INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



in a day the work that required scores of men a century 

 ago. 



It should not be understood, however, that the mule 

 immediately replaced the spinning-frame, or ever com- 

 pletely supplanted it in certain fields. For several 

 years there was the keenest rivalry between the two 

 machines, although eventually the mule obtained a 

 considerable lead over its rival, and by the middle of 

 the nineteenth century had completely outstripped the 

 older machine. Nevertheless, with certain classes of 

 work, Arkwright's frame was still superior to the mule, 

 particularly in making strong warp threads. It found 

 its place, therefore, in the factories, a place that could 

 not be taken by its rival. 



But the advocates of Arkwright's machine were con- 

 stantly adding to, and improving the mechanism of 

 the frame, these improved machines being known as 

 " throstles." By these various improvements the 

 throstle began to gain again upon its rival, and by the 

 last quarter of the nineteenth century some improve- 

 ments introduced in the Arkwright frame in America 

 made this type of machine again popular. In the 

 United States, the mule gradually lost ground and 

 popularity while the new throstle gained steadily, and 

 as the advantages of the new machine gradually 

 became known in Europe a somewhat similar effect 

 was produced there. 



At the present time we have presented practically 

 the same situation as regards the relative merits of 

 these two machines that obtained a hundred years 

 ago. The rivalry between them is just as keen now 



[36] 



