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THE USEFUL
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES
OP
GREAT BRITAIN.
TEXTILE FABRICS, (fee. BY CHAELES TOMLINSON,
LECTUEER ON SCIENCE, KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL, LONDON.
PUBLISHED TINDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATIOK,
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOE PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE :
SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES:
77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;
4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 16, HANOVER STREET, HANOVER SQUARE ;
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.
The Treatkes in tliis Volume ivere originally published in a separate form, and many of them have been more thaii once reprinted : in such cases the Statistics have been brought doicn to the present time; but in those Treatises which have not been reprinted, the Statistics belong to the date of their original publication.
CONTENTS OF THE FIEST SEEIES.
Cotton Yarn, Part I.
Introduction, page 3 — History of the Cotton Plant, 4 — His- torical Notices of the Cotton Slanufacture, 15 — Early Methods of Spinning : the Distaff and Spindle ; the Spinning AVheel, 23 —The Spinning Jenny (Hargreave's), 29 — Spinning by Rollers (Arkwright's), 33 — The Mule Jenny (Crompton's), 45.
Cotton Yarn, Part II., and Sewing Thread.
A Cotton Factory, page 3 — Sorting the Cotton ; Willowing ; Batting; Blowing; Lapping, 5 — Carding, 10 — Doubling and Drawing, 16 — Roving, 20 — Throstle-spinning, 24 — Mule-spin- ning, 26 — Reeling, 29— Sewing-thread, 31 — Gassing or Singe- ing, 35.
Linen Yarn.
Introduction, page 3— History and Cultivation of Flax, 4 — Rippling, 9 — Steeping or Retting, 10 — Bi-eaking, 12 — Scutch- ing, 14 — Dividing into lengths, 15 — Heckling, 17 — Sorting, 22 — Spreading, Drawing, and Roving, 22 — Spinning, 23 — Statis- tics, 28.
Woollen and Worsted Yarns. *
Historical Notices of the "Woollen Manufacture, page 3— On the Sheep and the Growth of Wool, 17 — The Manufacture of Woollen Yarn, 33 — Sorting, 34 — Scouring, Dyeing, Willowing, and Oiling, 36— Scribbling and Carding, 39— Stubbing, 41- - Spinning, 45 — Worsted Yarn, 45 — Breaking, Drawing, and Spinning, 48 — Statistics, 50.
The Manufacture of Woven Goods, Part I.
Introductory Remarks on Weaving, Felting, Plaiting, Netting, Knitting, Sewing, and Darning, page 3 — Historical Notices of Weaving, 6 — The Hand-loom, 16 — Warping, 22 — Beaming, 26 — Dressing and Sizeing, 28 — Drawing in, 32 — Pattern-weaving, 34 — Twilled Cloth, 35 — Figure-weaving, 38 — Jacquard Loom, 40 — Other Methods of Weaving, 48 — Mechanical, or Power- weaving, 49.
Manufacture of Woven Goods, Part II. — Bleaching, Calendering, and Dyeing. Historical Notice of Bleaching, page 3 — Bleaching of Cotton Goods, 9 — Bleaching of Linen, 16 — Bleaching of Wool, 16 — Calendering, 17 — Historical Notice of Dyeing, 28 — Nature of Colour, 31 — Preparatory Processes for Dyeing, 35 — Dyeing, 39 . — Finishing Processes, 46,
vi CONTENTS.
]\Ianufacture of Woven Goods, Part III. — Calico- Printing. Historical Notices, page 3 — Various Modes of Calico Printing, 7_Block Printing by hand, 7— The Perrotine, 10— Cylinder or Roller Printing, 11 — Press Printing, 16— Various Styles of Calico Printing, 18— The Madder Style, 18— Printing by Steam, 20— The Padding Style, 23— The Resist Style, 23— The Dis- charge Style, 24— The China-blue Style, 27— Pattern Designers, 28- Statistics of the Cotton Trade, 35.
The jManufacture of Woven Goods, Part IV. — Woollen Cloth. Introductory Remarks, page 3 — Scouring, 4 — Fulling, .5 — Tentering, 7— Burling, 8— Teazling, 8— Shearing, 11 — Roller- boiling, 13— Brushing, kc, 14 — Pressing, 15 — Statistics of the Woollen Trade, 16.
>>ILK.
Historical Notices of the Silk Manufacture, page 1 — The Pro- gress of the Manufacture in Great Britain, 12 — The Food of the Silkworm, 18 — Natural History of the Silkworm, 21 — Silkworms of India, &c., 30 — Domestic Management of the Silkworm, 32 — Sorting and Unwinding the Cocoons, 43 — Silk Throwing, 46 — Silk Waste Spinning, 56— Statistics of Silk, 57.
(Jarpets and Floorcloth.
Histoi-ical Notice of Carpets, page 1 — Carpet Weaving, 4 — Modern Improvements in the Manufacture of Carpets, 17 — Carpet Patterns : Choice of Carpets, 27 — Statistics of the Carpet Manufacture, 84 — Floorcloth Manufacture, 35.
Hosiery and Bobbin-net.
The Manufacture of Hosierj- : Historical Notice of Knitting and of the Knitting Frame, page 1 — Frame-work Knitting, 11 — Statistics of Hosiery, 23 — The Manufacture of Lace : Historical Notice of Lace and of the Bobbin- net Frame, 29 — Lace Making by Machinery, 46 — Statistics of Lace, 67.
Ropes and Cordage.
Materials used for Ropes, page 3 — Cultivation of Hemp, &c., (■!— Varieties of Rope : Effects of Twisting, 14 — Rope-making by Hand. 16 — Rope-making by jMachinery, 25.
Hats and Felted Goods.
On Felting, page 3 — Historical Notice, 6 — The Beaver, 11 — Other Materials, 14 — Preparation of the Fur, 17 — The Beaver, the Plate, and the Felt Hat, 19— Bowing, 20— Hardening, 22— Blocking, 25— Basoning, 26— Dveing, 27— Finishing, 28— Silk Hats, 30— Straw Hats, 34.
Paper.
Historical Notice, page 3 — Modern Manufacture of Paper, 8 — Making Paper by Hand, 18 — Paper-making by Machinery, 24 — Statistics of the Paper Trade, 34.
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST SERIES.
COTTOM. PAGE
1. The Spinning Wlieel (Border— The Cotton Plant) 2
2. Herbaceous C<itton ((iosarjpiiim herbaceum) 5
3. Tree Cotton (G. .■l/6o/-e!!m) ">
4. Primitive Cotton-Giu 1**
5. Bowing Cotton H
6. Modem Egj-ptian Spinning 23
7. Spinning with Distaft' and Spindle 24
8. Hindoo Spinning Wheel 26
9. Hargi'eave's Spinning Jenny 31
10. Hall m the Wood, near Bolton 48
COTTON YARN.
11. Mule Spinning 2
12. Battmg ~
13. Forming Laps by Hand 9
14. Fans used in Batting and Lapping 10
15. Form of Dents for Carding H
16. Arrangement of Cards for Carding 12
17. Arrangement of Cards for Dofhug 13
18. Principle of the Carding Engine 13
19. First Carding Engine l*
20. Second Carding Engme 15
21. DonbUng 17
22. Drawing 18
23 and 24. Rowing 20
25. Bobbins 21
26. Spindle and Fly 22
27. Principle of Throstle Spinning .24
28. Reeling 30
29. Doubling for Thread 32
30. BalUng and Reeling 33
31. Gassing the Yam , 35
LINEN YARN.
32. Interior of Marshall's One-story Flax Mill at Leeds 2
33. The Flax Plant (Linum vsitatissimum) 5
34. Method of supporting Flax 8
35. Flax Sheaves 8
36. Rippling 9
37. The Brake 13
38. 39. The Scutching Frame, and the Scutcher 14
40. Dividing Machine 16
41. Holder 19
42. HeekUng Machine 20
43. Sjtreading Frame 23
44. Flax Spiiming "WHieel 24
45. Roof of Maishall's One-storj" Mill 32
WOOLLEN YARN.
46. Scotch Shepherd 2
47. The Fold 17
48. Tlie Argali 18
49. Sheep Washing 21
50. She^i Shearing 22
51. South Down Sheep 31
vi ILLUSTllATIOXS IN THE FIRST SERIES.
WOOLLEN Y A'R'N— Contmved. page
52. The Willow 38
.03. Wool Carding Engine 40
54. The Slabbing Billy ■ 42
55. Slnbbing Machine 44
56. 57, 58. Long Wool Comb, Comb Post, anrl Comb Pot 46
59. Breaking Frame 49
60. Drawing Frame 50
WEAVING.
61. Ackroyd's Loom Shed, Halifax (Worsted Goods) 2
62. Modern Egyptian "Weaver 8
63. Ancient Loom 11
64. Hindoo Weaver 13
65. Oriental Winder 15
66. Common Loom 17
(!V, 68, 69. Shuttle, Fly Shuttle, and Shuttle race 19
70. Temples 20
71. Warbling Frame (U'nnllrn Yarn.) 23
72. Warping Mill ((In/. -^/rJ 17«-ft) 24
73. Beaming (Cnffm, Yuni) 27
74. S,izmg(WooUai Yani) 28
75. Scom-ing Worsted Yarns 29
76. Dressing and Sizing (Cotton Yarns) 30
77. Sizing Trough 31
78. BTUvfing in (Woollen- Yarn) 32
79. 80. Plain Weaving and Twilled Weaving 36
81. Principle of the Jacquard Apparatus 43
82, 83. Wire and Drum 44
84. Jacquard Card-making Machine 46
85. Perforated Card and Plate 47
86. Power Loom (Cotton) 52
87. Principal parts of a Power Loom 53
88. The Shed 54
BLEACHING, CALENDERING, AND DYEING.
89. Drying Room (Muslint:) 2
90. Singeing Calico 10
91. Dash Wlieels 12
92. 93. BucMng Keirs 13
94. Starching 19
95. Damping Machine 21
96. Calendering Machine 22
97. Beetle 24
98. Hooking Frame 26
99. Decomposition of White Light 82
100. Dye-Becks 38
101. Washing by steam power 89
102. Dyeing in Indigo Blue 44
103. Section of Rinsing Machine 46
CALICO PRINTING,
104. Water Wheel 62 ft. diameter 2
105. Block for Printing 7
106. Block Printing 8
107. 108. Principle of Cylinder Printing 12
109. Cylinder Printing ,14
110. Press Printing 16
111. Steaming 21
112. Bandana Press 25
WOOLLEN CLOTH.
113. Fulling Stocks 2
114. Scouring Machine 5
115. The Teazle (Dipsaciisfullonvm) S
116. Gig-mill 11
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST SERIES. Vll
WOOLLEN CLOTB.- Continued. page
117. Shearing Machine 12
118. Broad Perpetual 13
119. Cloth HaU, Leeds 19
SILK.
120. The White MulbeiTy (Moms alha) 19
121. Eggs and SOkwornis in the first stage 22
122. Progressive growth of the Silkworm 24
123. Silkworm on Mulberry Leaf 25
124. Full-grown Silkworni 26
125. The Cocoon 27
126. The Chrj'salis 2S
127. Female Silkworm Moth and Eggs 29
128. The Tusseh Silkworm 30
129. Cocoon of the Tusseh Silkworm 31
130. 131. Early and advanced stage of Muscardine (magnified) ... 40 132, 133, 134, 135. China Book Silk, Bengal Shp, and Itahan Hanks . 45
136. Winding 48
137. Bobbin 49
138. Spinning 50
139. Doubling or Throwing Machine 51
140. Arrangement of Bobbins in Doubling 52
141. Embroidering Needles 54
142. Embroidering Machine 55
CARPETS.
143. Rug Loom 6
144. Kidderminster or Scotch Carpet Loom 8
145. Structure of the Brussels Carpet 10'
146. 147, 148. Bobbins and portion of Frame 11
149, 150, 151. The same 12
152. Brussels Carjiet Loom 13
153, 154. Sections of Velvet Wires 16
155. Structure of Velvet 16
156. Colour Drum 18
157. Clamp • 20
158. Frame 21
159. Strips 22
160. 161. Perforated Zinc Frame and Piston Box 24
162. Knife and Guide 25
FLOORCLOTH.
163. The Frame Room 37
164. 105. Trowel and Trowel Colouring 39
166. Printing Block 44
167, 168, 169. Scraper, Brush, and Hammer 45
170. Printing Room 46
171 — 174. Separate Portions and completed Pattern 47
175. Grinding Colom-s 4S
176. Exterior of Factorj' at Knightsbridge 50
HOSIERY.
177. Hosier at work 13 •
178. Winding ' ' ' 13
179. Needles | 15
180. Thread on Needles 16
181. Jacks and Jack-sinkers 17
182. Jack-sinkers and Lead-sinkers .18
183. Barrel Bobbin-holder ! ! 20
184. Circular Loom 22
LACE.
185. Bobbin-net Machine 28
186. Pillow Lace Making 31
187—190. Structure of Plain Weaving, Twilled Weaving, Gauze &, Lace 46
191. Arrangement of Lace Threads 47
Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIKST SERIES.
hXCE— Continued. page
192. Structure of Lace Magnified 48
193. Specimen of Lace 49
194. 195. Warping 60
196. Weft Bobbin 50
197. Filling the Bobbins 51
198. Bobbin CaiTiage 52
199. Principle of the Bobbin-Net Lace-Frame 52
200. NeecUe 53
201. 202. Portion of Comb and Point 54
ROPES.
203. A Rope Walk — Spinning Yams — Specimens of Male and Female
Hemp 2
204. Retting, Breaking, Heckling, and Drying Hemp 10
205. Heckling Manilla Hemp 17
206. Spinning Yams 18
207. Tackle Board 21
208. Wlieel for Twisting Small Strands 21
209. Reeling Yams 22
210. Breast Board 22
211. Top 23
212. Tarring Yarns 32
213. Working Parts of Registering Macliine 34
HATS.
214. Bomng Beaver Fur 2
215. Fibre of Saxony Lamb's Wool Magnified 5
216. Fibre of Kutria Fur 14
217. Structure of Musquash 16
218—221. Structure of Hart's Down and Rabbit's Fiu- 17
222. Three Forms of Sheet of Napping 22
223. Hat Battery 23
224. Beaver Pull-over 26
225. Dyeing Vat 28
226. 227. Hat Block and Rounding Brass 30
228. Work-bench Brass 32
229, 230. Stmcture of Straw Plat 37
PAPER.
231. Paper Making Machine 2
232. Paper Mill 9
233. Rag Cutters at Work 11
234. 235. Washing and Grinding Engines 14
236, 237. Paper Moulds 19
238. Paper Making by Hand 21
239. Paper Cutting Machine 33
'y/Hiti^
THE USEFUL ARTS
MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
Part I.
History furnishes no example to compare with the rapid growth and prosperity of the cotton-trade in this country. In the early part of the eighteenth century, the total quantity of cotton-wool annually imported into Great Britain did not much exceed one million pounds in weight: the quantity im- ported in the year 1844 amounted to 646,1115304 pounds, of which 554,196,602 pounds were retained for home consumption. When George the Third came to the throne, in 1760, the entire value of all the cotton goods manufactured in Great Britain amounted to the annual sum of about two hundred thousand pounds : the declared value of our exports only, in cotton goods, amounted, in the year 1844, to 25,805,348/. ; while the quantity retained for home consumption is supposed to exceed in value ten mil- lions of pounds sterling.
This astonishing progress has been made in spite of difficulties which, at first view, would appear almost Insurmountable. Before the year 1790, North America (whence our present supply is chiefly ob- tained) did not furnish us with a single pound of cotton ; and the inhabitants of Hindustan and China had obtained such celebrity for the lightness and delicacy of their cotton goods, as apparently to bid
(5) A 2
4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
defiance to competition. Such, however, has been the effect of the improvements and inventions, chiefly of a few illiterate mechanics, aided by the stupendous steam-engine of Watt, that the Hindoo now entrusts the raw material to the British merchant, who, after carrying it five thousand miles to be manufactured, returns it in the form of goods, which successfully rival those of Hindustan and China. The Hindoo, incessantly urging his rude spinning-wheel, produces scarcely a pound of thread in a long working day : in a modern cotton-mill, each spindle will produce upwards of a mile and a quarter of thread in twelve hours; and, as in many mills not fewer than fifty thousand spindles are mounted, it will be found that a sufficient length of thread may be spun every day, in one of these mills, to go two and a half times round the o'lobe.
HISTORY OF THE COTTOX PLANT.
Of the four raw materials which supply clothing, jlax. is said to have belonged originally to Egypt; the sheep, which furnishes tcool, to the mountain ranges of Asia ; the silJc-vfOxiw to China ; and the cotton plant to India and America.
Although cotton was not generally known among the nations of the earth until a much later period than the other three substances, it is now raised in such abundance as to be the cheapest of all clothing. From its great resemblance to sheep's wool, it was called by the ancients "the wool of trees;" and, although it differs greatly in its properties from the animal fleece, the term is still retained. The Ger- mans call it baumicolle, or tree-wool, and the French, coto7i en laine, which answers to the English term cotton wool.
Cotton wool is contained in the seed-vessels of a plant belonging to the natural order INIalvaceae, or
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 5
HERBACEOUS COTTON {Gossi/pium herbaceum).
mallows, and of tlie genus Gossypium. There are many varieties of the plant, which have been divided into herhaceoiis cotton, shrub cotton, and tree cotton, according to the mode of growth. Of these, the most useful is the herbaceous, which is extensively culti- vated in the southern parts of the United States of America, in India, China, and other warm climates. The cultivators of Georgia and the neighbouring states grow three varieties of herbaceous cotton \ firsts nanJcin cotton, bearing the yellow wool of which the well-known cloths called nankeens are made ; but of this the quantity is very limited : secondly^ that which is known in the country as green-seed cotton, of which the wool is white. These two grow in the midland and upland districts : and hence the white variety is known to the Liverpool dealers as Upland cotton. It is also called hoiced Georgia cotton, from a method of cleaning it which will be described presently, and also short-staple cotton, which refers to the length of its fibre. The third and most esteemed variety is the sea-island cotton, Avhich is of long-sta2)le ; its fibre being much longer than that of any other description :
6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
it is strong and even, of silky texture, and has a yellowish tinge, "which, in all cotton, when not pro- duced by accidental wetting, or by inclement seasons, is regarded as a mark of superior fineness. The seed of the sea-island cotton is black, while most of the other American cotton is produced from green seed. It is an annual herbaceous plant, and being found to thrive in the low, sandy islands which lie along the coast from Charleston to Savannah, the cotton hence derives its name.
Herbaceous cotton attains a height of from eighteen to twenty-four inches ; its leaves, which are of a bright dark-green colour, are marked with brownish veins, and are divided each into five lobes. The blossom expands into a pale yellow flower, which, falling off, a pointed triangular pod appears, containing three cells : this gradually increases to the size of a large filbert, and becomes brown as the woolly fruit ripens ; the expansion of the wool then causes the pod to burst, when there appears a ball of snowy- white, or of yellowish down, consisting of three locks, one for each cell, enclosing and firmly adhering to the seeds, which are larger than grapes, but of similar form. The appearance of a cotton field, while the pods are progressively opening, is described as being highly interesting ; " the fine dark-green of the leaf contrasting beautifully with the brilliant white of the cotton suspended from the pods and floating to and fro at the bidding of the wind."
Shrub cotton grows in most countries where the annual herbaceous cotton is found. In the West Indies, its duration is about two or three years : in India, Egypt, and some other places, it lasts from six to ten years; in the hottest countries, it is per- ennial, and furnishes two crops a-year ; in cooler climes it is annual. In appearance it is much like a currant bush.
Tree cotton grows in India, China, Egypt, and in the interior and on the western coast of Africa, and
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
In some parts of America, twelve to twenty feet.
It attains a lieio-ht of from
TREE COTTON [Gossifpium arboreum].
The cotton plant requires a dry, sandy soil, and thrives where the land is too poor to produce any other valuable crop. Wet seasons are usually fatal, but the vicinity of the sea is favourable to the pro- duction of the best cotton. The salt clay mud is an excellent manure, and the saline breezes promote the growth of the plant. The places in which the cele- brated sea-island cotton is grown have many advan- tages ; but, being much exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, the produce varies greatly in quality.
