COTTON 
305 
Cotton manufacturing increased in England as 
did cotton production in America, and both so 
worked together that the cotton industry from seed 
to loom assumed large proportions, and has since 
continued to grow with every passing decade. 
PERFECTING THE INVENTIONS 
But these inventions still left gaps between 
cotton in its raw and its finished state, and these 
difficulties had to be met and gradually overcome. 
Of the inventions having direct relation to the 
spinning- jenny and the spinning-frame, the most 
important was that of the mule. Neither one of 
these other machines was complete in itself. It 
was left for Crompton to invent the machine which 
should retain the drawing out and winding features 
of the jenny, and that should have at the same 
time the rollers of the old spinning-frame. 
It will be seen that this new invention retained 
features of both the spinning- jenny and the spin- 
ning-frame. It was in this sense a hybrid; and 
later, by reason of this fact, it was given the name 
of mule, which it has ever since retained. 
A marvelous machine it is, called by whatever 
name, and it is in every sense one of the most 
wonderful and most easily operated machines that 
has ever been constructed. At the present time 
spinning mules are made as much as one hundred 
and twenty feet long, some having 1300 spindles 
which spin and wind 64 inches of thread in 15 
seconds; and only a couple of persons are needed 
to attend to the whole machine. The extremely 
fine yarns that are now made are the product of 
mule spinning, as well as much of the best soft 
thread used in manufacturing hosiery and under- 
wear. 
