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a few blows against the side of the mine with one
the heavy pointed pickaxes in ordinary use, and fo
it as hard as freestone. Underfoot the whole
was a mass of rock-salt, covered with a thick layer
the material, crushed and crumbled to a state that
actly resembled the powdered ice on a pond that a
been cut up by skaters.

and this bed has been penetrated to the depth of 132 | course had been had to blasting the solid rock. I ma feet, without any appearance of its base. Some of the upper strata in this series are very porous, and permit 360 gallons of water to rise through them per minute, a circumstance that greatly impedes the sinking of pits. The salt of these mines is commonly of a reddish hue, and is often so hard, that the blast by gunpowder is necessary to extract it. The lower portion of the lower bed is the purest, and in it occurs considerable cavities, sometimes 16 feet high. The mines are worked by galleries, masses of salt being left as pillars to support the roof. When illuminated by candles, numerously fixed on the sides, the effect produced is exceedingly brilliant. Of the Cheshire mines, many yield 16,000 tons of salt per annum for home consumption, and 140,000 tons are annually exported from Liverpool.

Salt is also obtained in our own country from brine springs, the chief of which are situated at Droitwitch, in Worcestershire. They are four in number, all situated within a square furlong, and seem to issue from a bed of rock-salt. The quantity of brine rising from these pits is immense; and although that which is used bears but a small proportion to that which runs to waste, nevertheless the quantity of salt annually made from these four pits, or springs, is about 16,000 tons, two-thirds of which are consumed in England. The brine is perfectly limpid, and contains about onethird its weight of salt, which is separated from it by evaporating processes.

Salt Mine.

Experiments have been made by boring to a dept seventeen yards, but they have neither perforated rock-salt, nor do they at present know the thick the stratum. The height of this excavation is a fifteen feet, within which space the salt is estimate: being of the best quality. Above, it is somewhat a rior. I was informed that thirty-five thousand to salt were annually dug out of the different leves, L. that the area of the whole together amounted to f eight statute acres. A considerable quantity of t salt is exported to Prussia.

At one part there is a vista of two hundred ya in length, which has been dignified with the nam Regent Street. Here occasionally pic-nie partes celebrated; and on a large table of coarse deal-boar were the evidences of deeds of wassail performed as a feast of this description, which had taken place a months before. An empty jug and sprig or t evergreen lay forlorn and neglected, while I observ natural tokens, indisputable and abundant, of mice tha had joined in the revelry. These little animals riably establish their residence under ground, wher men lead the way. At the coal-pits of Whitehave instance, they are plentiful at a depth of one hund and forty fathoms, being brought there originally, pr bably in bundles of horse provender. Were it poss within this mine, to provide against the inconven of smoke, there not being any efficacious outlet fr egress, I cannot conceive a place better calculated, w proper appendages and decorations, to give effecti fête on a magnificent scale.

Every one who descends this pit ought to bring a good Bengal light. For ordinary purposes, we hat course to common tallow candles.

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Having wandered a long way, through vast s but almost in darkness, we came again to the fol the shaft. Previous to ascending, my guide w! little out of the way, in order to carry a pail of to an old horse, who, as the workmen were abset: the whole day, was standing by himself in perfect tude, and, till we came, without any light at all. A and in darkness, he must, poor fellow, from nees Among the most interesting accounts of the English live for many hours in the year, and pass thus begless. salt-mines is that of Sir George Head, in his "Tour a very considerable portion of his time. He loudly es through the Manufacturing Districts of England in pressed his gratitude for the water, and I took an 1835. While at Northwich, he visited the Marston portunity of examining his condition while he w pit, which has been worked for a period of sixty years, drinking. I was surprised to find it particularly g and may be considered inexhaustible. "Having waited unlike the flaccid though fine-coated state of horses (says he) with my conductor a few minutes, till the en- coal-pits, his was that of a firm crest and perfect hea gineer had put a little steam on, we both stepped into a fact I attribute especially to the salubrious effects a round tub, and, standing upright, holding by the the salt. His stail was comfortable and dry, as was the chains, were let down very easily. I cannot express whole space below contained in this pit. I saw no the delight I felt at the scene around me, which sur-pearance whatever of water during the whole time passed anything I had anticipated; creating those sensations I remember to have felt when first I read of the pyramids and catacombs of Egypt. Here was a magnificent chamber, apparently of unlimited extent, whose flat roof presented an area so great that one could not help being astonished at its not having long since given way. Yet there was no apparent want of security, it being sound and durable, as if formed of adamant. Here and there pillars, in size like a clamp of bricks in a brick-field, tendered their support, presenting to the view an array of objects that broke the vacancy of uniform space. My idea of the extent was, as if an area, equal to the site of Grosvenor Square, were under In the meantime, the glistening particles of crystal salt on the walls, and the extreme regularity of the concentric curved lines, traced by the tools of the kmen, were very remarkable. Occasionally, the of the jumper-chisel was observable where re

