that this new invention retained 

 features of both the spinning-jenny and the spin- 

 ning-frame. It was in this sense a hybrid; and 

 later, by reason of this fact, it was given the name 

 of mule, which it has ever since retained. 



A marvelous machine it is, called by whatever 

 name, and it is in every sense one of the most 

 wonderful and most easily operated machines that 

 has ever been constructed. At the present time 

 spinning mules are made as much as one hundred 

 and twenty feet long, some having 1300 spindles 

 which spin and wind 64 inches of thread in 15 

 seconds; and only a couple of persons are needed 

 to attend to the whole machine. The extremely 

 fine yarns that are now made are the product of 

 mule spinning, as well as much of the best soft 

 thread used in manufacturing hosiery and under- 

 wear. 



