Electricity in Machinery. 135 



manufactory, I observed fibres of cotton of all lengths up to six 

 inches, extending out in different directions from one end of the 

 spinning frames, and waving as if about to leave their resting 

 place for a band two and a half inches broad, which moved the 

 machinery and connected it with a drum seven feet above ; the 

 latter being moved by another drum fifteen feet distant, with 

 which it was connected by a horizontal strap seven inches in 

 breadth. The two drums were of equal diameter, two feet and 

 eight inches, but the wheel by which the spinning machinery 

 was moved and a free pulley by its side, were only eight inches ; 

 and consequently made two hundred and eighty eight revolu- 

 tions in a minute, while the former made seventy two. 



Beneath the horizontal strap and four feet distant from it, the 

 hair of the persons spinning was observed to be affected in a sim- 

 ilar manner with the cotton, all the finer and more flexible fibres 

 standing directly upright. Upon placing small fibres of cotton 

 from one to two feet distant from this strap, they would ascend to 

 it and adhering to its surface advance with it, until within a short 

 distance of the drum around which it passed, when they would 

 fall off and descend to the floor. Occasionally fibres would pass 

 to and fro between the band and the hand placed near it, and 

 once or twice this latter phenomenon took place through a space of 

 two or three feet. 



Upon slipping the narrow band from the wheel moving the 

 machinery to the free pulley by its side, the electrical attraction 

 of both the bands was observed to disappear, and this notwith- 

 standing their motions were the same as before — in a moment, 

 however, it was again manifested upon the spinning machine be- 

 ing set in motion by slipping the back upon the motor wheel. 

 These latter phenomena led to an inquiry into the different cir- 

 cumstances of the band in the two cases, when the idea was 

 suggested, that the wheel and the free pulley might be made of 

 materials possessing different conducting power, but this a machi- 

 nist of the manufactory informed me was not the case, both being 

 made of iron and covered with leather. The friction of the 

 spinning machinery, and of the motor wheel upon its axis, which 

 were present in one, but absent in the other case, was the next 

 difference suggested to account for the change, but as the axes of 

 all parts of the machinery were made of iron and connected with 

 iron frame-work, it was concluded that friction here would have 

 no tendency to accumulate electricity. Upon watching the broad. 