cover.

was below.

The salt, after being prepared by the solution of the rock, and evaporation, is formed by wooden maa with holes at the bottom, to allow the remaining to pass through, into cubical blocks, and in this a shipped, either by the river Weaver and ca Weston Point, and thence into the Mersey, or by canal southward.

A considerable quantity is prepared from the be springs, some of which are so strongly saturated a hold in solution the greatest possible quantity of su To the water of some of these springs rock-salt is a while boiling in the pans. From these springs to water, or brine, is raised by a shaft sunk, and a worked by an ordinary steam-engine."

Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, Edi
Sold also by W. 8. ORA and Co. Lonán

CHAMBERS'S

INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE.

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S
EDINBURGH JOURNAL, EDUCATIONAL COURSE, &c.

NUMBER 98.

NEW AND IMPROVED SERIES.

PRICE 14d.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.

TEXTILE FABRICS.

ALL kinds of cloth formed of spun and woven threads fall under the title of textile fabrics, and the manufacturing of these, in the departments of linen, cotton, woollen, and silk, is now the most important branch of industry in Great Britain and Ireland.

LINEN.

The fabrication of linen cloth, to which we may first advert, commences by the preparation and spinning of the raw material, lint. Lint is the fibrous bark of the flax plant, which grows in temperate climates to a height of from three to four feet. When ripe, it is pulled and steeped to soften the substance of the stalks; on being dried, it is skutched, or bruised, to free the fibres from the waste of the stalks. It is next hackled, or cleaned, by being drawn over and among sharp iron spikes; the refuse in hackling is called tow, and is employed for coarse sacking. The hackled lint is a collection of fine smooth fibres, ready for being spun. The mode of spinning is now very different from what it once was. In ancient times, it was customary to spin by the distaff, an exceedingly simple apparatus, consisting of a spindle, or bobbin, twirled by the twisting of the lint, as it came from a staff of lint held by the operator; the finger and thumb were the sole instruments for twisting. A female could not twist a spindleful of thread, though engaged a whole day in the labour. This rude process was at length superseded by the introduction of a machine called the spinning wheel, a representation of which is given in the annexed engraving. A female sat with her left hand towards the rock, or staff, on which the lint was placed; her right foot moved the paddle-board below, and this affecting the upright crank, turned the wheel. A band communicated to the spindle,

and on this the thread was fed from the rock. In drawing out the lint, the finger and thumb were frequently wetted by touching the lips, and this had an effect in consolidating and smoothing the thread, which no purely mechanical process has since been able to imitate. Spinning in this manner with the wheel formed a very common employment for females, particularly those who were aged, and whose time was

of little or no value. Although the motion of the wheel was rapid, in comparison of the feeble operation of the distaff, the process was very insufficient, except for home-made linens, and something very different was required for manufactures conducted on a large scale.