Great care is bestowed in America upon the cultivation of the cotton plant. The seed is sown by hand in March and the two following months,
8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
according to the season. It is planted in rows five feet asunder, and in holes eighteen inches apart, in each of which several seeds are placed. The land is care- fully weeded at short intervals ; and as the plants come up, the weakest are drawn out, only two or three being left in each hole. When the plants are a few months old, they are again weeded and thinned, and the stems and branches topped off, to the extent of an inch or more from each shoot; the effect of which is to retard the growth of the plant in height, and to promote the development of the side branches. Some of the lower leaves are occasionally taken ofi: Good cotton cannot be produced without constant care and attention, up to the period of flowering. In India, the mode of cultivation is very slovenly, and little or no care is bestowed on the plant, the conse- quence of which is, that the produce is greatly inferior to that of the United States.
The operation of gathering requires much care. The gatherers, consisting chiefly of women and young people, go into the field with baskets or bags sus- pended from their shoulders, for the reception of such portions of the avooI as they find sufficiently ripe. The usual method is to take away the seeds and cotton, leaving the empty husks ; but in the East the whole pod is gathered, a method which is some- what more expeditious, but has the serious disadvan- tage of injuring the cotton ; for the husk breaks into small pieces, mixes with the cotton, and cannot easily be separated from it.
The gathering is always performed in fine weather, after the morning dew has disappeared, as anymoisture would make the cotton mouldy, and cause the oil of the seeds to spread over the wool. The cotton is more completely dried by exposure to the heat of the sun or of stoves, on a platform of tiles or wood, during several days, whereby the seeds are afterwards more easily separated.
As the cotton does not all ripen at the same time.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 'J
the gatherers have to go over the same plantation many times. If the cotton is not gathered soon after the pods have burst, the heat of the sun injures its colour, or it may be blown away by the wind, or spoiled by the rain or dew.
But, l3etween the sowing of the seed and the gathering of the crop, many accidents may arise to defeat the hopes and precautions of the cultivator. The cotton plant is subject to many diseases, the most formidable of which, called the blast, is occasioned by excessive moisture, whereby the roots rot and the plant perishes. This often happens in land which has not been properly drained. In wet seasons, the plant is sometimes subject to a sort of over-gi*owth, and the fruit is destroyed from excess of vegetation. In times of excessive drought, on the other hand, the plant is affected Avith a kind of gangrene, and appears as if scorched with fire ; many blossoms fall off unpro- ductive, and the pods which are formed are black ; after which the foot-stalks wither and rot, and the pods fall to the earth. In this condition nothing but careful pruning and most favourable weather will save the plant ; but these remedies are often defeated by an insect called the cotton-bug, which infests the pod in immense numbers, and contributes greatly to the de- struction of the crop. But the most rapacious insect- destroyer of this plant is \h& chenille, or cotton caterpillar. This insect, which is about an inch or an inch and a half long, sometimes appears singly, but at other times in such swarms that whole plantations are completely devoured in one night, not leaving a single leaf, flower, pod, or green sprout. It is singular, that, although this insect gives out no smell, and the plants are also inodorous, yet, while the chenille is feeding on its leaves, a strong fragrant smell is perceptible at more than a hundred yards distance. As soon as one field is destroyed, the insect army marches away to another, often at some distance, passing several fields without attacking them. Unless their progress
A3
10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
is stopped, tliey commit fearful havoc, but happily there are several natural enemies of the chenille. Turkies destroy prodigious numbers of the larv£e : the bouse-wren is also fond of them ; and there is one bird — the black and yellow manakyn — that seeks them out with so much industry that it has obtained the name of the chenille-bird. Some cultivators de- stroy these insects by the fumes of sulphur ; one person holding a dish of burning sulphur under the trees, while another covers them with a canvas hood, to confine the vapour. Another description of cater- pillar, which remains buried in the ground, occasionally does nmch mischief by gnawing the stalk of the plant about half an inch from the surface.
But, supposing the cultivator has escaped the more serious attacks of the enemies of his crop, and has gathered in and dried a good store of cotton, he must be careful to separate the seeds from the wool before it is packed ; otherwise it would become oily and mouldy. The fibres of the cotton adhere so firmly to the seed, that when the picking is done by hand, as it is in some parts of India, a man can scarcely clean more than a jjound of cotton in a day. In other parts of India, as also in China, a rude hand- mill, or roller-gin, is employed. It consists of two fluted wooden rollers, placed horizontally, one above the other, on a stand a few feet from the ground, and
MS^Sagi^ir
PRIMITIVE COTTOy-GIN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
11
moving round nearly in contact. The upper roller is turned by a handle, and the lower is carried along with it by a perpetual screw at the axis. The cotton is put in at one side, and drawn through by thn revolving rollers ; but the seeds, being too large te pass through the opening, are torn off, and fall dowo on the opposite side from the cotton. By this method, one workman is able to separate from seed from forty to sixty-five pounds of cotton a-day.
■'bowing " COTTON.
12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
The cotton is then bowed, to clear it from dirt and knots. A large bow, made elastic by a complication of strings, is used : this being put in contact with a heap of cotton, the workman strikes the string with a heavy wooden mallet, and its vibrations open the knots of the cotton, shake from it the dust and dirt, and raise it into a downy fleece. The hand-mill and the bow have been used from time immemorial in many parts of Asia, and they were formerly used in America, whence the term bowed Georgia cotton still retained in commerce.
The long-stapled, or sea-island cotton, is still sepa- rated from its seeds by rollers, constructed on a large scale, and worked by horses, or steam, or water power. A mill of this kind, capable of cleansing eight or nine hundred pounds of cotton in a day, has been described by Captain Basil Hall. It consists of two wooden rollers of about an inch in diameter ; these are placed horizontally, parallel, and touching each other. Over them is fixed a sort of comb, having iron teeth two inches long, and seven-eights of an inch apart. This comb is of the same length as the rollers, and is so placed that its teeth come nearly in contact with them. When the machine is set in motion, the rollers are made to revolve with great rapidity, so that the cotton, being laid upon them, is by their motion drawn in between the two, wliilst no space is left for the seeds to pass with it. To detach these from the fibres of cotton in which they are enveloped, the same machinery whicli impels tlie rollers gives to the toothed instrument above a quick, wagging motion to and fro, by means of which the pods of cotton, as they are cast upon the rollers, are torn open, just as they are beginning to be drawn in : the seeds, now released from the coating which had encircled them, fly ofl", like sparks, to the right and left, while the cotton itself passes between the rollers. The sharp iron teeth of the comb, moving very rapidly, sometimes break the seeds ; then the minute
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 13
pieces are instantly hurried on, and pass between the rollers with the cotton. These stray particles are afterwards separated by hand, a process which is called moting. In order to cleanse the cotton entirely from any remaining fragment of seed, it is subjected to another process. This consists of whisking it about in a light wheel, through which a current of air is made to pass. As it is tossed out of this win- nowing machine, it is gathered up and conveyed to the packing-house, where, by means of screws, it is forced into bags, each, Avhen filled, weighing about three hundred pounds. These are then sewed up, and sent to the place of shipment, where they are again pressed, and reduced to half their original size. The short-stapled cotton is compressed by means of the hydraulic press, five or six hundred weight being packed into a bulk of twelve or thirteen cubic feet. The average o-ross weight of a bao- of cotton from the United States varies from 330 to 350 lbs.
The above method of separating the seed from the wool answers very well for the sea-island, or black- seeded cotton; but in the green-seeded, or short- stapled varieties, the seeds retain the wool with so much force, that a more powerful machine is re- quired. This is the saiv-gin, invented by IMr. Eli Whitney, a native of Massachusetts, by which three hundred weight of cotton may be cleaned in a day. In this machine, " the cotton is put into a receiver, or hopper, of considerable length, compared with its width, one side of which is formed by a grating of strong parallel wires, about an eighth of an inch apart. Close to the hopper is a wooden roller, having upon its surface a series of circular saws, an inch and a half apart, which pass within the grating of the hopper to a certain depth. When the roller is turned, the teeth of the saws lay hold of the locks of cotton, and drag them through the wires, whilst the seeds are prevented, by their size, from passing through, and fall to the bottom of the receiver, where they
14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
are carried off by a spout. The cotton is afterwards swept from the saws by a revolving cylindrical brush. When first invented, the wooden cylinder was covered with teeth of wire like cards, but the saw was found to answer the purpose better. The saw-gin injures in some degree the fibre of the cotton ; but it affords so cheap a way of cleaning it, that all the North American cotton, except the sea-island, undergoes this operation,"'^
It is very probable that, but for this Invention, the commoner sorts of cotton could not have been culti- vated with success, as a more costly method of clean- ing would have raised the price in the market to a degree sufficient to exclude them. This invention has had considerable influence in promoting the growth and exports of cotton from the United States ; so that Eli Whitney, as it has been well remarked, " did for the planters of the southern states, what the genius of Arkwright and Watt did for the manu- facturers of England." Before the year 1790, North America supplied us with no cotton. In 1791, a trifling quantity was exported. In 1793, the saw-gin came into operation ; and after this there is nothing in the history of industry to compare with the increase of the American cotton trade, unless it be the growth of the manufacture in this country. The following is an extract from the official returns of the exports of cotton from the United States to various parts of the world ; —
lbs.
1791 189,316
179:i 138,328
1794 1,601,760
1795 5,276,300
1798 9,360,005
1800 17,789,803
lbs.
1805 40,383,491
1810 93,874,201
1820 127,860.152
1825 176,439,907
1830 298,459,102
1841 530,204,100
In the year 1844, the quantity of cotton wool sent from the United States to this country alone, amounted to 517,218,6221bs.
* Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN, 15
HISTOEICAL NOTICES OF THE COTTON MANUEACTUEE.
• Writers of antiquity abound in allusions to clothing made of wool and flax ; there are, however, but few notices among Greek and Latin writers, and not one among Hebrew Avriters, referring to cotton. In the old world, the growth and manufacture of cotton were confined to those populous regions lying beyond the Indus, which were long unknown to the nations bordering on the Mediterranean ; and even in modern times, in the middle ages, continual men- tion is made of stuffs of woollen, linen, silk, and gold, but cotton remains unnoticed.
Wool was probably one of the first materials used by mankind for cloth. It is mentioned in the Scrip- tures in connexion with linen (Deut. xxii. 11 ; Prov. xxxi. 13) ; and the manufacture of both these fabrics existed in Greece in the days of Homer.
The arts of spinning and weaving rank next in im- portance among mankind to agriculture, and must have been invented at a very early period in man's history. They existed in considerable perfection in Egypt at the time when the Israelites were in bondage in that land. Linen was the national manufacture among the ancient Egyptians. That they were not acquainted with cotton seems evident from the fact, that among the numerous specimens of mummy- cloth which have been imported into Europe, no cotton has been found ; and there are no paintings of the cotton shrub upon the tombs of Thebes, where accurate representations of flax occur in its different states of growth and manufacture. In India, cotton was probably manufactured at as early a period as linen in Egypt, for Herodotus (who wrote about 445 B.C.) speaks of the manufacture among the Indians as if it were in a very advanced state. He
16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
says : — " They possess a kind of plant which, instead of fruit, produces wool, of a finer and better quality than that of sheep ; of this the Indians make their clothes." Xearchus, the admiral to whom Alexander entrusted the survey of the Indus (b.c. 327), states, that " the Indians wore linen garments, the substance whereof they were made growing upon trees ; and this is indeed flax, or rather something much whiter and finer than flax. They wear shirts of the same, which reach down to the middle of their legs ; and veils, which cover their head and a great part of their shoulders." Strabo also, on the authority of IsTear- chus, mentions the Indians as being celebrated for flowered cottons or chintzes, and for their various and beautiful dyes. This geographer states, that in his own daj^ (he died a.d. 2b) cotton grew, and cotton cloths were manufactured in Susiana, at the head of the Persian gulf. Fifty years later, Pliny describes the cotton plant and the stufls made from it. He sa3's, " In upper Egypt, towards Arabia, there grows a shrub, which some call gossvpium, and others xijlon, from which the stuffs are made which we call xxilina. It is small, and bears a fruit resembling the filbert, within which is a downy wool, which is spun into thread. There is nothing to be preferred to these stuffs for whiteness or softness: beautiful garments are made from them for the priests of Egypt." The same author, in his description of the island of Tylos, in the Persian gulf, enumerates among its remarkable productions, wool-bearing trees, with leaves exactly like those of the vine, but smaller, bearing a fruit like a gourd, and of the size of a quince, which, bursting when it is ripe, displays a ball of downy wool, from which are made costly garments resembling linen." Arrian, an Egyptian Greek, who lived in the first or second century, notices the exports from India of calicoes, muslins, and other cottons, both plain and ornamented with flowers, made in the interior provinces ; that Masalia,
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 17
the modern Masulipatam, was then, as it has been ever since, famous for the manufacture of cotton piece- goods ; and that the muslins of Bengal were then, as at the present day, superior to all others, and received from the Greeks the name of Gaiigitiki, indicating that they were made on the borders of the Ganges.
Cottons and muslins gradually came into use in Arabia and the neighbourino; countries, and the manufacture was diffused by the commercial activity and enterprise of the early followers of Mohammed. The fabrics called muslins received their name from Mosul in Mesopotamia ; as, in the same way, at a later period, calico was named after Calicut; and the yellowish brown cotton fabrics called nankeens, after the city Nankin.
Marco Polo, who visited most of the principal cities of Asia at the latter part of the thirteenth cen- tury, notices a manufacture of very fine cotton cloth at Arzingan, in Armenia Major : he states that cotton was abundantly grown and manufactured in Persia, and all the provinces bordering the Indus, and that in all parts of India this was the staple manufacture. He also notices, that in the province of Fokien, in China, cottons were woven of coloured threads, which were carried for sale to every part of the pro- vince of Mangi ; but that silk was the ordinary dress of the people, from the prince to the peasant. The cotton plant first began to be cultivated for common use after the conquest of the empire by the Tartars ; a strong resistance was made to its cultivation by the fabricators of wool and silk, but the opposition was soon put down, because, among all the materials of clothing, cotton Avas found to be best suited to the torrid zone, and the cheapest material of which cloth could be made; therefore, about the year 1368, the cultivation began to prevail throughout the empire. The Chinese cottons, especially the nankeens, have acquired much celebrity. At the present day, cotton is not grown in sufficient quantity for the consump-
18 ARTS AND MAN'UFACTURES.
tion of that empire, so that it is largely imported from India.
Cotton cloth, of African manufacture, was brought to London from Benin, on the coast of Guinea, in 1590. The cotton tree grows plentifully on the borders of the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Niger rivers ; at Timbuctoo, Sierra Leone, in the (Jape de Verd Islands, on the coast of Guinea, in Abyssinia, and throughout the interior. The peculiar fitness of the soil and climate of Egypt prompted the present ruler of that country, a few years ago, to introduce the cotton plant, and in two years he exported no less than 5,623 bales to England. As this cotton was raised from the Georgian Sea-Island seeds, it is called Sea-Island Egyptian cotton.
The cotton manufacture was found in a very advanced state in America on the discovery of that continent by the Spaniards. Clavigero states, that " of cotton the Mexicans made large webs, and as delicate and fine as those of Holland, which were, with much reason, highly esteemed in Europe. They wove their cloths of different figures and colours, representing difi'erent animals and flowers. Of feathers, interwoven with cotton, they made mantles and bed-curtains, carpets, gowns, and other things, not less soft than beautiful. With cotton also they interwove the finest hair of the belly of rabbits and hares, after having made and spun it into thread ; of this they made most beo.utiful cloths, and in par- ticular w^inter waistcoats for their lords."' Among the presents sent by Cortez to Charles the Fifth, were " cotton mantles, some all white, others mixed with white and black, or red, green, yellow, and blue ; waistcoats, handkerchiefs, counterpanes, tapes- tries, and carpets of cotton." Columbus found the cotton plant growing wild in the West India Islands, and on the continent of South America, where the inhabitants wore cotton dresses, and made their fishins: nets of the same material.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 19
To Spain belongs the honour of having introduced the cotton manufacture into Europe. The plant was cultivated and manufactured into clothing in Spain as early as the tenth century, about which time it was probably introduced by the Moors. It flourished on the fertile plains of Valencia, where it still grows wild. During some centuries, Barcelona was cele- brated for the manufacture of cotton sail-cloth and fustians, the latter being a strong fabric used to line garments, and which derives its name from the Spanish Avord fuste, signifying "substance." The Spanish Arabs made paper from cotton before that most useful article was known in Europe. When the Moors were expelled from Spain, the useful arts disappeared with them, and only by slow and labo- rious efforts were they introduced into other parts of Europe. The cotton manufacture is said to have been introduced at Venice at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Strong cottons, such as fustiana and dimities, were made at Venice and Milan ; and it is probable that even those were woven with a linen warp and a cotton weft, as Avas afterwards the custom in England, from the difficulty, at that early period, of making the long, or warp threads, of suffi- cient strength in cotton to bear stretching in the loom. It is supposed that about this time cotton yarn was imported from Syria and Asia Minor, whence, in later times the Italians and French obtained that article.
It must not be supposed that the cotton manu- facture, as it now exists in England, was borrowed from any other nation. The present manufacture is due entirely to the genius and enterprise of English- men ; and during little more than half a century it has sprung into existence, and become a sort of centre to the commercial world. At the early period to which our history refers, the only fabric manu- factured in this country was a coarse and heavy article, probably half cotton and half linen, of too
20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
little importance to attract much notice ; but calico, muslin, and the more delicate cotton goods, were never made in Europe, except possibly by the Moors in the south of Spain, until the invention of the spinning machinery in England.
At an early period, the fabrics made at ]Manchester, and some other towns in Lancashire, were for some reason called cottons, though they were actually looollen or linen goods. It has been suggested, that the word cottons, at that day, was only a corruption of coatings. The first notice on this subject is by Leland, who visited Lancashire in the reign of Henry the Eighth. He says : " Bolton-upon-jNIoore market standeth most by cottons : divers villages, in the moores about Bolton, do make cottons.''^ This appa- rent proof of the early existence of the cotton manu- facture is, however, disproved by an act of Edward the Sixth (1552), entitled, "For the true making of woollen cloth;" in which it is ordered, that all the cottons called Manchester, Lancashire, and Cheshire cottons shall be of certain specified dimensions and weights, which could by no means apply to cottons, but only to coarse woollens. Camden, speaking of Manchester in 1590, says: "This town excels the towns immediately around it, in handsomeness, populousness, woollen manufactures, market-place, church, and college, but did much more excel them in the last age, as well by the glory of its woollen cloths, which they call Manchester cottons, as by the privilege of sanctuary, which the authority of parliament, under Henry the Eighth, transferred to Chester.''
It seems impossible to fix the date of the intro- duction of the cotton manufacture in England. The earliest actual record on the subject is a work pub- lished in the year 1641, called " The Treasure of Traffic/' by Lewis Roberts. Speaking of the town of INIauchester, he says, " They buy cotton icool in London, that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna,
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 21
and at home worke the same and perfect it into fus- tians, vermilUons, dimities, and other stuffes, and then return it to London, where the same is sold, and not seldom sent into forrain parts, who have means, at far easier termes, to provide themselves of the said first materials/^
It appears, therefore, that, in the year 1641, the cotton manufacture had become fairly established in Manchester, from which town not only the home trade, but the distant markets of the Levant, were supplied with several descriptions of cotton goods. The linen manufacture still continued to flourish in Manchester, and indeed linen yarn was used as the warp for fustians, and for most cotton goods in this country, down to the year 1773.
