WORSTED MANUFACTURE. 



refts the combs fometimes with the teeth of one parallel to 

 the teeth of the other, and fometimes with the teeth of the 

 two combs at right angles, or in a crofs direftion ; but in 

 all cafes he muft take care to begin gradually, by intro- 

 ducing the points of the teeth, firft into the extremity of 

 the wool which is contained in the teeth of the comb, and 

 then penetrating deeper into the wool at every fucceeding 

 ftroke, till at lall he works the combs as near as he pofTibly 

 can without aftually bringing their teeth in contadl : with- 

 out this precaution, he could not draw the comb through 

 the wool without breaking the fibres, and tearing the wool 

 out of the teeth of the comb ; but if he proceeds cautioufly, 

 the wool will be difentangled, feparated, and ftraightened. 



During the working, he frequently changes the combs, 

 fo as to work the wool upon both combs ; but as the 

 wool will gradually accumulate upon that comb which is 

 mod worked, he manages them fo that at the end of about 

 35 or 40 ftrokes nearly all the wool will be gathered upon 

 one of the combs, and will hang from its teeth in a fair 

 lock of ftraight and regular wool- This comb he puts to 

 heat for a moment, then fixes it to the poft, and proceeds to 

 draw otF the wool from the comb in a (liver. To do this, he 

 takes hold of the wool which projefts from the teeth with 

 the fingers and thumbs of both hands, and draws it away 

 from the teeth of the comb in a direftion perpendicular to 

 their length, without Aiding it off their points : as the wool 

 comes away, he takes frefh hold, always feizing the wool at a 

 given diftance from the teeth. A portion of the wool which 

 confilts of fhort fibres will not come off, becaufe it does 

 not reach to the place where the comber grafps the wool ; 

 it therefore remains in the teeth of the comb, and is drawn 

 off afterwards. This (hort wool, which is called noil, is 

 unfit for worfttd fpinning ; it is compofed in part of the 

 (hort fibres which are naturally intermixed in the long ones, 

 and alfo of the fragments of long fibres which are broken 

 in the procefs of combing. The quantity of the noil de- 

 pends upon the kind of wool, and alfo on the care with which 

 the comber has condufted his procefs ; but it will feldom 

 exceed 4th or ^th of the quantity of the raw wool by weight. 



The wool which is drawn off from the comb forms 

 a continued fliver or band, the fibres of which are 

 ftraight and parallel, but not fufficiently fo for fpinning ; it 

 IS therefore combed over again, and frequently it is repeated 

 a third time. The firft combing is called hacking, and the 

 flivers produced by it are extended five together upon a table ; 

 then holding them down with one hand, they are broken 

 again into handfuls by drawing them with the other. 

 Thefe are combed again in the manner before defcribed, but 

 the heat given to the combs is much lefs. The ultimate 

 fliver, -which is drawn off from the comb the laft time, 

 (hould be very even, and compofed of long and parallel 

 fibres. On examining it againft the light, every part fhould 

 appear equally denfe, without any entanglements of the 

 fibres, for on thefe particulars the perfeftion of the fpinning 

 will in a great meafure depend. 



The combed wool produced from fixteen pounds of wool 

 ufually weighs eleven or eleven and a half pounds, for about 

 two pounds are loft in waftiing, and the reft in noil and 

 wafte in the combing. When the combing is finiftied, the 

 flivers are formed into fix parcels, each containing ten or 

 eleven flivers, which are rolled up together into a balJ, and 

 ticketed with their weight and quality, the wool-comber's 

 mark, and wool-ftapler's mark. In this ftate, combed 

 wool is called tops or Jerfey, and is fold to the fpinners in 

 the country, and in cottages, who fpin it into worfted- 

 thread by the fimple hand fpinning-vifheel ; but the 

 raanufafturers who fpin by machinery have wool-combers 



at their mills, and they ufually employ combing-machincs 

 in addition. I 



Combing- Machines. — The firft combing-machine was in-l 

 vented by the Rev. Edmund Cartwright. His firft two! 

 patents were in 1790, and he had another in 1792 ; but the| 

 machine was not rendered perfeft, or brought into extonfivei 

 ufe, till a later period : and in 1 802 he obtained an act of 

 parliament to renew or extend the term of his patent.| 

 The fpecification which he enrolled in confequence containsi 

 drawings and defcriptions of machines nearly of the famej 

 kind as thofe which are now in ufe at many of the great| 

 worfted-mills, and which we fhall defcribe. Mr. Cart-| 

 Wright propofed to form the raw wool into continued flivers,! 

 by joining the pieces of wool together, and flightly tvvifting 

 them, and in this ftate they could be prefented to the' 

 combing-machine ; but as this plan was not found to fuc-: 

 ceed, it was found neceflary to comb the wool firft by liand,, 

 in order to reduce it to flivers. This is ftill the common! 

 praftice, and takes away great part of the advantage of the 

 machine ; but we have feen a preparing-machine for thisj 

 purpofe, which operated very well upon the raw wool.; 

 The inventor's name we have not learned ; but the rudi-j 

 ments of it are to be found in Mr. Cartwright's fpecification 

 of 1790. 



Preparing- Machine. — The raw wool is fpread upon : 

 horizontal feeding-cloth, which is extended over two rollers,, 

 and circulates upon them : by its motion, the wool is carried, 

 forwards, and prefented to a pair of fluted rollers, which, 

 draw it in. This feeding-cloth is fituated at the top o( 

 the machine, at the height of about five feet from the floor, 

 fo as to allow room for the reft of the machinery beneath it. 

 A principal part of the machinery is carried by a hbri-: 

 zontal wheel of five feet diameter, which is mounted uponi 

 a vertical axis, and is turned rapidly round by the mill., 

 This wheel carries four porcupines, which are fmall cyhn^ 

 drical rollers, armed with fpikes or teeth rather hooked. '. 

 The rollers are fituated horizontally in the plane of the 

 wheel, with their length nearly in the direftion of radii; 

 They are about feven inches in diameter, and fourteerl . 

 inches long, and are fixed upon horizontal fpindlee, which; 

 proceed from the circumference of the great wheel nearly, 

 to its centre, one extremity of each fpindle being fuftaineo . 

 by the rim of the wheel, and the other in a fupport fixed 1 

 to the perpendicular axis. The porcupines are fixed on thi . 

 ends of the fpindles, near the circumference of the wheel ;) . 

 and on the oppofite end of each fpindle is a fmall cog-wheel. . 

 to work in a worm orendlefs fcrew, which is fixed concentrici 

 with the axis, being cut on the outfide of a hollow tube. 

 through which the vertical axis pafles. 



By this means, the four porcupines which the wheel con 

 tains have a two-fold motion, -yiz. they are all carried rouiic 

 in a circle by the motion of the wheel, and at the fame timt 

 each one has a flow rotative motion on its own axis, in con- 

 fequence of the cog-wheels, which work in the threads 0. 

 the fixed worm. 



The feeding-cloth is fo fituated, that the four porcupinei 

 in the great wheel will pafs in fucceflion exaftly beneath the 

 fluted rollers, which take the wool from the feeding-cloth 

 and the teeth of the four porcupines being fliarp-pointed 

 and rather bent forwards at the points, they penetrate aiu 

 catch the wool as it comes through thefe fluted rollers, am 

 hangs down from them. A portion of wool is thus car 

 ried away by each porcupine every time it pafl^ss beneatl 

 the fluted rollers ; but by the flow revolving motion o 

 the porcupines on their own axes, each one prefents a dif 

 ferent row of teeth every time, and thut by degrees the^ 

 become clothed with the wool which they take up. 



4 Thi 



I 