The introduction of machinery in the manufacture of cotton led to the application of similar mechanism in the linen manufacture; and for many years handlabour has been entirely abandoned. All steps in the preparation and spinning of the flax are on a large scale. The flax is imported in vast quantities from Holland and other countries, and is dressed and spun in factories at Leeds, or some other great seat of manufacture. The machinery is extremely beautiful and ingenious, and the making of it alone is a principal trade. On being brought to one of these factories, the flax is from 30 to 36 inches in length, and the first step "is to take a quantity of it, and divide it into three lengths; the part nearest to the root being coarse and strong, the middle part fine and strong, and the upper part still finer, but not so strong. Thus each length being divided into three, and all those of the parts from the bottom, middle, and top, being collected into separate heaps, three distinct qualities of thread are to be formed.

The separation of these first lengths into three is effected by a very ingenious machine, consisting of a number of vertical wheels, and a centre wheel, furnished with a kind of teeth. The length of flax is held transversely against these wheels, and is passed between two, one on either side, while the centre wheel tears it across by separating but not cutting the fibres. This cuts off the bottom part of the length of flax; the remaining part is then submitted to the same process, and the middle part cut from the top, each sort being collected in one heap, so as to effect a separation of the three qualities above named. Each division, from what has been before seen, will be, of course, about ten or twelve inches in length. In the next stage, these lengths are fixed in a sort of vice at one end, spread out to a breadth of six or seven inches; several of these are fixed on a sort of revolving drum, at distances of about a foot from each other, their unsupported ends falling on an internal drum covered with strong cards, the internal drum revolving one way with considerable velocity, and the external in the opposite direction rather slowly, and thereby the lengths of flax are rendered very smooth and straight; they are then dexterously removed by an attendant, generally a girl, and placed with their other side downwards in the next machine, and again removed. It should be remarked, that these only pass over the upper part of the internal drum; for it is obvious, if they passed below, their weight would cause them to fall from and not upon the carding roller.

These several operations being performed, the next step is to place these pieces of flax, one just reaching

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the other, on a feeding cloth, and by the hand slightly
to combine their ends; the first end is then passed be-
tween two card-rollers, or rollers furnished with teeth,
which carry the whole forward, while the extreme end
passes between two rollers of iron, the latter moving
with considerably greater velocity than the former, in
some cases 30 to 1, and consequently the flax is now
lengthened 30 to 1, and its thickness reduced accord-
ingly. In passing from the roller the flax receives no
twist, but comes out flat, and of about the breadth of
narrow tape, and is caught in a cylindrical tin can
placed below to receive it; when a certain length has
been received, sufficient to fill the can, a bell rings, an
attendant breaks the flax, removes the can, and places
another. The flax in the full can is then taken to an-
other machine, where it is again lengthened, and so on
to different degrees, according to its intended fineness.
After it is properly reduced in the flat state above de-
scribed, it receives in its last stage a very slight twist,
so as to reduce it to a round thread. It is then re-
ceived on bobbins, and is in a proper state for spinning;
the process of which differs only in degree from that
described in relation to the cotton manufacture."
The yarn produced in these spinning-mills is pur-
chased by manufacturers, who employ weavers to con-
vert it into the various fabrics of linen, damask, and
cambric.

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Weaving. This is an art of great antiquity, and has undergone little improvement till recent times. The process is founded on a simple principle. A certain number of threads drawn out alongside of each other, constitute the warp. This is evenly wound on the beam of a loom, and is thence extended to another beam at the opposite end. The warp is two threads in depth, and by means of heddles, and other apparatus, these are caused to rise and fall so as to cross each other. Every time that the threads are opened, a shuttle containing the woof or weft is thrown across from one side of the warp to the other, and the thread of woof thus left is driven home by a lay, or properly by a comb-like process of reeds, which the lay brings forward. A reversal of the warp makes another opening, which is similarly crossed by the shuttle, and so on, the fabric gradually assuming the character of cloth. Plain cloth of all descriptions is formed by this species of operation. Twilled cloth is formed by causing the thread of the woof to pass alternately over four and under one of the threads of the warp, and performing the reverse in its return. Jeans, dimities, serges, and other fabrics, are thus woven. For this, and all kinds of ornamental weaving, an expensive, or at least complex harness, is required. The machinery for weav

