1794.) Tour in 
Totbe Edito r of the Monthly Magazine. 
[Concluded from our laft.] 
SIR, 
OUR day in Lancafhire gave us an 
opportunity of feeing mot of the 
procefies in the cotten manufaéture : of 
which, as they in many places are very 
imperfectly known, and are fcarcely at 
all noticed in Dr. Arxrn’s Deitcription 
of the Country round Manchefter, it 
may not be unacceptable to many of your 
readers to take a general view. 
Coiton, it is well known, is the pro- 
duce of a fhrub, inthe warmer climates 
of the Eaft and Weft-Indies, and even 
in the more temperate countries which 
border the Levant. It comes to us with- 
out any farther preparation than having 
been tolerably carefully picked out of 
the pod in which it grows; but ftill 
much dirt, hufk, and other impurities, 
remain in it. ‘Fhis is firft feparated by 
women, who beat the cotton with fticks 
upon hurdles, and pick out the more 
grofs impurities with their fingers. Ic 
is then taken to the carding engine, al- 
ready defcribed under the woollen ma- 
nufacture ; where it is firft /cridb/ed, as 
the wool-carder would fay, and after- 
wards, by fome contrivance which I did 
‘pot obferve, divided into perpetual card- 
ings, which are caught by, and coiled - 
round the fides of long tin cylinders. 
Thefe coils are taken to the mules, firft 
to be reved, which anfwers to /lubsing, 
and afterwards to be /puz into threads of 
any requifite finenefs. The invention 
of the mules forms quite an epoch in the 
hiftory of the cotton trade. A vaft im- 
provement had been made, about thirty 
years ago, by the introduétion of the 
{pinning jennies, by which from twenty 
to forty fpindles were turned at a time. 
Still, however, the roviags, or coarfe 
half-twifted threads, partaking fome- 
what of the nature of cardings, though 
@pproaching in fome degree to {pun twitt, 
were obliged to be prepared by the hand- 
wheel. The invention of mules entire- 
iy fupplied this defeét; and, while it en- 
abled the fpinner to prepare her rovings 
as faft as fhe before could fpin, at the 
‘fame time it put her in! a way of perform- 
ing her farther work much more expedi- 
tioufly and completely. The machine is 
called a siule, ether becaufe it is a kind 
of machine, which might eafily be turn- 
éd by a mule, or, more probably, be- 
caufe it isa fort of mongrel, partaking 
of the nature both of carding and fpin- 
ning, or uniting together the action both 
MontruLy Mac. XXIII. 
253 
of the roller and fpindle. It confifts of 
three fets of fluted brafs rollers, the flutes 
of which turn into each other: the firft 
fet goes fafter than the fecond, and the 
fecond fafter than the third, between 
which, when the roll of carded cotton 
enters, it is a little lengthened our, ftill 
Lancafbire. 
more by the feecond, and farther ftill by 
the firft, after pailing which, it is flightly 
twifted by the rapid circular motion on 
its axis, communicated by a leather band 
to a perpendicular tin cylinder, into which 
it falls. If the roving be not made thin 
enough by the firft operation, it is made 
to undergo a repetition of it, ana it is 
then carried to the /prxxing mules ; which 
differ from the former only in this, that 
when the threads have paffed the rollers, 
they are drawn out and twifted by a 
courfe of fpindles, which are fet in mo- 
tion after a fufficient quantity of the 
roving has paffed the rollers, which are 
themfelves, at this time, ftopped. The 
advantage of this mode of preparing the 
threads I underftand to be, that the 
fibres of the cotton are all laid longitu- 
dinally, and in a fmall as number as is 
wanted, before they are begun to be 
much twifted ; by which means, threads 
of any required finenefs are made much 
ftronger than they were from rovings 
prepared upon the fpindle, which twift- 
ed them too much in the firft inftance ; 
and in the fubfequent proceffes for ren- 
dering them finer, many of the fibres 
were neceflarily broken. On one of 
thefe mules 240 threads are often fpun 
at once, and two of them may be ma- 
naged by one woman, with a child to 
each, to tie the threads which may oc- 
cafionally break. A large faétory for 
thefe operations ufually confifts of a vat 
cellar to hold the raw material, of a 
ground floor for the pickers and beaters ; 
and, in the upper floors, firft teazing 
and carding engines, then roving ma- 
chines, afterwards mules, and laftly, ma- 
chines for winding the thread or twit ; 
the whole occupying a building of fix or 
feven ftories, and all moved, -either by a 
large water-wheel, or by a fmall fire- 
engine, which, if of Boulton and Watt’s 
conftru€tion, occafions very little mcon- 
venience to the neighbourhood, as it 
confumes nearly all its f{moke.—For 
winding the thread regularly off the 
fpindles upon bobbins, various contriv- 
ances are in ufe: none, however, ap- 
pears more fimple than a heart-fhaped 
axis, which moves the bobbin to the 
right or left, according to the pofition of 
the apex er the bafe of the hearr. Other 
L, | portions 

eet 
Sea 
a 
SSS 
ee 
gto Ea 
Sane 

