263

COTTON MANUFACTURE.

consists of feeding-rollers made of wood and placed at a short distance
from each other; the cotton, while passing slowly between the rollers,
is struck by a set of beaters made to revolve from 1000 to 2000 times in
a minute. The cotton is passed through two such sets of rollers, and
subjected to two sets of beaters. It is then taken to the Spreading
Machine, the use of which is to spread a given weight of cleaned cotton
into a given length and breadth, in order to its being presented of
uniform thickness to the next process. The spreading machine is,
however, not universally used; where the heavier quality of yarn is
spun it answers sufficiently well, and effects an adequate saving of
labour; but for fine yarns, where the greatest precision is required in
The cotton is weighed
order to produce regularity in the size of the yarn, machine-spreading
does not answer so well as hand-spreading.
very accurately before it is put into the spreading-machine, and when
perfectly spread is called a feed, the thickness of which will of course
be regulated by the weight of cotton supplied to the machine. This
operation is repeated continuously, so that an unbroken sheet of
cotton passes through the machine and is wound on a wooden roller.
In this form the cotton is called a breaker lap.

Up to this stage the fibres of the cotton cross each other in every
direction. The Carding Engine then comes into requisition, to dis-
entangle them, to draw them out, and to lay them parallel to each
other. Properly speaking, this is the first operation of spinning-the
previous processes being used only to open and clean the cotton. The
card is a species of brush made of short wires passed through a sheet
of leather and pointing all in one direction. In the early period of
cotton-spinning in this country, these cards were nailed on small
pieces of board with handles, and two of them were used together, one
held in each hand. The first improvement made in this implement
was effected about 1760, by James Hargreaves, the same ingenious
man who, a few years later, invented the spinning-jenny. This im-
provement in the cards consisted in having one of them greatly
increased in size, and fixed; this was called the stock, and the other
was suspended by a cord working in a pulley, fixed to the roof of the
work-shop; the effect of this arrangement was that two or more cards
This modification was imme-
could be applied to the same stock.
diately followed by the greater improvement of cylinder cards; the
father of the first Sir Robert Peel set up a machine of the kind at
Blackburn in 1762, with the assistance of Hargreaves. The inventor of
cylinder cards is not known with certainty; but Mr. Baines ascribes the
invention to Lewis Paul, who took out a patent in 1748 for improve-
ments in carding. The carding engine, which was the natural result
of the invention of cylinder-cards, consists of a horizontal cylinder
covered in its entire circumference with narrow fillet cards wound
spirally round the cylinder, leaving an intervening space between the
Over the cylinder is a concave
several spiral lines thus described.
frame, the interior surface of which is lined with cards, and the form
of which corresponds to that of the cylinder. When the cylinder is
made to revolve, the cards on it and on the frame act against each
other, by which means the fibres of cotton are disentangled and pro-
perly arranged, as already mentioned. The cylinders, which are usually
about 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet long, are made to revolve at the
rate of 100 to 150 turns in a minute.

The cotton, in the form already described as a breaker lap, is led
into the carding machine by a slow motion through feeding-rollers,
little more than one inch in diameter, The fibres of the cotton are
then immediately engaged by the wires of the main cylinder, and after
being by their means properly arranged, are thrown off by its velocity
to a second cylinder called a doffer.

When cylinder-cards were first used, hand-cards were employed to
Various contrivances were at different times
take off the cotton.
adopted for improving this part of the process; until at length Ark-
wright contrived for the purpose a plate of metal toothed at the edge
like a comb, which, instead of revolving as the former contrivances
had done, was, by means of a crank, made to move rapidly in a per-
pendicular direction, and with slight but reiterated strokes on the
teeth of the cards detached the cotton from them in a uniform fleece.
This fleece is made to undergo compression on its passage to a roller,
from which it is delivered in the form of a thick but soft thread, called
The duration of the carding pro-
a card-end, or sliver, into a tin can.
cess is made to depend upon the quality of the cotton under prepara-
tion; if the fibres are short and coarse, the carding should be quickly
performed, not indeed by accelerating the speed of the cylinders, but
by taking the cotton faster off the cards.

The next operation is called drawing, and the machine by means of
which it is performed is called the Drawing-frame. The object of this
drawing is to complete what has been begun by the carding engine,
namely, the arranging of the fibres of cotton longitudinally, in a uni-
form and parallel direction, and to remedy all existing inequalities in
the thickness of the sliver. The drawing-frame acts upon the same
principle as Arkwright's spinning-frame, two or three sets of rollers
In its passage
being employed moving with unequal velocities.
through the first pair (1, 1) the sliver is simply compressed; but being
drawn through the second and third pairs (2, 2 and 3, 3) with gradually
increasing velocities, it is necessarily drawn out in the same pro-
portion. In repeating this operation, which is called doubling, two,
three, or a greater number of the drawings are passed through each set
of rollers; in the first they are made to coalesce, and in the second are

