that supports its population, and whose commerce | stapled quality, and make it work into good yarn. brings from distant shores the raw materials of its Soft, short, riband-like filaments are best adapted for manufactures, and again distributes them, converted spinning into wefts; firm, long, and cylindrical ones into useful and elegant clothing, amongst all the nations of the earth." Through the same means, a plentiful supply of timber is obtained for building. To these natural advantages must be added the acquired advantages of canal and railroad communication with other parts of Britain.

The American cotton grower frequently consigns his cotton to this country for sale on his own account; but about three-fourths of the whole quantity sent is consigned by mercantile houses. The cotton is sold in Liverpool by brokers employed by the importers, and they charge 10s. per cent, for their trouble in valuing and selling it.

Fig. 632. SORTING AND PULLING.

are best adapted for making the wiry warps and lacethread yarns. Cottons which differ much in the length of their staple and form of their fibres do not draw, rove, or spin well together. Coarse wefts are made from Surats, Bengals, and the inferior Uplands, with waste tops from the blowing-machine; but the better wefts for muslins require the finer staples of Bahia, Demerara, New Orleans, and the inferior seaislands. Warps are spun from New Orleans, Egyptian, Maranham, Pernambuco, and sea-island, &c." 1

The purchasers are the Manchester cotton-dealers and spinners all over the country, and they also employ brokers at the same rate of commission to make their purchases. The cotton is principally bought and sold by sample, and the purchasers very rarely examine the bulk. Fig. 631 is a bag or bale of cotton. SORTING.-When the cotton arrives at the mill, the bags are unpacked and sorted. The sorting requires judgment, because the qualitics of the cotton differ somewhat in different bags, and the yarn to be spun from it must be of uniform quality. In order to equalize the different qualities, the contents of all the bags of one lot are mixed together in the following ingenious manner. A space is cleared and marked out on the floor, and the cotton of one bag is scattered all over this space, or on a clean mat spread thereon, so as to cover it exactly; the contents of the second bag are in like manner spread over the first; the third upon the second, and so on, until all the bags are thus formed into a kind of cotton stack, called a bing or bunker. While this is in process of formation, it is trodden down by men and boys, just as hay is in stacking. Now it will be obvious that if a supply of cotton for the purposes of the mill be taken from the side of this bing, tearing it down with a rake from the top to the bottom, a portion of every bag must be taken in every quantity thus pulled down, and in this way uniformity in quality and colour may be ensured. It is usual in forming a bing with different qualities of cotton to use those which have a similar length of staple; and for making the lower descriptions of yarn, some of the waste cotton of the Ure, M.D. &c. 2 vols. 12mo. London, 1836. mill is also used. For yarns of higher numbers, and for warps, a finer quality of cotton is selected. Fig. 632 shows another method of forming a bing. "Much skill may be shown in the suitable intermixture of different kinds of cotton, in order to improve a weak-date of its publication, but all the main features remain unchanged.

WILLOWING.-The cotton in the bing is matted together by the pressure to which it was subjected in packing, and it is also contaminated with mud, dirt, and other impurities. The fibres are opened, and the cotton is cleaned by a machine called a willow. This consists of a box or case, containing a conical wooden beam, studded over with iron spikes, and passing between other spikes fixed in the case or cover of the machine. The beam is made to revolve rapidly, and the cotton as it is torn down from the bing, being put in at one end of the machine, is caught by the spikes, and tossed and shaken about, and gradually driven forward to the other end. The sand and other heavy impurities fall out through an open grating at the bottom of the machine; the dust and lighter matters pass off through a series of wire openings into a shoot in which a draught is created by means of a revolving fan, while the cleaned cotton passes down a shoot into the floor below. In some of the early forms of this machine, a cylindrical cage was made of willows: hence the origin of the name.

BATTING.-Cottons of fine quality are not passed through the willow: they are beaten or batted with twigs of hazel or holly, 3 or 4 feet long, upon a frame,

(1) "The Cotton Manufacture of Great Britain." By Andrew This useful and

elaborate work, although published so long ago, is still the fullest and most complete treatise that we possess on this important subject. It has been our chief authority in this Article, and ought to be studied by every one who wishes to become acquainted with the cotton manufacture in all its minute details. Various im

provements have been introduced into the manufacture since the

0

of various degrees of fineness could be mixed in any proportion. If, for example, a yarn is to be produced from two qualities of cotton, in the proportion of 3 of one to 2 of the other, the large or counterpoise scaleweight is 14 or. The lap-maker first puts into the scale-pan a weight equal to 4ths, and cotton equal to