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are alternately drawn back and permitted to fall ap the linen with considerable force. This motion duced by the revolving of a cylinder situated dri beneath, and having projecting spars which cate raise, at intervals, the extremity of the feet. Fr. wash-mills the linen is removed to the green, ve is carefully spread upon the grass, the several pr being attached together, and their ends secured i ground by small wooden pins. After remaining s three days upon the grass, it is again brought bleach-house, to be boiled and washed as before. operations of boiling, washing, and spreading up green continue, thus successively repeated, till the 4 has fairly assumed a whitish hue, when two addit forces are introduced. The first is that of pass;:1 linen through the rub-boards. These boards, whe fixed in a frame, and moved by simple machinery, b portions of their inner surfaces furnished with plat lignum-vitæ, or other hard material, completely nelled with narrow parallel grooves, the plates upper board being placed immediately over the the under. Between these plates the linen, having first plentifully soaped, is slowly passed, so that entire web is submitted to the friction. The d process is that of steeping, for a certain number hours, in rieves, or cisterns, containing water acd with sulphuric acid. After the introduction of t ditional processes, the earlier continue unchanged, cepting that the use of the former alkalis in ba abandoned, soap being now employed.

By these several means, the bleaching is st completed, when the finishing or preparing for a immediately begins. The linen is first starched a blued, after which it is suspended in a drying-left, « it is exposed to the air till completely dry. taken down and stretched, and submitted to the These are a succession of weighty wooden billets, in a frame, above a slowly-revolving cylinder, r which the linen is wound. The machinery being motion, the billets are raised and successively dr with great rapidity and force, on the cylinder be This is continued for several hours, and the oper repeated till the fabric is sufficiently compress the requisite smoothness obtained. The line lapped, or folded, and sent to the assorting-room. each piece is carefully measured, again firmly and subjected to the pressure of an hydranic The peculiar stamp of the merchant is finally r and the linen is ready for the market."* Hemp is a coarser plant than flax, and its fr

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when skutched and hackled, are spun into yarn for being woven into canvass or bagging. The ra

ing lace and gauze is very ingenious and beautiful, but facture of these fabrics has been long settled at It

would require to be examined minutely to be properly

understood.

dee and the adjoining districts, to which the ra Ropes, cordage, and twine, are made from the rial is readily imported from the continent of Ear strong material.

COTTON.

Bleaching and Calendering. These processes follow that of weaving, and in both there are now great im provements. Bleaching linen is performed by spreading the cloth on a bleaching-green, where an abundance of water can be obtained, and exposing it to the action of Cotton is the wool produced in the pods or fr the atmosphere in a wet condition. Some submit their the cotton plant, which is indigenous to all the tr cloths to artificial bleaching by chemical detergents, but regions of Asia, Africa, and America. When the these are allowed to be somewhat injurious to the tex- are ripe, they burst and disclose the cotton wool, ture. With respect to brown linen, "being first unfolded with seeds. After the cotton is gathered, it is ex from the firm and compressed shape in which each piece to the rays of the sun till it is perfectly dry; the or web is received from the manufacturer, it is cast, are then separated by a peculiar skutching appar loosely knotted, into a wooden boiler capable of contain and being picked and compressed into bales,

ing some two or three hundred pieces, and nearly filled state sent to Europe. The chief seats of import *** with a weak solution of potash or barilla. After the Glasgow and Liverpool, where it arrives in large a linen has been boiled in this liquid for several hours, it bales, and in this state is carted off to the factor

is removed from the boiler by a crane and net-work of rope, and almost immediately transferred, in separate

which it is to be spun.
The relative value of raw cotton depends

trough, through which jets of spring-water are con- dom from dirt and seeds. The cleanest, we bel quantities, to the wash-mills. Here it is placed in a length of its staple, the delicacy of its fibre, and it ly passed, and kept fully exposed to the action of the American; but however careful its preparers

r by means of two large beams suspended above been, "it never comes to England in a state fil
hs, and termed feet, the lower ends of which mediate use; some seeds remain after the most car

yclopædia Metropolitana, article Manufactures.