COTTON MANUFACTURE.

again drawn out. These doubling and drawing processes are repeated very frequently, in order to correct every inequality in the thickness of

[Drawing Rollers and Cans.]

the cord or sliver; they are of the utmost importance, and if ill or
Roving, the next step in the process, is a continuation of the drawing,
insufficiently performed, the yarn cannot prove of good quality.
with this only difference-that the cord, now called a rove or slub,

[Roving Cans.]

being so much reduced in thickness that it will not otherwise hold
together, a slight twist is given to it by passing it into a metal can,
which, while receiving it, is made to revolve with great velocity.
The rove thus slightly twisted, is wound upon bobbins, and is then
ready for the spinning-frame. About the year 1817, a machine called
a fly frame was contrived for preparing rovings for inferior numbers of
yarn. Instead of revolving cans, this frame is provided with a series
of spindles, each of which is furnished with a flyer; the revolutions
of this flyer give the requisite twist to the cord, which is delivered
at once to the bobbin fitted loosely on the spindle. The tube frame,
Instead of cans, this frame is provided with revolving horizontal
more recently introduced, is used for preparing yarns of all qualities.
cylinders: and by its means a much greater quantity of work can
be done in a given time than with the fly frame; the rove which
it produces has no twist, and is therefore very tender, and the
quantity of waste which it occasions is greater than is otherwise
experienced.

The important process of Spinning then comes for notice. The principle of Arkwright's original Spinning frame may be briefly described: There were two pairs of rollers; the first pair slowly revolving in contact; and the second pair, at a little distance, revolving with greater velocity. The lower roller of each pair was fluted longitudinally, and the upper one was covered with leather, by which means the two The cotton, when passed between the first pair of rollers, had the form would have a sufficient hold upon the cotton passed between them. of a thick but very soft cord, and was no further altered in its texture

than by receiving a slight compression; but as the second pair of rollers moved with many times the velocity of the first, the cotton was drawn out many times smaller than when delivered from the first rollers.

[Throstle spinning.]

The yarn produced by its means received the name of water-twist, from the circumstance of the machinery being at first set in motion by water power. The Throstle frame is the same in principle as Arkwright's

invention; but the movement of the parts is simplified, so that the speed of the machine is increased, and a greater number of spindles may be driven with an equal amount of power; it was introduced about the year 1810. The Mule-jenny, invented by Samuel Crompton, combines the essential principle of Arkwright's frame with the property of stretching possessed by Hargreave's jenny. By means of the mulejenny, the roving is first drawn and then stretched. The effect of this improvement is to make the yarn finer, and of a more uniform tenuity. When delivered by the rollers, the thread is thicker in some parts than in others; these thicker parts, not being so effectually twisted as the smaller parts, are softer and yield more readily to the stretching power of the mule; and by this means the twist becomes more equable throughout the yarn. Throstle-spinning is seldom employed for higher numbers than forty to fifty hanks to the pound, because smaller yarn would not have strength to bear the drag of the bobbin; but in mule-spinning no bobbin is used, and the yarn is wound or built upon the spindles without subjecting it to any strain. The spindles in this machine are regularly arranged on a carriage, which when put in motion recedes from the rollers with a velocity somewhat greater than that at which the reduced rovings are delivered from them; during this time the yarn is receiving its twist by the rapid revolving of the spindles; when the rollers are made to cease giving out the rovings, the mule-jenny still continues to recede, but with a slower motion, and its spindles to revolve; and thus the stretching is effected. The distance which the spindles recede from the rollers while both are in action is called a stretch; this is usually about fifty-four or fifty-six inches the space through which the mule moves greater than and during the giving out of the rollers, is called the gaining of the carriage; and the further space accomplished by the carriage after the rollers are stopped, is called the second stretch; during this latter part of their progress, the spindles are made to revolve much more rapidly than before, to save time. When the drawing, stretching, and twisting of the thread are thus accomplished, the mule disengages itself from the parts of the machine by which it has been driven, and then the attendant spinner returns the carriage to the rollers, again to perform its task. While returning to the roller, the thread which has been spun is wound or built on the spindle in a conical form, and is called a cop. The mule-jenny is a complex piece of mechanism, and requires to have all its parts very nicely fitted and adjusted.

The Self-acting mule contrived by Mr. Roberts, and improved by later inventors, is a beautiful example of automatic mechanism. The car riage of this mule, after having drawn out and stretched and twisted the thread, is returned again to the rollers by mechanical means without the guidance or intervention of any intelligent agent, the only attendance required being that of children to join such threads as may have been accidentally broken in the stretching. This self-acting mule is even more complex in its arrangements than the original machine, and hence great doubts were entertained as to its successful working; but it has triumphed over all difficulties. Its advantages as regards economy, and rendering the manufacturer independent of a class of workmen who frequently proved refractory, are so great, as to have led to a general adoption of the machine. If the yarn spun with the mule-jenny be intended for use as weft in

[Carriage of Self-acting Spinning Mule.]

the factory where it is produced, the cops are at once applied to the | the yarn is reeled into hanks each 840 yards in length, for performing shuttle; but when intended for warp, and generally when exported, which operation a Self-acting reel has been contrived. This process is

267

COTTON MANUFACTURE.

