COTTON SPINNING. 



Cotton 

 Spinning. 



Plate 

 CCXII. 



V.)g. 5. 



290 



small addition, which is neither complex nor expensive, 

 is suggested, as a mean of greatly reducing, if not en- 

 tirely removing, this inconveniency. 



Across the machine, under the threads, and sufficient- 

 ly low not to interrupt the action of the guide, let there 

 be one, two, or, if necessary, more shafts of wood, like 

 that represented at N. At each end of this shaft, let 

 there be a cross piece of iron, or strong wire, as at PP, 

 and let these pass through sockets or ej'es in the frame, 

 so that N may slide freely to and from the rollers as re- 

 quired. Then, if a number of smooth wires or pins be 

 driven or screwed into N diagonally, like the dots in the 

 Figure, they will keep the yarn asunder, and prevent the 

 inconvenience alluded to; N will follow the spindles, 

 when drawing out, as far as is found convenient, where 

 it may be stopped with a pin, by a small weight suspend- 

 ed over the pullies O, O, and the carriage returning will 

 push N before it, so that no interruption can take place. 

 Thus the threads may be kept asunder at as many points as 

 are found convenient, with very little trouble or expencc. 



If it be found desirable that the threads should be far- 

 ther asunder, without increasing the breadth of the ma- 

 chine, this also may be effected in another way. If the 

 diagonal spindle frame E, instead of being horizontal, be 

 sloped to any declivity like an inclined plane towards the 

 rollers ; the points of the spindles will also form an in- 

 clined plane parallel to the former, and, in proportion to 

 the degree of obliquity, the threads will be farther insu- 

 lated from each other. In this case, the face, or direct- 

 ing part of the guide, instead of being a straight wire, 

 must be formed into inclined planes, corresponding to the 

 slope of the points of the spindles. 



The above can hardly be considered as a fully matured 

 and digested plan, nor perhaps is it possible for the most 

 comprehensive mind to enter minutely into every detail, 

 investigate every minute property, and counteract every 

 latent defect of complicated machinery, without the bene- 

 fit of actual experience. If the outline of a plan, practi- 

 cable and simple in itself, has been traced out ; and if it 

 has been proved, that this plan, if properly matured, and 

 more early adopted, might have been the means of saving 

 many hundred thousand pounds sunk in spinning ma- 

 elunery r much has been effected. 



All machinery, kept in constant use, and subjected to 

 constant friction, soon wears out ; and must be replaced 

 either by similar engines, or improved substitutes. The 

 plan being submitted to public inspection, its advantages 

 may be appreciated and adopted, and its defects re- 

 moved, by attention and experience, like those of all in- 

 fant machinery. 



Cotton 

 Spinning. 



Imprtwe- 



».»^%v%v-* 



Mule-varn Mule-yarn is used for a great variety of purposes. It 

 ' has almost entirely superseded that spun on jennies, and 

 water twist is now used only for hosiery and for pur- 

 poses requiring great strength. 



As mules require little power to work them, they are 

 chiefly used where steam engines are employed, as in 

 Manchester, Glasgow, and other manufacturing towns. 

 Water- Water twist, on the other hand, is spun principally in 

 ;wist. country situations, where power is cheaper, being pro- 



duced by water. 



The rapid improvement which has taken place in the 

 machinery of cotton spinning is unparalleled in any other 

 manufacture. This rapid improvement is, perhaps, 

 chiefly to be attributed to the liberality of those engaged menu 

 in the cotton trade, in sparing no expense for making the the un- 

 necessary experiments. The great profits of the business chmwy. 

 for a long period put it easily in the power of those who, 

 in any tolerable degree, understood it, to make such ex- 

 periments with advantage. 



The reader will even already perceive, that many of Buildings, 

 the contrivances in use are wonderful for their ingenuity, 

 nor is the general system observed in conducting the 

 operations of a well-regulated cotton mill, less wonder- 

 ful. The buildings, for water spinning, usually con- 

 sist of five or six stories. In the two first is generally 

 placed the spinning frames, and over these, in the third, 

 the preparation machinery, and in the fourth the reeling; 

 but the arrangement of the buildings is various according 

 to circumstances. The buildings for mules, commonly 

 have the preparation machinery below. Each machine 

 may be stopped separately from the rest, and even 

 particular parts of the same machine.* Many of the 

 mills are now built fire- proof, and steam is much employ- 

 ed for heating them. Gas light is used in several, and 

 is likely to be still farther extended, t 



Besides having the buildings fire-proof, the general use 

 of cast iron in the framing, as well as in other parts of 

 the machinery, contributes greatly to diminish the risk 

 from accidental fire, at the same time that it costs less, 

 while it is neater and more commodious. Indeed, with- 

 out the use of this material instead of wood, it would 

 have been impracticable to construct, in the time, the 

 machinery now in the island. The pattern being once 

 made, it is obvious that any number of the same parts 

 may, in a very short time, be cast from it ; whereas, 

 when the parts are made of wood, the labour is continual- 

 ly repeated in the formation of every new part, although 

 exactly the same as those already constructed. 



From this general sketch of the machinery employed 

 in the spinning of cotton, it is presumed the reader, pre- 

 viously unacquainted with the subject, will be prepared 

 more easily to comprehend the subsequent explanation of 

 machinery illustrated by Plates. Premising, however, 

 that the jenny being now in a manner obsolete, we deem 

 it unnecessary to give any Plates on that subject, and 

 that we have elsewhere (see p. 279? & c described the 

 process of batting or cleaning, and opening the raw ma« 

 terial.. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 



Having elsewhere (see p. 279> &c.) described the pro- Description 

 cess of batting, which, by opening the hard and compres- of 'he 

 sed masses and disengaging the seeds or gins, prepares ates * 

 the cotton for carding; we come now to explain the 

 operation of carding, by the help of Figures. This, as 

 before observed, is the second elementary process. The 

 mode which we mean to adopt in describing this and the 

 following operations, is not to give representations of the 

 whole machines, but rather what may be called diagrams 

 of little more than the parts of the mechanism which 



* For a more particular description of such contrivances than our limits will permit, see Buchanan's Essay on Methods for Dis- 

 engaging and He-engaging Machinery. 

 t See Uuchanan's Essay on Fuel, &c. where the details of heating mills by steam are given, and also some account of the gas 



!i 3 hts. 