* Mr and Mrs Hall's Ireland. London: IN

cleaning, and the pressure to which it is subjected in packing, forms hard matted lumps, and some of the coarser and heavier wool is unavoidably mixed with that of superior quality. The first operation in the process of manufacture is consequently the cleaning of the cotton. It is put into the blowing-machine, where the cotton is torn open by revolving spikes, and subjected to the action of a very powerful blast, produced by the rapid turnings of a fan; the light wool is thus blown to some distance from the heavier portions-the dirt, seeds, &c. This process is continued in the skutching-machine, where the cotton is beaten by metallic blades making from 3000 to 5000 revolutions in the minute; these completely open the fibre, and separate the fine wool from the waste, which falls to the ground through a frame of wire work.

The cleaning process is generally called willowing, which is either a corruption of winnowing, or perhaps derived from the willow frames on which the cotton was cleaned by beating, before blowing-machines were invented. Previous to this improvement, the cotton was placed upon willow-hurdles, or upon cords stretched over a wooden frame, and then beaten with smooth switches. This operation, technically called batting, though very fatiguing, and we believe unwholesome, from the dust, &c., which was scattered about, was usually performed by women; it is now very rarely practised, except when some remarkably fine cotton is required for the manufacture of lace, when it is of importance to preserve the length of the staple, which might be injured by machinery.

The Hindoos open the fibres of their cotton by a bow similar to that which hatters use in raising wool; the same contrivance appears to have been employed in America, for we find the term bowed cotton still employed in the language of commerce. Judging from its effects on wool and fur, we should think that the bow is an effective machine for cleaning and opening the fibres, but it would be far slower and less productive than the willow.

When cleaned, the cotton is brought to the lapping or spreading-machine, where a given weight of the wool is spread over a determinate surface of cloth, and being then slightly compressed by a cylinder, it is lapped round a cylindrical roller, so as to be in a fit state for feeding the carding-machine. It is a singular fact, illustrating the accuracy with which machinery works, that the weight of the cotton spread on the cloth in this process regulates the fineness of the thread ultimately produced, and that there is rarely any great amount of error in the calculation.

The next process, that of carding, is one of the most beautiful in the whole of the cotton manufacture. An explanation of the object to be attained, is necessary for those who have not paid some attention to the subject. In order that any material should be spun, that is, should have its fibres twisted together, it is essential that these fibres should be straight and parallel with each other. After having been subjected to the action of the willow, the fibres of the cotton are blown about in every direction, and, if compressed, would be entangled with each other. This, which is the object to be gained for the process of felting, is precisely that which must be carefully avoided for spinning. In order to straighten the fibre, the cotton is made to pass between cards or brushes of wire, one of which is stationary, and the other in motion; the wire teeth catch the fibres, and, by their continued action, pull them into nearly parallel directions.

This process was anciently, and in some rural districts both of England and Ireland is still, effected by hand-cards, which might be described as two brushes with handles, having short wires instead of hairs. The labour was usually performed by women, who placed one of the cards on the knee, holding it firm with the left hand; and then spreading the cotton or wool in small quantities over the wire, drew the other card repeatedly over it with the right hand, until the fibres were deemed sufficiently straight. When thus prepared,