The diameter of the reel is 44 feet; when attended by young women. Each hank is separately tied it has performed 80 revolutions, a lay is formed measuring 120 yards, and seven of these lays make up a hank. round with a thread, and weighed to ascertain its fineness; the different sizes are then put by themselves, and separately packed in paper bundles of either five or ten pounds weight.

Fine yarns are usually singed, in order to remove their loose downy fibres and to give them smoothness. This is accomplished by subjecting the thread to the action of a series of coal-gas flames, through or over which it is several times passed with a degree of quickness sufficient to prevent burning.

Cotton thread, for sewing, is made by laying together two or more yarns of equal quality, and twisting them; for which purpose distinct machinery is employed. Previous to the doubling and twisting, the yarn is passed through a trough, containing a thin solution of starch; the twist is given in an opposite direction to that applied by the spinning machine, causing the thread to resemble in this respect organzine silk.

Scarcely any operation in a cotton mill, we thus see, is carried for ward without the intervention of a machine, by which the work is done with greater precision, and also with greater celerity, and consequently greater economy. The packing of the hanks of yarn into bundles is the work of a bundle press, by means of which the hanks are pressed into a small compass, the power of the machine enabling females to exert sufficient strength for the purpose. Even here, however, steam power is sometimes employed.

The degree in which the inventions that have here been noticed have reduced the expenses attending this branch of manufacture is great almost beyond belief. One pound of the yarn known as No. 100 was, in the year 1786, worth 388.; in 1791, it was 298. 9d.; in 1795, 198.; in 1799, 10s. 9d.; in 1807, 6s. 9d; in 1832, 28. 11d.; and in recent years it has been still lower. The average waste in spinning cotton is considered to be about 14 oz. per pound; it is very much higher in fine yarns than in coarse, and this is one reason for the increased price of the former. Mr. Ainsworth, an eminent Lancashire manufacturer, has recently pointed out the ratio which raw material bears to labour, in four varieties of textile manufacture, thus:

For finished
Goods.
=38, 1d.
=58. 2d.
=28. 4d.

i lb. wool, for coarse cloth costs 18.

1 lb. flax for shirting costs

0s.

10d. + 1s. 6d.

= 18. 0d.

1 lb, cotton for sheeting costs 0s. 6d. +0s. 6d. The mechanical inventions relating to the various processes of cotton manufacture, patented or otherwise, are, as has been already implied, numerous almost beyond belief. The records of the Patent Office, now placed in such admirable order under the superintendence of Mr. Bennett Woodcroft, show this conclusively. It is not possible to give the number of patents with accuracy, because some of them relate to wool and flax as well as to cotton; but it is pretty evident that the last named fibre occupies the prominent place. Down to the close of the year 1858 there had, since the commencement of the patent system, been 256 patents granted relating more or less to the cleaning, spinning, separating, scutching, and batting of fibrous materials; 82 containing provisions relating to the carding, combing, drawing, doubling, and roving of the materials thus prepared; and the enormous number of 1376 touching in a greater or less degree the processes and apparatus for spinning, twisting, and thread-making. It must not, as just stated, be understood that all these related to cottons; nor that there were 2457 separate patents relating to textile materials, seeing that some of the patents comprise within themselves the characteristics of all three lists, or of two out of the three; but it is quite certain that the patents relating strictly to the cotton manuAll these are irrespective of facture are many hundreds in number. weaving processes, which have been made the subjects of a distinct series of patents.

As the weaving of cotton does not differ much in principle from that of linen, woollen, and silk, it will suffice to describe them all in one article. [WEAVING.] The statistics connected with the manufactured products of cotton-mills will come most suitably into the subjoined article [COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION], as will likewise a brief notice of the cotton manufacture in foreign countries.

