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                              AS APPLIED TO TEXTILE MANUFACTURES.
the fault is easily detected by the ridge which will appear on fine warp
silk, for instance, runs about eight score threads
the bobbin. The cleaner knife rail is fitted up so as to move That is to
say, there are upwards of six miles of thread nearly
in a slot, and thus the                                       in an ounce,
or one hundred miles in a pound weight.:
degree of separation of                     ad- "               The
mechanical processes of preparing and spinning silk
the knife edges is ad-                                        are of a very
simple character, and form a striking contrast to
justable to the quality of                                    the processes
to which cotton, flax, and wool have to be sub-
the thread or silk to be                                      mitted ere
they are fit for the loom. Silk-weaving is, on the
Cleaned. This operation                                       other hand,
attended with difficulties which are not met with
was formerly combined                                         in weaving
the yarns spun from the other textile fibres of
with a doubling of the                                       which we are
to treat.
threads, and a system of
drop  wires was intro-                                          The machinery
of cotton-manufacture has its application
duced for stopping the                                        even before
the " raw material " is brought to the factory.
bobbins when    threads                                         The "cotton-wool
" has to be separated from the seed.
broke. This is now dis-                                       The machine
now almost universally used for this purpose is
pensed with, and     the                                     the saw-gin,
the roller-gin having been supplanted even in
spinning  and   doublin                                        d. The best
example of this machine is exhibited in the
frame in the annexed                                          United States
department. Till 1793, when Eli Whitney
drawing  performs the                                  ---   invented the
saw-gin, the wool of the green-seeded cotton
operation by one process and dispenses with the stoving of could only be
separated from the seed by an amount of
the silk, which was formerly necessary.                      labour very
discouraging to the growth of that hardy and
   The silkworm-threads, perfectly cleaned, and become of a productive article.
By this invention, one man was enabled
brilliant glossy appearance, are transferred to the spinning to do the work
of a thousand, and there was no limit to the
and doubling frame. In this machine, the threads from two cultivation of
the cotton save the limits to the acreage of
or three of the bobbins from the cleaner are not now only suitable soil.
wound together in contact upon another set of bobbins, but   The quantity
of raw cotton consumed in the cotton manu-
they are at once spun together. The lower set of bobbins are facture of Great
Britain, in the year 1850, was 584,200,000 lbs.,
                                                              or nearly 835
tons per diem.
                                                   IL     i     The machinery
for manufacture of cotton-for performing
                                                              the various
operations that prepare the cotton wool, as
                                                              imported from
the countries where it is grown,, for being
                                                              spun and woven-are
liberally displayed in the Exhibition
                                                              by leading
British manufacturers and by the French.
                                                                There are
few things more interesting in manufacturing
                                                              processes than
the progress of the soft downy substance of
                                                              the interior
of the cotton-pod, with all its fine filaments and
                                                              delicate colour,
through its various stages, until it becomes a
                                                              useful fabric
for the daily wear of the industrious classes, or
                                                              assumes those
beautiful forms in which Art has added grace
                                                              to mechanical
skill and ingenuity. These gradations are at
                                                              once so perfect
and complete, while they are based upon the
                                                              most admirable
system of orderly progress, that cotton-spinning
                                                              becomes a science
of no ordinary character when it is carried
                                                              to the perfection
to which we see it here displayed. The
                                                              examples exhibited
illustrate the various gradations of the
 placed vertically on spindles driven by bands from a large coarse and fine
manufacture-there are cases commencing
 drum, and then, in being transferred from one set of bobbins with a specimen
of Sea-Island cotton, and having every stage
 to the other, two or more threads are laid together. The of progress up
to nine-cord sewing thread, and muslin and
 twist, or, more correctly speaking, the angle of lay, is kept figured lace.
The only drawback to their great interest is the
 exceedingly uniform, the bobbin going slower as it fills, by  crowding together
of so many specimens in so small cases,
 working an intermediate friction roller (not seen in drawing). since there
is some difficulty in distinctly separating them.
 The guider is, of course, attached to this machine again with This is the
more to be regretted, as the connection of the
 a very slow motion, so that the doubled and spun thread is raw material
with the examples around is so admirably illus-
 laid very uniformly and closely on the bobbins, which are now  trated, and,
if studied in connection with the machinery, is
 transferred to the throwing mill or machine. On this machine capable of
affording valuable lessons.
 the doubled and spun                                           The yarns,
exhibited as the basis of other products, show
 threads are transferred                                      to what an
extent the ingenuity of man can be carried, when
 from  bobbins on    to                                       employed in
a given direction. There we have specimens of
 swifts or reels, and                                        yarn spun by
machinery, which is of so delicate a character,
 thus become hanks of                               111       that the fibres
of cotton can only be discovered in the fabric
 silk in the state in                                        by the aid of
the microscope; and so delicate is it that it falls
 which they are sent to                                      to pieces by
handling. This curiosity of manufacture is
 the weaver. In this                                          exhibited by
Messrs. Thomas Houldsworth        &  Co., of
 state, it is called sin-                                    Manchester,
and is the result of the energy and enterprise
 gles, tram, or organ-                                        of Henry Houldsworth,
Esq., of that firm. In the contribu-
 zine, according as it                                       tions of this
establishment we find specimens of cotton yarn
 has  been made into                                         ranging from
No. 100 to No. 700, in single yarn; and No.
 hanks    after  being                                   - -  100 to No.
670, in double yarn, or lace thread. These figures
 simply  cleaned   and                     -                  express the
number of hanks to a pound weight, each
 twisted, after  being                                    - hank being 840
yards; and the last named number of 700
 doubled and twisted,                     E                  in single, and
670 in double yarn, is the triumph of cotton-
 or after being   spun                    A                  spinning for
all practical purposes, since we find that a pound
 into thread by a second                  ,                   weight of cotton
is elongated, in the first instance, to a length
 spinning operation.                                         of 338 miles;
and, in the other, to a double thread 324 miles,
    The fineness of the silk is determined by the number of at a cost of
281., as the price of a single pound weight. The
 warp lengths, measuring seventy-two yards, in the ounce; most remarkable
example, however, is the specimen shown as
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