COTTON SPINNING. 



285 



to this one end, the having good yarn to weave, so that 

 destroy it I could not." We have the satisfaction to ob- 

 serve, that parliament lately voted him a sum of money 

 as a reward for his invention. 



The mule was for many years worked by hand only, 

 the variety of movements rendering it difficult to accom- 

 plish the working of it by the power of water or of steam 

 sufficiently simple to be of common use. 



Mr William Kelly at Lanark in Scotland, early ob- 

 tained a patent for a mode of working this machine by 

 power ; but it was not until a considerable time after- 

 wards that power was generally adopted. The plans 

 which were tried were various, and the improvement 

 progressive. One happy consequence of this improve- 

 ment has been experienced, — the spinners are found now 

 to enjoy better health than they did when they had to 

 labour hard, while they breathed in warm and confined 

 apartments, and on the whole, the working of mules by 

 power may be considered as an epoch in the history of 

 the cotton manufacture. 



Of late years a modification of the water-spinning* 

 frame, called the throstle, has come much into use for 

 spinning twist. Its principles are, however, exactly the 

 same as Arkwright's machine. Although the construc- 

 tion be somewhat more simple, and the cost less, yet it 

 is in other respects not so perfect ; and as we have else- 

 where observed, (See Arkwiught,) it is remarkable that 

 since the time of Arkwright, no real improvement has 

 been made in the constraction of the water-spinning- 

 frame. 



Arkwright's mechanism for preparing and spinning 

 cotton had not been long in use in England, when it be- 

 gan to attract the attention of the traders in Scotland, 

 who soon attempted to draw what was then, to many, a 

 most lucrative branch of manufacture to Scotland. But 

 it is difficult to plant a manufacture in a new country, 

 even where there is no secret in the process ; and the 

 difficulty was still greater in this instanoe, where pains 

 were taken to keep the business involved in mystery. 

 Many who had been employed in the works of Ark- 

 wright left his service, pretending to a knowledge of the 

 business, which they were very far from possessing, and 

 those men were for a time eagerly sought after by new 

 adventurers in the manufacture in both kingdoms ; but in 

 most cases these adventurers were no gainers by the acqui- 

 sition. This may be easily conceived when we consider 

 how very little a great proportion of the people now em- 

 ployed in our cotton mills know, and how much less they 

 can communicate, of the construction of the machinery, 

 or the general system of the business. If such be the 

 case at present, what must it have been at the period of 

 which we are speaking, and among men very deficient 

 in the simplest branches of education ? 



Notwithstanding these obstructions, however, several 

 establishments were soon formed in Scotland. We have 

 reason to believe, that the first cotton spun by water in 

 this kingdom, was in the island of Bute, in what had been 

 a lint mill, and was afterwards for some time the corn 

 mill of Rothsay. But this was only by way of trial, 

 and before the completion of the larger cotton mill. 

 Nearly about the same period, cotton was spun at Penny- 

 cuick mills near Edinburgh, and also about the same 

 time, viz. in the year 1780, the mill of Barrhead, in the 

 parish of Neilston, was completed. Soon afterwards 

 4hat of Bushby, in the parish of Mearns, and in the year 



1782, a large mill of six stories was erected at Johnston Coityu 

 in the parish of Paisley. * This was the first extensive Spuuirogi 

 establishment in Renfrewshire, and there is reason to 

 think it was the first in Scotland which was productive 

 of much profit to the proprietors. It was originally ma- 

 naged by people from England, but they proved of the 

 description to which we have above alluded, and the pro- 

 prietors were in all probability indebted to the discern- 

 ment, perseverance, and mechanical genius of Mr Robert 

 Burns> a native of Paisley, for rescuing the concern from 

 ruin, and rendering the business a source of affluence. 



We have already spoken (article Arkwright) of the 

 establishment of Mr Dale's extensive works at Lanark, 

 in which concern Mr Arkwright himself was for a time a 

 partner. It is needless to enter further into the detail ; 

 suffice it to say, that in Renfrewshire alone, the number 

 of cotton mills are now about 41, containing 237,000 mule 

 spindles and 28,500 spindles for water-twist.t Besides 

 the many extensive establishments in Lanarkshire, (which 

 includes Glasgow,) and others in the counties of Ayr, 

 Perth, and Aberdeen. 



The working of mules by power seems to have origi- 

 nated in Scotland; and it is ascertained that one great 

 desideratum in cotton-spinning, a machine for cleaning and 

 opening the raw material, was first brought to its present 

 degree of perfection in that part of the island. This is the 

 most important improvement that has been made in the 

 process for many years ; and, we are informed, was first ac- 

 complished at Johnston, in the works of Messrs G. Hous* 

 ton and company, by Mr Peter Cooper, millwright. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



Having said thus much respecting the history of cot- General de- 

 ton-spinning, it will now be proper to give some descrip- scription. 

 tion of the operations which cotton undergoes in its passage 

 from the raw material to the state of yarn. It would re- 

 quire volumes to describe these operations in a complete 

 manner, but our limits will only permit such an outline 

 as may enable the reader to form some general idea of 

 the subject. 



The modes of producing yarn in the manufacture of 

 cotton, as now conducted, may be considered as dividing 

 into the following branches. 



1. Jenny Spinning. . 



2. Water Spinning. 



3. Mule Spinning. 



The mechanical operations which cotton undergoes in 

 thesv.- three modes of spinning are various, according to 

 the purpose to which the yarn is to be applied. These 

 operations may be resolved into the following elements ; 

 1st, Batting. 2d, Carding. 3d, Stretching. 4th, Ply* 

 * n E> ( or as it is sometimes, though perhaps improperly 

 called,) doubling* 5th, Drawing, and 6th, Twisting. 



Jenny spinning employs oniy the 1st, 2d, 3d, and fj'th, 

 of these elementary processes. Water spinning employs 

 them all excepting the 3d, (stretching,) while mule- 

 spinning employs the whole six. 



These elementary processes will be better illustrated 

 as they occur, than by attempting to give in this place 

 abstract definitions of them, we shall therefore proceed 

 to consider the first of the. above stated branches of 

 spinning. 



* See Wilson's Agricultural Report of Renfrewshire, p. 249. 



t Ibid. 



