90 SILK GROWER'S GUIDE. 



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Piedmont are obliged by law to allow the distance of 

 thirty-eight French inches between the guides and the 

 centre of the reel. This, and the slowly-traversing 

 movement of the layer which winds spirally over the 

 reel, backwards and forwards, and the circulation of 

 the air, caused by the motions of the reel, dries the gum 

 sufficiently to prevent the adhesion of the threads. 



Whoever would acquire the art of reeling silk, must 

 first of all be provided with an appropriate and well 

 constructed silk reel. Such an one may be either pur- 

 chased or made at a trifling expense. The French reel 

 is a new and highly improved instrument of very modern 

 date. Reels on the plans which I have described may 

 be purchased at the agricultural ware-houses in our prin- 

 cipal cities, constructed at an expense which may vary 

 from five to twenty dollars each. 



Mr. Gideon Smith's Silk Reel is an improvement on 

 the silk reel of Piedmont and more simple in its opera- 

 tions. The improvement consists in substituting a 

 drum wheel and pulley, and band, or cord, for the cog 

 wheel of the Piedmontese reel. The pulley is attached 

 to the reel itself, and is ten inches diameter ; the drum 

 wheel is connected with a spiral groove which gives a 

 vibratory motion to the traversing bar by means of a 

 pin. The size of these wheels precludes the liability of 

 the band slipping; and such are their proportions that 

 while the reel performs nine revolutions, the drum wheel 

 performs five revolutions, causing the traversing bar to 

 move backwards five times, and five times forwards. 

 The spiral groove, which gives motion direct to the tra- 

 versing bar, is formed precisely like that of the French 

 reel, although it is somewhat different in its operation. 



Mr. Cobb's Reel combines great power and efficiency 

 with great simplicity of construction. The principal 

 difference between this reel and that of Piedmont con- 

 sists in this, that the horizontal wheel, or drum, which 

 gives motion to the traversing bar, receives its motion 

 from a band, or cord, and a pulley connected with the 



