WORSTED MANUFACTURE. 



of metal, which is fixed to the head of the comb, and pro- 

 jefts therefrom like a tooth, enters into the fpiral groove of 

 a fcrew, which Hands in a perpendicular pofition, and is 

 continually turned round by the machinery. By this means, 

 the comb is regularly and flowly let down in the groove, 

 from top to bottom. A pair of fluted rollers is placed 

 horizontally, and parallel to the teeth of the comb, in fuch 

 a pofition that the comb, in defcending, will pafs with its 

 teeth at a proper diftance from them, to draw off the wool 

 in a (liver. After paffing through thefe fluted rollers, the 

 fliver is condufted through a perpendicular revolving tube, 

 which gives a roundnefs to it, the fame as it would acquire 

 by being rolled between the hands, and then it is con- 

 dufted between a pair of plain rollers, which deliver it into 

 a tin can placed before the machine. 



A wooden roUer is placed above the fluted rollers, with 

 eight pieces of board projefting from it in the direftion of 

 radii. When the roller turns round, thefe boards aft to 

 itroke the wool upon the comb, and raife it into a proper 

 fituation to be drawn off by the fluted rollers. 



The combs are prepared for drawing off the wool, by 

 heating them as before mentioned, and by Aiding the wool 

 from the roots of the teeth half way towards their points. 

 In this ftate, the combs are carried one byiOne to the draw- 

 ing-ofF machine, and the head of one comb is put into the 

 top of the perpendicular groove : it will be prevented from 

 falling down in the groove by the projefting tooth, which 

 enters the fpiral groove of the perpendicular fcrew. The 

 wool is gathered up and introduced between the fluted 

 rollers ; the machine is then put in motion, and by means 

 of the fcrew the comb is gradually lowered down, and the 

 wool is drawn off from it in a (liver, which is rolled up into 

 a compaft form by the revolving tube, through which it 

 pafTes, and is delivered into the can by the plain rollers. 



The attendant holds another comb ready to follow the 

 firft, and when the fird has defcended to a certain point, he 

 (lips the next comb into the perpendicular groove, fo that 

 it refts upon the former, and the wool upon the two combs 

 joins as it were in one. The ftroker, when they pafs 

 before it, lays the (ibres all one way, and the wool is 

 drawn off by the rollers in a continued (liver, which does 

 not prefent the flighted appearance of joinings. Another 

 comb is then put in, and the wool joins to the former, and 

 fo on. The backings, or wool at the back of the comb, are 

 drawn off by the boy ftationed behind the machine ; and the 

 combs, as they come through below, are received by boys, 

 who afterwards take away the noil or fhort wool which 

 remains in the teeth, and then put the combs back into the 

 ftove to heat them, ready to be filled again, in order to 

 proceed with another combing. When the wool of all the 

 eight combs is drawn off, the motion of the drawing-off 

 machine is flopped at the moment when the eighth or laft 

 comb has defcended half way through its courfe. In this 

 ftate, the machine waits till another combing is finifhed, and 

 then the fucc»eding comb being placed on the top of that 

 one which continues in the machine, the continuity of the 

 fliver will be preferved. 



The inventor of thi^ machine ftate* in hi» fpecification, 

 that for common work the wool only requires to be operated 

 upon once by the combing-machine ; and in that cafe, the 

 machine mull be adapted to make twenty-four ftrokes of 

 each pair of combs before the bell rings. For medium 

 work, fuch as would require to be combed twice over, in 

 the ufual maimer of hand-combing, it muft be combed twice 

 over by the machine : thus, after having been combed once 

 in the manner before defcribed, the fliver of wool is broken 

 up into hacdfuls, and filled on the combs again by hand as 

 I 



before, and combed over again in a fimilar manner ; but 

 the combs are lefs heated for the fecond time of combing. 

 By changing a wheel, the machine fhould be adapted to 

 make only fourteen or fixteen ftrokes before it (tops, when 

 it is intended to comb twice over. The wool intended for 

 the fineft fpinning (hould be combed three times over, and 

 the machine (hould be fet to make fourteen or iixteen 

 ftrokes of each pair of combs. 



The machine has alfo two different movements for the 

 drawing out of the moveable comb -reel : in one, the motion 

 is over a fpace of ten inches, and is adapted to comb fuch 

 wool as is fix or eight inches length of ftaple, and is called 

 wether wool ; but by a flight alteration, the excurfion of 

 the moveable reel can be increafed to thirteen inches, and 

 is then adapted to comb hey wool, or wool which is from 

 eight to eleven inches length of ftaple. 



Mr. Gilpin's machine has the advantages of heating the 

 combs and of filling them by hand, both of which are eflen- 

 tial to any machine which is propofed to comb the raw 

 wool. The filling is an operation which requires difcretion, 

 if it is expefted that the long fibres (hall be preferved witli- 

 out breaking. The perfon who fills the wool on the teeth 

 takes a greater or lefs lock of wool in his hand, according to 

 the condition of it, and the degree of entanglement : atfo 

 in drawing it between the comb-teeth, the force is propor- 

 tioned to what the wool will bear. Mr. Gilpin's fpe- 

 cification ftates, that under certain circumftances, when the 

 wool will not wafh well, but remains taggy, it is advifeable 

 to fill it upon the combs, and flip it off; then fill it again, 

 preparatory for the machine. As the objed of this firft 

 filling is chiefly to warm the wool, the end may be in part 

 attained by laying the wool upon the top of the ftove for a 

 few minutes before it is filled. 



Planking. — Let us fuppofe that the wool is combed either 

 by the hand, or by the machine, and we will proceed to 

 explain the means of preparing it into a thread. The 

 combing-machines reduce the wool into a continued fliver, 

 which is ready for the drawing- frame ; but the (hort flivers 

 produced by the hand-combing muft be firft joined to- 

 gether by what is called planking. Thefe flivers are rolled 

 up by the combers, ten or twelve together, in balls called 

 tops, each of which weighs half a pound : at the fpinning- 

 mill thefe are unrolled, and the flivers are laid on a long 

 plank or trough, with the ends lapping over, in order to 

 fpHce the long end of one fliver into the (hort end of an- 

 other. The diftinftion of the two ends of the fliver has 

 been before explained ; the long end being that which was 

 firft drawn off from the comb, and contains the longeft fibres 

 of the wool ; the fhort end i» that which came laft from the 

 comb, and contains the (hort fibres. The wool-comber lays 

 all the flivers of each ball the fame way, and marks the long 

 end of each by twilling up the end of the fliver. It is a i 

 curious circumftance, that when a top or ball of flivers is 

 unrolled and ftretched out ftraight, they will not feparate 

 from each other without tearing and breaking, if the fepa- 

 ration is begun at the fhort ends, but if they are firft parted 

 at the long ends they wiU readily feparate. 



Breaking-Frame. — Here the flivers are planked or fpliced 

 together, the long end of one to the fhort end of another ; 

 they are immediately drawn out and extended by the rollers 

 of the breaking-frame. A (ketch of this machine is given 

 in Plate II. jig. 5 ; it confiils of four pairs of rollers, 

 A, B, C, D. The firft pair A receives the wool from the 

 inclined trough E, which is the planking-table. The flivers 

 are unrolled, parted, and hung loofely ov^r a pin, in reach of 

 the attendant, who takes a fliver and lays it flat in the trough, 

 and the end is prefentcd to the rollers A, vrhich being in 



motion 