Dr. Fuller, who wrote in 1662, says that the in- habitants of Manchester, " buying the cotton wool or yarne coming from beyond the sea, make it here into fustians, to the good employment of the poor, and great improvement of the rich therein, serving mean people for their outsides, and their betters for the linino; of their garments. Bolton is the staple place for this commodity, being brought thither from all parts of the country. As for Man- chester, the cottons thereof carry away the credit in our nation, and so they did a hundred and fifty years agoe. For, when learned Leland, on the cost of King Henry the Eighth, with his guide, travailed Lancashire, he called Manchester the fairest and quickest town in this country; and sure I am it hath lost neither spruceness nor spirits since that time. Other commodities made in Manchester are so small in themselves, and various in their kinds, they will fill the shop of a haberdasher of small wares. Being, therefore, too many for me to reckon up or remember, it will be the safest way to wrap them all together in some Manchester ticlceji, and to fasten them with the pinns (to prevent their falling out and scattering), or
22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
tye them with the tcqje; and also, because sure bind, sure find, to bind them about the points and laces all made in the same place."
Mr. Baines is inclined to think, that the art was brought from Flanders by the Protestant artisans and workmen who fled from Antwerp on the capture and ruin of that great trading city, by the Duke of Parma, in 1585, and also from other cities of the Spanish Netherlands. "Great numbers of these victims of a sanguinary persecution took refuge in England, and some of them settled in Manchester ; and there is the stronger reason to suppose that the manufacture of cotton would then be commenced here, as there were restrictions and burdens on foreigners setting up business as masters in England, in the trades then carried on in this country, whilst foreigners commencing a neii' art would be exempt from those restrictions. The warden and fellows of 3Ianchester college had the wisdom to encourage the settlement of the foreign clothiers in that town, by allowing them to cut firing from their extensive woods, as well as to take the timber necessary for the construction of their looms, on paying the small sum of fourpence yearly. At that period of our history, when capital was small, and the movements of trade comparatively sluggish, a new manufacture would be likely to extend itself slowly, and to be long before it attracted the notice of authors. That a manufacture might in those days gradually take root, and acquire strength, without even for half a century being commemorated in any book that should be extant after the lapse of two centuries more, will be easily credited by those who have searched for the records of our modern improvements in the same manufiicture. If the greatest mechanical inventions, and the most stupendous commercial phenomena, have passed almost unnoticed in a day when authors were so numerous, the mere infancy of the cotton
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 23
manufacture may well have been without record in an age when the press was far less active."
EARLY METHODS OF SPINNING,
THE DISTAFF AND SPINDLE. — THE SPINNING-WHEEL.
Among the ancient Egyptians, who were so cele- brated for their fine linen, spinning was a domestic occupation common to all ranks of society ; and, in
cr,'">
MODERN EGYPTIAN SPINNING.
our own country, up to a very recent period, the spinning-wheel was an ordinary piece of domestic furniture. The term " spinster," applied to unmarried females, shows how universal was the employment of preparing thread or yarn for the weaver. Before the invention of the spinning-wheel, the distaff and rock, or spindle, were the simple instruments employed by the spinster. The distaff was a stick or reed, about a yard in length, with a fork or expansion near the top, round which the cotton was wound, being previously prepared by carding or combing. The distaff was usually held under the left arm, and
24
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
the fibres were drawn out from the projecting ball, being at the same time spirally twisted by the fore- finger and thumb of the right hand. The thread so
SPINNING WITH DISTAFF AND SPIUDLE.
produced was spun by the turning round of the spindle, and was then wound upon it until the quantity was as great as it would carry. A fresh spindle was then mounted, and those already loaded with thread were stored in a basket until a sufficient quantity were collected for the weaver.
The spindle was made of a reed, or of some light wood, and was generally from eight to twelve inches in length. At the top was a slit or clasp, for attaching the thread, so that the weight of the spindle might keep it stretched. The lower end was inserted in a whorl or wheel, made of some heavy material, which served to keep it steady and to promote its rotation. The spinner every now and then gave the spindle a fresh turn, so as to increase the twist of the thread.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 25
When the spindle touched the ground, " a length " was said to be spun, and the thread was taken out of the slit, and wound upon the spindle: the upper part was then inserted in the slit, and a new length com- menced. The Roman poet Catullus briefly mentions these particulars : —
" The loaded distaiF in the left hand placed, With spongy coils of snow-white wool was graced ; From these the right hand lengthening fibres drew. Which into thread 'neath nimble fingers grew. At intervals a gentle touch was given, By which the twirling whorl was onward driven. Then, when the sinking spindle reach'd the ground, The recent thread around its spire was wound, Until the clasp within its nipping cleft Held fast the newly-finish'd length of weft."
In ancient times the spindle and distaff were fre- quently made of some precious material, beautifully ornamented. Thus Homer has mentioned the present of a golden distaff being made to Helen ; and Theo- critus has celebrated the distaff in his twenty-eighth Idyll, on the occasion of a visit to a friend to whose wife he presented an ivory distaff. The poem begins thus : —
" 0 DISTAFF, friend to warp and woof, Minerva's gift in man's behoof. Whom careful housewives still retain, And gather to their household's gain, With me repair," &;c.
The Hindoos form their distaff of the leading shoot of some young tree, carefully peeled ; and for the spindle they select the beautiful shrub Euonymus, which has hence obtained the popular name of " the spindle-tree." With these simple implements, and by means of the exquisite touch which the Hindoos possess, are spun those delicate cotton threads from which the celebrated Indian muslins are made.
The use of the spindle and distaff was superseded in England by the spinning-wheel, in or soon after the reign of Henry the Eighth. It was probably introduced from Hindustan, where it had been in use
(5) B
26
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
HINBOO SPINNING-WHIiEL,
for ages; but domestic legends say, that it was invented by the fairies, or some supernatural power ; and, no doubt, at the time of its introduction, it was regarded as a great discovery, in which all classes of society were interested. Two kinds of household wheels have been described as long in use among spinsters ; the first is commonly called, in this country, " the big wheel," from the size of its rim, or " the wool wheel," from its being employed in the spinning of sheep's wool. The Saxony or Leipsic wheel, so called from its German origin, was used for spinning flax, and was an improvement on the old Jersey wheel, as it enabled the spinner to mount two spindles on the same wheel, so as to form a thread with each hand. The worsted Avheel was also employed to spin cotton, for which it was equally well adapted; and this it did by two distinct processes. The cotton
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 27
having been picked and cleaned, was carded or brushed with coarse wire brushes, called hand cards : the cotton being spread upon one of these, was combed with the other until the fibres were all disposed in one direction : it was then taken off in soft fleecy rolls, called cardings, each about twelve inches long, and three quarters of an inch thick. These cardings were next formed into a coarse thread or rovmg ; for which purpose one end of the carding was twisted round the spindle, and the spinster with the right hand turned the wheel which, by means of a band or cord, gave motion to the spindle ; at the same time she drew out the carding to a certain length with the left hand. The motion thus given to the carding twisted it spirally, and extended it in length. It wal then wound upon the spindle another carding was attached to it, drawn out and twisted as before, and thus was formed a continuous coarse thread or roving. By a second and similar operation, the roving was stretched and twisted into a fine strong thread,''fit to be used as weft. This double process was necessary, because the cardings could not be at once drawn into a level and even thread fine enough for the loom. The preparation of the rovings was called coarse spinning, and that of the thread fine spinning. The roving, which was about the thickness of a quill, being fastened to the spindle, was held firmly be- tween the left forefinger and thumb, at the distance of about six inches from the spindle; the wheel was then turned with the right hand, and at the same time the left hand was drawn away about half a yard, by which means the roving was drawn out into weft ; the necessary twist was then given by a few turns of the wheel ; and, lastly, the thread was wound upon the spindle into a conical shape, called a pirn or cop.
It has been already mentioned, that the more firm and even thread of flax was used for the warp. This was largely exported from Ireland, Scotland, and B 2
28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
Germany. Cotton yarns were mostly spun in the cottages of the peasantry, and gave abundant occu- pation to the female members of every poor family. The old dame, or the mother, at her spinning-wheel, forms a domestic picture which cannot be remem- bered without a feeling of regret that it has passed away for ever. It was then the custom for travelling chapmen, Avith their pack-horses, to go from door to door to purchase the cotton yarn which had been prepared ; but these sources of supply gradually became insufficient to meet the demands of the weaver, who frequently had " to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on five or six spin- ners, before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of the day ; and when he wished to Aveave a piece in a shorter time tlian usual, a new ribbon, or a gown, was necessary to quicken the exertions of the spinners."* The prices paid to the spinner Avere often so high as to take away all or most of the profits of weaving. According to Dr. Taylor,t this was the commencement of the system of infant labour; for spinning being found so profitable, every child in the cottage Avas forced to help in the process. When the father Avas a weaver and the mother a spinner, the tasks imposed on the children were often cruelly severe. Indeed, Avith the one-thread Avhecl, it Avas scarcely possible for one per- son, Avitli the greatest industry, to produce a pound of thread in a day. The goods thus manufactured were strong and coarse compared witli those now produced. The thread was very unequal, its evenness depending greatly on the delicacy of touch of the spinster, and it varied with every little difference in the draAving out of the thread, and the turns of the spindle in portions of the same length.
• Guest, History of the Cotton Manufacture. t Hand Book of Cotton, d:c., Manufactures.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 29
THE SPINNING JENNY.— HAEGEEAVES.
The method of spinning with the one-thread wheel long continued to impede the progress of the manu- facture, when, about the year 1764, was made the first mechanical invention profitably employed by manufacturers in England in spinning cotton yarn. This was the Spimiing Jenny, invented by James Hargreaves,* at Stand-hill, near Blackburn, in Lan- cashire, near the print-ground, the first and infant establishment of the late Sir Robert Peel. Hargreaves was a plain, industrious, but illiterate man, a weaver by trade, and who, in common with others of his class, felt great difiiculty in supplying his loom with yarn. The principle of his invention is precisely that
* Mr. Guest, in his History of the Cotton Manufacture, claims the invention of the spinning jenny for Thomas Highs, a reed-maker, of Leigh, in Lancashire, who, he says, completed the machine in 1763 or 1764, and named it after his daughter, whose Christian name was Jane. Mi'. Baines, howevei', thinks that some confusion has been made between the jenny and the water-frame, which is said to have been invented by Arkwright, but most probably by Highs, as will appear hereafter. Highs, undoubtedly, made jennies at a later period, and also invented adouble jenny with some new contrivances, which may have given rise to the belief that he was the original inventor. Other accounts say that the jenny was so named because it performed the work of a female.
A grandson of Hargreaves has furnished the writer with the following account of the origin of the word " Jenny." He received it from his Aunt Mary, who was one of Hargreaves's twelve children, and the first, except the inventor himself, who spun upon it. For two years after the invention she worked constantly at this machine, locked up in an upper chamber. Her mother on one occasion coming into the room, to see her spin, happened to remark, in allusion to her daughter's getting on well with her work, " Thou gins away fa- mously ! " The word gin (a contraction of engine according to John- son) is applied to many machines (such as the large drum or wheel worked by horses for drawing up out of a coal pit, &c.), and the operatives always use the singular pronoun to their equals. Hence they spoke of the process of spinning on this machine as ginning, and subsequently the machine was called a ginnij, and, eventually, was spelled jenny. Our informant further states, that the late Sir Robert Peel was the first person who was allowed to see the jenny, the in- ventor exacting a promise that he would not divulge the secret. Sir Robert saw at once the immense value of the machine, and at length succeeded in persuading Hargreaves to apply for a patent
30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
of the spinning-wheel; its merit is its greater pro- ductiveness, and it is said to have occurred to him by one of those so-called accidents which, when the mind is brooding on one particular subject, frequently occur, and lead the thoughts in the right direction ; or perhaps, we may rather say, that, at such a time, the mind is alive to the reception of any incident that may accidentally arise. Hargreaves had twelve chil- dren ; and it is related that some of them and their playmates were one day assembled at play, during the dinner hour, when a wheel at which he, or some member of the family, was spinning, was accident- ally overturned : the thread still remained in the hands of the spinner, and as the wheel was prevented by the framing from touching the floor, it still con- tinued to turn round, and to move the spindle as before, but in an upright instead of a horizontal position. Hargreaves surveyed this with mingled curiosity and attention; he expressed his surprise in loud exclamations, and continued again and again to turn the wheel as it lay on the floor with an interest which no one about him could understand. He had before attempted to spin with two or three spindles attached to ordinary wheels, holding the several threads between the fingers of the left hand, but the horizontal position of the spindles rendered the attempt ineffectual ; and the thought had not struck him till now, that if a number of spindles were placed upright, and side by side, several threads might be spun at once. He therefore constructed a frame, in one part of which were placed eight rovings in a row, and in another part a row of eight spindles. The rovings, when extended to the spindles, were made to pass between two horizontal fluted bars of wood, forming a clasp, and acting in the place of as many fingers and thumbs as there were threads. This clasp opened and shut somewhat like a parallel ruler, and when pressed together held the threads fast. A certain portion of roving being
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
31
extended from the spindles to the fluted wooden clasp, this was closed with the left hand, and then drawn along the horizontal frame to a considerable distance from the spindles, the spinner at the same time with his right hand turning a fly wheel, which caused the spindles to move rapidly round. Thus, by giving the threads the requisite twist, at the same time that they were lengthened out, the roving was
HARGREAVES'S SPINJtING JENNT.
spun into yarn. The threads were then thrown off the points of the spindles by a slight backward motion ; and, being pressed down by a " faller," the yarn was then wound upon the spindles (the quantity wound upon each spindle being termed a "cop"). On the clasp being returned to its first position, it was again opened by a simple contrivance called a " knocker off," and then a fresh length of roving was drawn out and spun as before. The number of spindles mounted in one jenny was afterwards increased from eight to eighty.
Hargreaves was perfectly satisfied with the success of his invention, and would have been content to supply his own loom with weft without telling his neighbours by what means it was produced ; for he
32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
probably suspected that so powerful a rival would be regarded with envy and ill-will. This secret, how- ever, was let out through the vanity of a female member of the family, who, on a visit to a sick friend, boasted of having spun a pound of cotton since her last visit shortly before. This was soon noised abroad, and excited so much surprise and ill-will among the spinners, that they broke into the poor inventor's cottage, destroyed the dreaded rival and most of his furniture with fire, and even threatened violence to Hargreaves himself. This compelled him to quit his native village, and he removed, in 1768, to Nottingham, wdiere INIr. Thomas James, a joiner by trade, assisted him in erecting a small spinning- mill upon the jenny plan, where he spun yarn for the hosiers with considerable success. In 1770 he took out a patent for his invention, which was already beginning to be known and appreciated among manufacturers, and soon came to be extensively pirated in Lancashire. He therefore brought actions against them for damages, when a deputation was sent to him with the oflfer of 3,000/. for permission to use his machine. Hargreaves was unfortunately ad- vised to refuse this offer, and to demand a larger sum. This was refused ; the negotiation was broken off, and the actions proceeded ; but, before they came to trial, Hargreaves' attorney was informed that, previous to the date of the patent, he had, under the pressui-e of poverty, mounted and sold several of his machines : this being sufficient in law to bar his claim to redress, the attorney abandoned the actions, and Hargreaves obtained no remuneration for an invention Avhich at the time was really a national benefit. He died in 1778, not, as many writers state, in the deepest poverty and distress, for he left his family about 500/. The youngest and only surviving daughter of Hargreaves received, about thi-ee years ago, the sum of 250/. from the " Eoyal Bounty Fund," through the hands of Sir Robert Peel.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. do
The spinning jenny soon spread through Lan- cashire, and supplied the long-felt deficiency of spin- ning hands, because by its means one woman could easily spin as much as had been formerly spun by twenty or thirty persons with the one-thread wheel. But the great and increasing demand for yarn soon reduced the spinning jenny to the same circumstances in which the distaff and spindle, and the one-thread wheel, were previously found ; and the jenny was also destined to be superseded by more powerful and productive machinery, the history of which may now be briefly sketched.
SPINNING BY EOLLEES.— AEKWEIGHT.
In every kind of spinning, whether the material be cotton, flax, or wool, it is necessary to disentangle the fibres, to draw them out, and lay them side by side, before they can be twisted into threads. This is partially done by carding, by which the cotton is combed out into a sort of fleecy riband, called a card- end, or sliver. In this state, the fibres are very loose, and not laid so parallel with each other as they require to be in machine spinning. The sliver is therefore passed between two or more pairs of small rollers placed horizontally, the upper and lower roller in each pair revolving in contact. The sliver being put between the first pair of rollers, is drawn through and compressed, whereby a de- gree of firmness is given to it ; it is then seized by the second pair, and is passed by them to the third. Now, if these three pairs of rollers all moved round equally fast, the only effect on the sliver would be to compress it ; its length and substance remaining the same as before ; but if the second pair of rollers be made to revolve three, four, or even ten times faster than the first pair, it is evident that the cotton must be drawn out three, four, or ten times smaller than when delivered from the first pair of rollers. By B 3
34 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
passing the sliver through other pairs of rollers acting on the same principle, it is at length properly extended and compressed, and the fibres are laid parallel and continuous ; the sliver is then connected with a spindle and fly, the rapid revolutions of which twist it into a thread, and then wind it upon a bobbin. The importance of these beautiful contrivances will be better seen hereafter ; the present object being to complete the history of the cotton manufacture.
Sir Richard Arkwright is generally named as the inventor of the method of spinning by rollers. It has, however, been proved that the invention was the subject of a patent thirty years before Arkwright had even conceived it. The inventor, it is true, does not seem to have been aware of the value of his in- vention, for it was abandoned almost as soon as made; it was taken up by another mechanist, and again abandoned ; it was attempted a third time, and suc- ceeded ; but the success was due in great measure to the genius of Arkwright, who improved upon the crude idea of the invention (which was all that he seems ever to have received), and to the steady perseverance with which he carried out and completed the idea amidst difficulties from which most men would have turned aside.
John Wyatt, of Birmingham, about the year 1738, invented a machine for spinning by rollers on the principle just explained, in which year it was patented in the name of Wyatt's partner, Lewis Paul, a foreigner. Wyatt's name appears only as a witness to the specification of the patent, but there is evidence that "Wyatt was really the inventor. Cotton yarn was spun by this machine in 17-il, and for a year or two afterwards ; it was then given up. It was revived again, and a new patent taken out by Paul in 1758, but the success seems to have been small. In 1767, it is said that Highe, or Highs, made a machine on similar principles; that he employed a clockmaker, named Kay, to assist him in the brass
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 35
work, and that this Kay Informed Arkwright of the invention, who immediately took it in hand, and with Kay's assistance succeeded in perfecting the machine.
Whether these particulars are strictly true as regards Highs may admit of some doubt ; for they rest simply upon the evidence of Highs and Kay on a trial in which Arkwright' s patent was disputed, in 1785. There is no doubt whatever on the subject of Wyatt's patent, for the specification Is still in existence ; and this deprives Arkwright of the claim to the original invention ; but as his influence on the progress and prosperity of the cotton manufacture was all Important, a sketch of his career may not be uninteresting in this place.
