with a quicker motion up and down, very close to the rollers, so as to catch and draw out the cotton as it passes forwards between them: underneath an oblong sieve of wire moves back and forwards horizontally, which catches the cotton as it falls from the comb, and frees it from the loose seeds and other matters: above, a sort of frame, like a table, lies behind the rollers, over which an endless cloth is contrived to pass continually, so as to come in one part very close to the rollers; on the upper surface of this cloth the cotton is spread by hand evenly, and thus is brought forward by degrees to the rollers, which deliver it to the comb, as already described.

Another engine of coarser operation is sometimes used previous to the above. This is formed by an oblong roller, three or four feet long, and about fourteen inches diameter, having longitudinal rows of spikes, of three inches long, at intervals of four or five inches, projecting from its surface. This roller revolves within a hollow cylinder, furnished in like manner with rows of spikes projecting inwards, so that the spikes of the internal roller may pass between them: both roller and case are formed usually of bars of wood, so as to leave free space for the cotton to pass, and the dirt to fly ont.

Where these engines are not used, or when they are not sufficiently perfect to completely free the cotton from its seeds and foreign matters, the cotton wool is afterwards carefully picked by women and children, who remove whatever matters might remain in it after the former operations.

When the picking is completed, the cotton next undergoes the process of washing with soap, which not only cleanses it from dirt adhering to its fibres, but it is thought has also a sort of chemical action on it, in making the fibres more tortuous and spiral, by which in a great measure the yarn formed from it acquires that elastic softness, which peculiarly distinguishes it from that spun in mills, which latter does not usually undergo this operation, and which fits it so well to form the weft of cotton cloth, while the superior firmness and hardness of the mill-twist qualifies it better for the part of the warp for which it is generally employed.

After being thus washed, the cotton is next carried to the press, where most of the water which it has imbibed is forced out of it in this operation it is generally

put into a strong wooden box, perforated with holes at every side, and open at top; a wooden cover is then put over it, sufficiently small to enter the box; the whole being then put into the press, the cover is forced down by a wooden screw. Nothing made of iron should be used about the cotton while it is wet, as it might impart a stain hard to be removed.

When the cotton is sufficiently pressed, it is spread on canvass, or railed wooden frames, and brought to the stove to be dried.

The stove consists of a chamber, of size proportionate to the work to be done in it, which is usually arched over with brick, and separate from the other buildings of the cotton factory, to prevent accidents by fire; a flue of cast-iron runs through the middle of this chamber, a little above the floor, from a fire place, which opens outside. In some stoves inverted pots, or metallic cy-, linders, are fixed at intervals along the flue, with which they communicate beneath; wooden supports are placed round the sides of the stove to sustain the frames, on which the damp cotton is spread, which is left to remain here till it is thoroughly dry. As the stove may be constructed in various manners, without any material difference in its performance taking place, it is probable that many other constructions are used in different places; but the one described is of a kind in very general use, and has no very obvious defect. It is probable a stream of heated air conveyed through the stove might be an improvement, tending to accelerate the drying process; as it is very obvious, that when the air contained in the stove becomes loaded with moisture, it cannot absorb that of the cotton very readily. Double doors should also be added to stoves, with a small space between them; and one door should always be shut again before the other was opened, to prevent the cooling of the stove, by the whole mass of heated air passing out at once, which must frequently take place in stoves with single doors.

Carding Engine for Jenny-spinning. When the cotton is sufficiently dry, the next operation which it undergoes is that of carding. This is performed on an engine which has now been brought to great perfection, of which, and of the manner in which it is used, the following is a description. The cotton is first spread on a feeding cloth, disposed in the sanie manner as that already described for the same purpose in the picking engine; two

small rollers, about an inch in diameter take up the cotton between them as it successively approaches them on the revolving cloth, and deliver it to a roller of from twelve to eighteen inches diameter, according to the size of the engine, covered with cards of the fineness proper for cotton: (cards for the operation of carding cotton or wool by hand being used in most towns and villages, need not be described here, and will also be found under their proper head): from this roller the cotton passes 'to another of about the same size, from whence it is delivered to the great carding roller, which is from two to three feet in diameter: about the upper half of this roller several small rollers are placed, of three or four inches diameter, between which and the great rol ler the cotton is carded, as well as between those of a larger size another roller, of from twelve to eighteen inches diameter, takes the cotton from the large roller, and is again stripped of it by a kind of comb, with very short teeth of iron, which moving up and down before the roller, strikes the cards in its descent in the direction of their teeth, by which the cotton is separated in a fine thin sheet, like a fleece, in which it passes between a smooth roller (which is mostly covered with fine paper), and a hollow semi-cylinder, that form it into oblong rolls, similar to those made by hand-carding, but much longer: on the surface of the smooth roller are small projections, parallel to the axis, at the distance of four or five inches from each other; which rolling the cotton between them and the semi-cylinder beneath, produce the effect described. These projections are formed in many engines by whipcord stretched tightly across in the proper places, before the paper is pasted on, which covers both them and the roller.