revolves 2,200 times per minute. This beater delivers the filaments upon a second apron G, where it is exposed to the sucking action of a second sieve cylinder, communicating by the orifice m with the fan ventilator. There the cotton is again formed into a fleecy mass, and is carried through between the two pairs of iron rollers oo and pp, the upper ones being weighted.ths; then taking out the ths weight, its place is These rollers deliver the compressed fleece to the wooden lap cylinder 1, whose axis is loaded by hanging weights as at L, so as to bear down between the two rollers K K, which, revolving both in one direction, carry round with them, by friction alone, the lap cylinder. As this cylinder increases in diameter, the links q progressively rise up, with their weights L, so that the pressure continues always uniform. When the coil of lap has attained the proper size, the twin rollers oo, with the aprons, cages, and feed-rollers, throw themselves out of gear, whilst the twin rollers pp and the lap cylinders continue to revolve, whereby the fleece is torn or cut across in the middle line between the two pairs of twin rollers. The attendant now lifts the lever r, which raises the links q, and suspends the weights L by the hook 8. In this way he relieves the axis of the lap cylinder, removes it, and puts an empty one in its place. He next throws the machinery once more into gear, disengages the connect-nufacturers even ing-rod t from the hook s, and restores the action of the weight, while he guides the beginning of the fleece round the empty roller.

In fine yarns, the laps are prepared by hand. In Mr. Houldsworth's mill, at Manchester, the Editor watched the process, and it was performed in the following manner :-A lad was furnished with two qualities of cotton in separate baskets, from one of which he took a certain quantity, and put it, together with a small weight, into a scale-pan; when the scale-pan, thus loaded, counterbalanced the weight at the opposite end of the beam, the small weight was taken out of the scale-pan, and its equivalent was made up from the second basket. In this way, cotton

supplied by another sample of cotton. But to return
to our description:-The cotton thus weighed out
was taken to a canvass strip, one-half of which was
extended along a kind of frame, the other half resting
on the floor. The lad distributed the cotton over
this cloth, batting and flattening it out with a kind
of fan, formed by tying four or five thin rods together.
The canvass thus covered with cotton was then rolled
upon an iron spindle, and the act of rolling drew upon
the frame the second half of the canvass from the
floor: this was also covered with cotton and then
rolled up. In spinning fine yarns, all the preparatory
stages require great care, and the formation of these
laps for the carding-engine is a work of nicety. Should
the cotton be spread irregularly, the uniform thick-
ness of the yarn
may be interrupt-
ed. Some ma-

make a compen-
sation for hygro-
metric changes
in the weight of
the lap: the cot-
ton varies slight-
ly in weight ac-
cording as the
weather is wet
or dry; and as

a metal counter-
poise is uniform,

Fig. 636.

weight is about as much affected by atmospheric | a tongue of steel holds this piece of wire exactly in changes as the cotton which is to be weighed, an equality is thus preserved in forming the laps.

Of late years a very convenient balance, Fig. 636, of American invention, has been used. It acts on the principle of the steel-yard. It is also shown in Fig. 637.

CARDING. The cotton, as left by the preceding operations, is in a tangled state, and not entirely free from impurity; but by the next operation-that of carding the fibres are separated, made somewhat parallel, and freed from the remaining impurities. A cotton card is a sort of wire brush, made of bands or fillets of leather, or of alternate layers of cotton, linen, and India-rubber, pierced with numerous holes, in which are fixed bent pieces of hard-drawn iron wire, called dents or teeth. Each piece of wire is first bent at right angles, as at a and b, Fig. 638; then each limb must receive a second bend, as at c and d, Fig. 640, at a determinate obtuse angle, which must be invariable for the same set of cards. The teeth thus formed of equal size and shape 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 equal thickness throughout.

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 forward to the holes previously made by the prickers. The points of the wire are seized on the opposite side of the 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. This machine works so rapidly as to put in 200 teeth every minute, and to complete a length of 20 feet of card in a day. At Messrs. Curtis's factory, at Manchester, the writer saw 90 card-making machines at work in one room. Some of these machines insert the dents in lines across the fillet, at right angles to its length; others insert them in oblique lines. After the cards are completed by these machines they are finished and made true by grinding, and when in use they are ground down from time to time until the teeth are worn out.

Fig. 639 will explain the action of the cards in disentangling the fibres of the cotton wool, and laying

them parallel. If the two cards A and B be moved
in opposite directions with a tangled tuft of cotton
between them, the fibres will be seized by all the
teeth, one card pulling them one way, and the other
card the opposite way, until, by repeated applications
of the cards, the fibres are disentangled and laid in
parallel lines, each card taking up and retaining a
portion of the cotton. All the cotton may be got
upon one card by re-
versing the position of
the two, and placing
them as in Fig. 641, in
which, by drawing the
upper card a over the
lower b, the teeth of the
latter can offer no resistance, and it will give up its
cotton to the upper card.

a

b Fig. 641.

