WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



the fpinner, who muft alfo be careful to give an equal de- 

 gree of twill to each fucceflive portion of thread which is 

 fpun, otherwife the thread will confift of hard and foft places. 



When the yarn is intended for the warp of the cloth, the 

 fpindles are turned for a given time after the thread is ex- 

 tended to its full length, as we have before mentioned ; but 

 for the yarn which is to be ufed as weft, it is different : the 

 whole of the twift is given during the extenfion of tiie 

 thread, and none afterwards ; this difference is to render 

 the weft fofter than the warp, becaufe in the cloth the weft 

 appears more on the furfaces than the warp, and it is prin- 

 cipally the felting and interlacing of the fibres of the weft 

 that will form the furface of the cloth when iinifhed. 



The yarns are ufually extended in the jenny two and 

 a half or three times the length of the flubbings from 

 which they are fpun ; and that degree of twift given to 

 them which is fuitable to the purpofe for which the yarn is 

 to be employed. 



The Mule for /pinning of Tarn is very nearly the fame ma- 

 chine as the mule for fpinning cotton ; this is ufed for fpin - 

 ning fome kinds of woollen yarn inftead of the jenny. 

 When the mule is employed for fpinning yarn for weft, it 

 is ufed in the fame manner as defcribed in our article Cot- 

 ton Manufacture ; but for fpinning warp, the fpindles are 

 made to revolve, and twill the thread fome time after the 

 carriage is run completely out, and the ftretching of the 

 yarn is finifhed. There is a movement in the machine that 

 fhifts the endlefs ilrap which turns the mule upon a larger 

 pulley, as foon as the carriage is run fully out, fo as to give a 

 more rapid motion to the fpindles after the ftretching, or 

 drawing out, is finifhed, than they had during the drawing 

 back of the carriage. By this means fome time is faved, 

 becaufe the fpindles may be allowed to run very quick when 

 it is only required to twift the threads ; but whilil the ex- 

 tenfion is going on, the twifting motion muft be moderate, 

 or the threads would be broken. A very fimilar movement 

 is ufed in the mule for fpinning cotton, and is called the 

 double, fpeed ; but the defcription of this mechanifm is 

 omitted in the article Makufacture. 



The mule has not, till lately, been in much repute for 

 fpinning woollen yarn, and the jenny is ftill thought to fpin 

 better yarn : but we have no doubt that when certain modi- 

 fications are made, it will become a much more perfeft 

 method than the jenny, being much lefs dependent on the 

 difcretion and dexterity of the fpinner ; for if the machine 

 is once conftrufted fo as to fpin properly, it will always 

 continue to do fo. 



To keep the yarn to the fize which is intended, a few of 

 the coppins are reeled off, in order to meafure out a certain 

 length of the yarn, which is weighed ; and if it does not 

 prove of the weight expefted, the quantity of wool which 

 is fpread over a given furface of the feeding-cloth of the 

 carding-machine muft be increafed or diminifhed accordingly ; 

 and when the right quantity is formed, the lead weights 

 which are ufed for weighing the given quantity of wool are 

 altered to fuit it. The draft of the jenny may alfo be 

 altered to effeft the fame thing. 



The fpinning procefles are now finifhed, and it remains 

 to weave the yarns into cloth. From the defcription we 

 have given, it will appear that woollen yarn is fpun in a 

 very different manner from cotton. The opening proceffes 

 and the fcribbling and carding are very fimilar, except that the 

 carded wool, inftead of being drawn into a continued lliver 

 like cotton, with the fibres ftretched the lengthways of the 

 flivcr, is formed into feparate rolls, with the fibres difpofed 

 croffwife or fpirally round the roll. 



By the flubbing-niachine thefe are joined together, drawn 



out in length, and (lightly twifted, by operations fimilar 

 to that of roving in cotton-fpinning ; but the operation 

 of drawing, which is fo frequently repeated for cotton, 

 would be ufelefs, and to a certain extent even prejudicial for 

 wool. The objeft of tliat procefs is to elongate and ftretch 

 the fibres of the cotton ftraight, and lay them parallel to 

 each other ; but it does not reduce the fliver to a fmaller 

 fize, becaufe as many times as the fliver is extended in 

 length, fo many flivers are put together into the drawing- 

 frame at once, leaving the lliver which has been drawn the 

 lame fize as it was before, but elongated to three or four 

 times the length, and all its fibres fully extended. 



As woollen cloth is intended for felting, it is not defirable 

 to ftraighten the fibres, but only to difentangle all knots, 

 and unfold any fibres which may be doubled, alfo to lay 

 the fibres in the direftion of the length of the thread. 

 There is a natural curl in the fibres of wool which fhould 

 be preferved, and will contribute to the firmnefs with which 

 the fibres will entangle in the felting. 



The operation of fpinning by the jenny and billy are very 

 fimilar, but both differ from the manner in which the ex- 

 tenfion is made in the cotton fpinning-machines by rollers. 

 In the jenny, the extenfion is made upon a confider- 

 able length of the carding or flubbing at once ; but in the 

 rollers, the length of cotton which is fubmitted to the aftion 

 of drawing out is very (hort, indeed very little longer than 

 the length of the fibres of the cotton. In mule fpinning 

 both modes of extenfion are praftifed ; firft, drawing the 

 roving by rollers, and then a certain length is ftretched out 

 to a greater extent. 



Warping. — The coppins of yarn are mounted on wires in 

 a frame, and the yarns are drawn off from them, in order 

 to combine a fufRcient number of them together, to form 

 the warp for the web of cloth which it is intended to weave. 

 For inftance, for making the cloth called double drab, 

 which we fhall take as an example, 2960 threads, each 

 65 yards long, are laid parallel to each other ; but a fepara- 

 tion is preferved at every 40 threads, dividing the whole 

 into 74 parcels, for the convenience of the weaver. 



The warping is performed by the warping-mill, which is 

 a large reel, with its axis horizontal ; the ends of the threads 

 are made faft to the reel, which is turned round, and it draws 

 the threads off the coppins, fo as to wind them upon its cir- 

 cumference ; and to prevent the different turns of the threads 

 from lying one over another, the threads are guided 

 through an eye or ring affixed to a Aider, which is moved 

 along a wooden rail, in a direftion parallel to the axis of the 

 reel, by a cord that winds round one end of the axis of the reel. 



A warping-mill for filks is defcribed in our article Silk, 

 and will give a clear idea of the prefent, which only differs 

 in the horizontal pofition of the axis, and in the greatnefs 

 of its dimenfions. The threads for the warp being thus 

 affembled together, are taken off the reel, and rolled up 

 into a bundle. 



The warp is then fcoured in urine, to remove the 

 greafinefs of the wool, and is next fized ; to do this, it 

 IS dipped into the cauldron of fize, about ten yards 

 in length at a time, and well worked in by the hands. 

 After fizing, the yarns are ftretched out at length in a 

 field, till they are dry, and the warp is then ready for the 

 loom. 



The yarn for the weft is wound off from the cops of the 

 jenny to the quills or fmall bobbins, which are to be put into 

 the fhuttle. 



The loom for weaving broad-cloth has the fame parts as 



the fimple loom defcribed in our article Weaving ; but it is 



made very ftrong, to enable it to refift the ftrain of weaving 



4 P 2 fuch 