Richard Arkwright was born at Preston, in Lan- cashire, on the 23d December, 1732. He was the youngest of thirteen children, and, as his parents were poor, his education, as may be supposed, was of a vei*y humble character. He was apprenticed to a barber, and at that time was scarcely able to write. Little or nothing is known of his early years, except that, in 1760, he set up in business for himself at Bolton, where he either discovered or read of a chemical process for dyeing hair ; he therefore began to travel about for the purpose of collecting hair, which he dyed and disposed of to the wig-makers, a profitable occupation at that time, when wigs were so commonly worn. In 1761 he married a wife from Leigh, and the connexions he formed In that town are supposed to have led to much of his after knowledge. At any rate, living, as he did, In the midst of a manu- facturing population, and travelling about from place to place, he must have frequently witnessed the shifts to which the weavers were exposed for want of a proper supply of yarn ; and being himself of a mecha- nical turn, his mind would naturally be alive to any hints or suggestions for making the existing spinning machinery more productive. He was so fond of experiments in mechanics that he is said to have
SQ ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
injured his business in pursuing them. He was engaged in attempts to discover the perpetual motion, and employed Kay, the clockmaker, at Warrington, to bend some wires and turn some pieces of brass for the purpose; this was in 1767. During his frequent conversations with Kay, he became acquainted with Highs' scheme of spinning by rollers, and Kay states that he actually showed Arkwright a model of Highs' machine. Imperfectly as the principle of this machine was as yet developed, Arkwright appears at once to have felt its importance ; for he abandoned every- thing else, and from this time devoted himself with wonderful constancy and perseverance to the perfect- ing and completing of the spinning-machine. He per- suaded Kay to join him, not as partner, but as servant, and bound him in a bond to serve him at a certain rate of w^ages. Kay not being able to make the whole machine, Arkwright went with him to Mr. Peter Atheron, an instrument-maker, and asked him to complete it ; but, from the poverty of Arkwright's appearance, he refused to do so ; he agreed, however, to place at Kay's disposal a smith and a watch tool- maker, to make the heavier parts of the machine, and Kay was to make the clockmaker's part, and instruct the workmen. By these means Arkwright's first engine, for which he afterwards took out a patent, was made. Being destitute of money to prosecute his invention, he went to Preston, his native place, and appHed to Mr. Smalley, the head-master ol" the Free Grammar School, for assistance, who, being convinced of the utility of the machine, at once gave it ; and the spinning-machine was fitted up in the parlour of the house belono-ino; to the school. It is mentioned as a proof of Arkwright's poverty, that having to vote at the contested election which occurred durino- his stay in Preston, his clothes were in so tattered a condition, that a number of persons subscribed to put him in a decent plight to appear at the poll room.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 37
Lest he should expose himself to the outcry against machinery which had been raised by Hargreaves' spinning jenny, Arkwright, accompanied by Smalley and Kay, removed to Nottingham, whither Hargreaves had gone before, so that this town became the nur- sery of the two most important inventions in the cotton manufacture. They applied to Messrs. Wright, the bankers, for a loan of money, which was granted on condition of sharing in the profits of the invention ; but as the machine did not advance towards perfec- tion so rapidly as the bankers wished, they recom- mended Arkwright to seek other assistance, and named Mr. Samuel Need, of Nottingham, the partner of Mr. Jedediah Strutt, of Derby, the improver and patentee of the stocking-frame, Avho, seeing Ark- wright's machine, declared it to be an admirable invention, only wanting the better fitting of some of the wheels to each other. Both Need and Strutt immediately entered into partnership with Arkwright; the machine was soon perfected, and patented in 1769. In the specification, he says, that he " had by great study and long application invented a new piece of machinery never before found out, practised, or used for the making of weft or yarn from cotton, fiax, and wool; which would be of great utility to a great many manufacturers, as well as to his Majesty's sub- jects in general, by employing a great number of poor persons in working the said machinery^ and by making the said weft or yarn much superior in quality to any ever heretofore manufactured or made."
The partners now erected a mill at Nottingham for the new machines : the machinery was at first turned by horses, but this being found too expensive, they built another mill, on a much larger scale, at Cromfbrd, in Derbyshire, which was worked by a water-wheel; and hence the spinning-machinery was called the icater- frame, and the yarn produced by it water-tioist^ a name which still continues to be applied to similar yarn.
The first great and important improvement intro-
38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
ducecl by the new machine was the production of a firm, hard thread fit for warps. Linen warps were now abandoned, and goods woven altogether of cotton were for the first time manufactured in this country. Calico, in imitation of the Indian fabric of that name, was also made.
The jenny was well adapted for weft spinning, so that the two machines were brought Into use together, and aided and assisted each other.
The effect of these improvements In Increasing the trade of the country, and multiplying and cheapening cotton goods for all classes of the people, might have been expected to ensure general favour and protection for them. It Is painful to find that the Lancashire manufacturers were the first to oppose Arkwright's inventions : they combined together and refused to buy his yarns, although admitted to be superior to all others. His manufacture of calico was becoming every day of more importance, but this was suddenly stopped. In consequence of the officers of Excise refusing to let them pass at the usual duty of threepence per yard, insisting upon sixpence, as being Indian goods, although manufactured in England: when printed, the goods were prohibited altogether. A very considerable stock of goods thus accumulated, but they could not be sold, and the orders which were received every day could not be executed. Applica- tion to the Commissioners of Excise was without success. The partners, therefore, applied to Parlia- ment for relief, which, after much expense, and In spite of a strong opposition of the Lancashire manufac- turers, they obtained. An act was passed allowing the manufacture of calico ; and to distinguish this from Indian or foreign calico, it was enacted, that " there shall be wove in the Avarp In both selvages, through the whole length thereof, three blue stripes, each stripe of one thread only," and stamped with the words British Maimf actor jj.
For some years the manufacture was hindered by
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 39
the imperfections of the machinery employed to pre- pare the cotton for the water-frame. Arkwright exerted himself to improve these machines, and suc- ceeded in making them worthy to be associated with the beautiful machine which had cost him so much anxiety. Indeed, the whole of the cotton manufacture is indebted to him for a laro;e number of
• • •
valuable improvements, if not inventions ; and those who rest his fame solely upon the invention of spin- ning by rollers are but little acquainted with his genius. He was the first person that ever erected a cotton-mill, and formed a distinct idea of all the processes that were to be carried on within it. He was able, in one view, to see all the changes which the fibres must undergo from the tangled wool to the finished thread, and when any Imperfection was dis- covered in his yarn, he could In a moment state which of the processes through which it had gone was the cause of the defect.
The carding of cotton had hitherto been performed in a very rude manner by /«a/icZ-cards, as already described. The first great improvement in this pro- cess was the introduction of the " stock-cards," used in the wollen manufacture. These were of much larger size, and one of them being fixed to a table, while the other was huns^ from the ceilino;, a grreater quantity of work was produced with more ease to the carder. In 1748, the first grand step towards the present cardlng-machine was made by Lewis Paul ; but the merit of perfecting it belongs to Arkwright. He combined the various improvements made by other men, added some of his own, and produced a complete machine, so well calculated for the pur- pose, that the principle has not been improved upon to the present day.
The various admirable contrivances of Arkwright will be better understood when we enter upon the details of the manufacture. It will be sufficient here to state that, in December 17 7 5, he took out a second
40 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
patent for a series of machinesj including carding, drawing, and roving machines, which he claimed as his own. Each machine was probably a skilful com- bination of the separate inventions of other men ; but the effect on the cotton manufacture was not the less decided. Yarn could now be had in any quantity, and at a price lower than it had ever been known. The shuttle flew with fresh energy ; weavers earned high wages, and fresh spinning-mills were erected to supply yarn. The fame of Arkwright was completely established; numbers of manufacturers flocked to buy his patent machines, or licences to use them. In 1782, it was calculated that upwards of five thousand persons were employed in the manufactories of Ark- wright and his partners alone.
The origin of the factory system is generally referred to this period, although a few silk-mills had existed from the time of Sir Thomas Lombe, who, in 1719, erected a mill on the Derwent, at Derby, on the model of those he had seen in Italy. Hitherto cotton had been prepared at the homes of the work- men, with such simple machines as the hand or stock- cards, the spinning-wheel, and the loom. This was part of the ordinary furniture of the cottages of the manufacturing districts. When the spinning jenny got into use, and the number of spindles was greatly increased, a workshop was added to the cottage. But Arkwright' s machines required more space than a cottage could furnish, and more force than the human arm could supply ; their weight also needed strongly built mills, which it was found could not be worked to advantage except by water-power (for the steam- engine of Watt was not yet perfected) ; the im- provements in them had also introduced a greater number of processes, and a more marked division of labour.
Ai'kwright"s first mill, built in 1771, at Cromford, was described by Dr. Darwin in the following poetical lansuaG:e : —
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 41
" Where Derwent guides his duskj' floods, Through vaulted mountains and a night of woods, The nymph Gossypia treads the velvet sod, And warms with rosy smiles the wat'ry god ; His pond'rous oars to slender spindles turns. And pours o'er massy wheels his foaming urns; With playful charms her hoary lover wins. And wields his trident while the Monarch spins. First, with nice eye, emerging Naiades cull Prom leathery pods the vegetable wool ; With wiry teeth revolving cards release The tangled knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece : Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine. Combs the wide card, and forms th' eternal line ; Slow with soft lips the whirling can acquires The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires : With quicken'd pace successive rollers move, And these retain, and those extend, the rove: Then fly the spokes, the rapid axles glow, While slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below."
The triumphant success of Arkwright excited the jealousy of his fellow-manufacturers ; and, as the idea was very common in Lancashire that he was not really the inventor of the various machines for which he had obtained patents, many manufacturers set up his machines without obtaining his licence. To vindicate his claims, he brought nine actions against as many persons in 1781. The Lancashire spinners formed an association among themselves to defend these actions, only one of which came to trial, and that was for infringing the second patent. The defence was confined to a single point, — namely, that the specification, or description of the invention, which he had enrolled, did not comply Avith the terms required by law, — that it should contain such a full and clear account of the invention as would enable any one to take advantage of it, after the expiration of the term for which the patent was granted. On this ground a verdict was given for the defendant ; the other actions were then abandoned, and thus this profitable patent was thrown open to the public.
For a long time Arkwright allowed this verdict to remain undisputed ; but, conceiving he had a claim to
42 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
a national reward for the great inventions which he had perfected, he published a pamphlet, entitled, "The Case of Mr. Richard Arkwright and Co., in relation to Mr. Arkwright's Invention of an Engine for spin- ning Cotton, &c. into Yarn ; stating his Reasons for applying to Parliament for an Act to secure his Right to such Invention, or for such other Relief as to the Legislature shall seem meet." In this pamphlet he urged his claim to the invention of the several machines already noticed; spoke of his successful efforts to establish a new system of spinning, and his introduction of the calico manufacture in spite of opposition and jealousy ; all wdiich entitled him to the gratitude of the nation. He then spoke of his wrongs ; the extensive piracy of his machines ; and contended that it could not be supposed that he meant a fraud on his country by the obscurity of his speci- fication. On the contrary, his object was to benefit his country by preventing the introduction of such imjjortant machines into other countries ; " in pre- venting of Avhich evil, he had purposely omitted to give so full and particular a description of his in- ventions in his specification as he otherwise would have done." He prayed that the Legislature would " confirm, connect, and consolidate the two letters patent, so as to preserve to him the full benefit of his invention for the remainder of the term yet to come in the last patent." In this request he was, in fact, asking for an immense reward, — no less than the patent right of all the machines, which were now most extensively used, to be continued to him for eight years longer. He did not, however, apply to Parliament ; probably because he knew that success was hopeless; but he no doubt thought to engage the public sympathy in his favour by the publication of his case.
In 1785 he again sought to establish his second patent, by bringing an action for its infringement. The cause was tried in the Court of Common Pleas,
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 43
and he endeavoured to show that the machines were sufficiently described in his specification. The judge, Lord Loughborough, also supporting this view, Ark- wright obtained a verdict. This excited considerable alarm among the Lancashire spinners, who imme- diately applied to the Lord Chancellor for a writ to try the validity of the patent. This was granted, and the cause came on in the Court of King's Bench, on the 25th of June, 1785, before Mr. Justice Buller and a special jury. The patent was opposed on four grounds: — 1. That it was a great inconvenience to the public. 2. That the inventions were not new at the time when the patent was granted. 3. That Ark- wright had no claim to the inventions ; and 4. That be had not disclosed the inventions in the specifica- tion. These grounds were supported by a number of witnesses, among whom were Highs and Kay, to prove that the former had invented the spinning by rollers, which had been communicated to Arkwright by the latter. Thus a strong case was made out against the patent, which was but feebly met by Arkwright; his patent was therefore set aside, and his application for a new trial refused.
It has been already stated that Wyatt was the original inventor of spinning by rollers : but there is no evidence that Arkwright had ever seen or heard of Wyatt's machine, which, although it deprives Ark- wright of his claim to the invention of the principle, also deprives of that honour the men upon whose evidence Arkwright lost his cause. It is not denied that Wyatt's machine and Highs' model were very imperfect, and that Arkwright had to perfect the details, and make the invention practicable and pro- fitable. Whatever the merits of the case may be, there can be no doubt that the setting aside of the patent Avas a great national advantage ; for the manu- facture soon acquired an extent and importance which could not have occurred had it continued to be a monopoly. Arkwright himself had his full share in
44 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
the general prosperity : his numerous concerns were managed with great skill, and wealth poured in upon him from all sides. During several years he fixed the price of cotton twist, and all other spinners con- formed to his prices. Honours, too, were not wanting. In 1786 he was appointed high-sheriff of Derbyshire, and having to present an address of congratulation from that county to his Majesty King George the Third, on his escape from the attempt of Margaret Nicholson on his life, he was knighted. He died at his house at Cromford, 3d of August, 1792, in the sixtieth year of his age.
In estimating the character of Arkwright, Mr. Baines is inclined to think that his inventive talents have been over-estimated. *' In improving and per- fecting mechanical inventions ; in exactly adapting them to the purposes for which they were intended; in arranging a comprehensive system of manufacturing, and in conducting vast and complicated concerns, he displayed a bold and fertile mind, and consummate judgment, which, when his want of education and the influence of an employment so extremely un- favourable to mental expansion as that of his previous life are considered, must have excited the astonish- ment of mankind. * * * The most marked traits in the character of Arkwright were his wonderful ardour, energy, and perseverance. He commonly laboured in his multifiirious concerns from five in the morning till nine at night ; and when considerably more than fifty years of age, — feeling that the defects of- his education placed him under great difficulties and inconvenience in conducting his correspondence, and in the general management of his business, — he encroached upon his sleep in order to gain an hour each day to learn English grammar, and another hour to improve his writing and orthography."
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 45
THE MULE JENNY.— CROMPTON.
While Arkwrlght was pursuing his prosperous course, another untaught genius was working in obscurity to produce a machine, which in productive power and quality of work lias rivalled, and even surpassed, the v>'ater-frame.
When the cotton-spinners attempted to produce fine qualities of yarn, the machines of Hargreaves and Arkwright were found to be not well adapted for the purpose. The water-frame spun twist for warps; but the pull of the rollers broke thread of fine quality, while winding itself upon the bobbins. The happy thought occurred to a weaver, of the name of Samuel Crompton, that by combining the principles of the roller spinning of Arkwright with the jenny spinning of Hargreaves, the objections which applied to them separately might be got rid of. By a per- fectly original contrivance this union was effected, and the machine resulting from it was called " the mule," or "the mule jenny." Its distinguishing feature was that the spindles instead of being sta- tionary, as in both the other machines, were placed on a moveable carriage, or " mule," which was wheeled out to the distance of about five feet, in order to stretch and twist the thread, and wheeled in again to wind it on the spindles.
The author of this invention lived at a beautiful and retired spot near Bolton, called Hall-in-the- Wood. He was not above twenty-one years of age when he began to think about his invention. He had no sooner formed a clear idea of it in his own mind, than he proceeded to execute it himself, with such tools as he could afford to purchase out of his little earnings. The machine was completed in 1779. "At the end of the following year," he says, "I was under the necessity of making it public, or destroying it, as it was not in my power to keep it and work it ; and to destroy it was too painful a task, having been four and a half years, at least, wherein every moment of
46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
time and power of mind, as well as expense, which my other employment would permit, were devoted to this one end, the having good yam to weave ; so that to destroy it, I could not."
It appears, then, that the object of the Inventor of this beautiful contrivance was merely to supply his own loom with good yarn; he took out no patent, and only regretted that public curiosity Avould not allow him to enjoy his little invention undisturbed in his attic : but the very superior quality of his yarn attracted persons from all quarters to see how he produced it, and they even climbed up to his windows to watch him at work. He erected a screen to pre- vent this, but the annoyance was so great, that he found it impossible to enjoy the fruits of his labour in quiet ; he was, therefore, induced to lay the Avhole thing before a number of gentlemen and others, who subscribed a guinea each to look at it. He thus raised about fifty pounds, which enabled him to construct another machine, which was larger and more perfect than the first.
Crompton's machine was for some time called the " Hall-in-the-wood wheel,^^ and also the *' muslin wheel," because it made yarn fine enough for muslins. Indeed, at a time when no other machinery could produce yarn of more than forty hanks to the pound, Crompton spun eighties.*
* Yam is named after the number of hanks, each containing 840 yards, -which weigh a pound. In Crompton's time, eighty hanks to the pound was thought a wonderful achievement ; but such hare been the improvements in the machinery, that Mr. Houldsworth, of Man- chester, has produced yarn of the number 460. So that, 460 hanks in the pound, at 840 yards to the hank, gives a length of 386,400 yards, or nearly 220 miles. This, however, is an unusually high number ; 300 being the usual limit of fineness.
It is also remarkable to notice the effect of improved machinery on the prices of the yam. Crompton received fourteen shillings per pound, for the spinning and preparation of No. 40 ; he afterwards got twenty- five shillings for No. 60, and he spun No. 80 at forty-two shillings.
At the present day, No. 100 is commonly produced at from two shillings and three-pence to three shillings the pound, including from ten-pence to twelve-pence, the cost of the raw material. But for such high numbers as 460, the yam is worth more than a guinea an ounce.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 47
As Crompton's invention was not protected by any patent, it was used not only by the great manufac- turers of his neighbourhood, but soon by weavers, and also by persons Avho had no connexion with spin- ning or weaving. " The art of spinning on Crompton's machine/' says Mr. Kennedy, "was tolerably well known, from the circumstance of the high wages that could be obtained by those working on it above the ordinary wages of other artizans, such as shoe- makers, joiners, hatmakers, &c., who on that account left their previous employment ; and to them might be applied the fable of the town in a state of siege. For if in the course of their working the machine there was any little thing out of gear, each workman endeavoured to fill up the deficiency with some ex- pedient suggested by his former trade. The smith suggested a piece of iron, the shoemaker a welt of leather, &c., all which had a good effect in improving the machine. Each put what he thought best to the experiment, and that which was good was retained."
Although the mule was thus getting into extensive use, yet the inventor did not profit by the immense advantages it was conferring on the manufacture. In the year 1812, however, some gentlemen of Man- chester got up a memorial to Government, which was numerously signed, stating Crompton's claims, and the result was a parliamentary grant of the clear sum of 5,0001. He employed this in establishing his sons in the bleaching business ; but from various unfortunate circumstances they failed, and Crompton was again reduced to poverty. His friend and bio- grapher, Mr. Kennedy, again exerted himself to raise a subscription, with which a small annuity was pur- chased ; but he did not live to enjoy it more than two years. He died in the year 1827.
Crompton's first mule did not carry more than twenty or thirty spindles; double mules are now sometimes made carrying 1,100 each, or 2,200 the pair ; one spinner being competent to manage them. Indeed, the mule is capable of doing so
48 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
much work that it seemed likely at one time to svipersede all other methods of spimiing; but when the power-loom came into use, twist for warps was required of that superior strength and wiry- smoothness which the water-frame produced : it was therefore remodelled, and a simpler and improved machine joroduced, requiring less power to drive it than the water-frame. The new machine was called a throstle, probably from its singing sound.
The progress of improvement has been such, that self-acting mules are now constructed. Mechanism rolls the spindle-carriage out and in at the proper speed, and winds the yarn on the cops ; the only manual labour required being to join the broken threads, and keep the machine in order.
There are other machines and contrivances now in use in the cotton manufacture, which will be noticed as we go through the process. The spirit of improve- ment is so untiring, that it has been impossible in this brief sketch to do more than notice a few of the most distinguished inventors wdio led the way, and made the path of improvement easy to their successors.
HALL-IN-IHE-WOOD, NEAR BOLTON.
THE USEFUL ARTS
AND
MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. Part II.
The locality of a manufacture is usually determined by the facility with which water-power, fuel, and iron can be obtained ; for, where they are abundant, machinery can be made and put in motion at small cost : and, in this respect, many parts of Lancashire and its neighbourhood are highly favoured. There is perhaps no spot of ground in the world more advantageously situated for manufactures than the tract lying between the Ribble and the Mersey. The neighbouring hills pour down a number of rapid streams, which furnish water-power to many hundred mills, feed navigable canals, supply water for scour- ing, ialeaching, printing, dyeing, and other processes. The river Irwell is said to be " the hardest worked river in the universe ; " for, besides washing, bleaching, dyeing, &c., it is calculated to move, with its tribu- taries, not fewer than three hundred water-wheels, some of which are of very large size. South Lanca- shire is rich in coal fields, which are worked with great ease and economy; the neighbouring counties furnish abundance of iron; the great sea-port of Liverpool supplies the raw material, and exports the beautiful fabrics produced in this industrious district.* Here it is that the cotton factories are principally situated, — those stupendous buildings which fill the
* A considerable quantity of manufactured cotton goods is also exported from the ports of London, Hull, Bristol, and Newcastle- upon-Tyne.