When the cotton is thus formed into rolls, it falls into a receptacle, whence it is ta ken to be slubbed.

It is to be understood, that the operation of carding performed by the several rollers described is effected by each successively moving faster than the one behind it, and of course slower than the one before it, with the exception of the small rollers placed above the great roller, which move with an uniform velocity, and all much slower than the large roller. In some carding engines formerly a good deal of the motions were performed by toothed wheels and pinions, but of late years they are effected by bands, or straps, which produce a much more equable and

steady movement. The large rollers are generally made by placing two or more wheels of cast iron on one axle, the circumferences of which wheels are cased with wood, which is attached to them by screws

or rivets the smaller rollers are formed in a similar manner on wooden disks; but all are made hollow to prevent warping.

Slubbing. When the cotton is carded, the long rolls into which it is formed are next drawn out into a thick coarse thread, of loose texture, and but little twisted, called the slubbing. This operation is gene rally performed by hand, on the common hand wheel, which is similar to that used for spinning wool, but of a smaller size. Engines have been contrived by which a number of slubbings could be drawn out together; but the hands required for joining the rolls of cotton in succession, and for other purposes about those engines, were found to be so many, that very little, if any, saving was made by those machines.

Robing. The stubbing coiled into conoidal rolls, called cops, are next brought to the engine called the robing billy, by which it is drawn out into a finer thread of the same loose texture as before, receiving at the same time a little more twist.

The Robing Billy. This machine is contrived to give circular motion to a number of spindles, and at the same time draw out the slubbing which is attached to them to a finer thread. The spindles are placed in a frame, so as to stand nearly perpendicularly at about four inches from each other; their lower extremities turn in sockets, and small collars of brass sustain them about half way up: their upper halves project above the frame: to their lower parts are attached small pullies, or whirls, fi om whence bands pass to a horizontal cylinder of about six inches diameter, a little longer than the row of spindles, which is placed before them at a lower position, and which gives motion to all the spindles together when it is turned round. This cylinder is now almost universally made of tin plate; wooden ones of the same dimensions, however carefully made, having been found liable to warp and lose their proper shape. To prevent the bands from slipping, coarse paper is pasted over the tin, which answers the purpose very effectually. The cylinder receives its motion from a wheel, (like the large wheel used in spinning wool by hand, and of the same dimensions), with which it communicates by a band: this wheel is turned by the hand directly, by means of a winch.

In front of the spindles, about a foot higher than their tops, a long spar of deal is supported at each extremity by a pair of small wheels, or sheeves, which run on the sides of the frame in a kind of grooves, so as to admit of the spar being moved back and forwards about six or seven feet, in a horizontal position, without varying from its parallelism to the row of spindles: the bottom of this spar is formed into oblong narrow grooves, into which projecting parts from a lower spar suspended beneath it fit accurately. This lower spar is confined by a sort of staples, so as to admit only of a motion up and down of a few inches below the upper spar, along with which it is drawn back and forwards: the up and down motion is given by a number of small cords at about three feet asunder, which pass from it, over small pulleys in the substance of the upper spar, to a thick wire that lies above it; which wire is moved by a cord going round a pulley of about six inches diameter, supported at the middle of the upper spar: to this pulley an handle is fixed, which, on being pressed down over a spring clasp, raises up the lower spar close to the upper one, and retains it in that position: when the spring clasp is pressed back from the handle, the weight of the lower spar causes it to fall down clear of the upper one. The use of this arrangement of the two spars is to hold fast the slubbings, which are passed between them on to the spindles. The cops of slubbings are supported on a frame,which lies below the moveable spars, small rods pass through them, and through holes in the frame, which sustain them in an upright position, at about the same distance from each other as the spindles.

When the robing billy is worked, the slubbings are first drawn between the move able spars, and each fastened to its corresponding spindle; a sufficiency of length of the slubbings is left between the spars and the spindles to allow for five or six feet of robing to be drawn out of each, which is regulated by a mark on the frame, that shews when the moveable spars going from the spindles have come to the proper position: the spars are then closed by pressing down the handle under the clasp, the spindles are put in motion by turning round the large wheel, and at the same time the moveable spars are drawn back gently: by this means, as the slubbings are drawn out they get proportionally more twist, so as to keep them from breaking; and when they are drawn to the intended extent, by the

