THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Fun. 1, 1865. 



308 COLONIAL TWEED AND 



another kind of devil, consisting of a cylinder fitted with, large steel 

 teeth, having four strippers and workers, similarly fitted, revolving on 

 the top of it. At the end of the machine is a fan armed with a different 

 shaped tooth, which, revolving at great speed, strips the wool from the 

 cylinder and blows it several feet from the machine in the form of 

 flakes, resembling snow. In this state it is conveyed to the first floor, 

 where it is spread lightly on the felt cloth of the scribbler, a large 

 machine having two cylinders of 5ft. 6in. in diameter, with sixteen 

 strippers and workers, besides doffers and flies. These are all covered 

 with card cloth or filleting — minute pieces of wire inserted through 

 leather, which have an angular form imparted to them, and they take 

 up the fibres of the wool, separate them, and lay them all one way, so 

 that it comes from the machine in one continuous uniform thickness, 

 like a thin veil, almost resembling crape. It is not yet sufficiently open 

 and laid to be made into yarn, so a given quantity is weighed and 

 spread on the feed of the carder, a machine similar to the last described, 

 only having the cards of finer wires, and instead of coming out con- 

 tinuous, by an alteration in the doffer, the comb-plate takes off only a 

 given quantity, which, falling into a shell with a roller nicely adjusted, 

 delivers the carding in the form of a roll, about 3ft. long — these rolls 

 have no twist in them, and are taken by children to the stubbing billy, a 

 machine which gives it the first rough twist prior to its being spun into 

 yarn. There are two billies of seventy spindles, employing each one 

 man and four boys, besides the feeders for the scribbling and carding 

 engines, who are mostly girls. On this same floor, there is to the novice 

 a most complicated machine, called a condenser ; it is attached to one of 

 the carding engines, and its object is to impart the first twist which is 

 done on the billy, and this machiue it does away with, besides effect- 

 ing a saving in the employment of about seven hands, doing the work 

 more evenly, taking up considerably less space, and making no waste. 

 To watch each thread leave the machine in the form of a thin gossamer, 

 twist itself evenly, and then wind itself on a large reel, is surprising, 

 and the motion of the different parts, horizontal and circular, is con- 

 sidered to be one of the most ingenious problems in machine-making. 



Ascending to the next floor, we come to the mules or spinning 

 machines. There are two of them, each with 300 spindles, where the 

 .dubbings are spun into yarn ; these are used for making weft, and from 

 them the weavers receive their supply of bobbins. On this floor there 

 is an ingenious machine for twisting two threads into one ; the yarn so 

 made is employed for the making of fancy goods, stripes, &c. Proceed- 

 ing to the top floor, we come to another pair of mules, each 300 spindles. 

 These are fitted to receive the bobbins or reels from the condenser ; they 

 are of a similar construction to the ones below, but impart a greater 

 twist to the yarn, which is exclusively used for the warp, the threads 

 forming the length of the piece. The warping form is on this floor, and 

 it was amusing to watch how a piece of cloth (when finished turning out 