(6) A 2
4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
mind with astonishment, until their internal arrange- ments are inspected and understood, and then with admiration and delight. Whether the power be steam or water, the plan of the building is the same. A cotton factory is a huge square structure, often containing seven or eight stories, the rooms of which may be two or three hundred feet in length, lighted by numerous windows, which have a singularly pic- turesque appearance by night, when seen from with- out. " The operations carried on within its walls," says Mr. Baines, "are numerous, and every one of them is performed by machiner}^ without the help of human hands, except merely in transferring the material from one machine to another. It is by iron lingers, teeth and wheels, moving with exhaustless energy and devouring speed, that the cotton is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, drawn, roved, spun, wound, warped, dressed, and woven. The various machines are proportioned to each other, in regard to their capability of Avork, and they are so placed in the mill as to allow the material to be carried from stage to stage with the least possible loss of time. All are moving at once, tlie operations chasing each other ; and all derive their motion from the mighty engine, which, firmly seated in the lower part of the building, and constantly fed with water and fuel, toils through the day wdth the strength of perhaps a hun- dred horses. Men, in the meanwhile, have merely to attend on this wonderful series of mechanism, to supply it with work, to oil its joints, and to check its shght and unfrequent irregularities ; each work- man performing, or rather superintending, as much work as could have been done by two or three hun- dred men sixty years ago. At the approach of darkness, the building is illuminated by jets of flame, whose brilliance mimics the light of day, the produce pf an invisible vapour generated on the spot. When it is remembered that all these inventions have been made within the last seventy years, it must be ac-
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 5
knowledged that the cotton mill presents the most striking example of the dominion obtained by human science over the powers of nature, of which modern times can boast. That this vast aggregate of impor- tant discoveries and inventions should, with scarcely an exception, have proceeded from English genius, must be a reflection highly satisfactory to every Enolishman."
SORTING THE COTTON, WILLOWING, BATTING, BLOWING, AND LAPPING.
The importers of cotton employ certain brokers in Liverpool, who set a value upon the sample, and find purchasers to any amount. The buyers, who are the spinners all over the country, and the Man- chester cotton dealers, also employ brokers to make their purchases. The brokers charge, both to seller and buyer, a commission of ten shillings for every hundred pounds worth of cotton.
The cotton is seldom unpacked until it arrives at the mill, the purchases being all managed by samples. When it is unpacked, the first thing to be clone is the sorting, and in this much care and skill are required ; for the different bags furnish different qualities of cotton, and it is necessary to produce yarn of uniform quality, at the cheapest rate. In order, therefore, to equalize the different qualities, the contents of all the bags are mixed together in the following manner. A space being cleared and marked out on the floor, the cotton contained in the first bag is scattered over this space, so as exactly to cover it ; the contents of the second bag are, in like manner, spread over the first, and the cotton in all the other bags is disposed in a similar manner ; men and boys tread down the heap, which is called a bing or bunker, until at length it rises up in shape and dimensions very much like a large hay-stack. Whenever a supply of cotton is
^.%,^&^f- ^ fe^n^.l^t ^^^IL^yL^^^
6
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
taken from the bing, it is torn down with a rake from top to bottom, by which means it is evident the con- tents of the different basjs are collected toojether in a mass of uniform quality and colour. In mixing different qualities of cotton, it is usual to bring toge- ther such only as have a similar length of staple. A portion of the waste cotton of the mill is also mixed in the bing, for making the lower qualities of yarn. For higher numbers, as well as for warps, a finer quality of cotton must be selected ; and thus it will be seen that the formation of the bing is an important operation, the quality of the goods pro- duced depending upon it.
In this state the cotton contains sand, dirt, and other impurities, and the fibres are matted together by the presure they were subjected to in packing. To open the fibres, and get rid of the sand, &c., the cotton is put into a machine called a willow. This consists of a box or case, containing a conical wooden beam, studded over with iron spikes: this beam is made to turn round five or six hundred times in a minute. The cotton, as it is torn down from the bing, is put in at one end of the machine, where it is caught by the spikes, tossed about and shaken with great violence, and gradually driven forward to the other end. The sand and other heavy im- purities fall out of the machine, through an open grating at the bottom ; tlie dust and lighter matters pass off through a series of wire openings, and the cleaned cotton is sent down a shoot into the room below.
If the cotton is of fine quality, it is beaten, or batted, with hazel or holly twigs. For this purpose it is spread upon a frame, the upper part of which is made of cords, and is quite elastic. A woman, with a rod about three or four feet long in each hand, beats the cotton with great violence, pi'oducing a similar effect to the bow-string of the Hindoo. Any loose impurities which remain fall out between the cords ;
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THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. '
seeds, and fragments of seed -pods, which adhere to the cotton somewhat firmly, are picked out by hand. By this method, the tangled locks disappear, the cotton is thoroughly opened, and made quite clean, without injuring the staple.
The coarser qualities are passed at once from the willow to the scutching or blowing machine, which does the work of batting, only in a more violent man- ner, and is, therefore, not adapted for fine qualities ; but, in coarser spinning, is in general use to pre- pare the cotton for the carding-engine, as was the case at one of the mills visited by the writer. The cotton, as it was shot down from the willow, was received upon an endless band, called a creeper, in- geniously covered with laths of wood moving upon rollers : it supplied cotton to the various blowing- machines placed at equal distances across a long room. Each machine was attended by two lads, one of whom weighed a portion of the cotton, while the other spread it upon an endless band employed to feed the machine. This band was also formed of laths, placed crossways and fastened together, in
6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
taken from the bing, it is torn down with a rake from top to bottom, by which means it is evident the con- tents of the different bags are collected together in a mass of uniform quality and colour. In mixing different qualities of cotton, it is usual to bring toge- ther such only as have a similar length of staple. A portion of the waste cotton of the mill is also mixed in the bing, for making the lower qualities of yarn. For higher numbers, as well as for warps, a finer quality of cotton must be selected ; and thus it will be seen that the formation of the bino^ is an important operation, the quality of the goods pro- duced depending upon it.
In this state the cotton contains sand, dirt, and other impurities, and the fibres are matted together by the presure they were subjected to in packing. To open the fibres, and get rid of the sand, &c., the cotton is put into a machine called a willow. This consists of a box or case, containing a conical wooden beam, studded over with iron spikes : this beam is made to turn round five or six hundred times in a minute. The cotton, as it is torn down from the bing, is put in at one end of the machine, where it is caught by the spikes, tossed about and shaken with great violence, and gradually driven forward to the other end. The sand and other heavy im- purities fall out of the machine, through an open grating at the bottom ; the dust and lighter matters pass off through a series of wire openings, and the cleaned cotton is sent down a shoot into the room below.
If the cotton is of fine quality, it is beaten, or batted, with hazel or holly twigs. For this purpose it is spread upon a frame, the upper part of which is made of cords, and is quite elastic. A woman, with a rod about three or four feet long in each hand, beats the cotton with great violence, producing a similar effect to the bow-string of the Hindoo. Any loose impurities which remain fall out between the cords ;
THE MA^'UFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. '
seeds, and fragments of seed-pods, which adhere to the cotton somewhat firmly, are picked out by hand. By this method, the tangled locks disappear, the cotton is thoroughly opened, and made quite clean, without injuring the staple.
BATTIKG.
The coarser qualities are passed at once from the willow to the scutching or blowing machine, which does the work of batting, only in a more violent man- ner, and is, therefore, not adapted for fine qualities ; but, in coarser spinning, is in general use to pre- pare the cotton for the carding-engine, as was the case at one of the mills visited by the writer. The cotton, as it was shot down from the willow, was received upon an endless band, called a creeper, in- geniously covered with laths of wood moving upon rollers : it supplied cotton to the various blowing- machines placed at equal distances across a long room. Each machine was attended by two lads, one of whom weighed a portion of the cotton, while the other spread it upon an endless band employed to feed the machine. This band was also formed of laths, placed crossways and fastened together, in
8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
preference to cloth, which is apt to sink along the middle, and thus feed the machine irregularly. Two or three of the laths were painted black, for the pur- pose of dividing the surface of the feeder into two or three equal parts. The feeder being constantly urged, with a slow motion, towards the mouth of the machine, it was the duty of the attendant, as soon as a black lath appeared, to begin to spread the weighed quantity of cotton, and to make it cover the whole surface until another black lath appeared : he was then ready to spread another weight of cotton. Thus, while one part of the feeder is constantly supplying the insatiable appetite of the machine, another part returns for a fresh supply. As soon as the cotton enters the jaws of the machine, it is seized by two rollers, and immediately exposed to the blows of a batting-army or beater, which is turned round with great velocity within a kind of drum, of which the arms of the beater form the diameter. The solid impurities fall through a grating, but the dust and lighter mat- ters are sucked up through a shoot, in which the air is rarefied by a revolving fan. The wind produced by the batting-arm drives the light cotton filaments onward, where they are assaulted by another batting- arm : they are again urged forward, and blown with tolerable regularity over the surface of a wire gauze drum, Avhich is constantly revolving. Beneath this drum, and in close contact with it, is an endless band moving on rollers, which receives the cotton, and conveys it out of the machine. The pressure of the drum upon the band condenses the cotton into a filmy sheet ; that is, the fibres cling together sufficiently to allow the cotton to be wound upon an iron rod as it leaves the machine, and in this state it is called a lap. The advantage of this is, that a uniform thickness can be presented to the carding-engine, which is a necessary condition.
In spinning fine yarns, this method of preparing the laps does not answer so well as forming them by
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
9
hand. This practice was introduced by Arkwright, and it is done in various ways. In Mr. Houldsworth's mill, at the time of the writer's visit, the following method was adopted : — A boy was furnished with two qualities of cotton, contained in separate baskets: from one of these he took a certain quantity, and put it, together with a weight which hung from the beam of the scale, into the pan until the scale went down ; the weight was then taken out, and its equivalent
'ili
FORMING LAPS BY HAND.
made up from the second basket.* The cotton thus weighed was taken to a canvas strip, one half of which was extended along a kind of frame near the wall, while the other half rested on the floor. The
* By this method cotton of various degrees of fineness may be mixed in any proportion. Suppose, for example, the manufacturer wishes to produce yarn from two qualities of cotton in the proportion of 3 of one to 2 of the other. The large scale will be Ij or -j. He first puts a small weight equal to f into the scale pan, with the first lot of cotton, and thus gets f of the quantity required ; then taking out the weight he adds cotton from the second basket, to 'the value of i or i.
a3
10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
lad distributed the cotton over this cloth, batting and slightly raising it with a rod, and then flattening it with a kind of fan formed by the union of five rods. The boy then rolled upon an iron spindle the portion of the
PANS USED IN BATTING , , 1 • 1 1 •
AND LAPPING. cloth covcreQ with cotton, and, in doing so, dragged upon the frame the remaining half, which was in like manner covered with cotton, and rolled up. The laps thus formed were placed in a heap in the lower part of the frame, ready for the carding-engine. In forming these laps the greatest precision is required, because the size of the yarn to be produced depends upon the quantity of cotton spread over a given surface, and any irregularity in the spreading is likely to interfere with the uniform tliickness of the yarn. As the cotton varies slightly in weight, according as the weather is wet or dry, it is sometimes usual to weigh it with a cotton weight, formed by packing a quantity of cotton into a hollow copper tube or ball, pierced with holes. As this weight is about as much affected by changes in the weather as the cotton itself, an equality is thus pre- served in forming the laps.
CARDING.
The cotton, which is still in a confused and tan- gled state, has now to be carded, upon the regularity and perfection of which process depends much of the success of spinning, and also of the beauty and dura- bility of the stuff to be woven. It has been already explained, that a cotton card is a sort of brush, containing wires instead of bristles. The cards are made of bands or fillets of leather,* pierced with
* By a recent improvement, the cards are formed of alternate layers of cotton, linen, and Indian-rubber.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 11
numerous holes, in which are fixed bent pieces of iron wire, called dents or teeth. Each piece of wire, by being bent, forms two teeth ; thus : \\ these must be of equal size and shape ; they '-' must stand at equal distances, and be equally inclined to the curved surface of the drum, round which the cards are to be lapped. The leather must also be of the same thickness throughout, or the teeth will not stand at precisely the same height.
When cards were made by hand, it was quite im- possible to comply with these conditions, all of which are necessary to good carding. Much ingenuity has been exercised in producing a card-making machine, which the writer had an opportunity of inspecting at the works of Messrs. Curtis and Co., at Manchester ; but it would be impossible, in this little treatise, to give more than a general idea of this wonderful piece of mechanism. The leather is first prepared by a ma- chine, which cuts it into sheets and fillets of the proper length and breadth ; each fillet is wetted and stretched to its full extent, so as to produce an even surface ; it is then passed between rollers, against a nicely- adjusted knife-edge, which shaves it down to a per- fectly uniform thickness. The fillet is then wound upon a roller, and made to pass between two guide- rollers, to a receiving-roller above the card-making machine, when the fillet is held fast, and stretched by a clamp. The wire of which the teeth are to be made is supplied from a drum placed at the side.
Matters being thus arranged the machine per- forms its work in the following order : — Two prickers advance, and make two holes in the surface of the leather ; a pair of sliding pincers next seize the wire, and wind off from the drum a length exactly suffi- cient for two teeth ; a tongue of steel holds this piece of wire exactly in the middle, while a knife advances and cuts it off from that part of the wire held in the pincers. Steel fingers next advance, bend the piece of wire just cut off, and carry it
12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
forward to the holes previously made by the prickers. The points of the wire are seized on the opposite side of tlie leather, and a bar rises up and bends the two limbs so as to form a knee in each. A pusher then acts from the opposite side, and drives home the wire into the leather, which is then shifted by the guide-rollers, and another wire is inserted as before.
When this machine works at its ordinary speed, it is quite impossible to follow its various complicated movements, for it puts in two hundred teeth every minute, completing a length of twenty feet of card in a day ; but the superintendent was so kind as to put the machine out of gear with the steam engine (which works ninety card-making machines in one room), and to turn it slowly by hand, whereby its beautiful movements were made intelligible. What adds apparently to the complexity of the machine, is the necessity of making cards for some purposes ribbed, that is, arranging the wires in lines crossing the fillet; while for other purposes the cards are ticilled, that is, the wires form oblique lines across the fillet. When the cards leave this machine, all slight in- equalities are removed by grinding ; and the cards, when in use, are ground down from time to time, sometimes every day, until worn out.
The appearance of the cards, and their mode of
action, will be understood from the following figure.
If these cards be movedin oppo-
■ "-'. "' site directions with a tangled tuft
"r / of cotton between them, the fibres
.■ will be seized by all the teeth ;
_ ,^ u. those of the top card will pull
tr.,,^i4-.„ti^jas^^K them one way, those of the bottom
another, by which means all the
curls and twistings of the lock will be opened and
drawn out, and the fibres made to lie side by side, or
before each other. This effect may not be produced
at once, but by repeatedly drawing one card over the
other it will certainly be effected.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
13
But in thus laying the fibres side by side, and end to end, each card takes up a portion of the cotton. To get the whole of the cotton upon one card, all that is neces- sary is to reverse the position of the two, and to place them as shown in the opposite figure, where it will be seen that by drawing the upper card over the lower one, the teeth of the latter can ofifer no resistance, and thus it is stripped of its cotton.
In the carding-engine this principle is carried out on a large scale. A drum about three or four feet
in diameter, and three or four feet in length, moving on a horizontal axis, is covered with nar- row fillet cards parallel to the axis, a small space being left between the separate fillets. The upper part of the drum is covered Avith a concave frame, containing narrow cards, corresponding in form to those of the cylinder. The cotton lap is supported at one end of the engine upon a roller, which, by slowly turning, assists in unfolding it. As it be- comes unfolded, it passes between two fluted rollers, which are pressed together by a weight hanging from the end of the upper roller. The cotton is then
14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
caught by the wires of the main cylinder, the teeth of which, assisted by the cards of the franie-work, arrange the fibres of the cotton, as already explained. After this they are taken off by a second cylinder, called a doffer, which moves in a contrary direction, and from this the cotton is removed by a very beautiful contrivance, called the crank and comb.
The inventor of the carding-engine is not known with certainty. It appears, however, that in 1748, Lewis Paul patented two different machines for carding, in one of which the cards were arranged on a flat surface, and in the other on a drum. The cards were arranged parallel to each other, and to the axis of the drum, a space being left between every two cards. The wool was put on by hand, and the cardings were taken off separately by a moveable comb, the spaces between the cards regulating the substance of each carding. By this method the machines had to be stopped every time the cardings were taken off, and then had to be joined end to end to form the perpetual carding. The machine was not generally known and adopted in Lancashire for more than twenty years after the date of the patent. One of the first improvements was to fix to the
FIRST CARDING ENGINE.
machine a revolving cloth or feeder, on which a given weight of cotton wool was spread, by which it
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 15
was conveyed to the machine. Arkwright further improved this by rolling up the feeder with the cotton spread upon it, as already explained, and allowing this gradually to unroll to feed the cylinder. Another improvement brought off the carded wool in a continuous fleece, forming a uniform and per- petual sliver. The doffer, which strips the wool from the large cylinder, turned off a carding of no greater length than that of the cylinder ; but it was found that by entirely covering the doffer with narrow cards, wound round in a spiral form, without having any spaces, the wool might be brought off in one un- broken fleece. But the method of stripping off the wool from the doffer was attended with many diffi- culties, which were at length overcome by the invention of the crank and comb. A plate of metal, finely toothed like a comb, is worked by a crank up and down over the doffer, so that, by slight and frequent strokes on the teeth of the card, it strips off the cotton in a continuous filmy fleece, which, as it comes off, is drawn through a funnel at a little dis- tance in front of the cylinder, which reduces it to a roll or sliver. This, after passing between two rollers, and being compressed into a firm, flat riband, falls into a deep can, where it is coiled up in a con- tinuous length until the can is filled.
SECOND CARDING ENGINE.
The invention of the crank and comb has been given by some to Arkwright ; by others to Har-
16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURKS.
greaves, the inventor of the jennv. Those who defend the claim of the former, say that it was com- municated to Hargreaves by one of Arkwright's workmen, who chalked out a sketch of it upon the table of a public-house.
Thus, by a series of ingenious improvements, the carding-engine was perfected, and it has scarcely been improved since Arkwright^s time. It is inter- esting to watch the cotton at one end in its tangled, knotted state, the fibres lying in every direction, and then to walk to the other end and notice the beautiful filmy web stripped from the doffer by the crank and comb. It is so light and flimsy that it no longer resembles cotton, but rather the delicate lines which the gossamer spider sometimes draws over the fields in autumn.
In fine spinning, the cotton passes through two carding-engines ; the first a coarse, and called a hreaker-card^ and the second, in which the teeth are finer, called o, finishing-card. A number of cardings from the breaker-card are united together at the edges by passing them between the steel rollers of a lap-machine ; the new lap thus formed is wound upon a cylinder, and is then ready to feed the finish- ing-card.
DOUBLING AND DKAAVING.
