COTTON SPINNING. 



288 



Cotton known in this country. From this state of comparative 

 Spiuning. insignificance, it has burst forth to be one of the most 

 * "" splendid branches of our national industry. In the fol- 

 lowing part of this article, we shall endeavour to trace 

 the progress of an important department of this manu- 

 facture, (viz. the spinning,) and the causes which have 

 contributed to raise it to its present state of importance. 



HISTORY. 



History. The distaff and spindle appear to have been used for 



the purpose of spinning, by nations of the most remote 

 antiquity; and it is worthy of observation, that, in all 

 the countries which have been discovered by navigators for 

 the last three centuries, these simple implements have been 

 employed for the purpose of making yarn, and such is the 

 mode still practised in India. Hence it has been inferred, 

 that the same wants lead to the same means of relief. The 

 use of the needle too, in all the above cases, is cited as a 

 further proof of that opinion ; and Pagan nations, unable 

 to trace such useful contrivances to their true origin, at- 

 tribute their invention to some one of their false deities. 

 This simple machinery for spinning, was, in Britain, long 

 ago nearly superseded by the well known domestic ma- 

 chine denominated the one-thread wheel. It continued 

 in common use until about the middle of the last centu- 

 ry, when the increase of the manufacture of cotton occa- 

 sioned so great a demand for yarn, that a pause would 

 naturally have ensued, and beyond which there could have 

 been no advance, but with the slow and gradual increase of 

 population. But as the demand for cotton goods increa- 

 sed, various contrivances were thought of for expediting the 

 manufacture, and several attempts were made, but all with 

 The jenny equal want of success, until the invention of the Jenny 

 invented, in 1767, by Richard Hargreaves, a weaver in Lancashire, 

 a plain industrious man, but illiterate, and possessed of 

 little mechanical skill. The invention is said to have 

 been suggested by the accident of a spinning wheel beino- 

 overturned, and seeing it continue in motion after its fall. 

 Among his first attempts, he made a very rude machine 

 containing 8 spindles, turned by bands from an horizon- 

 tal wheel. 



The popular prejudice being raised against him, he 

 found it prudent to leave Lancashire, but he had pre- 

 viously constructed machines of from 12 to 16 spindles. 

 He removed to Nottingham, and after assisting various 

 persons in the construction of machinery, he died in po- 

 verty, ill requited by his employers, and little known to 

 the country which reaped the important fruits of his dis- 

 covery. While employed in Nottingham, a serious affray 

 took place in opposition to the new machines, in which 

 Hargreaves and others are said to have been severely 

 wounded. 



Various alterations were afterwards made on the ori- 

 ginal machine ; the vertical was substituted for the ho- 

 rizontal wheel, which, with other improvements, render- 

 ed the jenny a much more commodious machine. It 

 was enlarged in its dimensions, and made to contain 

 twenty, thirty, and even eighty spindles ; and although 



at first it met with determined opposition, yet it soon Cotton 

 spread rapidly over the country; and it is worthy of ob- P in ""'»' 

 servation, that those who were most strenuous in oppo- " ' 

 sing it, were the first to avail themselves of its advantages. 



Another improvement is also ascribed to Hargreaves. Stock- 

 He is said to have been the inventor of stock-cards, card,, 

 which succeeded the hand-cards. This improvement en- 

 abled one person to perform double the work, and witli 

 more ease than could be done by the former method. This 

 improved mode of carding consisted in applying several 

 cards to the same stock, and suspending the upper stock 

 by a rope passing over a pulley, having a counterpoise to 

 the otherwise unmanageable weight of the stock. 



This contrivance was soon succeeded by the cylinder- Carding 

 cards, or carding engine. It seems uncertain who was ei 'S me * 

 the inventor of this valuable machine ; but it is known, 

 that the father of the present Sir Robert Peel was among 

 the first who employed it, having, at Blackburn, as early 

 as the year 1762, assisted by Har-jreaves, erected a 

 carding engine with cylinders ; but tnis machine had no 

 contrivance for stripping off the carded cotton. This 

 operation was performed by women with hand-cards. 



We come now to mention by far the most important ^ . *, , 

 improvement in cotton-spinning ; and indeed, if the W g'.g r *; , 

 steam-engine be excepted, we do not know any media- nijgf ra me. 

 nical invention that has made such an amazing addition 

 to the activity, industry, and opulence of this island, as 

 the invention of Mr Alkwright for spinning by water, 

 where dead matter is made successfully to imitate the 

 human finger, directed by the unceasing attention of the 

 eye. 



Soon after the invention of the jenn " in 17o9, Alk- 

 wright brought forward his improvement in spinning, in 

 which he had long been laboriously engaged. 



Of this distinguished character we have already given 

 some account, (see Arkwright.) We may, how- 

 ever, mention here, that he was born in an humble rank, 

 and the youngest of thirteen children, and was a native 

 of Preston, in Lancashire. The difficulties with which 

 he had to combat, before he could bring his machine in- 

 to use, even after its construction was sufficiently per- 

 fect to demonstrate its value, would have disheartened 

 any but the most ardent genius. Some doubts have 

 been entertained of the justice of his claims to the first 

 ideas of the improvement ; but it is beyond all doubt, 

 that he was the first person who rendered it of practical 

 utility, and by that means he was raised from one of the 

 most humble occupations in .society to affluence and 

 fame. 



The important and essential part of his improvement, 

 by which the form of the cotton is so wonderfully chan- 

 ged, and to which all the 'rest of the process is subser- 

 vient, and Arkwright's chief invention, is the substitution 

 of machinery for the human finger. This machinery 

 consisted of a peculiar application of rollers. He is said 

 to have taken the idea of this improvement from acci- 

 dentally seeing a red-hot iron bar elongated, by being 

 passed between rollers ; and although there be no strict 

 mechanical analogy between this process and that of his 



It is therefore evident, that one spinner by machinery in Britain will produce yarn at one-fourth of the price that it costs for the 

 same quantity of workmanship in India, supposing the wages of the former to be Is. 8d. and the latter to be 2d. per day ; and reckon- 

 ing the mean price of cotton wool, in Britain, at 2s. 6d. and in -India at 5d., the cost of labour and materials united, would be less, 

 upon an average, than one half; we shall consequently be able to meet competition in the eastern markets, either in yarns or in cloth, 

 of which they form the principle constituent value. 



Very important discoveries and improvements have, doubtless, been made in weaving, dyeing, printing, and bleaching; and parti- 

 cularly for certain operations and descriptions of cloth ; but taken in the gross, the amount will bear but an inferior proportion to the 

 economy introduced by spinning, upon which both invention and exertion have been upon the rack for the last thirty years, and a 

 real capital vested in building and machinery of from eight to ten millions sterling. 



