166 ' [Assembly 



individual spindle greatly increased from that of the old hand spin- 

 die; in short, these machines are noV/ self tending in character, re- 

 quiring the attention of only a single person to run them. In thros- 

 tle spinning a single person tends 250 spindles, running at the rate 

 of 6,000 turns per minute, the old hand spindle being less than a 

 thousand turns, and this speed is attained upon very fine yarns, say 

 No. 40. 



In mules the increase has been 3,000 fold, in throstles, 4,000; so 

 entirely has been the change in this department of cloth making, 

 that the old time honored " distaff" has been nearly expelled the 

 haunts of civilized man. Our young folks have heard or read of 

 it, but have never seen it; the " distaff" is now an obsolete thing. 



Material now of short staple, is spun with more facility than of 

 long; a great staple has been brought forward into almost universal 

 use, in the shape of cotton; aided by the invention of the cotton gin 

 by Whitney; till now, by the cheapness of the fabric, and the foice 

 of habit, the population of one half of the entire globe are com- 

 pelled to continue and perpetuate its use. 



Specimens of fine spinning as high as 150 hanks to the pound, 

 ■were exhibited at the late fair. 



In the meantime, machines for carding by power, and that extra- 

 ordinary machine, the machine for setting card teeth, have been in- 

 vented; the latter of which is deserving a particular notice, and to 

 which reference will be made presently. 



The cotton gin before alluded to, is among the associated machines 

 in cloth making, too well known and appreciated to require any 

 further notice of it. 



That beautiful conception of doubling and drawing out many 

 hundred times in length before twisting short staple into a thread, 

 to equalize the same to a uniform size when fully attenuated and 

 drawn out, is the result of the growth, manufacture, and use of cot- 

 ton. Machinery lor making iron and steel reeds, for picking raw 

 materials; for spooling, reeling, and throwing of yarns for preparing 

 wets, calendering cloth, folding and pressing into compact bales for 

 case of transportation, are also associate machines in the progress of 

 improvements in cloth making, and of modern invention. The art 

 of raising a nap on woolens, is comparatively modern; and to that 

 discovery were added fulling mills, and the invention of cloth shear- 