The fibres of the cotton are not yet sufficiently level to be twisted into yarn ; and it often happens that the teeth of the card lay hold of a fibre by the middle, and thus double it together, in which state it is unfit for spinning. The cardings are therefore doubled and drawn out by a machine called the draicing frame, the principle of which depends upon different pairs of rollers revolving with different degrees of rapidity, as already noticed. If, how- ever, the riband, as it leaves the carding-engine,
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 17
were simply extended in length by drawing it out, it would be liable to tear across, or to be of a different thickness at different parts of its length. To prevent the tearing, and to equalize the thickness, a number of cardings are joined together, and drawn out to a length equal to the sum of the lengths of all the separate cardings. The effect produced is the same as taking a piece of cotton-Avool between the finger and thumb, and drawing it out many times, laying the drawn filaments over each other, before each drawing. If the cotton be then examined, it will be found that all the fibres are parallel and of equal length. This effect is accomplished very per- fectly in the drawing-frame, which consists of a number of rollers, arranged in what are called heads, each head consisting of three pairs of rollers, of which the second pair moves with greater speed than the first, and the third moves quicker than the second. Drawing rollers are used in several machines which have yet to be noticed ; their arrangement and mode of action may therefore be further explained.
The accompanying figure represents the arrange- ment of one drawino;-head. The under rollers are
made of iron and fluted ; the upper ones, also of iron, are smooth, and covered first with flannel, and then with leather. This enables the rollers to take firm hold of the cotton. The top rollers are sometimes called pressers, because they press, by means of weights, uDon the under ones. These wei2;ht8 are
18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
hung to a curved hook, or to a saddle, which includes two or more rollers. A mahogany bar, faced with flannel, rests, by its own weight, upon the top rollers, and strips off all the loose, hanging fibres. Similar bars are also made to press up against the under fluted rollers. The distance between the first and second pairs of rollers is never allowed to exceed the length of the cotton filaments, for if such were the case, the riband might be torn apart by the second pair pulling it while the first held it fast. The riband is stretched most in passing from the second to the third pair, the distance between which must not be too great, for the reason just stated, nor too small, or the staple will be torn.
The cardings are sometimes presented to the draw- ing-frame in the form of laps, or more usually they are taken up from separate cans, and guided over a tin or brass plate containing a number of separate channels. They all meet and unite together just before passing between the first pair of rollers, which reduces them all into one sliver; the second pair extends every inch of this compound sliver into about two inches, and the third pair of rollers extends these two inches into ten ; so that, suppose ten slivers from
DRAWING. (12 INTO 1.)
ten separate cans enter the frame on one side, the result is, that, after passing through the rollers, a single sliver is produced of the same thickness as one
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 19
of the ten slivers, but of ten times the length ; the ten slivers are, in fact, united into one, and this being passed between two smooth cast-iron rollers, to con- dense it, is allowed to fall into a can on the opposite side of the frame.
By repeating this process again and again, it will be easily seen that the chances of uniformity in the sliver are greatly multiplied ; for the defects of indi- vidual slivers are absorbed and got rid of. When ten of the cans are filled with the compound sliver, they are passed on to a second drawing-head, and the ten drawings, as they are now called, are again doubled, and drawn out into one. Twelve of these are then doubled, and drawn out at a third head ; twelve of these are doubled again, and again drawn out at a fourth head; and, lastly, six of these are doubled, and drawn out at a fifth head.
Thus it will be seen, that, by collecting all these numbers together, the doubling of the fibres of the cardings have been multiplied no less than 86,400 times ; for 10 X 10 X 12 X 12 X 6 = 86,400. The drawing is carried to this extent only in fine spinning. For coarse numbers, the doubling and drawing are not repeated so often. Six card-ends are usually passed through the first drawing-head, and formed into one riband. Six of these ribands are again formed into one ; six of these again make a third sliver, and five of these pass through the last drawing-head. Thus we have 6 y. Q x Q Y. 5, or 1,080 of the original card-ends united in the finished drawn sliver.
This doubling and drawing process is of the greatest importance, the quality of the yarn depending upon its being well done. Arkwright is the inventor of it; and it is related of him, that, when any defects appeared in his yarns, he told his people to look to their drawings, for, if they were right, every thing else would be so too.
The drawing-frames require constant watching, to
20
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
see that none of the cans are emptied before full ones are ready to supply their place. "^ The labour is per- formed by young women, who are kept pretty actively at work. A contrivance has been introduced which greatly abridges the labour. A cylindrical plunger is made to fall at intervals into the receiving-can, and, by pressing down the sliver, enables the can to hold a much greater quantity than it would do if the sliver were left to fall loosely into the can. Further improvements have lately been made, by which the sliver is regularly and beautifully coiled in the can, and compressed at the same time, but without at all stretching the sliver.
KO VING.
By the process of doubling and drawing, the cotton is formed into a loose, porous cord, the fibres of which are arranged side by side. This cord is still much too thick for yarn, but it cannot be reduced in size
by drawing merely, for if this were attempted it
would break ; a slight twist is therefore given, which,
by condensing the fibres, allows the draAving to pro-
* By a recent invention, in case of the breaking of any sliver, or the emptying of a can, so as to lessen the number of the slivers, the machine is made to stop instantly; thus requiring much less atten- tion, and insuring a gi-eater uniformity in the thread.
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. ^1
ceed. This is the commencement of the spinning process, (which is, in fact, little more than a combina- tion of drawing and twisting), and is called roving. Up to a recent period, the roving-machine, as intro- duced by Arkwright, was in use, but it is now super- seded by better and more complicated mechanism. The roving-machine of Arkwright did not differ greatly from the drawing-frame. It consisted of two pairs of drawing-rollers, for extending the slivers, of which two were generally doubled and united. The sliver, as it quitted the drawing-rollers, was received into a can, Avhich was made to spin rapidly round, and this, by giving a slight twist to the sliver, formed the roving, and distributed it in a coil within the can. Thus far all was well, but it was necessary for the next process that the roving should be wound upon bobbins ; the can, when full, was therefore carried to a simple machine, and wound by hand, by which it was scarcely possible to avoid injuring the delicate cord, and hence the quality of the yarn suffered. This led to the introduction of the Jack frame, or Jack'in-tlie-box, as it was more familiarly called, and afterwards to the bohhin-and-jiii frame, which may now be considered as the established roving-machine of the cotton manufacture.
The bobbin-and-fly frame is an exceedingly com- plicated machine, although the objects to be accom- plished by it are sufficiently simple ; namely, to give the roving a slight twist, and then to wind it on the bobbin. The first is easily done by the re- volutions of the spindle ; the second is more diffi- cult. It is scarcely ne- cessary to explain, that the bobbins now under notice differ in no way bobbins.^
from the reels in common use, except in being of very
22
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
large size. The spindle, which holds the bobbin, is a round steel rod, driven bj a small cog-wheel, fas- tened on the lower part of the spindle, as shown in the next figure. The bobbin is slid upon the spindle, and the small bed, or platform, on which it rests, is made to revolve by another series of small wheels, not shown in the figure. The spindle has two arms, called the fy ox flyer. This fly is fixed on the top of the spindle in such a way that it can be taken oflf in an instant, for the purpose of putting on or taking off the bobbin. One arm of the fly is hollow, the other solid, and this serves to balance the machinery. One machine contains from thirty to a hundred and twenty spindles, which, for economy of space, are placed in two rows, each spindle in the back row standing opposite the space left between two spindles of the front row.
The action of the machine is this : The sliver having been drawn by the rollers, is twisted, by the rapid revolutions of the spindle, into a soft cord or roving: this enters a hole in the top of the spindle, and passes down the hollow arm of the fly ; it is then twisted round a steel finger, which winds it on the bobbin with a certain pressure. This spring finger is a beautiful contrivance by Mr. Houldsworth, Before this invention, the rapid motions of the fly caused the roving to become im- properly stretched by the centrifugal force, but this is now prevented by twisting the roving round the finger : by its pressing the soft roving on the bobbin, each bobbin is made to hold a much larger quantity. ^ All this seems to be sufficiently simple ; but the difficulties begin to appear when it ^s considered, that the delivering finger must move up and down, so as
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 23
to wind the roving evenly over the bobbin, and that, as the bobbin increases in thickness, a difference in speed is necessary to prevent the roving from being improperly stretched or broken. The first object is attained by making the bobbin slide up and down on the spindle, and the second by causing the strap which drives the bobbin to act on a conical instead of a cylindrical drum; thus giving to the movement a vary- ing instead of an equal degree of speed.
It will be seen, that the spindle and bobbin are driven by diflPeient movements. This is necessary, because, if they both moved at the same rate, the roving would be twisted merely, and not wound upon the bobbin ; but, by making the bobbin revolve a little quicker than the spindle, the winding is ac- complished. For example, if the bobbin revolves fifty times, while the spindle only revolves forty, forty turns of the bobbin will have nothing to do with winding ; but there are ten turns of the bobbin above those of the fly, which will perform the winding. Hence, the forty turns of the spindle produce twist, while the fifty turns of the bobbin produce ten coils of the roving upon its barrel.
In fine spinning, two rovings are doubled and passed a second time through the frame, where they receive a further degree of drawing and twist.
The bobbin-and-fly frame is superintended by a female, whose duty it is to join the broken slivers, to remove the full bobbins, and to place empty ones in their stead.
In fine spinning, the rovings are sometimes pre- pared at what is called the stretching-frame, which is a kind of mule-jenny, to be noticed presently ; but usually the rovings are finished at one of two machines, namely, the throstle and the mule-jenny. It may be stated, as a general rule, that the throstle spins warp, and the mule weft; there are, how- ever, many exceptions to this.
24
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
THROSTLE SPINNING.
It has been already noticed that Arkwrlght^s water-frame was partially superseded by the mule- jenny ; but that, as it was capable of producing a strong Aviry thread, well adapted for warps, it was introduced in an improved form, under the name of the throstle. This machine is usually made double, a row of bobbins, spindles, &c. occupying each side of the frame. The bobbins, filled with rovings from the bobbin-and-fly frame, are mounted at the upper part of the frame in two ranges. The roving from each bobbin passes through three pairs of drawing- rollers, where it is stretched out to the requisite fineness. On quitting the last pair of rollers, each tliread is guided by a little ring, or a notch of smooth glass let into the frame, towards the spindles, which revolve with great rapidity, producing, by the motion of their flyers through the air, a low musical hum.
which is supposed to have given the name of throstle to this machine. The roving, which may now be called yarn, passing through an eyelet formed at the end of
THE MA2;UFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 25
one of the arms of the flyer, proceeds at once to the bobbin.
The yarn is wound upon the bobbin by a curious contrivance. The bobbin fits very loosely upon the spindle, and rests on its end upon a kind of platform. The bobbin is not connected with the spindle except by the thread of yarn which has to be wound ; there- fore, as soon as the flyer is set spinning, the thread drags the bobbin after it, and makes it follow the motion of the spindle and fly ; but the weight of the bobbin, and its friction on the platform, which is pro- moted by covering the end with coarse cloth, cause it to hang back ; and thus the double purpose is served of keeping the thread stretched and winding it on the bobbin much more slowly than the flyer revolves. The yarn is equally distributed on the bobbin by a slow up-and-down motion of the platform.
These effects are the same as were produced by the bobbin-and-fly frame, but in the throstle they are attained by simpler means. In the former machine, a distinct movement caused the bobbin to revolve quicker than the spindle. In the throstle, the bobbin is made to revolve by the pull of the yarn, which is now sufficiently strong for the pur- pose ; but the roving in the bobbin-and-fly frame would not bear the strain.
A throstle-frame generally contains from 70 to 150 spindles on each side. The drawing-rollers extend the whole length of the frame. The top rollers are, as usual, covered with leather, and the thread passes over a guide bar, which has a slight horizontal move- ment, for the purpose of leading the thread over different points of the rollers, and thus preventing the leather from being chafed by constant pressure on one spot. One young woman and an assistant attend to from 140 to 300 spindles in two double frames ; their duties are to mend broken threads, and shift the bobbins as required.
(6)
26
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
MULE SPINNING.
The throstle is not often employed for very fine spinning, because fine yarn would not bear the drag of the bobbin ; but in mule spinning the yarn is wound at once upon the spindles without any strain. In the mule the roving is first drawn by the usual system of rollers, and then stretched by a moveable carriage, as in the spinning-jenny of Hargreaves. The effect of first drawing and then stretching, is to make the yarn finer and more uniform, as will be explained presently. The spinning-mule is the most interesting and impressive spectacle in a large cotton mill ; on account of its vast extent, the great quantity of work performed by it, and the vv^ouderful com- plication and ingenuity of its parts.
The spinning-mule consists of two principal por- tions ; the first, which is fixed, contains the bobbins of rovings and' the drawing rollers; the second is a sort of carriage, moving upon an iron railroad, and capable of being drawn out to a distance of about five feet from the fixed frame. This carriage carries the S])indles, tlie number of which is half that of the bobbins of rovings. Motion is given to the spindles by means of vertical drums, round which are passed slender cords, communicating with the spindles. There is one drum to every twenty-four spindles.
The carriage being run up to the point from which it starts in spinning, the spindles are near to the roller-beam : the rollers now begin to turn, and to give out yarn, which is immediately twisted by the revolution of the spindles; the carriage then moves away from the roller-beam, somewhat quicker than the threads are delivered, so that they receive a certain amount of stretching, a circumstance wdiich gives value to this machine. The beneficial eflfect is produced in this way : when the thread leaves the rollers it is thicker in some parts than in others, and
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
25
3i( pndfil por- ,yfMioftlie
^..^ effect i= ^'^T .die
one of the arms of the flyer, proceeds at once to the bobbin.
The yarn is wound upon the bobbin by a curious contrivance. The bobbin fits very loosely upon the spindle, and rests on its end upon a kind of platform. The bobbin is not connected with the spindle except by the thread of yarn which has to be wound ; there- fore, as soon as the flyer is set spinning, the thread drags the bobbin after it, and makes it follow the motion of the spindle and fly ; but the weight of the bobbin, and its friction on the platform, which is pro- moted by covering the end with coarse cloth, cause it to hang back ; and thus the double purpose is served of keeping the thread stretched and winding it on the bobbin much more slowly than the flyer revolves. The yarn is equally distributed on the bobbin by a slow up-and-down motion of the platform.
These effects are the same as were produced by the bobbin-and-fly frame, but in the throstle they are attained by simpler means. In the former machine, a distinct movement caused the bobbin to revolve quicker than the spindle. In the throstle, the bobbin is made to revolve by the pull of the yarn, which is now sufficiently strong for the pur- pose ; but the roving in the bobbin-and-fly frame would not bear the strain.
A tln'ostle-frame generally contains from 70 to 150 spindles on each side. The drawing-rollers extend the whole length of the frame. The top rollers are, as usual, covered with leather, and the thread passes over a guide bar, which has a slight horizontal move- ment, for the purpose of leading the thread over different points of the rollers, and thus preventing the leather from being chafed by constant pressure on one spot. One young woman and an assistant attend to from 140 to 300 spindles in two double frames ; their duties are to mend broken threads, and shift the bobbins as required.
(6)
lli
26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
MULE SPINNING.
The throstle is not often employed for very fine spinning, because fine yarn would not bear the drag of the bobbin ; but in mule spinning the yarn is wound at once upon the spindles without any strain. In the mule the roving is first drawn by the usual s}'stem of rollers, and then stretched by a moveable carriage, as in the spinning-jenny of Hargreaves. The effect of first drawing and then stretching, is to make the yarn finer and more uniform, as will be explained presently. The spinning-mule is the most interesting and impressive spectacle in a large cotton mill ; on account of its vast extent, the great quantity of work performed by it, and the wonderful com- plication and ingenuity of its parts.
The spinning-mule consists of two principal por- tions ; the first, Avhich is fixed, contains the bobbins of rovino;s and the drawins; rollers : the second is a sort of carriage, moving upon an iron railroad, and capable of .being drawn out to a distance of about five feet from the fixed frame. This carriage carries the spindles, the number of which is half that of the bobbins of rovings. Motion is given to the spindles by means of vertical drums, round which are passed slender cords, communicating with the spindles. There is one drum to every twenty-four spindles.
The carriage being run up to the point from which it starts in spinning, the spindles are near to the roller-beam : the rollers now begin to turn, and to give out yarn, which is immediately twisted by the revolution of the spindles; the carriage then moves away from the roller-beam, somewhat quicker than the threads are delivered, so that they receive a certain amount of stretching, a circumstance Avhich gives value to this machine. The beneficial effect is produced in this v.-ay : when the thread leaves the rollers it is thicker in some parts than in others, and
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 27
those thicker parts not beinjr so much twisted as the thinner ones, are softer, and yield to the stretchino; power of the mule, so that the twist is equalized throughout, and the yarn becomes more uniform. When the carriage has completed a stretch or is drawn out from about 54 to 64 inches from the roller-beam, the drawing-rollers cease to give out yarn, but the spin- dles continue to whirl until the threads are properly twisted. In spinning the finer yarns, the carriage sometimes makes what is called a second stretch, during which the spindles are made to revolve much more rapidly than before. The drawing, stretching, and twisting of a length of thread being thus completed, the mule disengages itself from the parts of the machinery by which it has hitherto been driven, and the spinner then seizes the carriage with his left hand, and pushes it back to the roller-beam, turning at the same time with his right hand a fly wheel, which gives motion to the spindles. At the same time a copping wire, as it is called, is pressed upon the threads by the spinner's left hand, and they are thus made to traverse the whole length of the spin- dle, upon which they are then wound or built in a conical form, which is called a cop. These cops are used for placing in the shuttle in weaving, and form the weft, or short cross threads, of the cloth.
One man is able to attend to two mules, guiding in the carriage of one mule by hand, while the carriage of the other is being moved out by the steam-engine. Much skill is required in pushing back the carriage. As a preparatory step, the spinner causes the spindles to revolve backwards for a moment, to slacken the threads just completed, and throw them off the points of the spindles previous to wind- ing them. In pushing the carriage back he must attend to three things : — he must guide the coping- wire so as to insure the regular winding of the yarn on the cop ; he must regulate the motion of the spindles; and he must push the carriage at such a
28
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
I rate as to supply the exact amount of yarn that the
spindles can take up in a given time.
The spinner is assisted by boys or girls, to piece the broken threads. He also employs a scaven- ger to collect all the loose or waste cotton called fly, which lies on the floor, or hangs about the ma- chinery. This is chiefly used in cleaning the ma- chinery. It is calculated that the waste of material from the different machines in spinning cotton, amounts to l^oz. per lb. or nearly one-tenth of the original weight. It is the duty of the piecer to join the broken ends of the threads as the carriage moves from the upright frame. The breaking of the threads depends, in some degree, on the temperature and the state of the atmosphere. During an east wind the threads sometimes break faster than the piecers can join them ; and it seems probable that the rapid whirling of so many thousand pieces of macliinery produces, in very dry weather, a large amount of electricity, which may prevent the proper spinning of the fibres. At such times it is not un- common to keep the atmosphere of the room moist, by jets of steam, and to maintain a temperature of from 68° to 76°, Indeed, fine yarn cannot well be spun at a lower temperature.
The quality of the yarn in mule-spinning depends upon the care and attention of the spinner, and it was long thought impossible to substitute mechanical contrivances for the work performed by him. This lias led the spinners, on many occasions, to league together, for the purpose of compelling their masters to grant such wages as they chose to demand, and to accept such an amount of labour as they chose to give. Such acts as these, which are in direct viola- tion of the Divine command, " Servants, be obedient to your masters," are sure, sooner or later, to meet with punishment ; and such has been the case in the present instance. The mill-owners, feeling that no dependence was to be placed on their spinners, long
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THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
27
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those thicker parts not being so much twisted as the thinner ones, ai*e softer, and yield to the stretchino; power of the mule, so that the twist is equah'zed throughout, and the yarn becomes more uniform. When the carriage has completed a stretch or is drawn out from about 54 to 64 inches from the roller-beam, the drawing-rollers cease to give out yarn, but the spin- dles continue to whirl until the threads are properly twisted. In spinning the finer yarns, the carriage sometimes makes wiiat is called a second stretchy during which the spindles are made to revolve much more rapidly than before. The drawing, stretching, and twisting of a length of thread being thus completed, the mule disengages itself from the parts of the machinery by which it has hitherto been driven, and the spinner then seizes the carriage with his left hand, and pushes it back to the roller-beam, turning at the same time with his right hand a fly wheel, which gives motion to the spindles. At the same time a copping wire, as it is called, is pressed upon the threads by the spinner's left hand, and they are thus made to traverse the whole length of the spin- dle, upon which they are then wound or hiiilt in a conical form, which is called a cop. These cops are used for placing in the shuttle in weaving, and form the weft, or short cross threads, of the cloth.