spars being moved back to the extremity of their supports, a few turns of the wheel gives them all the twist that portion of them is intended to have. The robings now formed between the spars and the spindles are guided to that part of their respective spindles where they are to remain; and the spindles being again put in motion, while the spars are pushed forwards towards them; the part formed of the robings are by this means rolled up on the spindles. The handle is then released, the lower spar falls down, the spars are drawn back to the mark, which shews that the proper length of slubbing has passed between them; the spars are again closed, and the operation repeated as before described. The robings are guided to the parts of the spindles where they are to be coiled up, by a long horizontal slip of deal, which is supported over them close to the front of the spindles by a light frame, hung on two pivots, that admit of its moving the length of the spindles up and down: a cord is stretched from this frame, near the pivot, along one of the supports of the moveable spars, and passes between three small pulleys at the extremity of the spar: two of the pulleys being at the side of it next the spar, and the middle pulley being outside: this last pulley is fastened to a slide, which is drawn back by a string that runs along the spar to its cen tre, where it passes over a grooved segment of a small wheel, with a small projection; which, being pressed down by the finger, draws the cord in, which causing the stretched cord to contract in length between the pulleys, forces the deal slip down on the robings, and guides them to the parts of the spindles where they are to remain: a small counterpoise draws off the slip, when the finger is removed, and restores this part of the apparatus to its first position.

Of Spinning, and the Spinning Jenny. When the robings are finished, they are brought to the spinning jenny to complete the spining. The spinning jenny is an engine on the same principle as the robing billy, and only differs from it in having smaller spindles, more in number, and closer together: the cops of robings are placed in it, as those of slubbings are in the billy, and by a similar management and operation are drawn out into the required fineness, and receive the degree of twist which forms them into cotton yarn.

Reeling. The cotton yarn, when taken from the jenny, is reeled to ascertain its

others of the same sort: the reel used is a small wheel reel, which denotes the completion of the bank, or given number of yards, by a spring that slaps against its frame at that instant: its machinery is the simplest used, and not different materially from the wheel reels common in other manufactures.

The cotton yarn spun on jennys is almost solely used for weft, which, from its superior softness, it is peculiarly fitted for,which softness is indispensably requisite for some fabrics. As yet no way has been found of forming yarn by mill spinning of the same quality in this respect, and therefore the mill-yarn is almost entirely appropriated for warp. This material difference originates in the carding, which in that for the jennys lays the fibre of the cotton across the roll, while the carding engine for the mill-spinning lays the fibre longitudinally in the direction in which it is afterwards spun, as will be more plain from the following description of this operation.

of Mill Spinning. The cotton for mill spinuing is cleared and beaten in a similar manner to that for jenny spinning, but is not washed or stoved; after it is judged to be sufficiently clean, it is brought to the carding engine.

Mill Carding Engine. The principle on which this engine is constructed, are the same as those on which the carding engine for jenny spinning is formed: the great point in which they differ is, in the manner in which the carded cotton is taken from them, which, in the mill engine, is so as to form an entire flake, or continued sheet, of the breadth of the last cylinder; the cards on this cylinder are generally formed of long narrow stripes, about an inch and a half broad, and are put on round it spirally, by which means there are no joinings in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder of any considerable length. The carded cotton is struck off this cylinder in the same way as from the other engine; but instead of being passed under the roller with longitudinal projections, to form it into rolls, it is drawn forward through a conical guide of tin, by two narrow wooden rollers, about six inches in diameter, that deliver it into deep and narrow tin vessels, in the form of a long ribband, about two inches in breadth. The mill engine, instead of the small carding rollers above the main cylinder, used in the jenny carding engine, has commonly narrow flat spars of deal with cards attached

the principle cylinder. Toothed wheels and pinions are more used in the mill carding engine than bands; but that this is any improvement is doubtful, as in other parts of the machinery of mills, bands have been substituted for wheel work to advantage, and probably will be more so than they are now, as they work without causing that shaking motion which toothed wheels occasion in general, and which is both injurious to the evenness of the yarn, and the duration of the machinery. For toothed wheels, when in quick motion, act by a succession of percussions on each other, unless constructed with an accuracy as to the form of the teeth, that is very difficult to give to very small wheels, or unless the teeth are so numerous that several may come in con tact at once, which in small wheels would cause them to be of too reduced a size, and too weak for mill work.

From the carding engine the long stripes of carded cotton are brought to engines consisting merely of two pair of small rollers, one pair of which moves faster than the other, and each pair of which are caused to press against each other with some force, either by weights or springs. Here two, three, or more of the stripes of carded cotton are drawn out together into another stripe, smaller than the first stripes, and this operation is repeated till the stripes attain that evenness which is so essential to the formation of good twist.

Of Mill Slubbing. The prepared stripes of carded cotton are then brought to the slubbing engine, where they are formed into a thread of very loose texture and little twist.

The slubbing engine consists of two pair of drawing rollers between which the prepared stripes of carded cotton are drawn out to the required fineness, they then pass downwards into tin cylinders, which revolve with a velocity proportionate to the twist to be given; at the top of each cylinder two very small rollers are placed, which are made to turn round by bands passing down the sides of the tin cylinder, over small pullies, to a fixed wheel at bottom; these small rollers draw down the narrow stripes of cotton into the cylinders, and the centrifugal motion distributes them equally round the sides of each cylinder in a long hollow roll, which is taken out at a door at the side of the cylinder, that is fastened with a hook and loop.

The slubbing is then rolled on bobbins,