the cardings were taken off in a roll by the hand, and
laid so as to be united into a continuous roving by the
spinning-wheel.
The first great improvement in this process was to
fix one of the cards to a table, and suspend the other
from the ceiling, so that the workmen could move it
without having to sustain its weight. Such a contriv-
ance allowed stock-cards, as they were called, to be
made of double the size of hand-cards, and consequently
to double the quantity of work produced. We have
seen stock-cards in some rural districts, where there is
still a domestic manufacture of woollens; but they are
daily becoming of more rare occurrence. In nearly all
manufactures, they have been superseded by the cylin-
drical cards, which Mr Baines has shown to be the in-
vention of Mr Lewis Paul of Birmingham, about the
year 1748. About 1760, the process, which seems to
have been either neglected or disused, was revived by
Mr Morris of Wigan, and applied to the carding of
cotton. The perfecting of the machine has been claimed
for Sir Richard Arkwright, but the originality of his
invention has been very fiercely contested. Without
entering into the controversy, we shall proceed to de-
scribe briefly the machine in its present state.
The carding-machine has the appearance of a cylin-
drical box, into which cotton is given by the roller,
round which it was wrapped in the spreading opera-
tion. Its wooden covering is a series of narrow panels;
and if one of these be lifted, it will be seen that each of
them is a card, and that a cylinder covered with cards
occupies the interior of the box, between which and the
panel-cards the cotton is rapidly passed. At the op-
posite side of the box is a second cylinder, the cards on
which, instead of being placed horizontally, are wound
spirally round the cylinder, which is called a doffer, so
as to remove the carded cotton in a continuous fleece.
The cotton is slipped from the doffer by the action of a
slip of metal, finely toothed like a comb, which being
worked against the cylinder by means of a crank, beats
or brushes off the cotton in a fine filmy fleece. The
cloud-like appearance of the carded cotton, as it is
brushed from the doffer, or finishing cylinder, by the
crank and comb, is singularly beautiful-a breath seems
to disturb the delicacy of its texture, and to the touch
it is all but impalpable. The filmy fleece is gradually
contracted as it passes through a funnel, by which it is
forced to assume the shape of a roll or sliver. It then
passes between two rollers, by which it is compressed
into the shape of a ribbon of considerable tenacity, in
which state it coils itself up in a deep tin can.

Looking at the various parts of this interesting machine, the attention is first engaged by the feeding cylinder, which supplies the cotton to the cards more regularly and continuously than could be effected by hands. The successive cards on the concave and convex cylinder are seen to subject the wool to several successive cardings at each revolution of the wheel; and to prevent the necessity of stopping the machine to remove the carded cotton, it is stripped off by the doffer, which removes the cotton, not in successive portions, but in one continuous fleece. Again, the removal of this fleece from the doffer, which would be both tedious and imperfect if attempted by hand-cards, is completely accomplished by the simple agency of the crank and comb.

Carding is not the only operation employed to straighten the fibre of the cotton. It may easily be conceived that the teeth of the cards will frequently lay hold of a fibre by the middle, and thus double it together, in which state it is unfit for spinning. This evil is corrected in the drawing-frame-au important part of the spinning machinery, for it executes work which could scarcely have been effected by human hands. The essential parts of the drawing-frame may be easily understood from description. Each drawinghead consists of three pairs of rollers, the upper one of each pair being smooth and covered with leather, the lower being fluted longitudinally. They are placed at a distance from each other, which is regulated by the

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staple of the cotton; that is to say, the distance between | thread does not require such tender manipahin each pair of wheels is generally a very little more than the delicate roving." the length of the fibres subjected to their action. The loose ribbon formed by the carding-machine is pulled through these rollers, and as they revolve with different velocities, the fibres pull out each other, and ciprocally extend each other to their full length.

The most interesting part of the manu mule-spinning, which is more common than des spinning. "Let the reader," continues our a re-imagine himself in the room, a part of which presented in the accompanying cut, and it is ni

But a not less important object of the drawing-frame is to equalise the consistency of the cardings. One carding, notwithstanding all the precautions that have been taken, will be found to have more or less of substance than another, and it is necessary to counteract this inequality by combining several of the carded ribbons, technically called card-ends, into one sliver. Eight card-ends are usually brought to the first drawing-head, and after passing through the rollers, they combine to form one sliver of the same density as each of them separately, thus increasing eight-fold the chances of uniformity in the sliver. Four of these slivers are again subjected to the same process, and thus the chances of uniformity are thirty-two-fold those of the original card-ends; and this is continued until the last sliver may be regarded as containing parts of 300 card-ends; but for very fine spinning, the doubling of the fibres, as the process is called, is multiplied more than 60,000 times.

