MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 



corresponding spindle: a sufficiency of 

 length of the slubbings is left between 

 the spars and the spindles, to allow for 

 five or six feet of robing to be drawn out 

 of each, which is regulated by a mark on 

 the frame, that shews when the moveable 

 spars going from the spindles have come 

 to the proper position : the spars are 

 then closed by pressing down the handle 

 under the clasp, the spindles are put in 

 motion by turning round the large wheel, 

 and at the same time the moveable spars 

 are drawn back gently : by this means, as 

 the slubbings are drawn out, they get 

 proportionally more twist, so as to keep 

 them from breaking ; and when they are 

 drawn to the intended extent, by the 

 spars being moved back to the extremity 

 of their supports, a few turns of the wheel 

 gives them all the twist that portion of 

 them is intended to have. The robings 

 now formed between the spars and the 

 spindles, are guided to that part of their 

 respective spindles where they are to re- 

 main ; and the spindles being again put 

 in motion, while the spars are pushed for- 

 wards towards them ; the part formed of 

 the robings are by this means rolled up- 

 on the spindles. The handle is then re- 

 leased, the lower spar falls down, the 

 spars are drawn back to the mark, which 

 shews that the proper length of slubbing 

 has passed between them ; the spars are 

 again closed, and the operation repeated 

 as before described. The robings are 

 guided to the parts of the spindles where 

 they are to be coiled up, by a long hori- 

 zontal slip of deal, w^hich is supported 

 over them close to the front of the spin- 

 dles by a light frame, hung on two pivots, 

 that admit of its moving the length of 

 the spindles up and down : a cord is 

 stretched from this frame, near the pivot, 

 along one of the supports of the move- 

 able spars, and passes between three 

 small pulleys at the extremity of the spar: 

 two ot the pulleys being at the side of it 

 next the spar, and the middle pulley be- 

 ing outside : this last pulley is fastened to 

 a slide, which is drawn back by a string 

 that runs along the spar to its centre, 

 where it passes over a grooved segment 

 of a small wheel, with a small projection ; 

 which, being pressed down by 'the fin- 

 ger, draws the cord in, which causing the 

 stretched* cord to contract in length be- 

 tween the pulleys, forces the deal slip 

 down on the robings, and guides them to 

 the parts of the spindles where they are 

 to remain : a small counterpoise draws off 

 the slip, when the finger is removed, and 

 restores this part of the apparatus to its 

 first position. 



Of Spinning, and the Spinning Jenwj 

 When the robings are finished, they arc. 

 brought to the spinning jenny, to com- 

 plete the spinning. The spinning jenny 

 is an engine on the same principle as the 

 robing billy, and only differs from it in 

 having smaller spindles, more in number, 

 and closer together ; the cops of robings 

 are placed in it, as those of slubbings are 

 in the billy, and by a similar management 

 and operation are drawn out into the re- 

 quired fineness, and receive the degree of 

 twist which forms them into cotton yarn. 



Reeling. The cotton yarn, when taken 

 from thejenny,'is reeled, to ascertain its 

 degree of fineness, and then laid by with 

 others of the same sort : the reel used is 

 a small wheel reel, which denotes the 

 completion of the hank, or given num- 

 ber of yards, by a spring that slaps 

 against its frame at that instant : its ma- 

 chinery is the simplest used, and not dif- 

 ferent materially from the wheel reels 

 common in other manufactures. 



The cotton yarn spun on jennies is al- 

 most solely used for weft, which from its 

 superior softness it is peculiarly fitted 

 for, which softness is indispensably requi- 

 site for some fabrics. As yet no way has 

 been found of forming yarn by mill spin- 

 ning of the same quality in this respect, 

 and therefore the mill-yarn is almost en- 

 tirely appropriated for warp. This ma- 

 terial difference originates in the carding, 

 which in that for the jennies lays the fibre 

 of the cotton across the roll, while the 

 carding engine for the mill-spinning lays 

 the fibre longitudinally, in the direction 

 in which it is afterwards spun, as will be 

 more plain from the following description 

 of this operation. 



Of Mill Spinning. The cotton for mill 

 spinning is cleared and beaten in a simi- 

 lar manner to that for jenny spinning, but 

 is not washed or stoved ; after it is judged 

 to be sufficiently clean, it is brought to 

 the carding engine. 



Mill Carding Engine. The principles 

 on which this engine is constructed, are 

 the same as those on which the carding 

 engine for jenny spinning is formed: the 

 great point in which they differ is, in the 

 manner in which the carded cotton is 

 taken from them, which, in the mill en- 

 gine, is so as to form an entire flake, or 

 continued sheet, of the breadth of the last 

 cylinder; the cards on this cylinder are 

 generally formed of long narrow stripes, 

 about an inch and a half broad, and are 

 put on round it spirally, by which means 

 there are no joinings in the longitudinal 

 direction of the cylinder, of any consider- 

 able length. The carded cotton is struck 