These conditions, which are necessary to good carding, cannot be secured in hand-made cards. Accordingly, many attempts have been made to construct a card-making machine, the most successful of which is that by Mr. Dyer. The leather is first prepared for it by a planing machine, which cuts it into fillets of the proper length and breadth; each fillet is then wetted and stretched 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 uniform thickness. The fillet is then wound upon a roller, and passed between two guide rollers to a receiving roller above the cardmaking machine, where the fillet is held fast and is stretched by a clamp. The wire for the teeth of mahogany, B, called card-tops, the ends of which rest is contained on a drum at the side. The action of the card-making machine is as follows:-Two prickers advance, and make two holes in the leather; a pair of sliding pincers next seize the wire, and wind off from the drum a length exactly sufficient for the teeth;

To apply these principles to the carding engine given in section, Fig. 643. The main carding cylinder, A, is formed of parallel segments of mahogany, screwed upon rings of cast-iron fixed to the central shaft. Each of these segments has nailed to it a length of card leather, or card-cloth, equal to the width of the main cylinder. A portion of the upper part of this cylinder is covered with parallel segments

upon the heads of adjusting screws projecting from the side framing, and they are kept in their places on the frame by pins passing through their ends. Their concave surfaces are covered with a narrow fillet of card-leather. The small rollers D, E, F, G, called urchins

or squirrels, are covered with card fillets wound spirally round each from one end to the other. The engine is fed by means of a pair of fluted iron rollers, h, pressed together by a screw, c; h is a feed-board,

they lie in nearly parallel lines among the card teeth of the drum, and from this they are removed by a smaller drum card, which is covered spirally with fillet cards, and is called the doffer. This doffer, L, turns slowly in contact with the drum, and in an opposite direction, and thus becomes covered with a fine fleece of cotton,' which is removed from the opposite side of the cylinder by the vibrating action of the doffing knife м, Fig. 644. This consists of a blade of steel

Fig. 644. THE CRANK AND COME. toothed at its edge like a fine comb, and it is made to strike down, by means of the crank T and the upright rods pp, with a rapid motion tangentially over the points of the cards. In this way a fine transparent fleece is removed, equal in breadth to the length of the card on the doffer, but its breadth is immediately contracted into that of a narrow riband, by being passed through the funnel, i. Fig. 643. This riband is called a

between three pairs of iron rollers, k, l,m; the bottom rollers of k and I are finely fluted, or channelled, and the top ones are covered with two coats, the inner of flannel and the outer of leather. The upper rollers are pressed upon the lower ones by weights, z, hung upon their axes. We here first observe the effect of the beautiful invention of passing the cotton between pairs of rollers moving with different degrees of speed. The pair of rollers, 1, moves faster than the pair k, the effect of which is to draw out and straighten the filaments. The card end, after being spread by the first two pairs of rollers into a flat riband, is passed through a vertical slit in a plate N, situated between the second and third pairs of rollers, which gathers it up into an elliptical sliver; it is next drawn through two smooth rollers, m, which are slightly pressed together, and lastly it is received into the tin can, o, in the shape of a spongy, slightly coherent sliver. In fine spinning the cotton passes through two carding engines; the first, which is coarse, is called a breaker-card, and the second, in which the teeth are set finer, a finishing-card. A number of cardings from the breaker card are united

ticker-in, turns with much less velocity than the drum-card-end or sliver, and it is consolidated by being passed card, and draws in single filaments from the feedroller. These filaments are immediately stripped from it by the large cylinder, A, to be again teazed out by the teeth of the second roller, E, which moves still more slowly than D, thus serving to pick off the knots from the drum. These knots being carried round by the roller, are again presented to the cylinder, D, as it revolves nearly in contact with E. The roller D next transfers the teazed-out filaments to the drum, blending them with fresh ones supplied by the feedrollers. The tufts, or knots, which escape the action of the first two rollers, D and E, are almost sure to be laid hold of by the fourth roller, G, which is placed closer to the drum, and moves with the same speed as E. The knots caught by G are teazed out by F, which is nearly in contact with it, but revolves at a quicker rate, but not so fast as the surface of the drum. The loosened fibres are thus seized by F, and once more transferred to the drum, whence they proceed, and receive a second teazing from the roller G. Any knots which still remain are arrested by the first flat top cards, and held there till they are disentangled by the rotation of the drum. These flats are occasionally taken out and cleaned, and the first flats require more frequent cleaning than the others. After the filaments of cotton have passed by the flats,

(1) The drum revolves with a surface velocity of from 20 to 30 times quicker than the doffer, according to the nature of the cotton.