The drawing-frames are fed from the tin cans containing the card-ends, and the chief duty of those who attend them is to mend or piece the feeding slivers when one of them is broken, or when one of the cylindrical cans is exhausted. A contrivance has been recently introduced to abbreviate this labour; a cylindrical weight is made to fall at intervals into the receiving can, and by pressing down the sliver, to force it to hold more than double the quantity which it would contain if the sliver were left to coil itself loosely. In the mills for fine spinning, great attention is paid to this process, because any defects left by the drawing-frame cannot be cured in subsequent operations. The labour of attending to the machines is the lightest in the cottonmill, but there are few parts which require more vigilance and care.

The next operation is the making of a roving or thin sliver, about the thickness of candlewick, and giving it only so much of a twist as will enable it to hold together. The attenuation of the sliver is accomplished by rollers acting in the same way as in the drawing process, but various contrivances have been devised to give the roving just so much tension as is necessary, and no more. Arkwright invented the can-roving-frame, in which a slight twist was given to the roving by making the receiving-can revolve upon a pivot. It was necessary that the rovings, after this operation, should be wound off upon bobbins, a process injurious to their delicate texture; to obviate this evil, the jack-frame, or jack-in-the-box, was contrived, which wound the roving on a bobbin as it received its twist, instead of leaving it to coil in the can. At present, the process of roving is generally performed by the bobbin and fly-frame, an ingenious piece of mechanism.

It is not necessary to enter into any examination of the many ingenious contrivances which have been devised to render the roving-machines more perfect and automatic; the reader will best appreciate the difficulty of the operation, by bearing in mind that the process of twisting by the spindle, and winding on the bobbin, though connected in fact, are quite independent in principle, and that there is therefore a necessity for the nicest adjustment, in order that the one should be accommodated to the other.

Twist of low numbers, called water-twist, because it was originally worked in Arkwright's water-frame, is spun by the throstle, a machine probably deriving its from its singing noise. It is in principle nearly as the drawing-frame which has been just it extends the rovings by the action of rolender threads, and twists them by the rotadles and flyers. The machinery, however, simple, because the hard-twisted throstle

that the circumstances worthy of his notice will themselves in nearly the following order :-He a carriage about a yard in height, and of very or able length, varying in different mills, bearing & spindles between its upper rails; it has generaly wheels, which traverse on the same number of guiding bars, so as to allow of its drawing out to a tance of more than four feet from the stationary fr as it recedes from the frame, it draws with it and gates the threads, or rather rovings delivered through rollers, by a series of bobbins in the er stationary rails. The threads, as they are elong are twisted by the spindles; and should any of " break, it is the duty of a boy or girl, called a peer join the disunited ends as the carriage moves from upright frame. A girl in the act of piecing the is represented in the cut. When the carriage has ceded to its full extent, the spindles continue to re until the requisite quantity of twist is communica the yarn. The spinner then causes the spindles t volve backwards, until he has unwound the port thread which has coiled spirally round it from the to the nose of the cop, and at the same time he a faller wire, supported by hooks, as seen in the e as to regulate the winding of the yarn on the e proper spiral. There is great nicety required in lating the pushing back of the carriage, for it is sary that its rate of travelling should be commen with the revolution of the spindles. Three simulta and delicate movements have thus to be effected spinner as the carriage returns; he must guide t ler wire so as to insure the regular winding of the on the cop; he must regulate the rotation of the sp of which there are often a thousand to one muehe must push the carriage at such a rate as to precisely the exact amount of yarn that the sp can take up.

The little piecers can only take up the ends when carriage is within a foot or two of the delivering and they have therefore an interval of rest, wh carriages traverse backwards and forwards. The ner, too, has a brief respite while the carriage 18 ing outwards from the frame. The time taken to a stretch, that is, to draw out a thread equal in t to the range of the carriage, increases with the farof the yarn, and varies, also, according to the comp ness of the machinery and the skill of the opera The breaking of the threads depends not merely on machinery, but to a very great extent on the a sphere and temperature. We were in a mill dar the prevalence of a sharp drying east wind, and f that it produced such an effect on the fibres of the ton, that the threads broke faster than the piecerse

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