One man is able to attend to two mules, guiding in the carriage of one mule by hand, while the carriage of the other is being moved out by the steam-engine. Much skill is required in pushing back the carriage. As a preparatory step, the spinner causes the spindles to revolve backwards for a moment, to slacken the threads just completed, and throw them off the points of the spindles previous to wind- ing them. In pushing the carriage back he must attend to three things: — he must guide the coping wire so as to insure the regular winding of the yarn on the cop ; he must regulate the motion of the spindles; and he must push the carriage at such a
28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
rate as to supply the exact amount of yarn that the spindles can take up in a given time.
The spinner is assisted by boys or girls, to piece the broken threads. He also employs a scaven- ger to collect all the loose or waste cotton called fly, which lies on the floor, or hangs about the ma- chinery. This is chiefly used in cleaning the ma- chinery. It is calculated that the waste of material from the different machines in spinning cotton, amounts to l^oz. per lb. or nearly one-tenth of the original weight. It is the duty of the piecer to join the broken ends of the threads as the carriage moves from the upright frame. The breaking of the threads depends, in some degree, on the temperature and the state of the atmosphere. During an east wind the threads sometimes break faster than the piecers can join them ; and it seems probable that the rapid whirling of so many thousand pieces of machinery produces, in very dry weather, a large amount of electricity, which may prevent the proper spinning of the fibres. At such times it is not un- common to keep the atmosphere of the room moist, by jets of steam, and to maintain a temperature of from 68° to TG*^. ludeed, fine yarn cannot well be spun at a lower temperature.
The quality of the yarn in mule-spinning depends upon the care and attention of the spinner, and it was long thought impossible to substitute mechanical contrivances for the work performed by him. This has led the spinners, on many occasions, to league together, for the purpose of compelling their masters to grant such wages as they chose to demand, and to accept such an amount of labour as they chose to give. Such acts as these, which are in direct viola- tion of the Divine command, " Servants, be obedient to your masters," are sure, sooner or later, to meet with punishment ; and such has been the case in the present instance. The mill-owners, feeling that no dependence was to be placed on their spinners, long
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 29
desired to supersede them by meclianlcal contrivance ; and this at length, after numerous failures, has been done in a complete manner by the invention of the self-acting mule, or the iron man, as it is sometimes called in Lancashire. Mr. Roberts, of the celebrated firm of Sharp and Roberts, machine-makers, suc- ceeded in perfecting this extraordinary machine, which not only does the work of the spinning-mule without the assistance or attendance of any one ex- cept the little piecer, but does it in a more perfect and complete manner; and produces a larger quan- tity of yarn. The cops, also, are firmer, and of better shape, and contain a much larger quantity of yarn than cops of equal size wound by hand, so that they are less liable to injury ; and in weaving, the superior firmness of the cop allows the loom to be worked at greater speed, whereby cloth of superior quality is produced in greater quantity.
REELING.
The yarn is now disposed of in various ways, ac- cording to the use for which it is intended : but it is often found convenient to make it up into hanks.
The machine for winding the yarn from the bobbins, or cops, into regular hanks, is a long eight-sided frame, mounted on a carriage, which is also furnished with spindles or skewers, for holding the bobbins, or cops. These frames are managed by young- women, whose duty it is to turn the reel until a check is struck. They then know that the reel has made eighty turns ; and as the sides of the reel mea- sure one yard and a half, a ley or rap is thus formed, containing 120 yards. Seven of these raps make one hank, containing 560 threads of a yard-and-a-half each ; thus making 840 yards to the hank. The size of the yarn is ascertained by weighing the hanks in B 3
30
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
a kind of balance called a quadrant.* Eacli size is put up separately in cubical bundles of five or ten pounds weight. These packages are closely com-
REELISG.
pressed by a simple but ingenious machine called the bmidlmo-press, where they are firmly tied while under pressure, and, being wrapped neatly in paper, are ready for the market. The usual average number of hanks to the pound is, for coarse spinning, from ten to forty, but, for some purposes, such as candle- wicks, coarse counterpanes, &c., as low as two hanks to the pound are made. It is often exported as low as from four to six hanks. The highest number usually obtained in fine spinning is 300, but the writer saw at Mr. Houldsworth's mill, at Manchester, yarn of which 460 hanks were required to make a pound. This yarn is a beautiful, hard, cylindrical cord, of won- derful fineness, and has been sold for ticenti/ guineas, or upwards, a pound, an astonishing example of the effect
Tables are published for ascertaining the number of hanks to the pound ; but the following is not an uncommon mode of ascertaining. 1,000 grains divided by the number of grains in a ley, gives the number of hanks per pound. This rule is founded on the fact that a ley is fth of a hank; and 1,000 grains is equal to fth of a pound.
lltl--
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--■^ j'torten
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN.
29
.' lie
^ a piper, are ^iHOfiiiBberof
■ -;. of won-
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desired to supersede them by mechanical contrivance; and this at length, after numerous failures, has been done in a complete manner by the invention of the self-acting mule, or the iron man., as it is sometimes called in Lancashire. Mr. Roberts, of the celebrated firm of Sharp and Roberts, machine-makers, suc- ceeded in perfecting this extraordinary machine, vfhich not only does the work of the spinning-mule without the assistance or attendance of any one ex- cept the little piecer, but does it in a more perfect and complete manner ; and produces a larger quan- tity of yarn. The cops, also, are firmer, and of better shape, and contain a much larger quantity of yarn than cops of equal size wound by hand, so that they are less liable to injury ; and in weaving, the superior firmness of the cop allows the loom to be worked at greater speed, whereby cloth of superior quality is produced in greater quantity.
R E E L I N" G .
The yarn is now disposed of in various ways, ac- cording to the use for which it is intended : but it is often found convenient to make it up into hanks.
The machine for winding the yarn from the bobbins, or cops, into regular hanks, Is a long eight-sided frame, mounted on a carriage, which is also furnished with spindles or skewers, for holding the bobbins, or cops. These frames are managed by young women, Avhose duty it is to turn the reel until a check is struck. They then know that the reel has made eighty turns ; and as the sides of the reel meci- sure one yard and a half, a ley or rap is thus formed, containing 120 yards. Seven of these raps make one hank, containing 560 threads of a yard-and-a-half each ; thus making 840 yards to the hank. The size of the yarn is ascertained by weighing the hanks in B 3
30 ARTS AND SIANUFACTURES.
a kind of balance called a quadrant.* Each size is put up separately in cubical bundles of five or ten pounds weight. These packages are closely com-
REELIKG.
pressed by a simple but ingenious machine called the bundling-press, where they are firmly tied while under pressure, and, being wrapped neatly in paper, are ready for the market. The usual average number of hanks to the pound is, for coarse spinning, from ten to forty, but, for some purposes, such as candle- wicks, coarse counterpanes, &c., as low as two hanks to the pound are made. It is often exported as low as from four to six hanks. The highest number usually obtained in fine spinning is 300, but the writer saw at Mr. Moulds worth's mill, at Manchester, yarn of which 460 hanks were required to make a pound. This yarn is a beautiful, hard, cylindrical cord, of won- derful fineness, and has been sold for ticenty guineas, or upwards, a pound, an astonishing example of the effect
* Tables are published for ascertaining the number of hanks to the pound ; but the following is not an uncommon mode of ascertaining. 1,000 grains divided by the number of grains in a ley, gives the number of hanks per pound. This rule is founded on the fact that a ley is ith of a hank; and 1,000 grains is equal to -i-th of a pound.
THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD. 31
of well-directed industry, In increasingthe value of raw material. A pound of the best sea-island cotton is Avorth, at the highest price, 5s. per pound ; when manu- factured into yarn of the number 460, the value of this pound of cotton is 420s., or, in other words, its value is increased 84 times. This yarn was produced by Mr. Houldsworth for a muslin dress for her present Majesty, in order to show the capabilities of the British manufacture, far excelling anything produced by the Hindoo spinner. It is scarcely necessary to say, that such yarn is not commonly made, but that, if a demand for it were to arise, it could be supplied at a gradually decreasing price.
THE MANUFACTURE OP SEWING THREAD.
When the yarn is completed, It is usually sent to the doubling mid twisting mill for the purpose of being converted into what is now properly called thread. Although we are accustomed to apply the word thread to a thin, narrow line of any fibrous material, the manufacturer limits the term to that compound cord produced by doubling or twisting two or more single lines. The single line he calls yarn : two or more single yarns laid parallel, and twisted together, he calls thread; and of this there are many varieties, such as hobbin-^net-lace thread, stocking thread, seinng thread, &c.
The writer visited a sewing-thread factory at Man- chester, which, though inferior In extent and import- ance to the cotton mills, where the raw material is converted Into yarn, presents, nevertheless, several points of interest.
The yarn, which is received at the factory, in the form of cops, is wound upon large bobbins, ready for the doubling-mill, or thread-frame, as it Is sometimes called. This machine Is not unlike the throstle of the cotton-spinner, already described; but its
32
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
action will be better understood by reference to the following cut. The cops are mounted loosely upon
spindles or skewers, on a creel or shelf extending the Avhole length of the room ; as the yarn is unwound, it is led across a glass rod, and made to pass into a leaden trough filled with water, or a weak solution of starch, which enables the lines of yarn to twist together into a more solid thread. On quitting the trough, the lines of yarn (two, three, four, or six in number, according to the desired size of the thread) are guided over a roller whereon they are laid pa- rallel, and then made to pass down to the spindle, the rapid revolutions of which twist these parallel lines together into a solid cord or thread. The twist is given in an opposite direction to that applied by the spinning-machine, and when the thread is completed, it is then wound upon the bobbin which sm'rounds the spindle.
The thread is now wound into hanks for bleaching or dyeing (two important processes, which will be noticed in a separate treatise). The hanks of bleached or dyed thread are wound on bobbins, for the pur- pose of balling or reeling. The process of forming the thread into balls or reels, is performed by young women with an almost magical celerity. Each young woman is seated at a kind of turnino--lathe ; she
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THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD.
31
of well-directed industry, in increasingthe value of raw material. A pound of the best sea-island cotton is worth, at the highest price, 5s. per pound ; when manu- factured into yarn of the number 460, the value of this pound of cotton is 4205., or, in other words, its value is increased 84 times. This yarn was produced by Mr. Houldsworth for a muslin dress for her present Majesty, in order to show the capabilities of the British manufacture, far excelling anything produced by the Hindoo spinner. It is scarcely necessary to say, that such yarn is not commonly made, but that, if a demand for it were to arise, it could be supplied at a gradually decreasing price.
THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD.
When the yarn is completed, it is usually sent to the doubling and twisting mill for the purpose of being converted into what is now properly called thread. Although we are accustomed to apply the word thread to a thin, narrow line of any fibrous material, the manufacturer limits the term to that compound cord produced by doubling or twisting two or more single lines. The single line he calls yarn : two or more single yarns laid parallel, and twisted together, he calls thread; and of this there are many varieties, such as bobbin-net-lace thread, stocking thread, seicing thread, &c.
The writer visited a sewing-thread factory at Man- chester, which, though inferior in extent and import- ance to the cotton mills, where the raw material is converted into yarn, presents, nevertheless, several points of interest.
The yarn, which is received at the factory, in the form of cops, is wound upon large bobbins, ready for the doubling-mill, or thread-frame, as it is sometimes called. This machine is not unlike the throstle of the cotton-spinner, already described; but its
32
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
action will be better understood by reference to the following cut. The cops are mounted loosely upon
spindles or skewers, on a creel or shelf extending the whole length of the room ; as the yarn is unwound, it is led across a glass rod, and made to pass into a leaden trough filled with water, or a weak solution of starch, which enables the lines of yarn to twist together into a more solid thread. On quitting the trough, the lines of yarn (two, three, four, or six in number, according to the desired size of the thread) are guided over a roller whereon they are laid pa- rallel, and then made to pass down to the spindle, the rapid revolutions of which twist these parallel lines together into a solid cord or thread. The twist is given in an opposite direction to that applied by the spinning-machine, and when the thread is completed, it is then wound upon the bobbin which surrounds the spindle.
The thread is now Avound into hanks for bleaching or dyeing (two important processes, which will be noticed in a separate treatise). The hanks of bleached or dyed thread are wound on bobbins, for tlie pur- pose of balling or reeling. The process of forming the thread into balls or reels, is performed b}^ young women with an almost magical celerity. Each young woman is seated at a kind of turninsf-lathe : she
THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD.
33
seizes the end of the thread, and attaches it to a rod of steel, sets this spinning, and in an instant a ball of cotton appears at the end of the rod ; the rotation
BA LtING AND REELING.
is stopped, a blue ticket is inserted at the end, a further quantity of thread wound to secure the ticket, and the ball is finished. The size of the ball is regulated with extreme accuracy by the eye. The number of balls to the pound varies from 16 to 600 ; and the young woman being told to produce a certain number to the pound, makes a few, weighs them until she has got the exact size by weight ; after this she relies entirely upon her eye, and so accurate is her judgment, that the variation of the balls in weight is very trifling. The cotton is wound on reels with the same surprising celerity ; the steel finger which delivers the thread from the bobbin, being guided to and fro to distribute it equally along the barrel of the reel. The quantity here also is judged of by eye, and varies from 30 to 300 yards in each reel. As each reel is filled, the broken end of the thread is inserted in a notch, which the
J^v*^
f ^f
^-..i^
34
ARTS AND 3IANUFACTURES.
winder cats for the purpose. Reeling is not such rapid work as balling, but is still sufficiently swift to prevent the eye from following the motion of the thread. The chief delay in both cases arises from the breaking of the thread, which, during the writer's visit, occurred rather often.
The reels are placed on end in a kind of shallow drawer, and little children cut out and paste on the labels. These labels are printed on sheets, and the back of each sheet is covered with gum, like the postage-stamps. The children stamp out the labels with a circular punch, wet the back of each against the tongue, and tlien press the wetted side against the end of the reel. Some idea may be formed of the extent of this business, from the fact, that a sheet, containing 144 labels, printed in blue and gold, and glazed, and then covered on the back with a layer of gum, is sold for one penny. The smallest bronzed cotton bobbin labels are sold as low as one halfpenny per gross. The writer paid a visit to the extensive establishment of Messrs. Bradshaw and Blacklock, of INIanchester, where these labels are produced in large quantities. Each sheet, which is of a purple colour on one side, and plain on the other, is first printed from a copper-plate in an invisible adhesive ink; the sheet, immediately it is printed, is taken by a boy, who rubs over it, with a hare's foot, a yellow impalpable metallic powder, which passes for gold, but is really copper or bronze in a minutely divided state. The powder adheres to the printed letters and border, and is brushed off from the parts where no ink has been applied. The sheets, when perfectly dry, are hot-pressed, or calendered, which gives the glossy surfice, and then covered on the plain surface with gum ; when this is thoroughly dry, the sheets are pressed again, and are then ready for sale. Letter-press and copper-plate printing, as w^ell as lithography, are all extensively used in pro- ducino- labels and tickets.
izestliees^';' ' steel, sei^t-'
'cnttODaK-----
is refills;
ii eerta:: tliem I.. after i'.
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alonj •.
enij :■
' « »«ioo of the ■^ *» irises from writer's
'ibiof
rKKtnedof - ■'•' ^" -^t a
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is jn inrabk
Utitiiiliares
I wder, <^li'c'>
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^ifterestotlie ,.i of from lie sheets, f oleD^ered, ^.j.vTeredon
^^0i prifltiiig) as
-#*
THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD.
33
seizes the end of the thread, and attaches it to a rod of steel, sets this spinning, and in an instant a ball of cotton appears at the end of the rod ; the rotation
BALLING AND REELING.
is stopped, a blue ticket is inserted at the end, a further quantity of thread wound to secure the ticket, and the ball is finished. The size of the ball is regulated with extreme accuracy by the eye. The number of balls to the pound varies from 16 to 600 ; and the young woman being told to produce a certain number to the pound, makes a few, weighs them until she has got the exact size by weight ; after this she relies entirely upon her eye, and so accurate is her judgment, that the variation of the balls in weight is very trifling. The cotton is wound on reels with the same surprising celerity ; the steel finger which delivers the thread from the bobbin, being guided to and fro to distribute it equally along the barrel of the reel. The quantity here also is judged of by eye, and varies from 30 to 300 yards in each reel. As each reel is filled, the broken end of the thread is inserted in a notch, which the
34 ARTS AXD JIANUFACTURES.
winder cuts for the purpose. Reeling is not such rapid work as balHng, but is still sufficiently swift to prevent the eye from following the motion of the thread. The chief delay in both cases arises from the breaking of the thread, which, during the writer's visit, occurred rather often.
The reels are placed on end in a kind of shallow drawer, and little children cut out and paste on the labels. These labels are printed on sheets, and the back of each sheet is covered with gum, like the postage-stamps. The children stamp out the labels with a circular punch, wet the back of each against the tongue, and then press the wetted side against the end of the reel. Some idea may be formed of the extent of this business, from the fact, that a sheet, containing 144 labels, printed in blue and gold, and glazed, and then covered on the back with a layer of gum, is sold for one penny. The smallest bi'onzed cotton bobbin labels are sold as low as one halfpenny per gross. The writer paid a visit to the extensive establishment of Messrs. Bradshaw and Blacklock, of Manchester, Avhere these labels are produced in large quantities. Each sheet, which is of a purple colour on one side, and plain on the other, is first printed from a copper-plate in an invisible adhesive ink; the sheet, immediately it is printed, is taken by a boy, who rubs over it, with a hare's foot, a yellow impalpable metallic powder, which passes for gold, but is really copper or bronze in a minutely divided state. The powder adheres to the printed letters and border, and is brushed off from the parts where no ink has been applied. The sheets, when perfectly dry, are hot-pressed, or calendered, which gives the glossy surface, and then covered on the plain surface with gum ; when tliis is thoroughly dry, the sheets are pressed again, and arc then ready for sale. Letter-press and copper-plate printing, as well as lithography, are all extensively used in pro- ducino- labels and tickets.
THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD. 35
The balls of cotton are tied up in small flat bundles, each containing a quarter of a pound; the proper number is counted out, folded up in paper, and tied into a bundle, with the remarkable speed and precision which is attained only by long prac- tice : four of these quarters are next tied up into pound parcels, which, after being labelled, are ready for the wholesale market.
SINGEING THE THREAD.
In fine spinning, the yarn, when doubled, is, for some purposes, singed or gassed,'vQ.OY(le,x to get rid of the loose fibres, and to make it more level and compact. The pro- cess of singeing yarn strikes a stranger as being more remarkable than anything else in the mill. In a long room in the upper part of the mill, or in a shed attached to it, are several tables, lighted up with a large number of jets of flame, about twelve inches apart, producing a singular but pleasing effect. Above each flame is a little hood or chimney. On entering
GASSING THE YARN.
this room the smell of the burnt cotton is immediately perceived, and, on approaching the table, one is sur- prised to see a fine, delicate thread crossing each
m
36
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
flame in two or three directions, and apparently at rest ; but, on following the course of this tliread, it is found to proceed from one bobbin, which is rapidly spinning round, and to pass through the flame to another bobbin, which is also in rapid motion. It is then seen that the thread is also moving at a rapid rate, by which means alone does it escape being con- sumed. The thread is led over pulleys, so as to pass two or three times through the flame, which singes off" the loose fibres, converting them into a reddish powder or dust, wliich, if blown about and inhaled, would do great injury to the lungs: this is why the gassing-room is in a remote or retired part of the building, to prevent the air being disturbed by the bustle of the busier parts.
