| Electricity in Bands of Leather. 251 
opment of electricity than the dry and elevated lands of the in- 
terior of the country. There are several hundred bands in a mill, 
all of which are electrically excited in a greater or less degree ; 
those which turn upon wooden drums or pullies, whereby the 
are partially insulated, become very highly charged, the intensity 
of the excitement being much increased by the crossing of the 
band, the transmission of power, and a high velocity. 
The one which was used for making most of the experiments 
detailed below, is about thirty-five feet in length, nie inches 
wide, and moves sixteen hundred feet per minute, passing around 
two wooden drums, which revolve upon an iron shaft one hun- 
dred and eighty times per minute, and in clear weather a spark 
may be taken on the knuckle held below the band at a distance 
of one foot and five inches.+ Owing to the imperfect conduct- 
ing power of the leather, this discharge is local; were it to take 
place from all parts of the excited surface at the same instant, it 
would be unsafe to discharge it in thismanner. On presenting the 
end of the finger the striking distance is found to be three feet ; 
the point of a black lead pencil shows a distinct brush when held 
in the hand four feet from the band, and a steel point becomes 
luminous at the distance of seven feet. When the bands are in 
this condition, the first processes of the cotton manufacture are 
attended with serious inconvenience; the fine filaments of the 
cotton repel each other, causing a great deal of waste, and in 
several instances the “drawing,” as it is termed, has been lifted 
from the machine toa band four feet distant from it. These dif- 
ficulties are now partially removed by extending a conductor of 
Wire to an iron steam pipe which passes through the rooms, and 
by emitting jets of steam near those bands that are most highly. 
charged. It is probable that the finest kinds of yarn can never 
be profitably manufactured in this country, the moist climate 
of England being much more favorable for this branch of the 
trade. 
Let a piece of leather about two feet in length, with one edge 
slightly curved, be presented to the band, and a succession of 
Substance of the same conducting power is held nearer to the 
excited band; for instance, if a piece of leather be bent like a 
horse-shoe, and the extremities be brought towards the band in 
nettles Cr 
Mr. Bowdoin, that a portable electrical 
* Dr. Franklin suggested to his friend, Shodex aesderne, culled atid pro- 
‘ ; 
oe might be constructed by making the ey 
perly mounted. ‘ 4 ‘ : 
Bty Vol. x&xvii, p. 197, of this Journal, a band is mentioned which gives a 
spark of two inches inlength, 
Wane ae 
Sa 3 