It would not be right to close this article without a few lines descriptive of those important establishments, the cotton-mills of the north-those extraordinary centres of industry, which have stamped a character on the counties containing them. It is computed that, in 1859, if we draw a circle of thirty miles radius around Manchester, that circle will be found to contain more inhabitants than a circle of similar size having London in its centre. Liverpool, the great port for landing raw cotton and for shipping manufactured cotton goods, is just within the circle: Manchester, the cotton metropolis, is by the terms of the argument in the centre of the circle; while other parts of the area include the great towns of Preston, Chorley, Blackburn, Accrington, Clitheroe, Burnley, Haslingden, Bacup, Rawtenstall, Bolton, Bury, Middleton, Oldham, Ashton, Staleybridge, Dukinfield, Hyde, Glossop, Mottram, Stockport, &c.-all of which contain immense establishments for spinning, weaving, bleaching, or printing cotton;

and there are so many similar establishments occupying the valleys
as one large workshop. The same may be said, in a smaller degree, of
and roads between those towns, that the whole area may be regarded
the district around Glasgow. Some of the mills spin cotton only,
goods are more largely made than others in particular towns; fine
some weave it only, while some spin and weave. Some kinds of cotton
Most of the spinning and weaving mills are buildings of vast
muslins in one, shirting calicoes in another, fustians in a third, and so
on.
six or seven hundred windows each, which give light to seven or
In those of improved construction,
eight stories or ranges of rooms.
size, speckled over with windows on every side. Some of them have
there is apparatus for lifting the workpeople, or some of them, from
story to story, thereby lessening the fatigue and the consumption of
time involved in ascending staircases. As one part of the perfect
system which has gradually become organised in this trade, it is
until it leaves the bottom range in a finished state; thus the opening,
customary to haul up the bales of cotton to the highest story of the
building, and then gradually lower the material from story to story
If it be a weaving as well as a
the mixing, the scutching, the carding, the drawing, the roving, and
the spinning, follow in their proper order, in rooms occupying different
heights in the range of building.
or eighteen hundred in number, are usually placed in a lower and
spinning mill, the weaving machines or power-looms, sometimes fifteen
separate building, called the weaving-shed. Nothing is more admirable
is conveyed from story to story, from room to room, by means of
in the whole arrangement than the manner in which the moving power
highly-wrought shafting and wheel-work. The steam-engine may be
outside one end of the building, and yet its working efficacy may be
felt at the other end, perhaps two or three hundred feet distant. If
In the
the mill be in a country district, with a hill close at hand, the architect
often plans that the chimney-shaft shall be built on the top of the
hill, with a flue leading to it under-ground from the furnaces; this is
equivalent to a great increase in the height of the chimney, and in the
strength of the draught which passes through the furnace.
days of Arkwright and the elder Strutt, the mill builders looked out
a water-wheel; but in the present days of steam-power, the cotton-
anxiously for a valley, where a stream might afford moving power for
spinner reckons little on the proximity of a river. In those days,
canals were the great channels of communication, along which raw
cotton was carried to the mill and manufactured cotton goods con-
veyed away from it; the transit is now effected almost entirely by
railway. There are nearly four hundred miles of railway in Lancashire
These four
alone, mostly maintained by the cotton trade; besides those belonging
to the cotton districts in the neighbouring counties.
hundred miles have certainly not cost less than twenty millions
sterling; which may, in a certain sense, be regarded as one portion of
The workers in cotton mills, with the arrangements for their pro-
the fixed capital expended in our gigantic cotton manufacture.
numerous processes to which cotton goods are subjected' have been
tection, will be noticed in a later article. [FACTORIES.] Some of the
described in earlier portions of this work. [BANDANA; BLEACHING;
CALENDERING; CALICO PRINTING]; and another class of operations
will be found noticed under DYEING.

Having, in COTTON
COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION.
CULTIVATION AND SUPPLY, passed under review the chief circumstances
connected with the growth of this important fibre, and its shipment to
the busy marts of industry; and in the article COTTON MANUFACTURE,
having described the principal processes whereby the fibre is spun for
the use of the weaver-we shall be prepared, under the present
heading, to trace the wonderful course of trade in the manufactured
commodities.

And first, in relation to our own country, concerning which the The unprecedentedly rapid increase in the consumption of cotton in evailable sources of information are abundant and trustworthy. Great Britain, soon after the year 1786, resulted almost entirely from later dates, by those of Cartwright, Ratcliffe, and Roberts, already the inventions of Arkwright, Hargreaves, and Crompton, followed, at could not have competed successfully with the spinners and weavers of adverted to. Had it not been for these inventions, British artisans India. The Hindoos possess so much skill in this kind of work, and are content with so low a rate of wages, that their muslins and calicoes had not the latter been aided by machinery. Even when this difficulty would have continued to beat those of England out of the market, was overcome, the peculiar monopoly of the East India Company not until the present century had considerably advanced that British retarded the opening of a market for British manufactures. It was cotton goods found their way to India in any notable quantity. Another circumstance deserving remark is, that the English weavers were slow in arriving at an equality with the Hindoos in the durability and general excellence of the product; it was the cheapness of price, rather than the improvement of quality, which brought about the revolution in the trade.

It will be convenient and instructive to trace the advance of this remarkable department of British commercial industry in successive epochs.

Before 1800. The statistics of the trade during the last century are So far as they go, however, they not much to be relied upon; many of them were mere estimates rather than authenticated returns.