After the thread has been singed, it passes over a brush, to clean it, and then through a small hole or notch cut in a projecting piece of brass, which is in- geniously made to detect any knot or foul point in the thread. The hole is so small, that there is but just room for the thread to pass; if, therefore, a knot or other impediment occurs in the thread, the piece of brass is depressed, and this is connected with mechanism which suddenly turns the gas flame aside, and lifts the bobbin off the rotating barrel which turns it, causing the whole to stop. The thread remains at rest until the attendant, called the tenter- woman, mends the defect, and sets the bobbiri in motion again. The advantage of this contrivance is, that no time is lost ; for, while the defective thread stops, all tlie rest go on as usual. The effect of singeing is to raise the yarns to a higher number, by the diminution of their weight per hank. Thus, No. 90 will become Xo. 95 ; so that there is an actual difference of five hanks per pound by the ope- ration of sassincr.
'BDEk
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THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD.
35
The balls of cotton are tied up in small flat bundles, each containing a quarter of a pound; the proper number is counted out, folded up in paper, and tied into a bundle, with the remarkable speed and precision which is attained only by long prac- tice : four of these quarters are next tied up into pound parcels, which, after being labelled, are ready for the wholesale market.
SINGEING THE THREAD.
In fine spinning, the yarn, when doubled, is, for some purposes, singed or gassedjinorder to get rid of the loose fibres, and to make it more level and compact. The pro- cess of singeing yarn strikes a stranger as being more remarkable than anything else in the mill. In a long room in the upper part of the mill, or in a shed attached to it, are several tables, lighted up with a lai'ge number of jets of flame, about twelve inches apart, producing a singular but pleasing effect. Above each flame is a little hood or chimney. On entering
GASSIKG THE YARX.
this room the smell of the burnt cotton is immediately perceived, and, on approaching the table, one is sur- prised to see a fine, delicate thread crossing each
3^6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
flame in two or three directions, and apparently at rest ; but, on following the course of this thread, it is found to proceed from one bobbin, which is rapidly- spinning round, and to pass through the flame to another bobbin, which is also in rapid motion. It is then seen that the thread is also moving at a rapid rate, by which means alone does it escape being con- sumed. The thread is led over pulleys, so as to pass two or three times through the flame, which singes off the loose fibres, converting them into a reddish powder or dust, wliich, if blown about and inhaled, would do great injury to the lungs : this is why the gassing-room is in a remote or retired part of the building, to prevent the air being disturbed by the bustle of the busier parts.
After the thread has been singed, it passes over a brush, to clean it, and then through a small hole or notch cut in a projecting piece of brass, which is in- geniously made to detect any knot or foul point in the thread. The hole is so small, that there is but just room for the thread to pass; if, therefore, a knot or other impediment occurs in the thread, the piece of brass is depressed, and this is connected with mechanism which suddenly turns the gas flame aside, and lifts the bobbin off" the rotating barrel which turns it, causing the whole to stop. The thread remains at rest until the attendant, called the tenter- woman, mends the defect, and sets the bobbin in motion again. The advantage of this contrivance is, that no time is lost ; for, while the defective thread stops, all the rest go on as usual. The effect of singeing is to raise the yarns to a higher number, by the diminution of their weight per hank. Thus, No. 90 will become No. 95 ; so that there is an actual difference of five hanks per pound by the ope- ration of o'assino-.
COTTON YARN AND SEWING THREAD. 37
STATISTICS.
The statistics of the cotton trade will be better understood^ when the important subjects of Aveaving, bleaching, dyeing, and printing, are completed ; but a few details respecting cotton-wool, yarn and thread, may be interesting in this place. The amount of cotton-wool imported into England in 1845, amounted to 659,584,477 lbs., of which, 44,363,355 lbs. were exported, leaving a quantity for home consumption, amounting to 615,221,122 lbs. By far the greater part of this supply came from the United States of America. For some years past, the cotton-Avool im- ported from foreign possessions paid an import duty of 2s. lid, per cwt. ; that from British possessions paid only 4d. per cwt. From the 22d of March 1845, this duty was wholly repealed.
In 1845, the prices of cotton-wool at Liverpool, were as follows : — Sea Islands cotton-wool from lO^d. to 16d. per lb. ; Uplands, 5^d. to 4^d. ; Orleans, 5J(/. to 6d. ; Egyptian, 5hd. to lOd. ; common West Indian, 4f?. to 5d. ; Surat and Madras, 2^d. to 3%d.
The quantity of cotton-yarn spun in England and Scotland, in 1845, was as follows : —
lbs.
In England 467,029,465
In Scotland 27,737,022
Total 494,766,487
The quantity of cotton-yarn exported from Eng- land in 1845, amounted to 131,937,935 lbs. Of this quantity, the principal portions were distributed as follows : —
lbs.
The Hanse Towns, &c 40,315,592
Holland 21,556,043
Russia 18,167,962
India 14,116,237
China 2,402,750
Sardinia, Tuscany, &c 4,482,539
Belgium 3,917,267
(6 c
38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
The remainder was sent in much smaller quantities to various parts of the world.
The quantity of cotton-thread exported in 1845, amounted to 2,567,705 lbs.
The total weight of yarn in manufactured cotton- goods exported from England in 1845, amounted to 336,866,327 lbs. ; the total value of which was £22,063,898.*
Much has been said respecting the health of the operatives in cotton-mills. Children under thirteen years of age are now under the protection of the legislature ; they are allowed to work only half time, that is, six hours a day ; and they must attend school during some portion of the day. An excellent school, frequently under the inspection of the Committee of Council on Education, is attached to a large number of factories ; and unless the children attend this every day, they are not allowed to work in the mill. It is generally arranged that those children who work during the morniog attend school in the afternoon, while those that work in the afternoon go to school in the morning.
The writer was agreeably disappointed to find that the work-people in the mills had by no means that sickly appearance which he had been led to expect. On the contrary, many of the younger females were stout, healthy looking girls, and others, though not ruddy, were lively and active in their movements, and in their expression of countenance. There were no symptoms of suffering or disease among the young people in any of the mills visited by the writer. Perhaps the most trying operations in the cotton-mill are willoioing, hatting and carding. The rooms in which they are carried on are clouded with fine par- ticles of cotton, which sometimes set a stranger coughing immediately on entering ; this is probably injurious to the work-people. Most of the men
* The above statistical facts are stated on the authority of Bum's Commercial Olance. Manchester, 1846.
COTTON YARN AND SEWING THREAD. 39
in these rooms were pallid in their complexions, and, though from habit they are not subject to the same inconvenience and difficulty of breathing which strangers suffer, there are evident marks of a languid state of health in the countenances of some. In judging from their appearance, however, it is necessary to make due allowance for an artificial whiteness, produced by the particles of cotton, which settle abundantly on their faces and hair.
^^^■^i iintiif f^m^
THE USEFUL ARTS
MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN.
The art of preparing the fibres of flax and weaving them into linen cloth had reached a high degree of perfection among the Egyptians, so early as the time of Joseph : for we read (Gen. xli. 42) that Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in vestures of fine linen. Two cen- turies later the Hebrews were evidently acquainted with the arts of spinning, weaving, dyeing and em- broidery ; for when Moses constructed the tabernacle in the wilderness, it is related (Exod. xxxv. 25, 26) that "all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goat's hair;" and again, verse 35, " Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to Avork all manner of work, of the en- graver, and of the cunning workman, and of the em- broiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work." These passages contain the earliest mention of woven clothing, and the arts therein enumerated were probably acquired by the Israelites during their captivity in Egypt, where linen was the national manufacture. That the ancient Egyptians were (7) A3
^Mptpr^jE^E^
4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
unacquainted with cotton, seems evident from the fact, that among the innumerable specimens of mummy- cloth which have been imported into Europe, not a single particle of cotton has been found, and there are no paintings of the cotton shrub upon the tombs of Thebes, where accurate representations of flax occur in its different states of growth and manufac- ture. Egypt exported linen yarn and fine linens to the kingdom of Israel in the days of Solomon, (see 2 Chron. i. 16 ; Pro v. vii. 16 ; and also Ezek. xxvii. 7,) and to Greece in the days of Herodotus. The Egyptians were also noted for their manufacture of linen and their exports of flax under the Roman emperors.
Linen was worn by all nations west of the Indies, while in India the practice of converting flax into linen seems never to have been introduced. This may be accounted for by the fact, that India pos- sessed the cotton plant, the wool of which can be converted into yarn so much more easily than flax, and the clothing prepared from it is so admirably adapted to the climate. Flax is cultivated in India only on account of its seed : but the plant, which is most valued in other countries, is there thrown away.
HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF FLAX.
Common flax (Linum usitatissimum) is the most useful and important species in a genus of plants called linum, from the Celtic word llin, a thread. It is an annual plant, sending up slender, smooth, up- right stems, about the thickness of a crow-quill. The stems are hollow pipes, and the fibre which sur- rounds them is the material used in making linen goods of every description. The plant rises two or three feet high, with long narrow leaves of a greyish colour, placed alternately on the stems ; at the top
THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN.
the stems branch into slender footstalks, each termi- nating in a pale blue flower of five delicate petals. The blossoms open in July, and are succeeded by large globular seed-vessels, each containing ten seeds. This is the'well known linseed, the oil of which is so much used in the arts, while the refuse husk, after the seeds have been crushed for oil, forms the linseed cake, or oil-cake, on which cattle are fattened. The flax plant, thus extensively useful to man, is also ornamental when planted in flower gardens, though some of the dwarf species are perhaps still better adapted for this purpose.
The cultivation of this plant is carried on in widely distant countries ; for its valuable properties are known and appreciated in every civilized com- munity, and it is so easily raised that there is much inducement to cultivate it. The principal countries whence we obtain flax, are Russia, the Netherlands, Prussia, and France, with small quantities from America, Italy, and New South Wales. The soil best adapted to its growth is a deep rich loam, mellow and loose to a considerable depth, and containing much vegetable matter. Hot gravelly soils, or cold wet clays, would be fatal to it; but any other de- scription of land may be so cultivated as to be fit for flax. The cultivation of this crop was formerly pretty general throughout this country, and it still forms an important part of the agriculture of Ireland. The reason of its decline in England was doubtless' its being found much less profitable than the culti-
TUE FLAX PLANT.
6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
vation of corn, while it was also considered very impoverishing to the soils. The latter idea seems to have been erroneous. Under an improved system of cultivation, the refuse of the flax, and the water in which it has been steeped, are returned to the soil as manure, while the linseed cake is used for fatten- ing cattle on the farm. Thus, what is lost in one way, is restored in the other. After flax-growing, it is, however, necessary to allow an interval of six or seven years, before the land is ready to receive the same crop again. In the best soils of Flanders, flax is grown in the third year of a seven-course rotation, or the fifth year of a ten-course rotation.
In that country, where the greatest care is bestowed upon the growth of flax, the preparatory crops are barley or rye, with turnips after them the same year. All these crops are highly manured, and before the flax-seed is sown, peat ashes, at the rate of thirty bushels per acre, are spread and harrowed in; the land is also dressed with liquid manure, which is left for a week or ten days to soak thoroughly into the soil. The seed is then sown very abundantly, in the general proportion of 160 lbs. to the acre. It is lightly covered in by a bush-harrow drawn over the land, for if the seed were buried more than half an inch deep it would not vegetate. In the flax-grow- ing districts of Ireland, this crop frequently follows potatoes; but this is considered injurious to the fibre, rendering it coarse and the stalks uneven, from the manure not being perfectly incorporated with the soil.
In the southern climates flax is sown before winter, and pulled in the spring ; but in our own and other northern climates it is sown in March or April, and pulled in summei'. Repeated ploughings and harrow- ings fit the soil for its reception, and it is then sown in a similar manner to corn — the seeds being equally distrilnited over the surface. A slight har- rowing, and the passing of a roller over the ground
THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 7
ensures quick and even germination. If the quality of the fibre be a chief object with the cultivator, he sows the seed very thickly ; the plants, in conse- quence, come up in a crowded manner, and are tall and of delicate growth, the fibres being delicate in a corresponding degree. If the seed be the chief object, thin sowing is best : the stalks then become strong and coarse in fibre, and much branched at the top, thus producing an increased quantity of seed. In sowing flax, it is customary to use seed obtained from Riga and other foreign countries, as that of home-growth is found inferior in quality after the third or fourth year. Clovers and grasses are occa- sionally sown with flax, but this is not done without injury to the flax crop.
When the plants are a few inches high, weeding commences. In Flanders this is performed by women and children, who with coarse cloths around their knees, creep along on all-fours, which injures the young plants less than walking on them. The weeders also take care, if possible, to face the wind, that the tender flax, bent down by their weight, may be assisted by the wind in rising again. When weeding is too long delayed the plants are bruised and injured, and cannot recover their erect position.
In thickly sown flax the plants are liable, if un- supported, to be laid by the wind, and consequently spoiled. This is especially the case with the taller varieties. There is a very fine long variety, culti- vated in the neighbourhood of Courtray in Flanders, which without support would be laid flat by the least wind. To prevent this, short stakes are driven into the ground, in a line at eight or ten feet from each other, and long slender rods are tied to them with oziers, about a foot or eighteen inches from the ground, forming a slight railing to support the flax : a number of these are placed at a short distance from each other in parallel lines all over the field, and the flax is thus prevented from being beaten down. A more
8
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
AwMM^W^-
'('j*W^
METHOD OF SUPPORTING f LAX.
simple plan is pursued by some cultivators. Stakes
are driven into the ground at regular intervals, and small ropes tied to them instead of rods. The ropes are carried lengthways and ci'oss- ways, and thus form a sort of net work over the whole field. The time of pulling the crop depends upon the season, and upon the intentions of the grower. If fine fibre be his object, he pulls the flax rather green ; but if the quality of the seed be considered, a longer time is given before pulling. The latter object is generally attained when two-thirds of the stalk have
turned yellow, and when, by cutting the seed-pods across with a knife, the seeds have changed from their fluid state, for they ripen sufficient- ly after the flax is pulled, if not sepa- rated from the stalk. Taking up the crop in a wet state is avoided if possible. The pulling is carefully done by small handfuls at a time, which are laid regu- larly two and two across each other to dry, and are soon afterwards collected in large bundles, the root- ends on the ground, and the seed-ends slightly tied together, as sheaves of grain in the harvest field. The practice of cultivators differs very much as to the after processes. Some disregard the seed altogether, and commence steeping the flax at once. Some carry the flax as soon as it is dry under a shed, and take off the capsules containing the seed, by a process called ripnling. Others house the flax as soon as it i&
_-!;).-
SHEAVES OF FLAX.
THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 9
dry, allowing the seed to remain on, and deferring the process of rippling and steeping until the follow- ino- season.
K I P P L I N G.
Rippling is sometimes done in the field, in which case a large winnow-cloth is spread, and the ripple placed in the centre of it. This is an instrument like a comb, with smooth round teeth of iron, stand- ing about twelve inches out of the wood, and placed so close together that the pods cannot pass through. The ripple is screwed down to a long stool, and two men seated at the ends alternately draw their handful of flax through the teeth of the comb. This sepa-
RIPPLING.
rates the bolls or seed-heads from the stalks. If the rippling is performed the same day the flax is pulled, the second day it is taken to be steeped; and the ponds are of a size sufficient to contain one day's pulling and rippling. The system pursued with tlie Courtray flax is different from this, and is strongly recommended to cultivators in this country. The flax being set up in well-formed stocks, is dry in eight or ten days, when it is made up into what are called small wind-stocks in the field, and is finally carried to the barn, or stacked in some convenient situation. The seed is taken off" in the leisure time
a3
10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
during winter, not by rippling, but by threshing with a stick, the foot being kept on the root end of the flax to prevent its turning about. The steeping takes place in the following May and June, and the superiority of the samples thus treated affords proof that the idea commonly entertained — that keeping the flax injures the fibre — is an erroneous one.
STEEPING THE FLAX.
Steeping or retting the flax is a very important process, by which the fibrous bark is separated from the woody portion of the stem. A certain degree of fermentation is excited by the process, but this must be carefully watched and stopped at the right time, otherwise the colour of the flax will be destroyed and the quality injured. In this country it is usual to steep the flax in ponds, but the steepers of Courtray (where steeping is a distinct trade) prefer running water. For this purpose they make large frames of oak-rails, fill them with bundles of flax, and sink them by weighted boards just below the surface of the river Lys.. There are posts driven into the river, to prevent the frames being carried away by the stream, and each steeper has a certain portion of the bank, which is a valuable property. The flax takes a longer time in steeping in this way, than in stagnant water, it also loses somewhat in weight; but the colour is so much finer, that flax is sent to be steeped in the river Lys, from every part of Flanders.
According to Phillips, there is an Act of Parlia- ment still in force in this country, by which the retting of flax in rivers or any waters where cattle are accustomed to drink is forbidden ; as such water is found to communicate a poison, destructive to the cattle which drink it, and to the fish which live in it. Flax sends out a disagreeable odour Avhile steeping in ponds, which is said frequently to cause fever in
THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 11
the neighbourhood where it is carried on to a great extent.
The steeping of flax in ponds (called wafer retting) is well described in Sproule's Essay on the Growth and Management of Flax in Ireland, which obtained the gold medal of the Royal Dublin Society. He says, " The water for the purpose should be soft, to ensure which it is well that it should be collected in the pond for some time previous to the flax being steeped. It is also of importance, that the water should not be changed during the time the flax is in it, the quantity required from leakage being how- ever cautiously supplied. Above all, it is necessary to guard against the use of water impregnated with any mineral substance, which would prove destruc- tive to the flax. In order to guard against this, therefore, it may be necessary to form a cut all round the flax pond, which may be filled up with stones, by which the ingress of injurious matters will probably be prevented. The selection of proper situations for these ponds is too little attended to in this country ; although the treatment in watering exercises a powerful influence on the quality of the flax. The ponds should at least be of sufl&cient depth to admit of the flax being placed almost upright in them, and the length and breadth may be determined by the locality, or the quantity of flax to be steeped. The flax is put into the pond with the root end under- most, and a covering of straw or other matters, to shade off* the light is found to be advantageous. When covered over in this manner, stones are after- wards to be placed along the surface, to prevent any portion of the flax from rising above water. Although any considerable current through the pond is not desirable, yet such a flow as will carry away the im- purities caused by the fermentation, is essentially necessary to produce flax of a good colour."
When the flax has been long enough in the water, it will begin to sink in the pond, and the fibres will
12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
readily separate from the stalks by rubbing. In warm weather eight or ten days will sometimes effect this, in other cases ten or twelve, the precise time not being subject to rule. The flax is next taken out of the pond, and placed on the banks to drain for a few hours, after which it is spread out evenly on short close pasture land, the rows being laid perfectly straight to prevent confusion in turning.
The Belgians spread their flax much thicker than it is done ia Ireland, which prevents the weather from hardening it too much before it is properly bleached, and also renders it much less easily tossed about by winds. While flax is thus spread out upon the ground, it receives three or four turnings, and this is done by means of long poles or wattles, run under the rows, beginning with the first row, and proceeding so that the second falls upon the ground previously occupied by the first. Those accustomed to this work can perform it so well, that the flax after three or four turnings appears as even and regular in the rows as at first. ]\Iuch more attention is paid to this process on the Continent than among ourselves : and this is another reason why uniformity of colour is so much greater in foreign than in native flax.
The separation of the bark from the fibre is some- times eflfected by dew-retting, that is, exposing the flax to the influence of dews and rain, instead of steeping it in a pond. This is of course a much slower process than the former. What is called mixed retting is perliaps the best, the flax being in this case macerated in water, and the retting is finished in the air.
B K E A K I N G.
When the flax is thoroughly dry, it is again bound in bundles, and is either put up in small stacks, loosely built, where it improves by keeping ; or it is at once subjected to the processes necessary to prepare
THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 13
it for the manufacturer. These are, first, bruising the woody parts of the stem. This was formerly done with a hand-mallet, which is still in use in several parts of the north of Ireland, but the operation is much better performed by machinery. The common brake consists of four wooden swords fixed in a frame, and another frame with three swords, which play in the interstices of the first, by means of a joint at one end. The flax is taken in the left hand, and placed between the two frames, and the upper frame is pushed down briskly upon it. It brenks the flax in four places, and by moving the left hand, and rapidly repeating the strokes with the right, the whole handful is soon broken. A variation of this contrivance sometimes
THE BRAKE.
employed, consists of two wooden frames attached to each other by a hinge, the cross bars of which are so